Brisas - Week 37

¡Hola!

So, right now in the mission we're focusing a lot on family history. Tomorrow, actually, we get to go to the temple with our recent converts and help them to do the work for THEIR family. Tomorrow we're going to take Gabriel (Hermana Pitcher and her last comp baptized him) to the temple and he's really excited. We found 9 names for him to do, so that's really exciting!

I can't wait for Saturday, because we're having another baptism: Ricardo! He is SO ready and so happy. I can't remember what I've said about him, but he's 23 and has a little girl. His uncle is a member, so that's how he heard about the church. He started going originally because he liked a member in his uncle's ward, but he only went to that ward for 2 Sundays and the missionaries handed him over to us. From the beginning he's been amazing. He said his interest in the church started for a crush, but now he's really in it because HE wants to be- and we can totally see that. He already seems like a member because he's going to all the activities, has friends, and has all the books and everything downloaded onto his phone, haha. I'm really happy for him!

Something interesting this week was that Betzi (Henry's daughter that got baptized) told us she had a dream right after the baptism. She said in the dream an evil force came and was trying to break her family apart and was pulling away her mom. In the dream, I guess Betzi pulled back, and fell over because the evil force let go. The parents said they felt like it was probably the adversary who wasn't happy with what they had done as a family. It's crazy because it really was a battle getting the family baptized, and shows there are always those against us, but luckily we're fighting on the stronger side!

Ricardo also said he's had some scary dreams, but we showed him a couple scriptures that say flat out PRAY to conquer Satan. And it's really as simple as that :) It strengthened my testimony of prayer from hearing about all that, because prayer really is a power that we can always, always turn to.

Other random things from this week: I left Brisas this week for the first time! I went on divisions with the sister training leaders in their area, and one came here with my comp. I think being away just made me miss my area because we didn't have ANY success while I was there. Everyone was a little colder and stuck in their lazy ways. Also, Saturday night the councilor in the bishopric came and asked me and my comp to speak Sunday, and we have services at 8am. I heard from several members that that isn't that unusual. Haha, so that was my 2nd time speaking in the mish!

Bye!
Love to all of you,
Hermana Harper

Brisas - Week 36

The impossible happened... Transfers? I didn't have any!!! I'm STAYING in Brisas! By the end of this transfer I'll have completed 10 1/2 months here. More than any other sister I've heard of in the mission. But, I'm really happy about it! I love my companion a lot (despite our differences sometimes!)  and this ward and these investigators are feeling more and more like family to me. For this next transfer we have 4 baptisms that are pretty sure, so that makes me excited!

This week was super special because Henry, Suzi, Doorly, and Betsy all got baptized!!! We had the baptism Thursday and not a lot of people could make it, but everyone who needed to be there was there.  Hermana Pitcher and I gave the little talks before the ordinance, and after Jesus (convert from Garcia Gineres) came and bore his testimony about the Holy Ghost. The bishop baptized the 4 of them and I think that made him really happy. Everyone who was there seemed in awe that a WHOLE family was being baptized together,  so that was really cool :)

Other things that happened this week were exchanges with the sister training leaders. Haha I stayed, for the 6th time in my 6 transfers!  We visited some less actives and 2 investigators- Ricardo and Juan Enrique. Both are doing so well! Ricardo's baptismal date is set in stone for the 31st and Juan Enrique just needs to come to church so we can give him a realistic date. With him, he just hasn't been able to get out of work on time to be able to go.

