VIVA MEXICO

Hola!

So the World Cup started! Lots of green here in Mexico. The streets are deserted basically during the times that the games are on, so Mexico is semi-quiet for a change. Kind of strange actually.

We had a Noche de Hogar this week with some less active members. Noche de Hogar is Family Home Evening, we have a short message and then we play games and have a little treat or something after. These members were having a blast!!! I did not think that they would love the games, or even have fun, but it was like watching little kids at Disney World! These less active members went to the ward Noche de Hogar we had later on in the week AND they went to church on Sunday too!!! I really like Noches de Hogar, because they help people realize that we are normal too! We do not just go to church for 3 hours on Sunday, we also have activities with food. If food is involved, there is alway guaranteed to be an awesome turnout!

Something I realized this week was that as much as I am looking for people to teach and help baptize, the members also have a great need for us. I did not realize that the little girls in the ward look up to us so much! When we visit members, their families share everything they can with us. Kids drag out their artwork, everyone runs to get their Books of Mormon, they turn off the TV and are eyes and ears to everything we have to say. Seeing this makes me want to try even more to be the best I can be, to live up to the expectations of the members and of myself!

Investigators: Saul - he is a single dad with 2 kinds. I admire him a lot. Every time we teach him, he is SO interested and the Spirit is really strong. We finished all of the first lesson with him, and we watched a movie about Joseph Smith. The movie never gets old! Every time I watch is I get goosebumps and I KNOW that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God! Saul was really impressed by the movie too. When investigators see the trials and hardships that Joseph Smith and the early members of the church went though, I think they are taken aback. Especially because it is the United States. I am really grateful for powerful church movies! I feel like what I cannot get across in Spanish is filled in with the movie. Claudia!!!!!! I LOVE HER!!!! We met with her this week and she was bawling. She said her husband does not want to get married, because he feels really pressured and he said the only reason she wants to get baptized is to get him to marry her. NOT TRUE!!!!!! I can see them in the temple! He went to church yesterday though and got to see a baptism too, and I think he really liked them both! We are visiting them tonight, so FINGERS CROSSED!!!

I went on divisions this week with my Sister Training Leader, Hermana P. We had interviews with presidente before, and we were all sitting around waiting. As I was sitting and listening, I realized she was talking to an elder in ENGLISH!!! She grew up right on the boarder of Mexico and Texas, so she is fluent in both! It was a weird day hahahaha we spoke english and spanish but my brain kept switching to spanish! I guess that is a good thing! We ate lunch at a Chinese buffet. XALAPA IS SO DIFFERENT THAN PAPANTLA! I did not try the sushi though hahaha I do not trust sushi in Mexico.

A humbling experience for me this week was when we were talking with a recent convert, Jorge. He is still having trouble not drinking coffee, se we made a deal with him. Hna M and I love the dulce pan (sweet bread) of Mexico, we are always buying it. WE LOVE IT! But, we said we would give up the pan if he gave up the coffee. And if one of us caves, we need to buy the others tacos. When people are investigating the church, they are changing their lives! It is hard for us not to eat the bread that we love, I cannot imagine what it must be like for other things. So far, we are all staying strong and no tacos have been bought.

I am trying to work on just loving people. Love love love. I know that love is the most important thing in this work! If I have love, my testimony will grow and others will feel that I am being genuine and sincere. LOVE IS KEY. Working on it!

Funny things: While contacting, Hna M asked people if they wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ. Response: NO. Okay!! Have a nice day! Another thing, I was commenting to Hna M about this old lady in the house where we ate lunch. She could not understand me. So I asked my companion, Why couldn't she understand me? My comp was expecting me to say something after about my accent or something or other, but I said, Well I could't understand her either....because I couldn't! Well my comp wasn't expecting that and spewed the water she had been drinking all over me hahahahaha. I was soaked!

ALSO. I love my companion!! We get along really well, she is super cool and we have so much fun together!! She speaks really fast though, I usually have to ask her to repeat almost everything she says.

I love you all!!!! Thank you for your support! I am sorry I cannot respond to everyone, but I try to get back to everyone eventually!! ALSO I got more letters this week! One from the US (thank you Marissa!!!!), one from Italy and one from Tawain

Love, Hermana Westergard

my lovely tan and wall decorations

members: if you look closely you can see that his hat is from the New Engand Aquarium!!!

Feliz Dia de los Padres! (Happy Father's Day!)

