HELLO SWEAT

Well here I am in Papantla again!!! Honestly - this might sound weird - but I feel like I feel more like a missionary when I am sweating and am suffering a little more hahahaha. I don't know why. But that's the way my mind works. I forgot what it was like to sweat this much. I won't go into too much detail, but lets just say we are sweating heads, shoulders, knees and toes 18 hours a day. Only 17 hours because we have AC in the room where our beds are so we get a little relief during the night. But I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO GRATEFUL FOR AC!!! I also forgot how big the hills were here. They are like that roller coaster Superman at Six Flags. AND the escogidos live at the top of all the mountains. We have to work for the good things!!

It was so hard to leave Teziutlan. I am pretty sure a pice of my heart will always be there. Saying goodbye to J and E and B and J was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Also saying goodbye to  B/S/Y/M aaaaahhhhhhh my heart broke all over again. AND THEN saying goodbye to Hna P, it just broke into a million pieces. I love that girl with my whole heart!!!!! I am going to miss them all. The mission gives us a lot of trials, but also some of the best experiences of our lives. I love these people, they will always be a special part of me.

I am still STL  but now I am in charge of 4 companionships, so I will actually be doing divisiones and get to know all the areas of Papantla! This will be interesting and an AMAZING experience!

My companion is Hermana R from the Estado de Mexico. She has 13 months in the mission and having a rough time. President told her this cambio that he was going to put her with the best missionary in the whole mission and that she would have an amazing cambio.....I have a lot to live up to. I am trying to animate her and help her find what it is that she loves here!!

There is a lot of work to do here. There isn't really anyone that is progressing, but I feel like I have never worked so hard in my whole mission and we are talking to everyone, contacting all our references, doing EVERYTHING in our power. I know we will see the fruits of our labors sooner or later!

I saw the bishop of Xanath, the first area I was in here in the mission. The ward has grown immensly!!!!!!! There are now 260 people going regularly. He also told me about people who I taught - who didn't get baptized - who later got baptized and then their families also. It was an hermosa experience because I had kind of felt my whole mission that my first 3 months here were a failure because we hardly ever had anyone in church and we didn't baptize anyone. But I was reminded and shown the evidence of the importance of planting seeds :) Happy happy happy!!!

M T - an old lady who we contacted and went to church on Sunday! She is about 300 years old, but still functions normally and I think she still hears pretty well too. SO THAT IS FANTASTIC!!!! She told me I was gorda about 6 times in 30 minutes hahaha so that's something I am never gonna forget. We also said a closing prayer and she said she was grateful for all the santos.....we've got some work to do there too

Familia L- we gave them Books of Mormon and had a great lesson with them on Sunday, and they are going to go with us next week! The dad is super sincere, and in the lesson they are marking the scriptures and everything. I have wanted to work with a family my whole mission, like from the beginnings, and I feel like this is my chance!

Love, Hermana Westergard

la ultima cena con mi compa :(

the familia R R :(  I LOVE THEM!!!!

M - works where the conbis pass by and we always talked with her but she could never go to church, a happy and wonderful woman though

J

B with the Biblia we bought them!!!!

Familia O L :( I LOVE THEM TOO!!!!

 one of my favorite couples of all time :)

J and B one last time :(

Hna Y

Goodbye to Hna P :'''''(

la nueva zona

some of the hills

after climbing the hill with our favorite accessory - sweat

look for the statue in the background

tamales corrientes. i thought i would never encounter them after the first time and BOOM, ug

ya el ultimo cambio

We have cambios. Off I go to end my mission in Voladores, Papantla. From 19°C to 33°C, here I go!!!! To be with Hermana R, I don't really know about her, so we will see what happens when I get there tomorrow! They told us yesterday and I was doing everything in my power not to cry in front of all the elders. We were not expecting transfers at all!!!!!! Hermana P is going to be one of my best friends for life, I am so grateful for the time I had to learn from her and to work with her in the mission. But I know that cambios are inspired, so we will see what comes from this transfer.

