Name of the Game - Él es la Dádiva

So this week we have literally talked to EVERYONE. I have never experienced so much rejection in the mission. You would think that people would be happier and more willing to talk during the Christmas season, nope it seems like it is more reason to be a grinch. Oh well. SOOOO the church is doing a promocion right now called He is the Gift, or Él es la Dádiva in Spanish. We have tons of these little pass along card things and are giving them to everyone! Taxis, weird people in the street, TODOS. You would think that with the more people you talk to, the more people you would get to teach. But we seem to talk to the grumps. Who knows, maybe we helped brighten their day. We continue being excited and happy and talk to everyone! No importa a quien! If we get 1 million rejects and 1 person wants to learn, totally worth it. But the video is at christmas.mormon.org. WATCH IT! CHECK IT OUT! SHARE IT! If you are feeling adventerous and want to watch it in Spanish, navidad.mormon.org is where you gotta go. The Church is so smart to do all of this! They took over Youtube yesterday for the whole day!!!!!!! With just the add for the video. SO SHARE IT!!!! :)

We had a conference this week for just the sister missionaries. SO AMAZING!!!! I love President and Hna Greer and they love us! We got to eat delicious American food, we helped wrap the Elder´s Christmas presents, made goodie bags with chocolate covered salted carmel and Giradelli chocolate and all other sorts of good things. Christmas is gonna be great here! I also got to see Hna Quiñonez!!!!!!! She is definitely my best friend here. I love her so much!!!!!! We have such a great time together. In the conference, they talked about norms, the importance of time and how we should use it diligently, all that good stuff. As I was sitting there, I realized I am one of the older missionaries in the mission. I have gotten accustomed to the mission life, but I love it all. Maybe not getting up at 6:30, but the studying, talking with everyone, teaching people what I know to be true, I love it!!!!

I have been trying really hard this week to be exactly obedient. It is really hard, and Hna H seems to be struggling a little more than me to meet our goals. But we help and remind each other, because we want to see miracles!

Random:

WE MADE A CHRISTMAS TREE!!!! They sell trees on basically every corner, and on one we asked them if we could have some of the extra parts that they had cut off the trees, they told us to go right ahead. AND SO WE MADE A BEAUTIFUL TREE :) The house smells amazing and it feels a little more like home :)

Made fudge for Camile for his birthday! Thanks momma for the recepie! We melted 15 chocolate bars, added a can of Lechera and TADAAAA. Deliciousness.

I DO NOT KNOW WHY. BUT. I had the lovely chance to enjoy pansita AGAIN. But this time it was mondongo. Which is basically a soup of all the internal organs and veins and who knows what else of the sheep. Heart, stomach, intestines, lungs, liver, all that jazz. This hermana is that same hermana who gave us the salad of tuna fish and hot dogs. She seems to try to out-do herself each time in the amount she can make me gag. And she is succeeding.

I am tired of when people are more interested of where I am from than in my message that I have to share. heheheheh we were talking with a security guard, and he was like You are not from here are you. I told him Yes I am, Jalapeña. AND HE BELIEVED ME!!!!! HA. He was like Oh, I thought you were from the United States. LISTEN TO MY MESSAGE, DO NOT LOOK AT THE COLOR OF MY HAIR OR THE FACT THAT I AM TALLER THAN YOU.

People:

Ivanna - Got baptized on Saturday!!!! Her baptism was beautiful :) her mom got emotional. Baptisms never get old, my stomach flips around like a fish in my stomach every time :). She was waiting for us the whole week when we went to teach her, we may be her new best friends. Fine by me!!!! :) She needs to help be an example for her family, her mom and older sister are less active. SHE CAN BE THE STRENGTH!!

all of my companions who are still in the mission

Camilo and Lorena - Did not get baptized this week, Camilo is kind of failing school and had a lot going on and now goes to extra tutoring class things. SATAN. GO AWAY. We finally got his mom to sign his cédula though!! She asked him like 6 times if HE WAS SURE that he wanted to be baptized. He was always kind of flojo with us, but he said YES every single time! GO CAMILOOOOOO!!!!! This little fat kid definitely has my heart. Lorena´s mind is all over the place again, she is a confused teenager. We put a goal for both of them for the 14th. I love them both so much!!!!! We have been working with them for so long, I feel like they are my kids. Lots of hope. Camilo told us he prayed to know if the church was true and told us he dreamed that night that he was a Mormon!!! And that he felt warm and peaceful. I don't remember if I already said that or not....but IT STILL MELTS MY HEART!!!!!

