What's your beautiful name?

Hello Everybody!!!

How was your week? I hope it was great. The title of my email comes from the craziest taxi driver I have ever had here in Mexico. His name is Javier and he lived in Georgia for 10 years but got deported and had to return to Mexico. He pulled over and was like 'WHAT'S UP GIRLS!' because obviously we speak English. He was so excited to talk to us in English and we were busting up because he was talking about all the fast food places he misses in the US. He was like... Those french fries from Checkers!!!! Ohhh man! I need to go back! I need to get married to a white girl and go back to the US.  Um...I think we'll get out here. Hahaha...not really. He also confessed that he is the crazy taxi driver that always honks at us when we are waiting at the bus stop! When we reached our destination, he was like 'What's your beautiful name?' and I started laughing so hard! I told him Hermana Durham and he kept asking for my first name and I said Lupita! And thanked him for the ride and got out. Haha.

I completed 10 months on the mission!! WHAT WHAT! Double digits. I can't believe how fast time is flying.

This week was good and hard at the same time. Good because we really have some great investigators who are progressing and hard because we couldn't find ANYONE new this week. And trust me, we tried hard.

Every day we had plans for lessons with people and no one was home. El dia de la virgen is coming up on the 12th (all the catholic people celebrate the birthday of the Virgen Maria) and so they are all doing their rosarios every night...when they go to a huge image/statue of the virgen and light candles and bring flowers and recite their rosario or prayer. Everyone we try to make appointments with is like 'Oh...maybe after the 12th...it's my turn to have the virgen in my house tomorrow!' What. News flash: the virgen isn't going to save you! Yes, she was the mother of Jesus and we respect her with the highest respects...but the statue that you are praying to doesn't work. Whatever.

Let me tell you about the good parts of the week:

Our investigator Rosario is so wonderful and she and her son are going to be baptized on January 3. She told us that Dante is telling everyone he can about his baptism and she is also super excited. She told us that she will do anything to be baptized. She loves going to church and she is reading the Book of Mormon with Dante and saying family prayers. It makes me so happy to see how willing she is to keep her commitments. She really understands that she will have a better life because of this and she wants it really bad for her kids.

David is also doing really well. Because we loved the pie so much, his sister made us cupcakes the last time we went! haha. He is also doing really well at keeping his commitments and came to church again yesterday! He also came to Cesar's baptism on Saturday and really liked it! He always reads his assignments and has really good questions. We also discovered that he loves to sing and so we always sing Joy To The World when we visit him because he likes singing it really loud. Also...cool story. The first time we went to visit him, his mom and dad were there watching TV. They go to another Christian Church. We actually contacted his dad in the street a few days before we went to visit David and he was one of those contacts that starts preaching to you and you have to be like 'OK! HAVE A NICE DAY!' really loud so that they can hear you and stick your hand out so they understand that it's time to go. His name is Pedro and he is super old and SUPER short and he always tells us Bible jokes that I don't understand. Anyway, back to the story. The first time we came, they were on the couch watching TV and they didn't turn down the volume until we said the prayer. Ok. The second time...the volume was a little softer and they turned it off for the prayers. The third time, the TV was on but once we started the discussion, they turned it totally off. The fourth time, the TV wasn't even on when we came!! They are super active in their church, but they listen to the discussion from the couch and his mom, Phoebe, even asked for a reference of a scripture that we used in the Bible! It might take a while for them, but they'll totally be baptized one day. They are super nice to us. David is really great. He still hasn't received his answer if the church is true, but I am confident that he will if he keeps doing what he is doing...reading, praying, and attending church.

Like I mentioned…CESAR GOT BAPTIZED!!!! He is so cool. I am sad because he shaved his head this last week (he lost a bet) and so he kind of looks like a criminal in the picture haha but he is so nice. His mom, Yola, was SOOOO happy. She was on top of the world, to be exact. She has waited and prayed for this day for almost 18 years and it finally came. His brother (who is an inactive returned missionary) was at the baptism with his wife and kids and I was so happy to see them!  Cesar gave his testimony at the end of the baptism and shared something really cool. The district leader that did the baptismal interview is named Elder Ramirez. Cesar is also Ramirez. Anyway, we asked him who he wanted to baptize him and since his brother couldn't, he told us that he would like Elder Ramirez to do it. In his testimony, he said the 3 dreams were completed that day and that it was another testimony that what he was doing was the right thing. He said that his mom's dream of seeing him be baptized was one. He also said that he wanted his brother to baptize him but that because he is inactive, he couldn't do it. He said that when the Elder did the interview a week ago, he realized that his name was Ramirez...and that is why he wanted him to do it...so 'his brother' baptized him. Then, he said that Elder Ramirez shared with him that he really wanted to baptize his dad, but he wasn't 16 when his dad got baptized (they are converts) so he couldn't. He said that he made a promise to himself that on the mission, he would baptize a 'Ramirez' and Saturday he was able to. Everyone was crying. It was super great. Cesar is going to be a great member of the church. He even got up and bore his testimony yesterday and I felt like a proud little missionary mom! haha.

I got to watch the devotional and I loved it. I wanted to cry a little when I saw temple square. It made me a little home sick. But I'm fine now. I loved the music. And the talks...although I don't like listening to them in Spanish. Even though I understand, it is not the same as hearing their real voice.

Also, no need to fear, we have food plans for my birthday and there will be cake. I am so excited because we always eat really good food with this family and they invited the other 4 sisters in our ward so we are going to have a party! Not really, but kind of.

