Its a miracle everyone! I went an entire week without doing something incredibly embarrassing! I know right it must have been a boring week then...but no! it was even better than the first! Sunday we had 7 out of 10 less active members at church our investigators we only had 1 out of 5 or 6 come but the less active members that came were ones who were less active for a year or more and no one could get them to come to church so it was impressive that they came. One of them, Elbia, has really struggled and refusses all the time to do the homework and committments and saturday night we visited with her and I challenged her to go 1 week with Reading scriptures, praying, and attending church and see if she can reconnect with God and she agreed so hopefully all goes well and the spirit touches her heart. Javier, is awesome. Just plain awesome. He has been going to church for a couple months now but was afraid of committing to baptism because of his family, and he is now deciding to be baptised, so his baptism is this Saturday and we are all super thrilled for him. He was so ready to recieve the góspel, just lacked support and one of the families in the Ward has really done awesome in supporting him and helping with everything especially with the lessons.
This week on Thursday i traded companions for a day because the other companionship are the sister trainer leaders so they switch off taking companionships to see how everything is going. Anywho... I got to be with Hermana Shepperd for one day and she is also from Utah and even better she totally remembers how to speak english!!!!!!!!! it was so great having someone who could translate for me and help me out with words and someone i could understand. My companion Hermana Quispe got frustrated with me because we were with recent converts the other night helping them with Christmas decorations and sharing a message, and they kept trying to talk to me but i dont understand normal conversation very well mostly just spiritual góspel related stuff, and so i didn't talk much back because i didn't know how! So she was frustrated because she said they want to get to know me and i need to try to understand them and so i tried to explain how it was for me. Which led to a night of tears and eventually i ended up talking to her all in english about how i felt and she of course didn't understand and so i said "now you know how i feel with spanish" afterwards we had a long chat together in spanglish and really got to see one another for who we are and really grew together. it was much needed.
We played a game which is super fun and i highly recommend playing together or for those missionaries Reading with your investigators. Its called Cat and Rat. How you play is you take 2 different colored ties and the one that is the cat gets 2 ties, and the one that is the rat gets one. And in the group of about 4 or more you give the ties to opposite people so they are at least 1 person apart and the person with the tie has to tie either 1 or 2 knots and pass it on to the next person before the next tie gets to them. If you get stuck with both ties then the rest of the group comes up with a dare for you to do. So i didn't know what was going on of course as Hermana Quispe explained the game so as we are playing and the ties are passed to me i sit there and wait for the next one. Well as the story goes i lost so the family we were playing with leaves and comes back with a lime, salt, and chile sauce.....and i did partake and behold the magnitude of pain my mouth was in was far greater than any biblical term i could ever think of. To make things better they recorded it hahaha. luckily for me i don't happen to have it to share. Anyways its super fun and after that time i made sure never to lose again.
I had a bit of a poetic day and wrote a poem about mexico that i will share with you now as a closing to my weekly email.
"Mexico"
Everywhere I look
people are running and moving every which way going from place to place.
The panderia smells of fresh sweets, and the people smile and Exchange pleasantries as they go by.
Beauty here is different.
Trees are painted, houses many different arrays of colors, each one unique.
The beauty of people lies within everyone and what they have to offer the world
whether it be a talent or personal characteristic,
Everyone here is beautiful.
Love and exceptance is freely given and new people are always welcome
in the place of melting suns and cultured music.
This is my home.
As a closing thought to everyone, look for the beauty God has created in each one of us. Its a struggle to be yourself and show your personality when you don't know how to talk to people so I have had the incredible opportunity to observe much of the people and world of mexico. Beauty is within everyone and everything you see because God created it. Remember the next time you walk down the Street and think a negative thing about someone that they are Gods children and that he created them so they are beautiful. I love you all and am so grateful for the amazing support i have!
Love,
Hermana Jammet or in Mexico (llame) Which means to call.