Maria - the wicked interesting lady who lived in England. Turns out she cannot leave for the Yucatan because the peso is losing its value, and there everything is in dollars. YAY!!!!!! We re-put a baptism date with her and are gonna visit her more, because it looks like she is staying around!!!! Hopefully her life can be non-Mexican novela for a little bit.

That is about it for this week. I love being a missionary, and I love this Christmas season! Be happy!!! Look up He is the Gift! You will love the video, I promise!!

Love, Hermana Westergard

WE LOVE CHRISTMAS TREES

 kisses for santa

mondongo aka pansita aka WORST FOOD IN MEXICO

Ivanna´s baptism!!

being a part of the holiday spirit

Add caption

OUR CHRISTMAS TREE :)

conpletos - comida de Chile

still cold

Still cold. Really cold. But the work moves forward!!! SO THIS WEEK...

NORMA WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!!!! AAAHHHHHHH. One of my converts in Olivo went on the ward temple trip on Friday!!!!!!! MY HEART IS SO FULL!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY!!!!! I cannot describe the joy I feel knowing that. Hna Q said she was gonna send me a picture buttttt still waiting on it. SO HAPPY :):):):):):)

Random things:

My water bottle got a hole in it and ruined EVERYTHING in my bag. Including my himnario. Ug. Life goes on though. Also very grateful for my camera case.

I ate some of the most delicious food and some of the not best food this week.....among the best were chiles rellenos and platanos machos rellenos and birthday dulce mole and tamales. Seriously I love Mexican food. I would consider living in Mexico after the mission just for the food. Among the worst....an hermana made a ´salad´ with hot dogs and tuna........still not quite sure what to think of it.

2 families were so great to us this week. We had talked a little about Thanksgiving - me and the American elders - and the ward mission leader made us a little Thanksgiving dinner! And another family invited us all to their house the day after for more ´Thanksgiving´. None of the dinners had turkey....but one did have a cheese ball and the other had mashed potatoes. All in all, basically Thanksgiving! THE MEMBERS ARE SO GREAT EVERYWHERE!!!! They love us like we were their own kids.

I found worms in my grapefruit after I had eaten half of the half.....it is like that joke of what is worse than finding a worm in your apple? Half a worm. I DO NOT KNOW HOW THEY GOT IT. THERE WERE NO HOLES OR ANYTHING. Have not eaten grapefruit since.

I got to ride in the back of a truck! Finally!!! SO INVIGORATING!!! hahaha we must have looked crazy. A Chileno and an American in skirts laughing our heads off as we careened down the hills and around the bends. LOVE ITTTTT - Wheezy voice from Dragon Tales

Hermana H randomly says things in English and I love it hahah and it always cracks me up. Her favorite things to say are 1. Suspicious men 2. Ow, my eye 3. YOU SHUT UP 4. I want to eat 5. She/He is fat. hahahah from small things are great things come to pass.

Lorena and Camilo - THEY ARE GETTING BAPTIZED ON THURSDAY!!!!! YAYYYY!!!! Camilo´s 11th birthday!!!!!! YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!! This week was literally so up and down. All over the place. Sometimes it is hard to get them to focus, the 10 year old distracts the 14 year old and they both distract my companion so I feel like I am the mom. BUT all of that aside....we finally got down to what was holding Lorena back. We talked with her, had a great spiritual lesson about repentance and the Holy Ghost with some amazing movies and the Spirit andddddd they decided for this week!!!! Lorena loves us! She told us she does not want us to be changed. The poor girl has gone through a lot and it going through a lot. She told her mom about her baptism and everything! The only things missing are the signatures of their parents on their cedulas and their interviews! Prayers are answered and miracles happen! We have been working with them SO much. Cosas difíciles valen la pena.

Matilde - an older woman who was taught by other missionaries. She knows the church is true, and believes in the Book of Mormon, she just is not married. But her boyfriend is up for marriage! Now we just need to help them follow through with it!

