Kylie in Cuernavaca: Goodbye Guerrero

Hello family!

I can't believe that we are half way through November. Where is the time going? This week...

Hna. Ward and I found a new investigator who is a doll. Her name is Rosario and we contacted her and her two kids in the street last week. She told us that we could come by and we did on Tuesday. We were walking up the street towards her house and she was waiting in the doorway for us! Nobody does that...in fact, most people hide! haha. Anyway, we went in and talked for a little bit. She said that 11 years ago she talked to missionaries from our church but lost contact with them when she moved to a different state. We were excited to hear that! She accepted a baptismal date and the invitation to come to church so easily. She was super excited to come to church and in the closing prayer, she thanked Heavenly Father because we invited her to come with us! She is so sweet and her little boys are also totally adorable. One is almost 8 years old and is super smart and really sociable.

We got a call on Friday from one of the elders in our district that we needed to be in the stake center as soon as possible and that he was our new District Leader. What? We were super confused but we headed down to the stake center. When we got there, we were told that the mission has officially closed the state of Guerrero and that the missionaries who were 'visiting' are now permanent in these areas. So now our ward officially has 4 sets of missionaries! We were told that the bishop needs to change the boundaries of our areas as soon as possible. I was really sad to hear this because I love Iguala and I was hoping to serve in other parts in Guerrero before I end my mission. I still have 9 more months, so there is hope that it will reopen before then, but who knows! It is really sad, but there is a reason for all of this. The first thing I thought was that Morelos is going to have a temple one day! And I will be able to say that I helped grow the church here in Cuernavaca!

We had Stake Conference Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday session was all about self-reliance (I think that is how you say it in English. It is autosuficiencia en espanol) Anyway, it was really good and I liked all the talks. On Sunday, we passed by for Rosario and she was, again, waiting in the doorway for us ready to go at 9 am. This never happens, people. It was awesome. The conference was a satellite transmission from Salt Lake just for Mexico City, Cuernavaca and Pachuca. Guess who spoke, mom? Your friend Linda Reeves...and she gave her talk in SPANISH!! Haha. It was awesome. Also, Elder Anderson from the 12 spoke and he also gave his talk in Spanish. His accent is French, though. It was a really great conference, although half the time I was trying to entertain Rosario's little boy! We played tic tac toe and the dot game. I wanted her to be able to pay attention. Elder Anderson talked about sacrifice and how sacrifice means to give up something good for something better. I loved that definition.

Ok, so after conference a bunch of emotional things happened. Haha. The bishop told us our new areas in the ward boundaries. We were told that we are going to work only in Monte Casino and the part very north where the Casa de Oracion/groupo familiar is. Which means that we no longer have any of our investigators and we can't visit the Pintor Family. I started to cry when I heard this. Then I pulled myself together a little because Tomas and Edgar received the Melchizedek priesthood!!! We were able to come into the room with them. I loved what the stake president did, he ordained Tomas first and then told him that he would have the opportunity to ordain his son! Tomas was like 'I don't know how!' and the stake president said, 'in this church, we learn by doing. I will tell you what to say in the beginning and then you can give your son a blessing.' And he did it so beautifully! Like a pro, seriously. I started crying again because I was already emotional and then I started thinking about how I wouldn't be able to visit them anymore and then I was just feeling grateful that I have had the blessing of knowing and helping this family receive the many blessings of the gospel. And now we have two more worthy priesthood holders on the earth that are ready and willing to serve in any way. wow. We didn't say anything to them at that moment because we were going to visit them later. And plus we had some doubts about the area.

We called president later and told him about the new area we were given because it is really far from where we live and it gets dark super early...at like 6pm. We needed to know what our schedule during the day would be like and what we could do about food during the day because all the 5 members that live up there work during the week. President told us that the bishop needs to change the divisions again because we aren't allowed to work only up there since it isn't an official branch or ward and plus it is kind of not super safe once it gets dark. We would have to leave our area at like 5 pm! So he called the stake president and then called us back and said that the bishop will be making changes to the area again. We still don't know what our area is going to be, yet. The bishop hasn't called so we are just working like normal in the area that we have always had and we will see once he lets us know. I am hoping that he keeps us in the part where all of our investigators are!

Today, Helen (wife of Edgar), cut my hair...well, trimmed it. She just took off the dead ends...but she probably should have cut more because my hair is a little dead. She did exactly what I asked and I am glad because I was scared to get it cut here but I needed to! She straightened it, too!! I haven't straightened my hair in over 9 months! It is super long and blond and I look weird! I will send you a picture. I love Helen, she is so wonderful and she didn't charge us! Also, today is some kind of holiday here (who knows what) so we had to search high and low to find a ciber to write! Silly Mexico.

I hope you are all doing well! I am grateful to be here in the mission. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and I am blessed to be His representative in this area. I really love Mexico and know that there are many blessings in store for the Mexican people as long as they are obedient to the commandments of the Lord. That really is the secret to a happy life...obedience to the commandments. I am so grateful to know that plan of salvation. That I can be with my family forever. I love you, Family. Each and every one of you! I am one lucky Hermana.

Have a great week!!!

Love,
Hermana Durham