Our Missionary in Mexico: {Week 62} Oriental

So this has been a pretty eventful week! Lots of fun stuff going on, and I love being with Hna Ramirez! She's super sweet and has a really big heart filled with lots of love. We've been having a lot of fun together.

So to start, I have to tell you about our adventure! This actually happened last week, but I forgot to tell you. When we arrived in the area, we didn't have a cellphone. So Wednesday in the morning we had to go to the Mission Office to get one. When we were coming home, I messed up and we got on the wrong metro train. We were sitting there, waiting to take off when I realized my mistake. So we got up quickly and rushed for the door to get off. Hna Ramirez left, but the door's slid shut behind her, with me still on the train! I had thrust my hand through the doors at the last second to try to open them, but the doors just closed on my hand! And I couldn't pull my hand through because it was holding a packet of pamphlets that I couldn't get through the door. Hna Ramirez and I were both trying to open the door (and a guy in the train was trying too) but to no avail. As the train took off, she took the pamphlets from my hand, I pulled my hand back in the train, and made motions to her to stay where she was, and off I went in the train with her left on the platform! It was super strange to be alone, and my heart was pounding like crazy. I was terrified that she would try to board the next train to come after me. I had to go to the next station to switch trains to come back to where she was. We were probably separated for about 15 minutes. I finally arrived back at the station, and she was there waiting for me! We hugged and it was like a scene from a movie lol. But all is well and I haven't lost her since lol!

And Paquita and Rodolfo got baptized! That was so special. I don't know why, but investigators almost always show up late for their baptisms here. But not Paquita and Marci! They were there 30 minutes early! The problem was that everyone else showed up 15 minutes late lol.

Paquita and Rodolfo and us!

There were a ton of missionaries there. The elders that found and taught them came to baptize them. They're the secretaries, so while they were here in O--, they were often busy doing secretary type things, so the other missionaries in the zone would help them out and go to their appointments. All the missionaries that met Paquita and Rodolfo fell in love with them, and they all came to the baptism. During the program, Hna Ramirez and I had planned to sing ''Nearer my God to Thee'', but at the last second we invited all the missionaries present to come sing with us. It was super sweet and powerful. The spirit was strong. Paquita cried through the whole thing. The last verse got a little intense when Paquita was crying so hard that she fell off her chair, but her husband and a sister helped her up and all was well. They were both so happy when they got baptized. Then afterwards, they both bore their testimonies. And Rodolfo's testimony was so sweet! Paquita is always talking and crying, but when Rodolfo bore his simple testimony, he got choked up and couldn't speak. It was so sweet to see how happy they both were.

Paquita and Rodolfo and Elders Vallejo and Bryce.

Hermanas Ramirez, Gurley, me and Cardenas with Paquita.

Then on Sunday they were confirmed - and Rodolfo also received the Aaronic priesthood! They gave it to him a bit faster than normal because on Wednesday the ward is going to the temple in Veracruz (because the Mexico City one is closed) and Rodolfo and Paquita both have several names that they're going to take to the temple to do baptisms. They're both really happy, and it's been great to see the gospel change their lives. And after their baptism, they invited us all to their house for pozole! (which is pretty much my favorite Mexican food)

And we've started to teach Michelle - the granddaughter of Paquita and Rodolfo. She's 17 and really sweet. She's got a really tough situation. Her parents are divorced. She lives with her two younger sisters, her dad and her dad's girlfriend, which live on the second floor of Paquita's house. We've been working with her a lot this week, and in just one week she has progressed so much! She's praying, she reads the Book of Mormon, she came to a stake activity and her grandparents baptism, she came to church, and we took her to the visitor's center at the temple! Poco a poco she's learning to put her trust in the Lord. Her baptism date is for March 15th (Hna Ramirez invited her to be baptized and put the date - her first time doing it! Wooo!!). Then on Sunday, after they gave her grandpa the Priesthood, I told her that if she'd like, her grandpa would be able to baptize her. She said ''Wow... okay.'' Then she looked at me with tears in her eyes and told me that she feels like all of this is a huge gift and that she's not worthy of it or doesn't deserve it. I told her that that wasn't true and testified to her that she is a daughter of God and has a divine potential. It has been amazing to see how much she has progressed in less than a week. And we're going to work a lot with her to help her even more. Nicolee and Jessica (2 recent converts in the ward) have been great friends to her and are helping her a lot.

Us at the temple! With Nicolee, Michelle, and Jessica.

This is a picture that they take in the Visitors Center. Hna Ramirez, Jessica, Nicolee, Michelle (our investigator) and me!

Funny stories!

- there's a kid that always asks me how to say things in ''Canadian'' lol

- another kid asked me how I learned to talk with an accent. She didn't believe me when I explained that this is my voice - I didn't learn it, this is just how it is!

- Paquita has been giving us bags of clothes as ''gifts''. All of the clothing is old and 10 sizes too big though. And the last bag was filled with nothing more than underclothing (bras etc. lol) She's hilarious.

- Paquita and Rodolfo said the opening and closing prayers in church on Sunday... they both started with ''Dear Heavenly Father'' then proceeded to bear their testimonies, then ended in ''the name of Jesus Christ, Amen''. It was hilarious and was hard not to laugh. They say great prayers in our lessons, but I guess they didn't really understand what they were supposed to do in sacrament meeting. lol

It's been a great week. We've been working hard, but haven't had much luck finding new investigators. But we keep working and giving it all we've got! Hna Ramirez is great and has progressed a lot too. It makes me remember my first days in the mission when I often had no clue what was going on lol.

I love you all tons. I hope you all have a great week. Be good, say your prayers, and share the gospel!

-Hna Taylor

New house photos . . .