Ivanna - a 10 year old whose mom is less active. She was also taught by other hermanas but she backed out last minute from her baptism. We went with the Elders, and the lesson went AMAZING!!!! Elder McGlinchy is my district leader and he is so powerful! An amazing missionary! He is so good at making commitments and clarifying and recommitting. Long story short, we set her date for this Saturday too! EEEKKKK!!!!!! Her problem was she did not want a lot of people in her baptism. We can solve that! Just do it when it is not Sunday! Miracles on miracles on miracles!

The neighbors - still trying so hard with them. David and Angel went to church with us on Sunday - along with their friend Williams. Hna H and I were like moms hahah we had 4 little boys with us, the oldest being 11. I cannot tell what they are thinking, or what they want, or if they even believe what we are teaching. But they love us a lot. How to distinguish what to do? I do not know.

Cindy and Blanca - everything under the sun is happening to them this week it seems like and we did not get to see either of them :( Hopefully this week will be better for them both!

Laura and Soña - They hide from us literally. We went to their house, and Laura's boyfriend answered the door and told us he had been waiting for them for like 30 minutes. We talked to him a little and then left. As we were going down the steps, I was looking in their window and I see Laura pop out from under the desk. Why do they feel the need to hide? We don´t bite hahaha but if they don´t want to listen I would rather they just tell us. Funny they hide though

I cannot believe it is December!!! TIME IS FLYING!!!!! The church is true! Make good decisions while you can!

Love, Hermana Westergard

found worms in my grapefruit...... 

MY TWIN 

still lots of hills in Xalapa

Thanksgiving Mexico style.....

there is always Coca-Cola

FINALLY GOT TO RIDE IN THE BACK OF A TRUCK!!!! I love the no road rules in Mexico hahaha

Lorena loves us! We love her!!

Cathedral in Centro

Cold weather doesn´t mean cold people

I never know how to start these emails so I am just gonna jump right into it.

This week was honestly a roller coaster, but SO AMAZING. I saw so many miracles this week, felt so much love, and just feel SO extremely blessed to be here and to have this opportunity to get to know the people of Xalapa. I am so excited to go out and see people every day! It is like I got an energy drink for missionary work, it is fantastic.

Some random things:

So cold and so rainy this week. And when I say cold, I mean cold. Like when we get up in the morning I can see my breath and I can continue to see it the whole 3 hours I am studying until we leave at 11. And then I can see it outside too! Also, when I get out of the shower, I have steam radiating from my body and the water I am using is not all that warm either. The weather here is definitely crazy, and our house is definitely WICKED cold.

Turns out the ´pansita´ from last week actually was not pansita. It was salsa de chicharrón. Chicharron is the skin of the pig. If you are gagging, those were my thoughts too. IT IS ALL JUST AS BAD. But here in Mexico, they literally eat ALL the parts of ALL the animals. Every, single, last, organ, and foot and eyeball.

I made Hna Hidalgo french toast for her 9 months in the mission! She had never eaten it before, and totally loved it. She had also never eaten syrup or whipped cream, so it was definitely a treat for the both of us hahahaha.  

The Hna for the comida on Sunday was driving us to her hosue after church. Her baby was crying soooooo what does she do? She just starts nursing her baby while driving. Just in Mexico.

There is a hymn here Nunca Debemos Dudar - We Should Never Doubt or something like that. I hate the song because I think people sound like robots but it applies so much to the mission. We need to work on having a perfect faith, we cannot doubt at all!!! If we have a perfect faith, we can see miracles. So as much as I hate the tune, the lyrics are very accurate.

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON!!!!!! More on this in a little bit.

Monday basically seemed like a turning point for me in the mission. We had 3 set appointments and ALL 3 of them fell through. It was pouring, dark, scary, cold...all those great things. It would have been easy to be discouraged - and Hna H was a little down - but nope I told her we were gonna go look for Lorena. SSSOOOOOO