Rejectionnnnnnn, disgraceeeeee

Hola!!!

SO. Title for this week is because contacting was a total bust. And I kept thinking of the song from Lion King 2 when they are singing about Kovu? I don’t know how to spell his name. But contacting was really rough this week. Lots of Catholics who do not want anything. We knocked on one door, the old woman answered, asked us if we adored the Virgin, and we said no haha because we do not. She just looks at us and says Pues, Adelante, which basically means “go away. Gracias!!”

I have been seeing SO MUCH Massachusetts gear EVERYWHERE. Red Sox, Cape Cod, Patriots, Notre Dame, it is like MA is haunting me. I see Mexicans wearing the stuff and just think YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS TO ME!!!

Blessings this week!! Raquel, our investigator, just had her baby so she has not been drinking alcohol! Apparently she really realllyyyyyyy liked alcohol before she got pregnant, so it is a blessing that she has her baby! Now we just have to help her get married! She committed to live the word of wisdom! Now the law of chastity. One step at a time! We were really nervous for a lesson with Claudia and her husband this week too. They are not married either, and Claudia needs to be married to be baptized. We were not sure how her husband was going to feel about all of this, but Hermana M and I were praying the whole day for the lesson to go well. IT WENT PERFECTLY!!! He wants to be baptized with Claudia! We left their apartment and just looked at each other and started laughing hahahah we could not believe it had gone so well!! Miracles happen every day! We also watched the Restoration movie with Claudia, and she loved it. CLAUDIA IS JUST PERFECT! I get so excited every time we go to teach her because I know it is going to be an amazing lesson with lots of love and Spirit. Our old mission President visited my ward on Sunday! We do not know why, but it was a relief to see him. We all miss Presidente Lopez.

We have another investigator, Juan, who wants to be baptized in a river. He keeps going on and on about the energy and power of the water. He is kind of a hippie, but he has good questions and is really interested too. I do not know if we can help his dream come true, but we will see what we can do. 

I had Dominos pizza this week!!!!!  That was a deja vu American experience. LOVE PIZZA!

I had a coconut and pineapple tamale this week. DELICIOUS. I am working on gathering the recipes of the foods I like. I plan to open a restaurant in Provo, and I think I will be very successful with the business of all the RMs who served in Mexico and miss their tortillas and tacos and tamales and chile.

This week there was TONS and TONS of rain too. It is hurricane season, and we get the rains and hail. I am so grateful for my rain-boots and umbrella and raincoat! Sososososo grateful. I usually stay mostly dry, except when taxi drivers purposefully swerve out of their way to hit the puddle just right so we get sprayed with water. I try to have good feelings and be missionary like, but when we are dripping with gross street water, we get a little mad for like 2 seconds and then start cracking up hahahaha. A mission is fun! I would never have these experiences anywhere else!

I got a ton of letters and packages this week!!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE LOVE!!! It was honestly better than Christmas!! Christie, Nana Carol, Kelly, Jenn, Mom and Dad, Matthew, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU MADE MY WEEK!!!!!! The package that my family sent me in early March finally got here! There is a big stamp on it that says Missent To Jamaica. I do not know how that happens, but it is a miracle that it made it here!

I love you all!!!! Thank you for your love and prayers!

Love, Hermana Westergard

hehehe peeking through the windows one day, we saw that one of our investigadors had this on their table!!!

FINALLY GOT A PACKAGE that was missent to Jamaica

LETTERS!!!!!! :):):) 

ditto

in the family of avacado but different

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY RUTH!!!!!!

 on my roof this morning!!

(Two pictures I missed last week.)

Xalapa is BEAUTIFUL

Doing what Minions do (Mexicans are obsessed with minions and Zumba)

When it rains, it pours

Hola!!!!

SO XALAPA IS SO AMAZING!!!!!! The weather is PERFECT EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! I am no longer sweating 24/7 and my sweat is no longer dripping into my food. Such a weird experience. I almost forgot what it was like not to sweat! But it is also starting to be hurricane season or something? Or there is a hurricane in the Atlantic? So, we have MASSIVE, torrential downpours every single day. Once the drizzle starts, you have about 30 seconds to book it to the nearest members house, find some sort of shelter, or accept that you are going to get drenched to the core. BUT I LOVE it. The weather is literally sososososososo perfect, I cannot get over it. This week was amazing too. So many miracles. I really feel like I am in a dream.

