Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Return of Romaldo

Hello my dear family and friends.

I hope everyone had a great and happy week. I had a pretty good week...with some not good mixed in there.

First...Happy Kidney Day yesterday, Kara and Christen! 15 years and still going strong. 

And...CONGRATS TO EMILY!!!! You will be an awesome nurse. I am so proud of you!

We are finding more people to teach. When I first got to the area here...we had no one. Maybe like 3 people. The area was split and the elders were nice enough to give us all the areas that they never worked in. It was really hard in the beginning, but now we are seeing miracles and finding investigators and a lot of menos activos and part member families! AND...if all goes according to plan, we will have 2 baptisms this week. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. 

I got sick this week. Really bad. On tuesday we ate something called Rajas con crema y pollo. It's chile but it isn't spicy and it's in a cream with chicken. It is my companion's favorite food. It tasted really good. We also had agua de papaya. Little did I know that agua de papaya is a laxative and the combo with cream is deathly. Not literally, but yeah. So Tuesday night I was in the bathroom ALLLLLLL night long. My companion didn't hear a thing. My stomach hurt so bad and I even threw up. I had what they call here in the mission the ´double dragon´ hahaha. TMI? Sorry but I'm in Mexico. I wanted to die a little. I also had a fever and felt so weak all Wednesday so we couldn't leave the house. When I called my district leader in the morning to tell him I was sick, he asked what I ate. I told him and he was like 'SERIOUSLY, HERMANA? Usted no es Mexicana!' Why didn't anyone tell me before?! I wasn't feeling any better that night and still had a fever so the elders and my ward mission leader came to give me a blessing. I looked so disgusting and had my glasses on and everything...lucky elders got to see the real me. But the blessing helped and I felt well enough to work the next day...although it was pretty rough. 

I mentioned last week that Romaldo was missing in action. He left to work and didn't return when he said he was going to and he doesn't have a cell phone. We went by his house almost every day. On Friday, we were walking down the street and I looked up and saw some men working on a roof. One of them looked familiar so I stared for a minute and realized that it was Romaldo. I literally jumped for joy. We set an appointment to meet with him because he was working and left feeling really happy!

Saturday we had interviews with President. I really love President and Sister Kusch. They are so great and really have our best interest in mind. My companion and I set goals with Sister Kusch to help her (my comp) learn English. Every missionary that doesn't speak English is supposed to study it. We also got chocolate because we cleaned our house...not all the elders got chocolate, though. My interview with President was good. He told me that one day, I will look back on this experience and realize my capacity to do hard things has increased. That one day when I am a mom and my kids are complaining about doing something hard, I can tell them about my mission. I said that I'll just hand them my journal and let them read it. Or I'll send them to Iguala for a few months. haha. But really, I am learning so much and this experience is one that I will never regret. Yes, this is a sacrifice..but one that is worth every minute. 

After interviews, we went to look for a menos activo reference that we received from our ward mission leader. We found his house but he wasn't home but we met another lady that lives next door to him. She invited us in and we started teaching her and her kids the first lesson. We mentioned the Book of Mormon and she told us that her husband went to our church, is baptized and has this book and reads it. He was baptized in Cuernavaca and they haven't lived in Iguala for very long. I guess when he was meeting with the missionaries, she was sick and couldn't go to church, so she didn't get baptized. Her husband was at work but we are going to go back and teach all of them. She and her kids have a baptismal date. There are some days that we don't find anybody. That all of our appointments fall through and it's sad. But there are other days where it is VERY clear that the Lord's hand is directing this work. I realized that the hard days help us enjoy the good days even more. I felt so happy that we found them. Saturday was a good day. 

Church church church...Sunday is the most stressful day for a missionary. But guess who came to church. Romaldo. YES! If all goes well this week, he will be baptized on Saturday. Also, Danna and Alan...the kids of the Family Hernandez Roman who we found and reactivated will be baptized on Sunday. I really hope that all works out because this is the last week in this change and there is always a possibility that my comp or I will be changed! And I don't want to miss either of these baptisms. No way. 

We ate with the Bishop and his family last night and I couldn't help but think of Pop and mom feeding the missionaries. Our bishop here is super cool. He was giving us marital advice for some reason...not sure why. 

Things are good here. Only 1 week left in this change so who knows what will happen next week, but I am going to work as if there are no changes because I want to see Romaldo, Danna and Alan baptized this week. I love Iguala and the people here. 

I have a testimony of this gospel. I know it is true without a doubt. I know that the Lord requires us to make sacrifices in our lives that aren't always easy or comfortable...but that we are always blessed ten times more than the things we sacrificed. I know that keeping the commandments is the only way we will be protected from the evil of this world. I know that the covenants we make at the waters of baptism and also in the temple help us reach our potential here in this life and in the life to come. I am grateful to be a missionary and a member of this church. 

I love you all. 

Love, 

Hermana Durham

Picture:
Front row: Yara, Denisse, and Nayeli 
Middle: Danna and Me
Top: Alan


Danna, Alan and Yara are kids of Fam. Hernandez Roman and Denisse and Nayeli are their cousins. Alan is the one who is scared to look at me in the eyes! haha. I love this little kids. THey are so eager to learn and so much more spiritually in tune than adults. 

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