Lorena and Camilo - We go to look for these 2 kids and they are there! Great because then we do not need to stand in the rain. We start talking with them both. They were investigators of the elders, but they said they did not want to be baptized so they let us talk with them. In that lesson, it was honestly the most gutsy I have been my entire mission. Sometimes, I am somewhat afraid to talk with people about baptism, because I get afraid that we will scare people away. But in this lesson, there was none of that! I brought it right up...I do not know how...but my courage definitely was not my own. Hna H just kind of sat there in silence because she was nervous to bring it up, and I went on a roll! It was amazing, scary, my heart was going 1000000 miles per hour, but I promised them that if they continued to listen to us and if they prayed and read the things we left with them, they WOULD feel ready to be baptized. I know this doesnt sound that dramatic, but when it is in another language and if you could feel my heart pounding, you would understand! AND THEY SAID YES!!!!! We have gone to teach them almost every day this week, and they have learned a lot! They still do not feel completely ready, but they both go to church and the activities. And they have been reading the Book of Mormon! That is like music to the ears of a missionary. Lorena is 14, and she loves coffee and we also think she has problems with the law of chastity....so we are working on that. Camilo is an extremely gordito 10 year old who is wicked shy....but likes to listen to us. We will see with them both.

Maria Alejandra, Soña and Laura - A contact that Hna Hidalgo had from the cambio pasado. We went to look for them another night when more appointments fell through, and miraculously they were there. And what else? They asked us when they could go to church with us, and what they had to do to be baptized. GOLDEN FAMILY!!! Maria is the mom....and she is still stubborn in her Catholic ways but she likes to listen to us. She agrees with our points about the 3 important characteristics of Christs baptism, but then tells us that she was baptized as a baby....a point we just explained to her that baptizing children is not correct and they do not need to be baptized. It is always hit or miss I feel like with older Catholics. But her daughters are amazing, and invited their friend and boyfriend to listen to us the next time we went to visit them!!! We went to take them with us to church though on Sunday, and I think they were lying to us because their dad told us they went to centro. I dont know. A little confused by all of that, but we went last night to visit them and they were super excited again. LOTS OF FAITH!!!! They also tell me I look like Rose from Titanic. I wore my hair down when the friend was there too and she was staring at me the whole time....so uncomfortable. They keep telling my companion to watch out for me because I stand out and look like a doll and lots of people are being kidnapped. They tell my poor companion this every time we go to their house hahah I think she is getting frusterated by it all. But them saying that makes me more nervous. The fact they say it EVERY SINGLE TIME, doesnt help matters either. Ug

Maria - The extremely interesting woman who lived in England for 30 years and her life is like a Mexican Novela. She doesnt like the weather of Xalapa, so she is selling her house and moving to Yucatan. Honestly, her life is like a movie. SHE ALSO KNOWS SO MUCH STUFF!!! She had problems about how African American couldnt have the priesthood and she is up to date with the churchs stance on abortion and everything. Wow. No one here ever has questions or even knows about that stuff.  Apparently, she knows that Princess Diana was still alive after her car crashed and the man who blinded the driver with his mirror to cause the crash, shot her because she was still alive after. She said it is the secret of England. And many more stories like that. Honestly still in shock with this woman. She also told us about a train that goes from Guatemala to the USA called the Bestia - meaning beast. It is called this because people climb onto this train with hopes of getting to the US but like half of them never make it because they fall off or go through tunnels or get tired and well....die. I did not know any of this stuff. BUT she is still reading the Book of Mormon, and loves it all. We are gonna try to send missionaries to her in the Yucatan, but where she is living is in the middle of nowhere because she doesnt want neighboors. Literally, she showed us pictures. Her life = Mexican novela. Oh, and her husband is in Thailand right now.

Don Toño and his daughters - we went back to teach them, they read the chapter we left with them and said that they prayed. But we know they didnt. Because they told us they only believe in the Bible and the word of God, implying that the Book of Mormon is not the word of God. Hna H almost lost it, but very calmly told them that she did not know if it would be in this life or on the next, but one day they would know that our words are the truth and they would regret giving us back the Book or Mormon. We told them it was a gift and that they did not need to return it, but they insisted that they did not want it in their house. Hence, why Hna H planched them. Something I have noticed....Hna H is very passionate about the Gospel and is 75% of the time trying to control herself when someone is insulting us.

Cindy - the woman who called us back last week! Well we went to a lesson with her this week and she is so humble, so willing and so ready to listen to us! She has been through a lot. She was an alcoholic, drug addict, and told us she found God in rehab. We invited her to be baptazed and she said she would do whatever it takes!! She had read the whole pamphlet that we gave her and even answered the questions at the back for additional study. Can you say perfect?

