A Ginger Takes on Mexico: Bienvenida a Teziutlán

WELL I LOVE TEZIUTLAN!!!!! Honestly, it is SO amazing here. I love it!!! love love love it!!!! It is so pretty, and basically here is where heaven meets the earth. We are basically always in the clouds, and the weather can change from hotish in the morning to cold and rainy at night. We heard that we should be expecting some hail sometime soon, so that should be interesting. We also have a heat fan in the apartment, something I never though I would have in Mexico hahaha. BUT I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! We get to see the BEST sunrises coming up over the mountains each morning as we go out to run. YES!!! Hermana Aguilar goes with me to this park near our house and I get to actually RUN finally!!! She does stairs and other machine things that they have in the park, but she is full of energy and ready to try out anything! So we have great weather, FANTASTIC investigators, yummy food, I know this cambio is gonna fly by faster than all the other ones.

Food - there are these things called tlacyoyos that my companion loves. It is like a squished patty of maza with a different kind of maza in the middle that has avocado leaf and some other type of leaf also. I dont think they are that great hahaha but whatever floats her boat is fine with me. We also ate an EXTREMELY spicy meal this week. Every little part of it was spicy. There was this chicken and shrimp in crema sauce thing with chipotle and then chicken friend in more chipotle and chiltepin. My stomach hurts just thinking about it. And then there was only COCA. AAAAHHHHHH. I am never ever ever ever drinking soda again after the mission. Coca elevates the spiciness of everything to another level. So deceiving. When you think that you are going to help your burning mouth and stomach, WRONG. It is like adding gasoline to the fire. Ouch. The food was good though. Just veryyyyyyy spicy.

SO. My new companion is Hermana A from Manzanillo. It is a part in Western Mexico that is near Guadalajara and apparently has a lot of cholos - like Mexican punks? Or at least that is what the joke is hahaha. Hna A is definitely NOT a cholo so we are getting along great!!!!! She acts like she has a year in the mission. She knows her scriptures, has SUCH a strong testimony and loves these people with ALL her heart. It is so different to be with a new missionary though. it is like she has so much energy and everything is new and exciting and she has not become accustomed (sp) to the 'missionary routine'. It is like a breath of fresh air to be with her!!! She is 26 and was inactive till about 3 years ago, but is back and stronger than ever! She is bubbly and loves the opening her mouth to talk with everyone. I am so blessed to have her as a companion!!! We feel a little like we are in opposite sides of the mission, but we still get along great!! She is going to do great things here, i know it!! I am learning massive amounts from her.

Something interesting here, people are actually VERY Catholic. Like they say they are Catholic and they ARE. There is a Virgen shrine in basically every corner, and everyone is getting ready for the Semana Santa. This should be an interesing time.

I and S - I was baptized on Sunday! She has a 9 month old daughter named M, and kind of has a fling with the ward mission leader. He got back like 2 weeks ago from his mission so this could potentially flourish into something really great! He baptized her and everything!

B and S - Their family is Jehovah Witnesses, but B got pregnant and the church basically shunned them all. So now none of them really go. BUT, B's boyfriend is a member of the church, so it is a bit of a problem. He does not want her to go because he has not told anyone. It is awful really, because he is impeding her spiritual progress. They are so great though!!! B is 19 and S is 16, they remind me a lot of me and Ruth or me and Jess. I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!! We had a really spiritual lesson with B, because she wants to go to church but her boyfriend is the problem. She was crying, my eyes were watering up, and in the end her and her sister went to church. Miracles happen.

S - He has gone to church 4 times, his family is Jewish. His dad does not support him AT ALL, and his mom is kind of ruled by his dad. So we have been meeting with him in the church. He has overcome a lot of trials with the commandments, but he has seen huge changes in his life and has a TESTIMONY!!!! He has shared it with me, and my heart was bouncing around in my chest like rice krispies because I was so happy and so excited for him. He went from drinking 8 cups of coffee and day to NOTHING now. He really is a miracle. We fasted with him this week, because he is trying to look for the opportune moment to tell him family that he is going to get baptized. We work by faith

J and E - They also went to church by themselves this Sunday! They have been 5 times, we are just arranging everything to get them married. We are taking out their birth certificates, talking to the judge, setting up appointments to get the bloodwork done, but little by little it is all coming through! They have 2 kids named B and J, who love us too!!!! They take notes in the classes in church and are very excited for their baptisms!!!

R - Interesting old guy. He is very interested in the church and has a lot of questions. But he says that God knows when it is his time to be baptized....we all know that that time is NOW, but people say that as excuses I feel like. We had a crazy lesson with him. We went in planning to finish the Plan of Salvation, but instead talked about the Word of Wisdom and the Restoration and temples and eternal families and I feel like 20 million other things. It was a little all over the place, but the spirit was definitely present and we could feel it testifying to him. What more can we ask for? After talking about the Word of Wisdom, he invited us to try some really great JUICE that he brought from Puebla. Hna A and I look at each other, and we tell him we can drink it if there is not alcohol. He assures us there isn't, and sure enough on the bottle on the outside it says sin alcohol. We smell it though - we both have little glasses - one with cranberry juice and the other with grape. Definitely a little fermented. Yum yum. Ug. It was not alcohol, but we told him he probably shouldn't drink the rest. YAY FOR ADVENTURES IN THE MISSION.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!! I love my Savior and I am so grateful for the Atonement. I love you all!!

Love, Hermana Westergard