 We had consejo this past week and presidente and the asistentes were focused a lot on the Book of Mormon. Leaving consejo, I decided we were going to drop all the investigators who were not progressing and reading their assignments in the Book of Mormon. And what happened? We found a BUNCH of new people who are willing and excited to read what we give them! It made us realize that we cannot waste time with people who are not truly interested. The Book of Mormon is CRUCIAL in the conversion process. There are so many promises in the Book of Mormon and so many blessings that we can receive if we just have the desire to look for them and learn about them.

They had the people pass in front to bear their testimonies because at the time we don't know if they will be in the consejo the next month. I was one of those people.....and IT WAS WEIRD. To think that I am in the last stretch, that I gave my 'farewell' testimony, weird weird weird. I don't like it. But it was all for nothing hahah because I am going to be back in consejo next month. I am not going to do it twice.

I JUST WANT TO TALK WITH EVERYONE!!!! And we do! Not scared anymore! And we are TOTALLY seeing the fruits of our labors. It is a cool thing to be able to see.

Testimony meeting on Sunday was GREAT! Sometimes I am afraid to bring the people we are teaching to that meeting because it can either be really awful or really fantastic, and this week was FANTASTIC!!! A 9 year old bore his testimony about obedience because apparently I need to obey my mom to return to Christ'. Everyone started chuckling a little hahahaha. I also had to give the Principios del Evangelio class and I was wicked nervous. I am fine teaching in front of a couple of people, but a larger group throws me off. I was praying a wholeeeeee lot and the class was GREAT!!!! Everyone understood me, there was tons of participation, 2 people cried, and 3 women came up to me and told me how grateful they were for my class. My pleasure :) and milliones de gracias al Espiritu Santo por ayudandome

F y P - I love these humble people. F literally has a new light in his eyes, he looks DIFFERENT. I feel so blessed to see how the gospel is changing his life. They are also hilarious. He tells us he is going to get to church at 23:00, 11:00. He always tells us "si, nos vemos a las 23 horas. si .si. si" Then what happens? They get to church at 9 - showered and everything, go to the other ward for 2 hours and then go to our ward for 3 hours. F didn't want to and didn't take the Sacrament because he was still full from breakfast and doesn't like to eat when he is full. We asked them if they had read 2 Nefi 31.....and they had. We asked F to show us where he read and he pointed to 2 Nefi 31:1. That was it. But he is making an effort!

J y E - I literally love this family with my whole heart. E told us she doesn't want to get to know any more missionaries because it hurts too much when we are changed :(

P y Y - off to Guadalajara. We went to say bye to them and Y was reading the BoM when we got there. I am SO determined to send the missionaries over there to THEM!!!!

B etc... HAD HER BABY!!!!! E A...not a fan of the name but he is adorable!!!!! I love him!!!! She is also doing fine so that is a relief. Y is seriously amazing. He started wearing a white shirt to church, wears dress pants now too, gets there early, what a great kid. I am so proud of him. My heart is breaking to leave :(

A y R M - I only got to know them this week :( but I know they are going to go far. They have read everything we have left them to read in the BoM and have prayed. They went to church, RM even wore a modest skirt!!! They are sisters, A is 15 and RM is 11, turning 12 soon. I am surprised at how mature they are. I am leaving them in the good care of Hna P. We helped their grandma with some 'weeding'. By weeding, I mean chopping away at the hill with a machete. But yes, I USED A MACHETE!!! And I still have all my limbs. It was a success

Love, Hermana Westergard

prestando servicio

garlic flower...so interesting!!!!!

the old lady we were helping

hermosas nubes

21

What a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOWWWW!!!!! ok.

Well something that I really enjoyed last week from PMG was in Chapter 4. It said that 'The missionary is making contact with the Spirit of Christ already there. The gospel will have a familiar 'ring' to them.' Boyd K Packer. How beautiful is that? The spirit is already there, we are just reminding them what they have felt and it will feel like coming home.