Blanca - lived in the elders area but moved her house to escape from her husband. The elders gave us her number because they knew she was in our area but they do not know exactly where. We called her, and finally got to meet with her. Her house literally has nothing. She has a bunch of tomatoes on the counter, some flowers - to sell I think - a grocery bag with clothes and a sleeping pad for her bed. She has nothing. Her daughers are living with her mom right now in a ranch, and her daughter fell and hurt herself on Sunday so she couldnt go to church with us. Satan us definitely doing his best to impede these people from following on the right path. BUT WE WILL WIN! WE HAVE MORE FAITH. An hermana gave us some pan, and when we left, I left it on the seat with a little note saying we loved her. I offered it to her when we first got there, but she said she had already eaten. Doubt it.

Cheko - ward mission leader. SO GREAT. Loves the missionaries like they are his children. He bought us all tacos al pastor. Me cae bien.

I saw a beautiful baptism on Saturday. A pregnant woman, who is having her baby on Wednesday, got baptized with her 2 sons. The Spirit there was so touching. Seeing this step of faith that the hna was making for her family, and seeing the joy in her eyes....are what make the mission worth it. She had to squat in the font because she couldnt lean back like people normally do when theyare baptized. I cannot do the baptism justice, but it was beautiful. So grateful to witness moments like that.

Have a fantastic week! I know I will!

Love, Hermana Westergard

Back at it

 I LOVE LANI ALISA

HAHAH THE HNA MORA!! I cannot express my love for this family

me and Elder Dean being cool

 i love these girls!!!(Brenda is a member behind us, Hna Braun, Hna Martinez de Honduras y Hna Quiñonez)

Brrrrr my fingers are frozen I don't know if I will be able to type this email. Just kidding I will be able to write it.....but my fingers are definitely icicles. Who would have thought that Mexico could get so cold! I wear 2 coats every day and can see my breath at night. Definitely was not prepared for this. But it is better than using my sweat rag! I reminisce on my Papantla days because Hna Hidalgo served there too! So whenever we find a hill that is somewhat steep and large, we just look at each other and say Papantla.

SO MUCH THIS WEEK I DONT KNOW WHERE TO BEING! I write little notes in my agenda to remind me what I want to say, and I have gotten to the point where I use colors and A, B, C to help me organize my thoughts while I am writing. This is intense stuff.

So I am now in Museo! Still in Xalapa, more near the trees, and more big hills here. There is a freeway type thing that we always walk on called Ruiz Corinez...it is way better to walk on it at night because there are cars somewhat and some lights. It gets dark here around 6 so we are just super cautious in the 3 hours of darkness that we are out and about working. My companion has had some really bad experiences in the mission with creepy men and darkness....so she is kind of paranoid and super cautious too. There are also some protests and stuff going on because people are not happy with the government, there are people disappearing (mostly the college students who are protesting), and there are these Veracruz games (which are like the Olympics but just for Latin American countries and the Caribbean). Sooooo things are just kind of all over the place right now!!!

After that rant:

I only cried a little a lot leaving Hermana Quiñonez. She is definitely one of my best friends and an incredible person. I am going to miss her so much!!! Luckily, my new companion is also so great! She is from Chile, and was born where my dad served his mission! All these little connections are so cool!! Hna Hidalgo is super humble, and when she teaches, her love and sincerity are undeniable. I am super excited for this change! I remember sitting with her when we first got to Mexico and we were saying the words of the things on the table because we did not know hardly and Spanish. AND LOOK AT US NOW. Conversing every day! So cool how we both have grown! My new house is less humid...which is good because I found mold in a bunch of my clothes when I was packing. Gross. Also no hot water but we have a water resistor? I don't know the name exactly but you put the rod in the bucket of water and it heats it right up! Not so bad. 

I am the compañera mayor! It feels weird to be mayor, but I like it. I feel more responsible and like I am guided more. I don't know how to describe it really, but Hna H and I work so well together! We are the same, except I have the keys and the phone. One of the first things I noticed when I got here are the neighbors. They loved Hna Chandler - Hna H´s pervious companion. They are investigators, and kind of see me as replacing the other missionary. I am trying to gain their love though and I think it is working! I charmed them over when I showed them the excellent fart sounds I can make with my hands and mouth. Poco a poco hahaha little by little.

