Well. It was a fun week, starting with our special secret trip with President. I guess he had agreed with two other hermanas to take them to the canyon for one reason or another, and then secretly came up to us in zone conference and asked if we wanted to come along so it would be more fun. So we took a bus up to Tuxtla last week and spent the day in America, because that's what it felt like! Riding in the car through the canyon and stopping every once in a while to look at cool stuff, talking about their grandchildren and cows, eating sandwiches and brownies, hiking through trees, and listening to sister George nag President about directions or let's go get popsicles they're RIGHT there or what are you SAYING in Spanish I can't understand, and he mostly remains quiet and smiling haha. They're so cute, they remind me of my grandparents. And then President wanted to buy this cool carved alligator but they kept raising the price and claiming it was the same and he wasn't going to buy it, so I went over and bartered as my mother taught me in Ecuador and we got a decent price for two.
So that was fun. Then we went back to Mexico! Woo!
So one day we were walking along up a hill looking for a contact from the day before. When suddenly there's this string in front of my face and I did a double take before plowing into it. It was so confusing until we heard all this giggling and looked to see a ton of little kids on both sides of the street with ends of the string. I was like "What IS this?!" and they all started giggling louder and running away, but then they came back and we talked to them and after messing with them a little told them we were missionaries from America and we visited families and talked about Jesus and my companion gave the oldest one a contact card. Then I was like Who else wants one--"YO YO YO!" and we gave out all these contact cards, and then I said we wanted to bring a movie to watch with them and whose mom could we go talk to. The oldest took us to see her mom and she was cute and we started visiting them. They're really special girls and understand what we teach, so we'll see what happens.
So I guess I should tell you about Viridiana. It was only the most BEAUTIFUL BAPTISM EVER. We saw her every day this week and she was nervous but firm and excited. So we knew she had an aunt and uncle who were members in Tuxtla, but what we weren't expecting were the 20+ aunts, uncles and cousins that showed up and flooded the room, brought a musical number, and cried about how they'd been praying for their family here in Coita. It was such a powerful day, and Viri was crying as well, and hugged me and said "Thank you for everything." Those moments make every uphill step, disapointment, drop of sweat and every other cost more than worth it. Everything was so beautiful. YAY VIRI!
And Viridiana's friends, la familia Lopez:
As for C., who I said I'd explain this week, she went to Tuxtla a couple weeks ago and talked to her Catholic dad who confused her, and then she went to Catholic mass and got this huge emotional experience and took that for her answer. We tried talking to her and explaining how the spirit really works, and the blessings of the temple, but she wasn't budging. She said she wouldn't come to general conference because that would be going against her answer. But she DID come, and I think she secretly knows it's right. She'll come around. That was hard for my companion, and I was surprised that it wasn't anymore for me. I've learned to trust completely, because what we see is only for a moment and one day they'll all come back. We're doing our work and it'll all work out. Maybe even really soon!
That reminds me of something we were reading this morning. It was in the Teachings of President Joseph Fielding Smith manual, and it talks about why is it that bad things happen when we're doing everything right, and other people who don't seem to be doing anything right seem to have it great. He said it is because this is their world. Those who are of the world get its fruits now, but this world is heading towards its end. This is not our world. We have another one, and we cannot let anything that we see, experience or want here get in the way of getting there. Our blessings are eternal if we are living by eternal principles. As we put OUR trust and all of our faith in Jesus Christ, His world will become our world.
The last thing I want to mention this week is our zone conference. As a zone we're starting a 40 day fast! And I want to invite any of you to join if you'd like to! What we did was chose a day and started with a fast, then made a list of all the things that impede us from feeling the spirit or having it with us always that we want to put on the sacrificial altar. For 40 days we will be marking how we did that day, filling in a square black if we completely failed, an X if we didn't do well, or leaving it blank if we were consecrated! The goal is get the spirit with us and get it strong and purify ourselves as missionaries or members. I'm so excited, and I've already felt results.
I love you and pray for you all! May God bless you in your week!
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