October 20, 2014- Week 11 in Atlixco!

Hey! So I'll just get started haha!

Monday: We now have French investigators! They live in the same building as us, and they are both women in their twenties, here in Mexico teaching French in the high schools. They are super awesome :) Their names are Maite y Aurorde! It's pretty cool because Hermana Traylor has a little hymnbook in French, and she also knows how to pray in French, so she taught them how! They know fluent Spanish as well, but they are more comfortable with French. It's different though, because Maite is Roman-Catholic and Aurorde is athiest. So...it is definitely a different experience trying to adapt the lesson to the both of them. But, we're seeing them again tomorrow, and we're pretty excited!

Tuesday and Wednesday: Super busy days. We have 5 new-ish investigators that all look pretty promising! Their names are Tania, Nancy, Violetta, Diego and Fernanda. Tania is the wife of a less-active that we found in Casas Geo! She is really raelly Christian, but she is interested in learning about the church because of her husband and because she wants the best for their 1-year old daughter. She has had a LOT of questions about Joseph Smith, but the last time we went, we explained it all to her super clearly. She has also been reading the Book of Mormon, which is great! We know she's going to need more time than others, but she's a very special lady :) I mentioned Nancy, and she is great too! We were only able to see her one more time this week, but she seems to REALLY like our message. Her son Luis is also listening to us, and he loves participating in the lessons (he's 9) :) We're going to try to see them tonight so hopefully it goes well! Violeta, Diego and Fernanda are so awesome! Violeta is the mom and the other two are her kids (14 and 13 years old). They are SUPER receptive, and want to learn more. They really wanted to go to church yesterday...but I think Violeta's husband kinda got in the way with that. That always seems to be a problem here... But we're hoping that this next week, they'll come!

Thursday: Well, Wednesday night, I was looking through our area book and I found a teaching record for a less-active, one that hadn't been visited in about 3 years. But I felt like we needed to go find him and visit him. So Thursday, we started searching for his house. We knew the street, but most houses here don't have numbers, so you literaly just have to guess and pray that you'll find them. We narrowed it down to one house with a bright yellow door, and I was completely convinced that it was his house. We knocked...and knocked...and knocked...and no one came to the door. So we started walking up the street, ready to try again a different day. Then we heard someone whistling at us But if I've learned anything in Mexico, it's that you don't ever turn around when someone whistles to you. So we just kept walking. They kept whistling more and more, so we walked faster haha. The whistling stopped...then about a minute letter a car pulled up next to us, with super tinted windows, so we had no idea who it was. He rolled down the window and said "Hermanas, I'm Jesus Carrera! I've been waiting for you to come visit!" It was the less-active we were looking for! He had pulled up just as we stopped knocking on his door and walked away. He had started whistling to grab our attention, but then once he saw that we were not going to turn around, got back in his car and came and got us. It was really cool because he told us that he has a son who is 7 and whose birthday is in March... His son loved going to church before, and really wants his dad to baptize him, but Jesus needs to change quite a few things in order to do so. Hermana Traylor and I felt like we got there in the exact moment that he needed us to - to help prepare him to be worthy to baptize his son. And they came to church this Sunday! So we're already seeing a change! :)

Friday and Saturday: I had intercambios with...Hermana Smith! Haha! We're the only 2 Hermana Smiths in the mission, and it sure was fun pretending like we were related! Everyone was so confused! It was kinda awful though because we literally only taught 1 lesson... and that was to the recent convert who fed us Saturday :P It was hard because I think we went to EVERY person that we had ever taught... and no one was there or was too busy to let us in. We walked up and down hills for 5 hours without a single lesson to show for it. But let me tell you, Hermana Smith did not complain once. I think she was even laughing at one point. And she gave me a high-five after the food and said "We got a lesson, Sister Smith!" I couldn't help feeling a little awful at first, because I wanted it to be an intercambio where she was able to learn a lot...but she told me later that she did. She said, "God really only asks for our diligence, not for a certain number of lessons. There's always one more house we can go to and one more person to invite, even if we think that we've already done everything." So, I think it was a good learning experience for the both of us :)

Sunday: I always feel like Sunday is a little like Judgement Day haha. Like...you put in everything that you can all week...and Sunday is the day when you can see if any of it paid off! I know it's not really like that, but that's how I feel sometimes. And yesterday morning, I was feeling like that. I kept thinking "I don't know what more I can do if no one ends up coming to church today." And I was just praying for one person, any person. And... 4 investigators came to church yesterday!!!!!! Ana, a friend of a less-active that lives in Casas Geo and Veronica and Quintin! I was especially excited about Veronica and Quintin :) I feel like Satan was working on them so hard so they couldn't go to church but yesterday, they got there :) And they liked it a lot! We had a lesson with them later last night, and they asked us a bunch of questions, but kept saying "We know we'll keep learning as we go more and more." YAY! I love them :) They're so great

Crazy to think that wer'e starting the last week in the transfer... it's gone by fast! But I have learned a lot, and good think I have 7 more months to learn more! :) Oh! and we're in a trio for the next week... Hermana Ramirez is going to be spending this last week with us in Vista Hermosa, so that'll be different! But it'll be fine :) I love being a missionary and helping the people here in Atlixco :) I know this week is going to be great! I love you all, and hope you have a fantastic week!

Love always,

Hermana Smith

PS - Scripture of the Week: Ether 12:6

Photos:

-Meet my new companion! Just kidding. That's just crazy Hermana Traylor! :) (Maybe don't put this one on my blog...she might kill me if she knew that I showed all of you haha!)

-Me, Hermana Traylor and Hermana Poot :)

-Pretty pretty sunset!