Hermana Hilary Harper: Brisas

Merry Christmas!!!

It's crazy to think Christmas is almost here! Yesterday, we celebrated Christmas as a mission and all got together in the Stake Center in Centro. ALL the missionaries were there, so that was really fun! It started at 10am and the President and his Wife spoke, and then after we took turns going up as a zone to sing. Later two missionaries shared an experience they've had sharing the new video "He is the Gift." I think there are like 11 or 12 zones, so the meeting lasted for a good 3 hours. After, a professional choir from Merida came and sang. There were several people from our ward, so that was neat listening to and seeing them. After the devotional, we ate. I LOVED the food! They had salad, potatoes, meat, vegetables, rolls, and chocolate cake and ice cream. Haha, something funny though is that everyone got sick from the food. This morning our entire zone had diarrhea, and at the store today we ran into 2 sisters from a different zone and they said their zone all got sick too. Fun present to all the missionaries, right !?! Really, it's not too bad though, me and my companion are surviving!

After the lunch yesterday, we had a talent show which was super entertaining. Most people sang, but there were a couple of hilarious skits mixed in. After the talent show we had a gift exchange. All of us were assigned another missionary and had to buy a gift that was as close to 50 pesos as we could. I put together earrings and candy and stuff like that and the gift I got was basically the same, haha. It was a lot of fun! That ended about 7pm and from there we went to a park to sing and contact people. That turned out pretty good because there were tons of people to talk to.

Today we had our P-day and it’s been a crazy day to say the least. We had district meeting as usual and after went to the plaza to buy food. The last thing we always buy is fruit and Hermana Pitcher was picking out her bananas and got her wallet stolen right out of her hand! I was on the other side looking at something else, so I didn't see anything, but when she came to put her bananas in the cart she realized she didn't have her wallet and started freaking out. She keeps evvvverything in her wallet so that really stunk. We had even just pulled out money so she had like 80$ in there- 900 pesos which is A LOT as a missionary! We went to security to see if they could look at the cameras, but they couldn't figure it out, so we just had to call the mission offices so they could cancel all her cards. Hermana Pitcher was pretty upset, but after we got things figured out she was ok.

Something super exciting this week is that we had a baptism on Saturday!! That morning we were in a pueblo called Tixcocob and it was ADORABLE! People don't really use cars there, so the roads are all really little and everyone goes around walking or on bikes. There are these tricycles here that people use all the time and I saw tons in Tixcocob. They make them into little bike taxis and they're so cute! (I need to take more pictures of those) When we went downtown it reminded me of Disneyland or Lagoon when you walk down the little fake streets and all the stores are right up against the street with stuff out to buy. It was really cute!

All the missionaries in the stake and some ward missionaries went to the Tixcocob activity and we all took a bus there. We first met in the prayer house they have there (which makes you super grateful for chapels) and from there all split up to contact and search for less actives. I went with one of the young women from another ward and we had lots of fun. We talked to just about everyone we saw and invited them to meet us downtown at 5pm because we were going to be singing and giving out gifts. We talked to lots of people, but we didn't seem to have a very good turnout by the end. We still sang though and handed out wrapped up Books of Mormon to those that were nearby.

We got back from the activity around 6:30 and the baptism started at 7pm. We were a little stressed because when we arrived, Jose (our investigator that was getting baptized) wasn't there and wasn't answering his phone. At 7pm, we left with some members to see if he was home. When we drove by his house, he was outside all dressed up and he was getting in his car with his mom. I was happy he hadn't forgotten, but a little frustrated because nothing seems to go smoothly here! We got back to the church at 7:20ish and they had all waited for us, so that was nice. From there, everything went really good. Jose seemed really happy! It was neat because another youth did the baptism and it was his very first time baptizing. I love seeing the ward members welcome the investigators into the ward like they do, because it really strengthens them both, and the missionaries too! :)

Well, I hope everyone enjoys their Christmas!! Haha, my companion and I have 3 meal appointments (2pm, 5pm, 8pm) Christmas Eve, so we'll definitely be enjoying our holiday here!

With all the presents you're getting and receiving, don't forget about the most important one. One thing I've come to understand is that for me, Jesus Christ is a gift because through Him, fresh starts are real. I can change things about who I am or bad habits I've had and the changes are real. When I'm held up on Judgement day, if I've done everything I could to make good decisions, and really changed, I won't be held guilty for all the bad decisions. I've realized that nothing is immediate though. You have to constantly to work at things and not let yourself believe that you've already done enough and you don't have to keep working on it. The hard work is what really makes you happy in the end! Being lazy about things doesn't!

Feliz Navidad! Con amor, Hermana Harper