Today we didn't have district meeting, so we spent our P-day in Centro. We met up with Hermana Pinguelo and Hermana Hobbs in a Mayan bookstore and bought some little touristy things. The weather has been PERFECT lately, so it was fun walking around Centro today. We also ate at a popular restaruant here called Los Trompos. They´re known for their meat al pastor, so we got one of their specialty pizzas and split it :)

On a spiritual note, during exchanges I learned something from Hermana Smith that I liked a lot. In 3 Nephi 20 there's a verse that we recite a lot with people. Verse 8:

"And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled"

We talked about the verse and what could be our personal, spiritual "hunger" or "thirst." Everyone has things they long for: patience, a stronger feeling for God's presence, happiness, love... When we do the things God has asked us and strive to be worthy to partake of the sacrament, this longing or emptiness is filled. But, when we choose to not fill our longing with the right kinds of things, the result is frustration, being annoyed easily, anger, sorrow, depression, etc. I really like the promise that through the sacrament and remembering what it really represents, we can be filled. Filled with the spirit and with that have our spiritual hunger fed . Obviously, it's not an automatic thing though- we really should be preparing all week long by not justifying bad decisions and repenting when we need to. When we do that, the very best that we can, we have God's promise.

Love, Hermana Harper

Israel - He will be leaving on a mission in February!

Brisas - Week 35

HOLA!

This week was a pretty exciting week! Tuesday was the 3 kings holiday, which I love! Besides the whole presents in the shoe thing (which I'm not even really sure how many people do that), the holiday mostly consists of getting a bunch of people together and eating a "rosca." A rosca is bread in the shape of a long doughnut and inside are little plastic babies! Haha, They are supposed to represent baby Jesus. Supposedly there should just be one, and whoever gets it has to buy tamales for the Virgin Mary's birthday in February.

Tuesday night, we took a less active (less active in our ward, but has been going to another ward sundays because she's with her mom weekends) named Maria Jose with us to a big YSA activity for our ward, at a member's house. We went with Maria Jose and another active member and the turn out was really good. I think there was like 15 people there, and we were only missing 5. For our ward, it was a miracle. That  night, we spent about 40 min going around sharing our testimonies and I think it must have been inspired! Maria Jose said in hers that for a really long time she's been inactive, but has been going to church the last year or so, and had decided she wouldn't bear her testimony until she really felt the desire to. Well, when it got to her she said that, and then teared up because she said she realized she really does have a testimony and she shared why she knew she always did. It was really neat watching her have a moment like that.

After testimonies, we parted the rosca! They let me go first, and what do you know, I got the little baby Jesus doll! I was SO excited because I was hoping I'd get it, but I thought I wouldn't because I assumed there would just be one. Haha, it turns out though that there were like 8, so most of us got one. That  was really fun though. At that activity, we had our recent convert, investigator Ricardo, and another less active (Moroni) all there, so it was definitely a success!

Wednesday we had a little miracle because we taught a new investigator, and during the middle of the lesson (we were outside on the porch), a kid named Daniel came and asked us where the chapel was. I guess he moved here 6 months ago and is a member of  3 years and wanted to start going to church again. We invited him in on the lesson and without us really even needing to ask, just bore his testimony to Juan Enrique right at the perfect moment. I was so happy with that lesson because they both committed to go to church and the the YSA activity on Friday. Turns out that neither of them were able to keep their promise of going, but hopefully next week we can get them both there. The more YSA we can get, the better!

On Friday  we has a lesson with a less active named Moroni. Everyone in his family is a member, but he's kinda been the black sheep because he says he's always just questioned everything about the church. He's reached a point though that he really wants to know for himself  if this is all true, so we've been meeting with him and it's been inspiring to watch his testimony grow. When we started with him, he didn't even have a testimony that God existed or that Jesus is the Christ, but by just feeling the spirit really strong and putting in the effort he has a genuine testimony of that now. Right now he's trying to study about the church to know if it's true. It's interesting because he's had a lot of things thrown at him that would weaken any member's testimony, one of which was an excommunicated Bishop's comments towards the temple. We had left him 3 chapters in D&C about Joseph Smith and he said he read them and felt a really strong desire to live the gospel, marry in the temple, and be a faithful member after reading. It's cool because his personal revelation didn't have to do a ton with the topic of the chapter, but the spirt gave him what HE needed and also the boost in his testimony that the friend's comments didn't really affect him. Power of the scriptures!!!

