I am soooo excited to talk to you
all! I remember when Hermana Ward and I started counting down from 60 days! I
am planning on calling home at about 2 your time, so make sure you are ready.
I would like to share a story about
the power of the Book of Mormon. Yesterday, we were going to a Christmas
Devotional type thing in the stake center and we needed to take a taxi. Some of
the other sisters in my ward got a taxi before us and the taxi man charged them
$35 pesos which is a steal from where we live. We were hopíng to get the same
price with the next taxi (we had to split up since there are 8 of us) and every
taxi that passed by wanted to charge us more. We were kind of bummed,
especially because some of the taxi drivers were rude about it. Whatever. We
got a taxi for $40 pesos and started to contact the driver like good
missionaries always do. I explained to him what the Book of Mormon was and gave
him a copy. We also told him the meaning of his name because it is found in the
Bible. When we got to the stake center, we handed him the money that we owed
him and he wouldn't accept it! He told us that we gave him a free book and that
he was happy with that! Free taxi ride! That NEVER happens here....NEVER. The
Book of Mormon has power and we were so grateful since we are poor
missionaries. :) We got his address and information and we are going to pass it
on to the missionaries in his area! #scripturepower
Have I mentioned about Don Pedro? He
is the dad of our investigator David. He is really old and really short and
super Christian. I think I did mention him. Well, we were walking down the
street and ran into him on Tuesday. We started to talk a little bit. He always
likes to preach a little to us. Well, just as we were leaving, he grabs my hand
and pulls me in to give me a hug! Haha...What was I going to do? Reject him?
You can't reject Don Pedro. So we gave him hugs and kept on walking. Oh
Pedro...
Wednesday we had our Christmas
Conference in the mission and it was SO FUN! President and Sister Kusch gave
talks and President Kusch started crying when he said that this was his last Christmas
conference of the year and of his mission here in Mexico! I really love Pres.
and Sis. Kusch. After the talks, we all got ready for our skits! I was Cindy
Lou Who. Our skit was pretty funny, it was a mesh of a bunch of different movie
characters. It started with Cindy Lou Who who had a reference for the sister
missionaries (who were played by Elders) and we went around trying to find
people to teach. The list of characters included Grinch, Willy Wonka, Elsa from
Frozen, Shrek and the Donkey, Tinker Bell, Dori from Nemo, and Santa Claus.
Maybe I will tell you about it one day but I don't want to waste my time giving
all the details. Just trust me that it was funny and everyone loved my hair.
After the skits, we did a white
elephant exchange...and let me tell you. I gave the shirt that says I LOVE with
my face on it with a soccer ball! This one Elder from another zone picked it
and when he opened it everyone laughed! And everyone was asking for a shirt
like it! haha. President and Sister Kusch thought it was funny and asked me
where I got it done...I told them my pop sent it to me! A sister in my district
ended up stealing it because she loves me! I mean...who wouldn't want a shirt
with my face on it? :) I am giving the other two to Hna. Garcia and Hna. Ward.
I ended up being the LAST person to pick a gift and we could only steal 1 time
because there were so many of us...I got probably the lamest gift out of all
the gifts, candy in some tins that looked like Mario and a video game
controller. Obviously some Elder bought that. Whatever. We ate delicious food
and cake after and then cleaned up and headed out. It was so fun to be with
everyone and to celebrate Christmas.
That night we had a really good
lesson with David. He is seriously so awesome and everyone loves him. All the Elders
in the other ward met him at church yesterday and they were all like 'I want to
go to his baptism! He is so funny!' He always texts us in English and most of
the time we don't understand what he is saying, but A for effort, right? haha.
But we received some sad news on Saturday from him. He got called for a job in
the Gulf coast working on a platform with his uncle fixing the electricity
there. He doesn't know for how long he will be there and won't be able to
communicate with us until he returns! His baptismal date is set for the 3rd so
we are praying that he gets back this week! He left this morning and hopes to
come back before the new year. I almost cried when he told us, but at least he
was able to come to church yesterday. We taught him the word of wisdom and
chastity. It was so funny because there is a song called 'In Our Lovely Deseret'
that basically teaches the word of wisdom. We were teaching him and he drinks
coffee in the mornings to wake him up and he asked us 'Is there a song that can
help me not drink coffee and help me wake up in the morning?' Hna. Ward and I
looked at each other like 'Should we??' and so we sang that song for him and he
loved it! haha. I really hope he comes back soon because if not, there is a
chance (a pretty good one) that Hna. Ward and I won't be together for his
baptism! :(
Rosario and Dante are doing so well.
Rosario mentioned that she doesn't have skirts and that she noticed that
everyone wears skirts to church. We asked around and rounded up a few skirts
(she is like size zero) for her and gave them to her a few days ago. She came
to church with one on and looked so good! She told us that the only thing Dante
asked for for Christmas was a mini hymn book like the ones Hna. Ward and I have
so we are going to the offices today to buy one. That is the only thing he
wanted! He loves Primary!
We visited the reference from
Enrique this week, they are cousins (primos hermanos...whatever that means) and
he received us in his farmacia. His name is Roberto and just lost his son a few
months ago. We didn't have much time so we explained a little about our message
and set an appointment to visit him in his house. We went on Saturday and met
with his girlfriend and him and taught the plan of salvation. They didn't
accept a baptismal date and also told us they couldn't go to church (we will
work on it) but Roberto said the closing prayer and in the prayer he thanked
Heavenly Father that his cousin sent us to visit him because he felt like his
burden had been lifted a little more and he felt like he had the strength to
keep going. We are going to visit them again. They don't really understand that
our church is different than other churches, so we will explain the Restoration
to them and see how it goes.
We also have another investigator
named Fatima. She is 9 years old and literally is the girl version of Greco. SUPER
smart and SUPER excited to be baptized. Her mom has been inactive for the last
year, but they went to church about two years ago. They are starting to come
back to church and Fatima is amazing. We taught her the plan of salvation and
after we were done she gave us a perfect summary of what we had just taught.
She also said that she really wants to be closer to God and is so excited to be
baptized! She talks like a little adult and I love her! I really feel like kids
honestly understand better than adults (no offense but it is true) and are so
much more sensitive to the spirit. I love it!
I probably have more to share with
you, but I think this will have to do. I am so excited to talk with you all in
a few days!!!!! I know the church is true with all my heart. I am so grateful
to be a missionary here at this time. There is no doubt in my mind that I am in
the right place at the right time. It is so interesting how God works with us.
I never in my life imagined that I would be a missionary, but now I can't
imagine what it would be like if I wasn't a missionary. Does that make sense? I
wish I could spend the Christmas season with you all but if I had to be in
another place, I am glad that I am here.
I hope we can all remember that
Jesus Christ really is the best gift that we have or ever will receive from a
loving Heavenly Father who wants the best for His children. I hope that we all
can reflect this Christmas on what we can do to show our love to our Savior for
His sacrifice.
I love you all! So much. so so so so
so much. See you on THURSDAY!!!!!!! :)
Love,
Hermana Durham!
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