Penny/Stitch, I'm glad you got through surgery well - I'm proud of you for being so brave! You look so grown up in the pictures mom sends - love you kid!
Chelle and Logan - your kid is adorable. 'nuff said.
This week was fun! Well actually not really. I got super sick. :P On Tuesday I had a sore throat, and Wednesday woke up with a headache and a runny nose as well as the sore throat. And then, around 4:00 I had a fever - I felt like I was freezing cold but was boiling hot. And at 6:00 my comp and a member ganged up on me and made me go home. They pretended to not understand me so that they could ignore my protests. So we called the doctor who made me take some pills and said I couldn't work the next day. But we had some really important lessons, so we ended up going on divisions. I slept on the couch of a member's house and my comp went out with another member and worked. But sleeping all day really helped and I felt tons better. I've still got the runny nose and a bit of a cough, but I'm pretty much cured :)
And scary story! The other day I was having my morning shower, for which we use a bucket. I dunked my head in the bucket to get my hair wet, and when I came out, there was a giant spider in the bucket! That means that the spider was in my hair! So that pretty much freaked me out and made me strip down my bed to make sure there weren't any other spiders lurking in the corners.
And... our investigators are progressing... very slowly.... Only Sergio came to church. I'm pretty sure we're going to drop Antonio and Gustavo. And Rafael turns out to be a drug addict who gets paid to rob people.... and we've come across him about 3 times in the middle of street fights. It's sad, because he has a 5 year old kid who always comes to church with his grandparents, and this 5 year old is always praying for his dad. I know that Rafael could change his life if he wanted to, but sadly right now he doesn't have the desire. But we've found a few other people and have a lot of references that we're searching out, so we'll have more investigadores soon.
And there is this family of 3 - Familia U. They are recent converts -got baptized the Saturday before I came to this area. And they are great. I love them so much. But the dad recently lost his job, and hasn't been able to find a new one, and he hasn't come to church for the last few weeks. We've been trying to talk to him and share messages that will help him, but it wasn't until yesterday that he finally opened up. He's wondering why he has this trial right now, when he's trying so hard to be good and change his life. He's feeling really depressed and has no idea how he's going to support his family. Yesterday after church we went over and started talking about obedience - how we need to be faithful and obey and then the blessings come. And he finally opened up. We ended up talking for about an hour with him and his wife, trying to help him understand that if he is faithful despite the trials, his family will be blessed. We're honestly really worried about him. But it was a really powerful lesson and we were all in tears. I know that blessings come through obedience, but like it says in Mosiah 23, sometimes God tries His people, to prove their faith and diligence. I love the story in Mosiah 23 and 24 - I've been able to apply it in so many situations recently, both in the lives of the people we're teaching and in my own life. But we're praying really hard for Jaime right now (that's his name - pronounced Hi-may).
And the other day we contacted someone in the street - Karen. And when we came later for the lesson, she was there! (they're hardly ever there) And listened to us and it was great! We were both thinking 'she's golden!' and picturing her dressed in white - and then we invited her to be baptized. And she told us that she already is! Got baptized when she was 15 - she's 20 now. But the story is really weird - she went to some sort of youth camp and got baptized in a river after. She's positive it was this church and not some other, and she knows all about The Book of Mormon, but she doesn't know (or doesn't remember!) about other things like Joseph Smith, the Holy Ghost, and doesn't know how to pray. So we're going to search the records to see if she actually was baptized... and if not, we'll baptize her. And if she is, we'll just baptize her catholic family instead!
And it was funny because Sunday we came out of church and it was really quiet. There was hardly anyone in the streets. It was very strange. But then we realized that it was the final of the mundial - Germany and Argentina. Germany won in case you were wondering. But for 2 hours the streets were dead.
And I love Hna Mercedes. Our biggest problem is that we're both too polite, so when we come to a narrow spot on the sidewalk where only one person can pass at a time, we both stop and wait for the other person. It's so pathetic it's hilarious. I've taken to charging ahead so we aren't locked in a 20 second battle every time - 'you first', 'no, after you'.
So this morning we had a meeting with our zone - we have great zone leaders. Elders Henriquez and Elder Cruz. They taught us a great lesson about knowing why we came out here, and then working hard to complete our purpose. And they shared the story of the battle in Alma 43. There are so many lessons that we can learn in that story. It's truly amazing. My comp and I both made some resolutions to work harder and be more diligent. We've been working hard but haven't been having a lot of success, and my being sick this week didn't help our numbers at all. But we're going to try to double our efforts and have faith that the blessings are going to come!
I honestly love it here. Mexico is great. The people are awesome. The food is delicious. And the spirit is so strong. I now have 7 months in the mission. It's gone by so fast I can't believe it. Because of the meeting this morning, I've been thinking all day about why I chose to come on a mission. I think I'll share those thoughts next week though because I'm out of time. But I know it's true. There is not a doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and I know this church is true.
I love you all tons. Be good, say your prayers, and watch a video for me. It's called something like 'The Atonement and Missionary work' and is by Jeffery R Holland and Henry B Eyring. It's amazing.
Les amo un buen! Pero un buen!
-Hna Taylor
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