First off, so much amazing food this week. Everyone says that people get fat in Xalapa, I can see why. The members casually give us flan and hot chocolate and cookies. WHERE AM I? England? That is what it feels like! So weird. Also had watermelon with chile and limon (lime) and salt. Actually wicked good. Churros...need I say more? Capeados, which is basically fried bananas with lechera aka sweetened and condensed milk and cream. We had carrot tacos. I like the health conscious idea, but the fried aspect kind of cancels out the goodness that the carrots had Oh, and an Hermana in the ward makes pan, the bread that they sell at all the little shops. And she gave us a HUGE bag full of all the different kinds after comida (lunch) one day. I wish I did not have the love for food that I do.

We have SO MANY great investigators! There spirits are SO strong. It is amazing. So so amazing! One investigator's name is Caludia. She has 2 children, and loves church. We need to help her get married, but she comes to all the activities we have, her daughter asks us when the next time we can go to church is. We watched the Restoration video with her, she wants to get married and is really interested in temples AAAHHHHH :). Another investigator is Raquel. Her whole family is members, except her. She is 16, just had a baby, we need to help her get married too. But even with her newborn, she comes to church and has lots of good questions. AAAHHHH :). Another investigator, Mario, I cannot tell if he wants to actually learn or if he just wants to have intellectual battles with scriptures. Trying to break down his walls. Another investigator, Cynthia, was a reference from Claudia. Her son has special needs, but she has a lot of hope also. When we were talking with her, I felt prompted to share with her how I felt about my sweet cousin Elizabeth. I was crying, she started tearing up too, it was really special.

OK: now for the day of miracles. Sunday was a day of miracles. Sunday was also fast Sunday, Hermana M and I were fasting that we could find more people to teach. Sunday we found, taught, and set baptismal dates with 10 people!!!!!!!!! THAT NEVER HAPPENS!!! We also did a TON of contacting on Sunday. Contacting references is so important. Out of the 19 contacts we made, 2 of them accepted the invitation for us to return and teach them later. The percentage is small, but the work is worth it! So the 10 people we found are in 2 families. Families are so important to this work, and the fact that they all - with their families - want to be taught and baptized is amazing!!!! This work is a work of miracles, I am reminded every day.

Sunday we also had pansita for lunch. From the sounds of it, it sounds like it would be something to do with pan, or bread. WRONG. It is a soup made from, if I understand everything correctly, SHEEP BLADDER. I tried. I really really really did. I managed like 2 pieces, but i could not eat the rest of the soup. It looks like the skin of something with little hairs or taste buds or I do not know what. I was trying to distinguish what it was the whole time I was trying to eat it. I felt so bad. Then the Hermanas family got back from church and it turns out none of her kids like it either, so I did not feel so bad. Apparently, it is the husbands FAVORITE thing in the world. I do not know how...but he can have mine!

Something interesting about people here....I always ask how to spell things, like peoples names. No one ever actually tells me the letters, they just say the word realllllyyyyyyyyyyslowly. Thank you for the help!

I love you all!!!! I love my mission!!!!! This church is true, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and I know our families can be together forever.

Love, Hermana Westergard

nice big dead rat

 new agenda made by Hermana D as a goodbye present

It pours so much the streets turn into rivers

Costco

One year older and wiser too

Hola todos!

So guess what! I am now in Xalapa! My birthday present from Presidente Saucedo hahaha everyone craves to be in Xalapa, and here I am! We found out cambias last night, and I got on a bus this morning at 9 and am currently in my new area! My new companion is Hermana M, she is from Honduras! I do not know her super well, we have only been together for like 2 hours, but so far she seems really nice and wants to help me with Spanish! 

This week was a jumble of everything. With cambias looming over our heads, everyone was kind of worrying about the changes. But we did a lot of contacting this week, and even if those references were not successful, I have SUCH A STRONG testimony of contacting! If the reference does not lead directly to someone who wants to hear the message, I know that somehow, some connection will lead to SOMEONE who wants to be baptized! It is just about following the connect the dots puzzle. Funny experience, someone gave us our landlord as a reference, but we did not know until after we were talking with his wife and then he showed up at his house. hahahah AWKWARD. He has some problems, and the Elders had talked with him before. We had a nice awkward conversation and then speedily walked away. It is all good though!

We had a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) this week, and I showed them how to make cookies, American style. Yes they did love them. I did too. I tried this wicked good fruit this week, called lychi? I do not know how to spell it, but it is my new favorite!

