Week 46

Craisins!!!

Well, I am entering the last week as a trainer already!! My son (Elder Torres) is growing up so fast! This week has been great! First of all, thank you all for your love, support, and prayers. I can feel the difference as the Lord answers your prayers:) I have been improving little by little and this week I was able to work hard as normal, which is most important! This week we have worked closely with Ivan and he will be baptized this Sunday the 17th of January!!! We are super excited and will do our best to continue supporting him and preparing the baptism. Also last Monday we had a Family Night with the Hernandez Family, who had been inactive for a while, but have been returning little by little. We gave a lesson on keeping the sabbath day holy and got to know the family better. It was a blast and to our great joy almost the whole family made it to church yesterday:D It's amazing to see that as we place ourselves as tools in the Lord's hands, he works miracles through the Holy Ghost that guides our everyday lives. We had two other Family Nights as well with member families and have many more planned this week. It is part of a new plan to strengthen the members first, which will help the search efforts and overall hasten the work.

Oatmeal Pancakes!!
Never tried it but it looks good and it's healthy:D

Jello in 5 different flavors.
I don't know why I never made this stuff before:P

My piano music binder I started!!!

Nothing out of the ordinary here..¡asi es la vida misional!

Week 45

Tacos of Egg, Mushroom, Potato and Tuna Fish.
A little peculiar, but they're things I can eat and it tasted awesome!

Well, things are going a lot better I must say. I have completely recovered from the Vertigo and everything and now I just have the original stomach problems to deal with, but I am still on a strict diet and taking medication to hopefully heal it up. I should be returning to the doctor that oversaw me at the hospital this Friday, to have a check-up to see if I need to continue with the same medication and diet or not. I'll keep you posted for sure, but don't worry, I know the Lord is blessing me because I have been able to quickly recover and get back to work which is most important.

Anyways, enough about me, this week has been amazing!!! First of all, our President let us listen to Christmas music another week, so I was super happy getting ready in the mornings to Pentatonix and Michael Buble:D. Also, for New Years, I was able to get a hold of a bottle of Sparkling Cider to celebrate with my companion and two other Elders in my district. It is really hard to find here, but a family in our ward had been gifted a 3 pack of the big bottles, and after commenting about how much I love it and that it's a tradition in our family to drink it at midnight, and asking where I could find one here, they insisted I take one since they only can be found in Walmart or Sam's Club, which aren't here in Cadereyta. Long story short, the tradition continues!! We made pancakes New Year's Eve and then on New Year's Day we were practically forced food upon us all day because they have a tradition here to cook a ton of food New Year's Day:)

Outside of festivities and the very best part of the week was the experiences we had with our investigator Ivan and a recent convert Edgar who's good friends with Edgar. Ivan has been progressing quite well and if all goes well will be baptized the 17th of January! We met his family finally since before we taught him in the house of Edgar. His mom invited us New Year's Eve to eat so we got to know his family better. Then with Edgar, we've also been visiting him quite a lot and he shared with us of some mistakes he's made and wanted our help and counsel to know what to do. One lesson in particular when I think back, I don't know how I said the things I said and shared the scriptures I shared because it came directly from the spirit:) Anyways, he has been able to start the repentance process and even talked with the Bishop yesterday. I am happy he had the courage to confess and begin his journey to a better life! We have been becoming very close to Edgar, Ivan, and also a member named Omar, Ivan's cousin. They are all 17 years old so we can relate really well to their lives and their trials and help them through our own experiences we went through at their age. I know we were sent here by revelation to be able to share these experiences because I have seen the power and spirit in action in their lives. I can't take any credit because I know it's the Holy Ghost who testifies and causes them understand, and for that I am so grateful. I am excited to continue working hard and seeing these miracles come to pass and hope I can do all the Lord expects of me. Happy New Year everyone, love you!!!

I made Jello again, but this time with a cocktail of fruits molded in!
(I know - how creative :P)

Week 44

This was by far my favorite gift...MATH IS THE BOMB!

Well, I thought things couldn't get any worse, but it turns out I was wrong...I got vertigo pretty bad on Christmas Eve! I didn't even see it coming, especially after so many other things I have had happen. Luckily again I was able to see a ton of support from the members of my ward as well as the other missionaries and even President and Hermana Bird :) I am happy to say that I am recovering well from the Vertigo. Today I even got back on the bike for a little while with only a little bit of dizzyness. Anyways, now I can focus on getting healthy fully, so I can give my all to the Lord once again.