A woman this week told me I have a really big heart, I think that made it a little bigger hahaha. I feel like I have changed here in the mission, but to hear other people see changes or things like that, it really makes me feel like I am doing some good.

Yes. I am now 21. Feeling very very very OLD. I was in Xalapa and Hna Greer made a big breakfast for us, complete with bacon and blueberries and raspberries and blackberries. WAHHHHH like a little piece of home hahah but I felt very loved. The other missionaries were also glad it was my birthday. Hna P surprised me when I got back with a cake and a bag of lychees!!! One of the best fruits ever. It was SO much better than my birthday last year. Last year were cambios and the house I got to didn't even have toilet paper. So it was a great improvement!! 

One of the nights in Xalapa I was talking to another hermana and I saw a white fuzz ball moving. A WHITE FUZZBALL MOVING?!?!?! I casually mentioned to the hermana that I think there is a mouse behind her. She screams and jumps onto the bed and then all the other hermana in the house do too and then I do also because everyone else is freaking me out. Once we get calmed down, they let us know that the neighboors upstairs lost their pet gerbil....and that the fuzzball is it. FINALLY though, we coaxed it out of its little hiding cave and got it back to the neighboors.

In Xalapa I got to go and see Hna M!!! I LOVE HER!!!! It was such a happy reunion :)

My mission feels so great and like things are finally clicking, but the time is flying SO FAST!!! Why did it take 16 months to get to this point? Ug. I feel like I can finally connect and love the people unconditionally and everything else basically just falls into place.

Hna P is one of the best companions ever!!!!! I know we are going to be friends for a long long time. She keeps me happy and motivated. I really am SO grateful for her. We have lots of goals we want to achieve and work to achieve them! It is a good feeling. We are finally working with members more, something I have struggled with my whole mission. But we are seeing the fruits of our efforts.

We were talking with an interesting lady named M L and she totally FARTED. I thought I misheard, but then I saw Hna P's change in composure hahah and we almost lost it BUT we DIDN'T! Whew. Thank goodness for self control

S - She's got it all!!! She just lacks confidence in herself. And that is one of the most important things. It is hard when we see someone's potential and they just can't see it

P and Y - Came to church this week, going to Guadalajara on Saturday :( crying inside. They showed up with their diaper bag, completely prepared for sacrament meeting, like seasoned members. I am going to miss them :(

D - her mom gave her permission to get baptized..but still hasn't signed her cedula. D is also kind of strange sometimes and semi-hides from us or lies but then other times is really open and completely genuine. We need to find out what she is getting at

Little side note hahah so Presidente and Hna Greer have been asking for our experiences in the mission, because they are important for the legacy. I don't think that anyone has really been sending anything because in the announcements each week they ask in BIGGER and MORE RED letters for our experiences....I have never sent anything because honestly....there is no time while writing hahaha even though I have had a lot of amazing experiences. BUT GUESS WHAT. Presidente pulled something out of one of my weekly letters and put it as one of the experiences. I am anonymously? famous! Ruth and Jessie will understand what this means in my search for fame.

"From one of the great missionaries in the Xalapa Mission!!! Quote:

Ok, well some of the biggest things this week. Thanks to the consejo, and other lessons, I realized I had been slacking a lot on fasting and with the fast offerings. This week, we decided to fast and make EXTRA sure that we were doing every part of it. And what happened? We found a lot of new, AMAZING, people and we feel like we understand the needs of our investigators more. We also have been running a little short on money, but we still both paid our usual fast offering and people have been offering us food ALL week and have been giving us food to go. The blessings are pouring out upon us and it is AMAZING to see. I feel like I have never really seen the blessings this much of fasting and paying fast offerings, but it was incredible and my testimony is exponentially stronger. FASTING WORKS!!!"

Love, Hermana Westergard

21!

helping clean

us with Y and P

LCH conference

 birthday!!!!!

 a horse in a pretty view

tacos at the conference

 WE SURPRISED HNA M :)

Y and J and P and V

beautiful Teziutlan

conference with Elder Christiensen!!