I am really starting to feel like my work here is less active members in the church. I keep running into and finding less actives, and it is not like I have plans to visit or find them, they just somehow become a part of my path during the day. If that is my work here, rather then baptisms, that is ok with me! I just want to help with this great work!

Our 2 miracle girls could not be baptized this week :(. It seems like right when I get my hopes up for a baptism, Satan smacks me down again. Felipe is still attending church! But in a drunken state. Poor guy. I know he wants to change so bad! He just has this awful addiction. I spoke at a baptism for the Elders. My spanish was not great, and it was very last minute, but I hope he felt the Spirit behind my words!

We started English and Piano classes this week! The attendance was small, but I would rather have fewer people so I can focus with them more!

Sunday was such a scramble for me. We have this great new investigator, Silvia. She goes to all the activities, and goes to church too!! We are really excited and blessed to be teaching her. AND THERE WAS A SURPRISE PARTY for me on Sunday!!!! The members of this ward are the best! There was a Jessie piñata from Toy Story, my look alike, there were endless tacos and cake. The tradition here is that when someone blows out the candles, their head is then shoved into the cake. YES. My head was shoved into the cake. But it just meant I got to try it before everyone else! hehehehe. I love tacos. Love Mexico. SO SAD TO LEAVE MY WARD :(. We found out the changes that night, so I did not get to say bye to anyone. Sad sad. But also happy day.

I love you all! Thank you for the birthday emails!

Hermana Westergard

Pieces of home

 watermelon study snack

 spider and cockroach of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

 BEST FRUIT IN THE WORLD - lychi?

Goodbye to Hermana E :(

one of my favorite families!!!,

Elder L and I with our piñatas

 after the molida

Time be flyin'

¡Hola!

Time really is flying. I cannot believe it is almost the end of May! AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!!! CAMBIAS (changes) ARE IN A WEEK. AND...my birthday..... I am going to be 20. I feel wicked old. I am becoming wise beyond my years here on Mexico, if you need some advice on how to lessen the spiciness of chile, or need to know how to flush a toilet when there is no plumbing, or need to know how to best fend off 4 snarling dogs, I got your answers! Just let me know!

This week feels like a blur. Honestly, this past month feels like a blur. Everything just blends together! The weather is hot, we eat lots of rice and chicken, we speak spanish, we share the gospel, that is what we do! My week could basically just all be one day!

For the 6th month in a row, Mexico Xalapa mission is the best in Mexico!!! Wohooo!!!!

We had the big meeting that we were all dreading with the new mission president! THERE WERE NO MAJOR RULE CHANGES!!!!! I can still write friends!!!! YAY!!!!! That was a huge blessing!!!!! One new rule, we - the hermanas (sisters) - need to wear tights when we have conferences or big meetings. We need to be more feminine I think. I admit it is hard to tell sometimes when we are all sweating as much as the elders, and we just look like a large pool of sweat. Now we have tights to distinguish us!

We had AMAZING rain this week. It was literally a torrential downpour. I was well equipped with my boots and raincoat and umbrella! My companion on the other hand was not a happy camper. She left boots and umbrella in her previous area, thus she was soaked in a matter of minutes. We had to change a lot of our plans for the day too because it was literally impossible to walk up some of the hills where we had plans to visit. We would just slip and fall! But it is times like this that made for the memories, I love the rain!! I love the smell, the sounds, the colder air, I love it all! It was a beautiful day.

Our investigators were in their houses more this week! It is always disappointing when we get to the top of the hill where they live, and there is a response of silence to my BUENAS TARDES (good afternoon). We have been praying for this a lot too. We need them to be in their houses to teach them, help them with their trials, and just talk in general! Our current investigators are Felipe, Maria, Marian, Leonel, Rey and Mari, Miguel Angel, Juliocesar, Wanda and Maurliciol. We pray every day that we can find them! We make appointments, but people here do not really remember things like that. Everything just seems to be a matter or chance. Felipe and Leonel both came to church this week! Felipe wasssssss not baptized. Turns out he has still been drinking this whole time, and he thought that his baptism was going to help him quit drinking. We postponed his baptism for 2 more weeks, if he does not drink these 2 weeks. The elders visited him with us, and were able to give him a blessing. I have such a strong testimony about the priesthood and blessings, I know that he can do this! Leonel is 16, and his mom was baptized but is less-active. I am always so impressed - especially when younger people - are interested in the church and seek it out on their own accord. I think of how much stronger they are than I was at their age. They are an inspiration to me! We also seem to attract drunk people. We have had at least 2 or 3 very drunk men approach us this week, confessing their sins and pleading with us to help them change. We do our best to console them, give them a pamphlet and explain that we would like to teach them more about what we know, but it has to be a different day. We are following up with some of them next week! Hopefully the Word of Wisdom pamphlets will do some good for them!

