Merida - Week 3

First Baptism!

Lots has happened this week! We had a baptism for a lady named Marta. The missionaries before us actually found her, so when we taught her it was just the last few lessons. Its so much easier to teach when the investigator already has a strong testimony. She was super cute because she had her little Book of  Mormon  with all the pamphlets already inside every time we went to teach her. Marta has to have dialysis all of the time, so she has all these tubes in her stomach going in and out and they can't get wet. It took a lot of faith for her to get baptized because of the whole water thing. Everything worked out great though, of course. That day was super special. It was a good thing to see a baptism so early on because now I just want it for everyone we teach!

First Baptism - Marta

I also had my first exchange this week. It was for 24 hours right after district meeting last Monday. After the meeting I went with Hermana Janco to her area to teach the rest of that night and the next day. Hermana Janco is from Bolivia and doesn't speak English. I thought it would be hard, but it was really fun. She got here the same day I did, so it was 2 babies out in the world for a day. Everything went really smooth though. It was fun seeing how much we have in common. She knows lots about all the American movies and celebrities. Also, she wanted to know if I have been to all the church sites in SLC, seen any apostles in real life, and other Utah stuff. Who would have thought being from Utah would be so cool to someone? She wants to go to BYU after her mission but she has to learn English first. I practiced a bunch with her that day. During studies we have an hour set aside for English so that was really fun for me. I actually felt smart about something. One word people here cannot say is "through." Haha.

Mission Leader

One weird lesson we had this week was with this 30 year old guy Luiz. He's single and lives with his parents and I'm pretty sure he is interested in more than the gospel with 2 cute, young American girls teaching. Next time we are definitely bringing a member. He talked A LOT and tried to be so poetic about nature and how God is all around us. He told us how he breathes it in and described how tender a rose is and related it to God. He also talked about not having many friends and how its weird to other people when he just wants to be friends with people in the street. Especially girls.  He said how there isn’t an ugly woman in the world and he said a couple times how he isn’t gay... I don't know about him. Another awkward thing was the three of us were on this little bench, so he was literally RIGHT next to me. Everytime we had a scripture he'd lean in so close. It made for a really long lesson. We'll see where he goes spiritually though because I think he'll be fairly open to the message.

One really great lesson was with this 22 year old (Ivan) and his 12 year old Brother Daniel. We went because they're grandma who they live with was an old investigator. They were both really interested and for once we got to share the message and they were actually interested and asking questions. Usually the person just likes to talk and share their views which is really hard, especially when we have lots of appointments.  I'm super excited to see where that goes!

Our next baptism is Feb 5th! His name is Pascual and he is 50 years old. He doesn't live with his wife and 2 kids because he has a drinking problem, but he genuinely wants to change his life. Like Marta, we inherited him from the other missionaries, so we can't take too much credit. He is the perfect investigator because he actually comes to church. For so many people its such a hard thing to do. Its super frustrating as a missionary!

Food: I have discovered two fruits that are SUPER delicious. They both taste like versions of mangos. One is called Zapote I think and is like a sugary mango. The other is called Mamae and it has the texture of an avocado. Mmmm. I wish we could buy fruits all the time! It kinda stinks being on a missionary budget. Besides eating at members houses, we eat tortillas, bananas, oatmeal, corn flakes, refried beans... Its really not very Mexican, haha.

Oh, another random thing. Candy like Snickers, Hersheys bar, Butterfinger are SUPER expensive here. Most of the kids don't ever eat it which is interesting. They eat all the wierd chili candy! Drinks too- at every single member meal we either have horchata (my fav) or hamaica, which is from a flower. (I'm probably spelling those wrong). A member actually gave us some of the flowers to try and make it ourselves! Kinda fun.

Yummy Foods!

Since I don't really have much time left, I'm going to end with a favor! Pray for Hermana Aurora. She is a member and has cancer. It’s so sad because she doesn't have a husband, but she has a son on a mission and a super adorable 7 year old who she practically adopted. Her son is thinking about coming home to help his mom and also he doesn't want her to die before his mission is up. We went over Sunday night to help with homework and stuff and my heart totally went out to her. She has such a hard time with hospital visits and everything, but what she is worried about is her son on the mission who wants to come home and the 7 year old. Ah, so so sad.

Gracias por su apoya! I need all I can get! Seriously.
Hermanana Harper