On Tuesday, our Zone held a stand in a neighborhood market where we handed out hot chocolate for free and sang hymns. I loved that activity a lot and could feel the spirit super strong:) The best part of my week though of course was Skyping the family!!! It was so nice to see everyone and I felt like we were able to use the time a little better since we had more prepared to talk about:D

On Sunday, our District basically ran the show for sacrament meeting. I played the piano, Hermana Sousa led the music, and the other 4 missionaries gave talks! It was super cool actually and I loved the talks they gave. Anyways, I am just super excited to get back to work and see what this new year can bring:) 

More gifts from my family!

I LOVE MINIONS!!

Week 43

They didn't let me walk anywhere, so they rolled me around in a wheelchair, haha !

Well, it's been quite the week to be honest! To sum up what happened, I started with a fever Saturday night and had that under control with medication, until Sunday. I started having diarrhea, which caused the medication to leave before doing its work. By Monday night, I finally bought a thermometer and was checking my temp all night since I couldn't sleep, being constantly cold and having to get up to use the bathroom dozens of times, and it was up in the 103 - 104 degree range all night! It was one rough night and so the next day I called our Mission President's wife in the morning and we decided I should be taken to a clinic. At the clinic, they almost were going to send me away with a list of meds to take, but without planning it, I felt super light headed and almost fainted in the doctor's office. They sent me to a bed to have an IV put in and some medication to calm my fever. There I stayed from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon with the IV. Later I went back to the house to rest the rest of the day.

By the time morning rolled around, I was feeling much better, but still had problems with diarrhea, even after having taken meds for it, so Hermana Bird talked with a trusted doctor she knows, and they decided it would be best to send me to a hospital to make sure everything is okay and to be safe. They sent us to one of the biggest hospitals in the world called Doctors Hospital, which was more like a hotel, to be honest. :P They treated me really well and did some tests to find out what was wrong. Turns out I have what I already had an idea I had, but it's gotten worse. Here it's called Gastritis. The good news is that's all it is, the fever and diarrhea were something apart, but combined together it was quite the mixture!

Outside view of Doctors Hospital, it's huge!!!

Elder Torres and me in the ER

The view from our window, doesn't do it justice, but just so you have an idea.

One of the few things I can eat is Jello, so I made some
for the first time in my life, it's easier than I thought and delicious!

They fed me, I listened to Pentatonix Christmas music and lots more since Pres. Bird allowed it last and this week:D and I slept a lot too, which was nice. We entered the hospital Thursday, in the afternoon, and left by Saturday, in the early evening, and they left me with medicine, a strict diet and I have to come back to be checked in two weeks. In other words, I am in good hands:)

Anyways through all the trials that came this week, I have been able to reflect on what a blessing it truly is to be here in the mission, and how much better it is to be out preaching the gospel, then cooped up in a hospital bed. It's easy to take the mission for granted and I want to make sure I press forward with all my might, mind and strength. Love you all, hope to have more experiences to tell next week outside of my health, but I thought it would be good to explain more clearly what happened. Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Elder Torres and me with our cute little Christmas tree!!!

Week 42

I am going to be short this week because I'm not feeling too well and it's hard to think. I have had a fever off and on since Saturday night and of course the worst of it had to hit me today on preparation day, and a very important one at that because there is so much going on with Christmas coming and everything. First of all, please don't worry about me, I'm in good hands and I've been communicating with Sister Bird since it started. She has confidence that I'll be better by tomorrow night at the latest. I also asked for a priesthood blessing, and so I have faith the Lord will help!

This week has been interesting for sure as we faced a lot of challenges.We taught a lot of new people who rejected the message mostly because they didn't want to change. The way I like to think about it though is we are one step closer to finding someone ready to accept the gospel every time we find someone who isn't. And we were able to see evidence of that belief when we found a wonderful family on Saturday! I am so happy to be in the work of the Lord, even with these difficulties, and I have faith we are truly making a difference through the little things we do every day. Love you all!