Xalapa is in my blood

This last week honestly feels like a huge blur. We went to Xalapa twice for some AMAZING conferences but the whole week feels kind of scrambled hahaha. It is weird how doing something different from the ordinary routine can throw someone off so much.

Look up the Teziutlan disaster of 1999....it is awful. What happened behind the Panteon is in our area.

Hna P broke down a little one day, realizing that just knowing the doctrine isn't the same as being able to teach it. She has really high expectations for herself, which is great!!!! But she also needs to realize that she isn't perfect and that a lot of stuff will come with time. I always tell her 'No pasa nada'. If we are doing our very best, Heavenly Father can't ask for more. But we know when we are giving 100% and when we are not. If we are giving it our all, He will make up in the areas that we are lacking. That is what is so beautiful about His plan and missionary work! We are imperfect young adults called to teach something completely perfect. Heavenly Father trusts in us enough to put His children in our hands in this learning period. Lots of responsibility.

A man who drives one of the little bus things here sees us EVERYWHERE, and always buys us pan or gives us platanos. hahhaha we aren't complaining.

I have heard from a very reliable source that Hna M - from Xalapa en barrio Olivo - is working on getting divorced from her first husband so then she can get married to her husband right now!!! IT IS SOME OF THE BEST NEWS I HAVE HEARD IN MY WHOLE MISSION!!! I will literally sacrifice my arm and leg to be at her baptism.

Conference with Elder Pino - He and his wife talked a lot about humility. I think that is something that every one of us can improve on. It is amazing to be sitting there and to feel the Spirit testifying to me that they are servants of our Heavenly Father. He also explained to us the process of assigning mission calls - to emphasize that WE are HERE for a REASON. You could have heard  a pin drop in that room...is was AMAZING!!!

Conference with Elder Christiensen and Elder Pieper - Elder C talked for about an hour, and then the rest of the time was Q and A. IT WAS SO COOL!!! I got to ask a question to a member of the presidency of the seventy. Once again, the Spirit filled up the room like a tsunami wave. Wow wow wow. I got to ask him something that I feel like I have been struggling with for a little while....How do I find the balance between having perfect faith while at the same time recognizing that everyone has agency and that my faith is not going to fix everything. He said a whole lot of great things, but something that really stood out was I need to maintain my vista en el Señor y amar a las personas. If we love these people, we are always going to care about them, but we are also going to be able to trust in God's timing and His plan. How lucky am I? I cannot believe I got to listen to 3 members of the Setenta this week. Things like that don't happen every day! I really feel very blessed.

S - she has been praying earnestly, reading is another story though. AAAHHHHH. She tells us how she knows how important it is to read but then she does not do it. However, we did how some great lessons with her this week and after a lesson that was pretty much Q and A, she told us that she feels that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God and that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet!!! The spirit was incredible in the lesson and basically it was just fantastic :)

D - We had a good talk with D  and she ended up breaking down :( poor girl has no support from her mom. Her mom doesn't even care if she eats or other important things for the well being of her child. I can't imagine having a life like that :( but we have to have a good relationship with her mom because she is the one who needs to sign the form saying that D can be baptized. We are working on that

M - still hasn't had any coffee!!! YAYYYY!!!!!! We taught him the Law of Chastity....no problems there! Relief. He still doesn't have a testimony of Joseph Smith though. These past couple of weeks his family has had a lot of trials and he has been running around everywhere, but things are calming down and he will be able to focus more in the questions that he has. Prayer and scripture study are just SO IMPORTANT!!!!

F y P - we taught them the Word of Wisdom oficially and TURNS OUT that since that day when we showed up and F was completely drunk, he hasn't had a drop of alcohol. YAYYYYY :) They are now super excited to continue a life of drinking soda and water and juice :)

Love, Hermana Westergard

the most delicious pozole i have ever eaten - obviously because it was made with lots of love

My companions from my generation - I LOVE THEM ALL!!!!

helping with the laundry

some of the hermanas in the conference with Elder Christiensen

HERMANA Q!!!

