Monday, February 8, 2016

January 25, 2016

Hello friends and fam!

Sorry for not writing last week..we had a crazy day and ended up only having about 20 minutes to write during which time I wrote president and did some other housekeeping things that left me with no time to respond. :( It's been exciting two weeks here in Jardin....

Last Week
-It's been kinda cold here lately, so one morning a member asked my companion how long it's been since she's eaten menudo and offered to make some for us. As I'm sure you all know, menudo is the dreaded Mexican food of all Americans (a soup made with cow stomach), so my companion, being the wonderful human being she is, said it's been a long time since she's eaten menudo and that she'd love to eat it again BUT she didn't think I'd like it because I'm American haha. This member is super chill so he said that either way he was going to make it and he would prepare a backup meal for me haha. So before p-day ended that day, we went to eat with him and I LIKED THE MENUDO. Well, kinda. The cow stomach has the nastiest texture so that wasn't fun, but it tasted fine. But also, this member is a really good chef so both he and my companion told me that I'm forbidden to eat menudo again in the mission because they're sure I won't like it a second time. 
-This week we had intercambios and the sister training leader that worked with my companion told us that if we contacted 70 people in the street this week (which is the weekly goal for our mission) we would have a baptism this cambio (which is near impossible because we were in the second week of the cambio and investigators have to come to the church 5 times before they can be baptized). On Sunday, we contacted our 70th person and that same day met a woman who used to meet with missionaries, so she already has 3 Sundays on her teaching record. Her daughter is super interested and we're hopeful that they'll be our miracle baptisms!
-Our district leader has to call us twice a week to record our numbers and check up on how we're doing and he can never tell if it's me or my companion talking so that made me feel way good! I'm becoming a mexicana!

This Week
-When the elders left the area, they left us with two SUPER awesome investigators, a 19 year old named Priscila and her mom, Rosalva. On Saturday Priscila came with us to the baptism of a 9-year-old girl named Sofi from the other ward that attends our building and LOVED IT. Sofi has SO MUCH ENERGY and it's nuts how strong her testimony is. She's the cutest thing. We were giving Priscila a tour of the chapel before the services began and Sofi ran up to us with a Book of Mormon in her hands opened to a picture of Joseph Smith and told our investigator "Él es José Smith y es un profeta de Dios!" Presh. Afterwards Priscila took us out to lunch (which was awesome because no one had signed up to feed us that day) and we met with her and her mom later that night for a lesson that went suuuper well. She knows she needs to get baptized and has a baptismal date of February 6th (her birthday)! The next day, she and her mom came to church (which starts at 8am) and her dad, who is not interested in the Church in the slightest, offered to give us a ride so we didn't have to walk in the cold. Awesome awesome people.
-On Wednesday we had interviews with our mission president and they went so well! I love getting the chance to talk with him. He's so humble and knowledgable. Also, he told my companion that we're both going to stay another transfer here in Jardin which is such good news because I love my companion and I love Jardin. WOHOO!
-They have this bread here called "piedra" which means rock haha and it's made of cookie crumbs and bread scraps and all kinds of random stuff that probably shouldn't taste very good all mixed together, but it's heavenly and I hope you all have the opportunity at some point in your life to try it.
-On Saturday night the bishop texted us and asked us to speak in sacrament meeting..of course we agreed, but that night was crazy with lessons and planning so we didn't have time to prepare, and we had to leave the house at 7:15 to pass by for our investigators, so we didn't have time to prepare in the morning either...so we decided to just wing it haha but it went really well! I talked about developing Christlike attributes. I challenge you all to choose a Christlike attribute that you'd like to develop and start working on it now!
-We are re-activating a member named Erik and things have been crazy. Missionaries have been visiting him for a long time and trying to help him because he's a return missionary and he's youngish, but he has never taken them seriously. We had a really frank talk with him a few weeks ago and told him that if he wanted to come back to church, we're here to help him every step of the way, but if he isn't going to take anything seriously, we wouldn't be able to visit as frequently. He told us that he's really ready to change and was sincere! He's been coming back to church, and we gave him a Preach My Gospel, so now he prepares lessons to teach us and he's reading his scriptures and doing everything he should. But Satan is the worst and knows that he's sincere, so he's been throwing trials every which way..(just to name two, his fiancée broke off the engagement and his dad had a heart attack). BUT he's still going strong and we're working really hard with him!
-Yesterday, a recent convert of my companion passed away at 86 years old, so today we spent all day at his funeral services. We visited him two or three times a week and read the Book of Mormon with him and sang hymns and he loved it, so his sister (who is also a recent convert and lives next door to him) asked my companion and I to sing at the viewing, funeral, and burial. It was really sad but such a spiritual experience. His sister KNOWS that he's in the spirit world now in paradise without pain or sorrow, and is in a state of peace and happiness. This is why we're here as missionaries. To help people understand God's plan and find peace in the hard times. 

Very eventful and very rewarding two weeks ha. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, 
Hermana Bird

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