Week 41

This week was a little difficult to be honest because of how much success we had last week compared to this week. Many of our appointments fell through, as well as members who were going to accompany us. Despite these challenges, we were able to press forward and keep hope. The highlight of the week I would say is the Herrera Family we've been teaching since we taught them about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, which they were super interested in and had a ton of good questions. Especially the father Daniel, who constantly reads and even takes notes on the assignments we leave with him. When we taught him about the Book of Mormon he wanted to know more and asked us to come back the next day, but to come earlier to have more time since he was so excited! The sad news though is that they weren't able to make it to church Sunday, even though they really wanted too, since Daniel had some sort of accident and went to the ER. They didn't tell us too many specifics, but it isn't anything too serious from what I understood. We'll see how it goes this week with them, I hope everything is okay.

Another cool experience was a recent convert family we've been visiting named the Ochoa Family. They hadn't been going to church for a little over a month now, but we've been diligent with passing by to teach them and we've even taken their son Jonathan with us to teach a few lessons. To my great joy they made it to church yesterday:D It's always so nice to see our effort make a difference in the lives of others!

I bought some winter clothes this week finally.
 Too bad it looks like it's going to warm up again this week:/

Fuzzy socks for the cold nights!
I especially love the knee highs ;D

My head looks so big with my hat and helmet, haha!

Well, my 2nd transfer (6 weeks) as a trainer began today! That means my "son" Elder Torres only has 6 weeks left of training before he's all grown up. Crazy how times flies. In my district, only our District Leader Elder Salcedo is leaving, out of the 6 of us, but it's really sad because he is such a funny and loving guy. I will never forget the times we've spent together.

Hamburgers we ordered for delivery during exchanges with Elder Covorrubias!!

The weather has gotten semi hot again, but it's still a little cold in the mornings, which is annoying since I leave all bundled up and later end up having to take it all off and carry it since it's so hot. It's supposed to get up to 90 this Friday!! Oh, one night I taught my companion how to make S'mores. We bought marshmallows, Hershey's and Maria cookies (since graham crackers are hard to come by and it's basically the same) and used charcoal to start a little coal pit to roast them. It had been so long since I'd had one and they were delicious:) Well, that's about all I have to share this week, love you all!

We bought Donuts and Strawberry Chocolate Hot Chocolate since it was a chilly night :D

Probably can't see it but I made Macaroni with Potato chunks, yum!

 

Peach Pie (more like Cheesecake) members gifted us with, delicious!!

Week 40

Another crazy week has zoomed by! Again it has been pretty chilly here. (At least it feels like it, nothing like there in Oregon. It's at the very lowest high 50's at night and in the mornings:P) But it hasn't rained too hard which is great since we get super muddy when it does with the bikes.

This week has been one of my most successful weeks as a missionary with how many people we have found and been teaching. I wish I could talk about them all but I just want to mention a few.

A recent convert who lives close to us wanted us to come teach his friend so we showed up one day to have the lesson. Turns out, I had already thought his friend was a member because he always comes to our Zone activities on Preparation Day to play soccer with all the missionaries, and he told us he has been to church various times, goes to seminary frequently, and goes to some mutual activities! He told us a ton of stories about his life and how everything has led him up to this moment in his life, where he truly wants to start taking things more seriously. His cousin is an active member too, and so he has been around the church his whole life practically. He accepted a baptismal date for 18 of January to start the preparation process, and is super motivated. He reads the assignments we leave him and always has great questions and answers!

Another person we found just knocking doors. He was bringing things into his house so we offered to help. He accepted and afterwards let us teach him a lesson. Turns out he knows a bunch of members and is ready to make changes in his life. He also accepted a baptismal date and is super motivated.

Some bad news about Silvia is that her Quinceanera is coming up and that has made her really busy and stressed out, so she told us she needs some time: It's sad, but I know that we at least planted a seed that will be ready to harvest someday.

In church on Sunday, we were finally able to have an investigator! She's named Martina, a sweet old lady who I would never had expected to have made it, but I was super happy she was there. Also I played the piano in sacrament meeting since the pianist was sick this week. I tried playing with two hands this time and the first one was pretty rough, but the sacrament hymn went super well, especially for not having practiced it, and the last one as well. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to develop a talent I know will continue to come in handy and that I love.

Also my stomach has been improving a lot, which is good!

(Sorry no pictures this week. My adapter broke and I need to get a new one.)