So many interesting and new people I have met this week:

Carmen - an old lady we contacted in the street. SHe emerged from her house when she heard us banging on the door of someones house trying to get their attention. Her mom sold her blood because she couldn't find work and had 4 kids to feed. So sad :( We are going to talk with her tomorrow!! SHe is a feeble old lady, and we were talking with her and a bug landed on her door. All doors here are made out of metal. She looks at it for like 2 seconds, winds her hand back and SMASHES it with all her little old lady strength. Her house basically shook hahahaha it was so much strength for such a small thing. Hna H and I just lost it hahaha then she laughed with us. I love old people!!

Maria - lived in England for 30 years, her husband is currently in Thailand in their house there and is an Oxford graduate. They have a ranch in France, she met Princess Diana in the flesh, survived cancer by drinking these natural remedies with iodine, and knows the Book of Mormon is true. Wow.

Don Toño - man we contacted. Contacting will always be awkward hahah but you just gotta embrace it. We were talking with him, had a great lesson and I was just starting to explain about Joseph Smith and the First Vision when....HIS DAUGHTERS WALK IN. We thought they wanted to kill us for a little but we just kept on talking and smiling and being as charming as we could. We all ended up laughing and talking at the end, and we have another appointment to visit them this week!

Lorena - investigator of the elders, but they gave up because she was being floja and said we could teach her if we wanted. We went to talk with her and FOUND THE ROOT of her doubts. First she was saying that she didn't understand that babies don't need to be baptized. But after talking more and more, she tells us she wants to experiment things - like drugs and alcohol. THE ROOT. We left her with a chapter to read about faith, and bore tons and tons of testimony about the importance of not doing that stuff. And she went to church with us on Sunday!

Talked with a crazy, cranky Catholic cahoon. My attempt at alliteration, i am not quite sure what cahoon means. He is a man though. He cut us off every moment we tried to say ANYTHING and refused to listen to our words even though even the densest of people could not deny what we were saying. Not going back with the interrupting igloo. Igloo because his heart is so hard we cannot get through. Tal vez, no es su tiempo.

Saturday - Very interesting day. The Hna for the comida was LITERALLY piling food onto our plates. Literally. My plate was half full of rice and she piled on 2 scoops more and 3 more of beans. So. Full. I never really experienced that before. We totally saw the hand of the Lord guiding us too!!!! It is so cool to see that. We were just walking, and a woman walked out of her garage and into her house. We said Buenas Noches as we walked by. We kept on going and then we hear someone calling us. We go back, and she asked us if we teach about the Bible and says she wants to meet with us. WOW. We are meeting with Cindy on Thursday!

Sunday - One of the days where you do everything you can and work so hard, but nothing goes your way. We looked and looked for hours for people, nada. Starving, we went to the comida and what was it? PANSITA NOOOOOOO MY WORST ENEMY AND NIGHTMARE AAAAHHHHHHHH. Pansita with rice and tortillas. Luckily, we were eating with the elders and they saved us. They offered to wash the dishes and they stealthily dumped it in the drash while we sang with the hermana. They were able to eat theirs, with about 10 tortillas each, but we just couldn't. I tried...i got about 2.5 pieces down. We feasted on mandarinas for lunch instead. A little old lady with Alzhiemers also told me I was gigantisma, and gave me about 30 kisses. She was adorable.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! SO HAPPY I GET TO BE OUT AND WORKING AGAIN!!!! 

Love, Hermana Westergard

last platanos capeados :( with Hna Angelica and Hno Lucio

 DA NEW ZONE

Hna Hidalgo introduced me to CHURROS

my new view

agenda

yeah we cook

 (apparently eggs with pasta is a Chilean thing)

Goal making is the name of the game

This week was so great!!!  It was so inspiring, so motivating, I feel like a new missionary!

So today we found out transfers!!! ANDDDDDDDDD I am still going to be in Xalapa! I thought for sure I was gonna be sent to Martinez de la Torre, but I am still in Xalapa! Just going to a different Zone.  My new ward is Museo and my zone will be Estacion. I honestly cannot believe that I will still be here! My new companion is Hna H, from Chile! She is from my generation also! I always seem to be with people from my generation, I actually love it! I have also spent a day with her before, and she is super sweet. And, I am not going to be too far from Hna Q, so I am still a happy camper! 