Hermana B!!! I cannot believe she is going home after this change

Hna Q and I with some of our Dominican Republic friends

foto from the conference with Elder Pino!!!!

Blessings from fasting

This week has been an AMAZING testimony builder to fast and fast offerings. We realized that we had been slacking a little with this commandment. So Sunday, we decided to fast and pay very generous fast offerings. We have been seeing the outpour of blessings from keeping this commandment!! We have been a little tight for money...like counting the little pesos that we have left, and this week EVERYONE has been offering us food. We are definitely not going hungry. ALSO, we have met some AMAZING people this week and have some great appointments lined up for this upcoming week. WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!! My testimony has grown exponentially. Never again am I missing fasting on fast Sunday or fast offerings.

I have heard so much apostacia this week. If I had a peso for every false doctrine thing I have heard, I would be a very rich missionary right now. A man told us that he read recently in the Bible that it says you need to pray to God in the name of Christ asking to the Virgen Guadalupe.....Hna P and I almost started dying laughing when we looked at each other from the corners of our eyes. But we maintained the calm. The Virgen is SUCH a big thing here, but is SO false. It is completely against the commandments, but people choose to see what they want to see.

We got caught in a torrential downpour this week. At first we waited under a tree to see if it would lighten up a bit....but it is almost like the weather could read our thoughts and thought HAHA NO. It then started to rain like I have never seen before. We break out in a sprint to P's house - which was the nearest one but still not that close - and finally get there, looking like we had just gotten out of the ocean. It is funny how we resist it at first but then when we realize there is nothing we can do about it, we embrace it and think how funny the whole situation is.

I LOVE HERMANA P!!!!!! We get along SO well and I love this time with her. We are some very happy missionaries.

Still working on my Spanish hahahah I told Hna P one day to look at the pole thing that has the meat for the tacos al pastor, because it was a wicked small one and we are used to seeing ENORMOUS ones. It is called a Trompo. Trompo de tacos al pastor. I said trompa. Trompa is the mouth of a large animal......hahahahha we lost it laughing then too

P and F - We met this brother and sister in one of the oddest experiences of my mission. All our plans fell through last Monday...we ran into this really humble woman walking and started talking to her. We ended up at her house, asked if we could share a message with her, and she accepted. We entered, their house is basically made of trash, and met her brother also. They live a very humble life, and have minds more like children. I think they are in their 50s. Anyway, we put a cita to go back with them in a couple of days and we get there and we realize AFTER we are in their house that F is drunk. That is why his handshake was lingering and uncomfortable and he kept toughing our arms. I grabbed his hand and told him NO, DO NOT TOUCH MY COMPANION. We got out of there quick, but told them we were going to pass by for them Sunday at 9. Leaving, neither of us really had any expectations that they were going to go on Sunday. BUT, Sunday we go to pass by for them and F took a shower, brushed his hair and was wearing clothing not WICKED dirty. Wow. He was like another person. They ended up getting to church by themselves because we had to go look for other people, but they showed up!!! They are impressing us a lot. Miracles are possible!

D - Excited for her baptism!!! The only problem is her mom....I do not think she is our biggest fan

B and family - B had some problems with her baby and he was in danger. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and everyone was super stressed and crying at the Mother's Day activity we had. The bishop is great and was able to give her a blessing and the next day we saw B in the street - coming back from her appointment - and she said that everything is fine now!! YAY for priesthood blessings!!!!

G and E - references from their neighboor who is a member. The member told us Sunday that they wanted to meet with us and that we could drop by around 4. So we did, 3 hours and a lot of questions later, we have 2 new investigadores! WOW is all I can say. They literally were asking the perfect questions. How can the Gospel change me? How can the Gospel change my family? What is the Gospel? How does your church have the authority? WOW WOW WOW :) We are very excited for them.

This week we are having conferences with Elder Pino on Wednesday and Elder Christensen on Friday. We are very excited!!!! Back to Xalapa again!

Love, Hermana Westergard

making atole

after being soaked 

dinner

making pancakes floor-style