We found 2 miracles this week too!!!!!!! Two girls, Marifer and Dana. Their mom was baptized when she was 8, but is not active. Her daughters want to be baptized! They go to church every week with their aunt, and we were eating comida (food) with her on Saturday, and were just talking about life when these two girls came in and told us all this stuff! HOPEFULLY, if all goes according to plan, they will be baptized this Saturday! Miracles do happen!!!!

We helped an Hermana (sister) in our ward make these foam roses for her Gospel Principles class, and they were a huge hit! People in Mexico love when people make crafty stuff, and these roses were pretty legit.

I gave a talk in church on Sunday! I was stressing out so much, Hermana D made me practice like 3 times hahahah she said we had to get my pronunciation right. I have been working on it a lot lately, and Hermana D is super excited with my improvement! I am too!!!!! So I gave my talk, about the Obra Misional or Missionary work. How hard could it be right? It is what I am doing! Regardless of how easy it should have been, I turned red, stuttered a decent amount and used a lot of hand gestures to make my points. BUT, people liked it! OR they just felt sorry for me. Either way, I consider it a success. An hermana told me she really liked it, and one of the missionaries told me his investigator told him that she loved my talk, and wanted to invite me to eat with her one day. Someone else's investigator liked my talk!!!!! THAT IS HUGE!!! It is not just pity! I was, still am, very excited.

Everyone is making plans for my birthday too hahaha I think like 3 hermanas in the ward have said they are going to buy postre (baked goods) and everyone wants to know what I want to eat and do. If I am not alive next monday, it is because I am in a food coma. ALSO, there is a family in this ward that TOTALLY reminds me of me, Ruth and Jess. These 3 crazy sisters are always together - Hilda, Adriana and Rosario - and they are always joking and just feed off of each other's laughs and smiles and crazy conversation. I honestly feel very lost when we are with them because I cannot keep up with the conversation, but I know they are having a good time. Miss my amazing sisters!!

I love you all so much, and I know this church is true! I love the people of Papantla, and I am so grateful for my opportunity to be here in this country.

Hermana Westergard

Fish eye in muh soup

most legit way to eat fish

showing Mexicans how to make brownies

Encroaching in the making of comida (food)

Stayin Alive, Stayin Alive, ah ah ah ah and REPEAT

HOLA

Monday - We have a couple in our ward who are basically like our grandparents. They are the sweetest little couple, the hermana calls me muñecita - basically means doll - and her husband is ADDICTED to coca. I swear, coca cola will be the downfall of Mexico. So he is taking all these pills because he was in a really bad car accident a bunch of years ago, and cant sleep, and just has a bunch of other problems. We talked to him about how bad his beloved CocaCola is, and challenged him to stop, little by little, but stop ultimately. He was sitting pondering this, and his wife brought out all of his pills that he needed to take. He literally had like a huge box of pills. An interesting sight. As he is sitting there, he says "Me voy a matar", basically he is gonna kill himself with the cocacola and all his pills hahahahaha we were dying laughing. I LOVE THEM!!!!

Morning Tuesday - We got a bottle thrown at us by this cranky old lady who said she did not want to listen "Es porque, no me gusta." Her reason for not wanting to listen was because she did not like it, all I did was tell her we were missionaries from the CHurch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I guess it just was not her day to hear the Gospel.

Well this week has definitely been on of the CRAZIEST of my entire life. I do not know what kind of news from Mexico gets to the US, if any, but if you have heard anything, I am ok! I know that missionaries are blessed and protected and we have angels surrounding us and protecting us. If you do not know what is going on....I will try my best to give a summary from what I have gathered from what the Mexicans are saying here. But then again, no one really says anything because everyone is scared that they will get in trouble with the bad guys or that they will give something away and be a target. So, my simplified, probably not entirely accurate, and more G rated version of what has been happening Tuesday night to nowish:

So there was this mass gathering of drug lords in Papantla, from all over Mexico. The police knew about it, and were gonna try to catch them when they were all in their meeting. The drug lords found out about it though, and everyone started to scatter. Then people just started shooting, meaning the police. Now, basically the police don’t need a reason to shoot, if they have reason to believe someone is hiding one of the bad guys, they just machine gun down the house. The investigator of one of the missionaries in our ward, his dad is in the police and took pictures. The Elder said the house looked like swiss cheese after everything was done. So we were walking to an appointment Tuesday night, and I got a call from one of the sisters in the ward, she was freaking out and told us we had to get back to our apartment. In the background I heard this sound, that i thought were these annoying firecrackers that everyone in mexico loves, nope they were the machine guns. Then the drug people were going up and down the caratera, the highway, and just shooting, the police just shooting, everyones just shooting. I think 16 people died in all. Now though it is a power war, whatever drug lord is more powerful, so they are showing their power. I think one of the drug people, or a dealer or something, is our next door neighbor, because the police keep showing up and the guy who owns the apartments that we live in was saying “I don’t care if you have 6 months on your contract, I want you out.” He had these special police with him too, but the guy wasn’t there. Crazy crazy. And my comp is always freaking the flip out. I feel ok, calm and everything but my comp is talking with all the members, basically everyone is just saying what they heard from what their neighbor heard from this massive chain of mouth. I never know what is actually real or not. SO that was a huge part of my week, it disrupted a lot of teaching, and we did not get to see our investigators a lot, so that was disappointing :(. We were not allowed to work Wednesday, so we got picked up by a member and driven to the house of an AMAZING lady in another ward. We all slept there that night, the hermanas, and she fed us and kept us all calm. She is such a special woman, she calls us her angels, but in reality she is ours!!!!!

Thursday - We were only allowed to visit members today, and had to be in our houses at 7:30. I LOVE the members in the ward though!!! Since I have been here for so long, it was like hanging out with my friends all day. Hna D and I brought our pictures to share with people our lives, and it is a great way to share messages about families! They loved seeing our pictures! Also a CRAZY lightning storm. It was like day outside with all the lightning. We needed the rain for the situation to cool off....haha? Sorry if that isn’t that funny.

Friday - Today was Elder D birthday, and it was a fantastic event. The 2nd counselor in our stake owns a sweet shop, and so they did this amazing fiesta for him! There was a chocolate fountain with strawberries, PIZZA, piñata, lots of laughing and LOTS of sweets. I think the fiesta was very much needed for everyone there, the week had been a little stressful. And we ate Chinese food for lunch, the Hermanas in the ward all wanted to do something special for his birthday! Lots of eating hahahaha

Saturday - We finally contacted Juliocesar! We met him at this church event a couple of weeks ago, and we finally found his house! We got to talk to him and his wife, and they both seem pretty excited!!!! TODAY I GOT TO SKYPE MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD DAY!!!!! My family is so important to me, I love them more than ANYTHING!!!! I am so grateful for the example they set for me, and EVERYTHING they do for me. LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Sunday - One of the strangest Sundays ever. We were sitting in sacrament meeting and Felipe just walks in! We did not visit him all week, well, because we thought he was drunk at the event last Sunday. Turns out he was not drunk, he just had not bathed in a REALLYYYY long time. And he just is a little socially awkward. Long story short, he had his baptism interview and is going to get baptized this coming Sunday if everything goes well and he goes to church and everything. WHATTTTT. Can you say miracles. Miracles every day this week, I am SOSOSSO blessed. This week has been so up and down, but the miracles and blessings and love are undeniable. This church is true!!!!!

My mission is great, I am so grateful to be here!!! I love the members, I love my ward, I love the people of Mexico! Please keep Mexico in your prayers, it could use some help right now. I love you all! Thank you for your support and love!

Love, Hermana Westergard

Our abuelitos!!!

 All the hermanas with Hermana C

 Hermano A and his family (they had the party for Elder D)

Happy Birthday Elder D !!

piñata!!

helping in nursrey!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOMMA!!!!!

Visa

¡Hola!