This week I have thought a ton about goals and commitments and how we can achieve our goals. We had a really inspiring zone class, and they talked a lot about what we need to do to achieve those things. I am so grateful to have great leaders who care so much about us as missionaries and want to see our success in the mission. They want to see us happy! I know I need to testify with all my heart, that if I do that, people cannot deny what I am expressing to them. ALSO, I know if people do these things that we invite them to do, they will be blessed! I know if they do these things, things will work out! It just takes that little leap of faith on their part, and I need to be there helping them take that leap, leaping with them. And that is what I am here trying to do! Gain their confidence so they can make that leap of faith! They need to desire to do that for themselves though. It was also the last zone class for Elder de la Hoz and Elder Dean. They were both such great missionaries and everyone was getting a little emotional at the end. We sang God Be WIth You Till We Meet Again obviously and Elder de la Hoz could not even sing he was so choked up.I JUST LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

We had a great planning session this week! I LOVE PLANNING!! I always feel so good after and we always have tons of ideas and new motivation. Planning is so great! We made a game called la papa caliente, or hot potato. We picked a number between 1 and 10 and whoever chose the number got to pick a family. That family now needs pray and think about to whom they can give a Book of Mormon to someone this week. And then the next Sunday, they get to chose the next family! WE ARE SO CREATIVE!!!!

I FINALLY FINISHED THE 42 POINTS!!!! Now I can finally move on and study what I want to hahahaha

There was a missionary musical this Sunday and it was beautiful! The missionaries from another zone prepared this whole program and I cannot describe how loving it was. I can guarantee that every person there felt the Saviors love at some point or another. I also got to see my friend Elder Woodward! He didn't know I broke my foot hahaha he was in shock when he saw me.

Reymundo does not want anything, he canceled his lesson with us. :(

We have a new investigator named Monse! SHE IS SO PERFECT! She is the friend of a member. and her friend was able to be in the lesson with us. I finally got to go out and teach a little this week, and the lesson was beautiful. The Spirit was testifying, she was asking lots of questions, and had so much to say. Lessons like these are my favorites. It is what makes being a missionary worth it.

I wrote a letter to my former non-amigo the ward mission leader since we had changes. Something I was really working on my whole time here was loving him. Trying to put his schedule first so that he could help us. And I wrote him a little note, thanking him for everything he does. I know that a lot of people kind of forget about the work that he does. But I let him know that I do notice, and I am very grateful for it all. He called me today to thank me for the letter! I also wrote that we weren't friends in the beginning, but I am glad to say I would consider him my friend now, and he told me that we were friends now also. He asked when was the next time we were going to eat at his house and I told him I was being changed, and he was like DONT TELL ME THAT!!! I told him we would see each other again someday :) whether here in this life or after. I am so grateful we got to be friends, and I am SO grateful for his work in his calling.

Random:

Never would have thought that I would be cold and have goosebumps here in Mexico. But at night I sleep with 2 blankets, sweatpants and a sweatshirt....and I am still cold. I am gonna die this next change

called tortillas negras tortillas azules....BECAUSE THEY LOOK BLUE

trying to say the language mandarin....es mandarin en español pero dije mandarina...que es una fruta....sí los miembros empezaron riendose jajaja y yo tambien. WHY IS MY MISSION SO EMBARASSING

I unofficially have gastritis thanks to all the chile I have eaten and the antibiotics from my stomach infection. YAYYYYYY. I was kind of dying Saturday but I feel much better now. Hna Q has pills for it though so she has been sharing with me. Feeling a little better!

I love the mission! I know this church is true!

Love, Hermana Westergard

  

part of a shrine for the dead

 my zone!!!! i love them!!!!,

 hermanas in the zone

Elder Dean and Elder de la Hoz going home :(

familia Belo Solis, unas de mis favoritas!!!

their daughters Alison, Lani and Daira

a drawing Alison made of me hahaha

pan de muerto

 Kemish one of my favorite little chunkers

CAST BE GONE

So.  Things are going a lot better physically! The antibiotics that the doctor prescribed for me worked magic, AND THE CAST IS GONE! I am like a whole new person!!! My leg is a little skinner, had A LOT more hair, has weird bruises whose origins I know not of, but it is without cast!!!!! It also looks like a shriveled raisin a little. Taking normal showers has never felt so good.