This Sunday, Henry's WHOLE family came and we were able to put their baptismal date as THIS THURSAY!!! We picked the day in ward council after church ended and everyone is super excited about it! I'm way excited because this coming Monday is transfers, so I'll be able to be in their baptism before I leave! It has definitely been a long wait though, because we started teaching them back in October! Oh, and also on Sunday, Jesus Orlando (my convert from Garcia Gineres) found me! He came to the Sunday services with a friend and told me all about the happenings in Garcia. It was definitely a boost seeing him!

To end, I just want to let you all know that I really know Christ lives, and I know it by the power of the Holy Ghost. I know the Holy Ghost will always inspire us to be better and more loving towards everyone around us. I love that the two great commandments have to do with love because that's what makes life happy and worth living. When we chose to love others and love God more than ourselves, that's when we're really following Christ. I know sometimes it's crazy hard to get over ourselves, and it might take a life time to really learn it, but that's what life is for! That's why Christ gave his life for us- so that everyday we can truly be different and more like Him.

Love,
Hermana Harper

Rosca

Baby Jesus in the Rosca

Rosca Party

Cow Stomach!

Hermana Pitcher and I eating cow stomach!!!  Yum!

Relleno Negro - Black because of the burnt chilis they use

Yummy Ribs!!!

Brisas - Week 34

Me and My Comp - Hermana Pitcher (From Alpine, UT)

Happy 2015!!!

I must say, the new year is very well celebrated here in theYucatan!

To start off, all day Wednesday we were seeing these stuffed people sitting on the sides of the road.  At lunch we asked what was up with that, and the member told us that people stuff clothes and stick rockets in there to make an old man to represent the old year. Then at midnight they shoot off the rockets inside. Along with that tradition, they have a bunch of other things they do, like eating 12 grapes that represent 12 wishes for the new year. It also matters a lot what kind of underwear you wear that night because if you want love, you have to wear red. If you want money, green...and so on. All the colors mean something.  Also, something funny is if you want to travel the next year you have to run around the block with a suitcase!

We got home Wednesday night like normal, and we decided to stay up until midnight. It wasn't too hard, because we laid in our hammocks talking for awhile and then after started cooking potatoes to make a little stir fry.  It was just potatoes, peppers, onion, and ketchup, haha. It didn't turn out too bad either! Then a little before midnight we ate and opened a bottle of sparkling cider a member had given us. It had a cork and everything, so I that's what made it really start to feel like the new year! Hahaha.

We went outside at midnight and it was really fun because ALL the neighbors were out and all the stuffed old people were burning and there were fireworks, and more than anything just lots of noise! A couple neighbors came over to wish us a new year and gave us some food from their party, so that was really nice! I'm pretty sure everyone here stayed up the WHOLE night because the next day it was pretty dead. Mexicans are quite the partiers!!!

Besides new years, we've had a pretty average week. We did contact a golden reference though! We had two members with us when we contacted Ricardo, and he's been super prepared! He went the last two sundays to another ward because that's where his uncle goes, and he says he really feels like its true and wants to get baptized. It was really fun to teach him, because he was super interested and excited by it all. It got the members excited too, which makes us really happy!

On Sunday Ricardo came and also a bunch of less actives! With the new schedule (8am), a lot of less actives got more excited to go again. I think we had like 9! One that came, brought her husband who isn't a member, so hopefully we can get him excited about baptism! Also, on Sunday we had a baby blessing and all the family that came to support was from my old ward.  That was really fun to see everyone! They told me how the people I'd taught are doing and it was really special :) !

Me and Hermana Pitcher are hoping this new year brings lots of Prospects! Our president has been changing some things to get us working more, so now we have 2 hours of studies instead of 3. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet because it's been really hot lately and the heat really drains your energy! January is weird because it gets reallly hot for a day, but then the next it rains, then gets hot again. Hopefully it works out good having more work time!

Until next week!!
Love, Hermana Harper

House Guest!

Roommate!

Wierd Fruit!

 

Our Ward Mission Leader

 

This Elder is in our ward and will be leaving on a mission to Puebla, Mexico in February!

New Years Eve Celebration!

Our New Years Eve Feast!

Stuffed Old Man On Fire