Sí, yo estoy en Mexico por el 5 de mayo, que chido eh? (Yes I'm in Mexico for cinco de mayo, how cool huh?) This week seemed a bit more relaxed than all the other weeks of my mission because I was stuck in Xalapa for 3 days because we traveled down Monday night for our visas, they were not ready Tuesday, and then we stayed with the missionaries down there for an extra night and finally got them on Wednesday and then made the 4 hour bus trip back again to Papantla! The mission honestly goes SO slow when you are doing nothing. I wanted to be in my area, visiting my investigators! THEY NEED ME! Every time I go to Xalapa I am in a little bit of shock. More like a lot of shock. They have everything! It is like the United States almost. Shock shock shock. They showed Brave on the bus on the way down, so we were all happy about that hahaha I cannot understand all of it, but I still felt a connection with Merida! We went on divisions (this in when they change companions for the day) with the Hermanas in Xalapa because we were literally doing nothing all day. I was with Hermana Johnson - from Utah - and Hermana Hidalgo - from Chile. LOVE THEM BOTH! And they had a 3 leches cake. You could say my love for them grew exponentially when they shared it with me.

NEWS I FORGOT FROM LAST WEEK: Hermana Daza said I was sleep talking in spanish! The goal of my mission has been fulfilled. She said I had a great accent and everything. There is hope for me yet! I am a Mexican at heart.

So I kind of felt like I did not do a lot this week, since we were stuck in Xalapa, but when I got back to Papantla, the weather has been absolutely perfect! It is a tease though....we were in a taxi and the taxistas radio was talking about how this up coming week is going to be the hottest it has been in years, with temperatures in the 50s Celsius...I do not know the conversion exactly to Fahrenheit (122F). All I know is they were basically saying if you do not drink water and walk in the shade, you will shrivel up on the spot and become a human raisin. Every man for himself!

We met some new families this week! This week has a bunch of holidays, dia de los niños (day of the children), dia de los pozos (day of the wells), dia de las mamas (mother's day)...there should be a dia de los misioneros (day of the missionaries). Anyway, barrio Tajin (the local ward) was  having a party in the capilla (at the church)  for the niños, and we got a call from one of the elders there saying that there was a family there, from our area, that were not members! We booked it over there, and talked to the dad - Juliocesar - and he is super excited and wants to learn more! Yay for ward activities! Usually we have problems with the husbands and dads, but if he is all for it, I feel like we are one step ahead of the game now!

We were taking a taxi another time this week, and were talking to the taxista - Pedro. Of course he says he is Catholic and everything else that Mexicans say, but we hada decent ride ahead of us so we just kept on talking. We figures we might as well have a lesson in the taxi hahaha so I give the opening prayer and bless his family and we proceed to talk a little about our loving Heavenly Father. When we get to our destination, he would not take any money! He just thanked us for our message, and gave us his information for us to visit his family! EEEKKKKKKK!!!! Prayers are the best!!!

Felipe section...he needs a section all for himself. This same day there was a baptism, and we brought Felipe, through the pouring rain, arrived soaked as a hurricane. Felipe went and sat himself in the front and everything! We were so excited! Sunday, we thought Felipe did not go to chur ch, but it turns out he just walked in late. So he came! There was a young single adult activity later that night that we brought him too.....but he was COMPLETELY DRUNK. Everyone at church had been thinking he was drunk, but he always smells like the way he smells and we thought he had some brain damage because he used to be an alcoholic and do all kinds of crazy stuff. But at the meeting - innocent missionary me - even I could tell he was drunk. We were so embarrassed. We gave him a ride to the estaka (church) and everything, and after the meeting the 2nd counselor of the stake told us to leave while Felipe was in the bathroom and he would drive him home. I HAD SO MUCH HOPE FOR FELIPE!!!! He was my investigator from the beginning, and I thought we were making huge strides, and now we are not. Just like that. Ug. Last night was hard. It is so hard to just drop people, especially when I have been working with them for so long. (In missionary lingo when they drop someone they say they died as an investigator.)

The viejita Maria died as an investigator too :(. This week seemed like a week of dying investigators. Isabel also died....I do not think her husband was as open as we initially thought. But I know that if one investigator does not work out, there are always more! There is someone here who is ready and open and waiting for this Gospel, we just need to find them. I know it!!!

Sunday was great though, despite the incident with Felipe. 5 less active members came to church who we had been visiting! None of our investigators went, but 5 MA (menos activos= less active) went. That filled me with so much hope and joy, I cannot describe it. Reminding them of their feelings they felt when they were first baptized and first went to church is a great thing to do.

I suggest you all search for molotes and try them. They are delicious. With salsa and beans of course.

Love you all!!

Hermana Westergard

Sunset on the bus to Xalapa

names in cement

we got roses from Dia de los niños!

wells all decorated for Day of the wells!