Random things:

The grandson of hermana Angelica whose house I stay at - Kemish - called me mama the other day.....yeah I have been at their house a lot. I told him he was mistaken and showed him where his real mom was hahaha. I have also been Helping hna Angelica prepare for her nighttime business. I have always been sitting in their house studying and working on other things, but I decided finally to help out and not just be a studying couch potato. For cacalas, you need to shred the chicken by hand into teeny tiny pieces, and she hates doing that. After doing it for her for 3 days, I hate it too. You sit at a table for probably 3 hours just shredding chicken, and more chicken, and more chicken. BUT I do it for her because I love her!!!

This week was Dia de los Muertos. People have decorated altars all over, dressed their kids up like the dead for school, and make lots and lots of pan de muerto. The altars have pictures of the person who died, foods that they like, pan del muerto and these orange flowers that are really popular at this time of year. Apparently, they think that the dead person eats the food, or at least feasts on the smells of the food. It is all very interesting. There are also some people that celebrate Halloween, but not a whole lot. And here, they get money! Not candy! Hna Q  was walking and saw some teenagers dressed up and she told them she liked their costumes. Hna Q also had a piece of cake, and the teenager did not say thank you or anything, only DAME TU PASTEL. Which means GIVE ME YOUR CAKE. Hahahahah obviously she did not give them her cake, and they told her they were gonna haunt her for the rest of her life. Dramatic teenagers who want cake are interesting.

I was studying the other day and dropped something under the table. I bent over to pick it up, looked at the underside of my table and found BOOGERS, smeared ALL OVER...with HAIR. Perfect way to start off my day. Some other hermana obviously was not focusing when she was studying. Bleh.

I could see my breath last night it was so cold. That was weird

I got to go to a Noche de Hogar with a missionary who got back from him mission on Wednesday!  And one of the first things he wanted to do was share a message with his friend. How great it he!!! The NdH kind of turned into a family council and the mom started crying and things were just all over, but all in all we set another date to visit them! The mom is really, super super Catholic, but she said we were angels sent to help them. If she has that opinion of us now, I know we can change her heart and help her see the peace and joy that the Gospel can bring! Miracles are possible with faith. If there is one thing I have a testimony of, it is that!

In church, another member said that me and Hna Q were a pair of angles. It is difficult for me to try to see us the way that the members see us, but if they have these huge expectations and opinions, I am not going to let them down! I bore my testimony in Relief Society on Sunday also. I was SO emotional. I have been here in Olivo for almost 6 months now, and I cannot describe the LOVE I feel for each of these members. THey are SO SO good to us. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude and how blessed I feel to be here. But I was a wreck and a lot of the members were crying right along with me. Transfers are next week, and I know I am gonna leave. THis place has become my home, the members here have become my family. I love them!!!! Getting so sad just thinking about leaving. Best to leave that to next week.

We are still working our butts off to find new people. It is rough, but every day we start out with the mentality that we will find the people who are waiting and READY to listen to us! We know they are out there!!!

We had a really powerful district class this week. Elder de la Hoz is going home next week, and it was more of a testimony meeting. Some of the elders in my district never seem to take things seriously, but I saw another side of the elders in the class. The majority of us had tears in our eyes. Elder de la Hoz also broke his foot in the mission, so he has sympathized a lot with me. I think I remind him a lot of himself hahaha. But the Spirit was amazing, and I am very grateful to be able to serve with missionaries who have such strong testimonies and who are out here for many of the same reasons I am.

The work is moving forward here in Mexico. Whether on crutches or in awkward lessons through gates, it is always moving forward. I am so grateful for this time to serve the Lord! He loves each one of us, way more than we can imagine.

Love, Hermana Westergard

Hna Q got creative with my toes

 Alondra ready for Dia de los Muertos

 Enfrijolados

 CAST BE GONE

nervous for the saw

 Pumpkin someone brought to church

 an elder made me a caligraphy present 

 carne asado!!!