I am so grateful to be here in Mexico as a missionary. I am soooo grateful for the people that we have been able to baptize in this ward. I love each of them and I love the investigators that we have right now. They are truly prepared to understand and accept the gospel at this time. Sometimes I am walking in the street and I think, 'I'm in Mexico. What the heck? I've been here for 9 months. I can speak Spanish. WHAT THE HECK!' It is seriously so weird but I love it. I will never regret my decision to serve a mission. I know that I am here for a reason. I know that I have so much to change and do as a person and that Heavenly Father is helping me every step of the way. I love the gospel. The church is perfect and the gospel, if lived the right way, helps us become perfected in Christ. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us. I know that He knows us and that we are special to Him. I know that Christ lives. I love this time of year that we have to really think about His humble birth and sacrifice that made it possible for us to be clean and live again. He is the Christ and He is the ONLY way to salvation.

I love you all. I hope you all have had the chance to watch HE IS THE GIFT. It is super beautiful. IF not, go to mormon.org or Youtube and search it, and then share it with all your friends.

I love you all sooooo much!

Love,

Hermana Durham

Fotos:

I was walking down the street and all of a sudden I saw Eder running from his house across to his aunt house with this hat on. I had to take a picture with it! haha

Yummy cupcakes...I need to go back to Iguala so I can lose the weight I am gaining here! haha...just kidding, but seriously.

CESAR!!! Happy Baptism Day!!

The stick of Judah and the stick of Ephraim!

We ate with a menos activo, Hno. Pepe. He is awesome and cooks really well. He actually doesn't have any kidneys so he doesn't come to church a lot for his health. His sister in law is an active member and super awesome, Toña. He cooked for us and put lime on our cups for our drinks but he didn't put it on the cup of Toña! haha...we are special guests!

Happy Thanksgiving....?

Hi Family!

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Just so you know those pictures that you all sent me made me a little jealous. I wish I could have been there to eat delicious food.

This week was a good one. It has been getting cold here at night! I can't even remember what it was like in Iguala anymore!

Hna. Ward contacted a man on the bus last week that said he didn't believe in God but then ended up accepting a baptismal date and an appointment to listen to our message. His name is David. He has an interesting story. David was very active all his life in the pentecostal church. He has a weird sickness of the skin and when he is anxious or nervous or really worked up, he gets hives all over his skin and they turn into sores. He thought all his life that it was punishment from God so he always tried to do the best he could in school and church so that he wouldn't get the hives. He told us that one day he realized that he could control his disease and that when he was in church, it just made him more stressed and then he would get the hives. He started believing more in science and that he could heal himself and that he didn't need God. Then all his doubts started coming and he stopped going to church. It has been a very long time since he has had any religion in his life. He is super cool and we are trying to help him understand that God does exist, he is a child of God and that we all have trials and tests in our lives and they aren't punishments from God. He is really progressing and he actually reads the assignments we leave him in the Book of Mormon. He also has started praying again after years of not doing it at all. We had a really good lesson about faith, humility, and pacience in afflictions and he was like 'I know, I need to be more humble!' Yep! haha And HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! We have a lot of hope for him. Also, he is super nice and knew that it was Thanksgiving on Thursday so he had his sister bake us a pumpkin pie and he brought it to us yesterday!

Rosario is progressing really well, too. She is literally the most prepared investigator that I have had the opportunity of teaching. She actually listens to what we say and does it! She says that she feels so much peace in her life now that she goes to church. Her little boy Dante turned 8 on Saturday and he will be getting baptized with her on January 3. They are such a cute little family. Our friend from the ward, Edna, came with us to visit them on Saturday and brought a pie to celebrate Dante's birthday. It was super fun.

We will also be having a baptism on Saturday for Cesar! He is the son of a member in our ward...the one that said it was time to get baptized because he is 33 and Jesus was 33 when he got baptized. He passed his baptismal interview yesterday and everything! Woo hoo!

On Thanksgiving day, we didn't really do anything to celebrate. We did buy some chocolate candy things and pretended they were pie and took pictures. I also made a turkey hand for my companion and told her that I was thankful for her. I know,  I am so cute! haha.

On Friday, we did an act of service for Christmas and went to the retirement home (is that more politically correct than old folks home?) with the Young Women in the ward. It was super fun because this time we brought nail polish and painted the nails of the residents and sang Christmas songs. I painted the nails of a lady that has Alzheimer's and she kept telling me that she couldn't paint her nails because she has to cook, clean and iron all the clothes for her dad and he would get mad if he saw her nails painted. I convinced her that a light color would be perfect and she agreed. It was sad, though, she kept telling me about when her mom died and how sad she was that she will never see her again. I reassured her that she will see her mom again and she looked at me and said 'Do you really think so?!' and I told her 'Yes, I know so!' I am sad because I don't think she'll remember what I told her and she will keep being sad. I gave her the plan of salvation pamphlet because it has lots of pictures of Christ and she loved it. Also, we visited our friend Juana who we met the last time we were there and I brought the picture we took together. I gave it to her and before I left I asked where she put it and she took it out of her bra and showed it to me! hahahaha. I love old people! She gave me a big kiss on the cheek and told me to come back soon. I hope we can go back again soon.

Church was good yesterday...and especially good because I got to see Enrique and Claudia! I was in sacrament meeting and someone said 'I think you have investigators waiting for you.' I was confused and went out and almost started crying when I saw them! They brought me the package. Enrique has lost lots of weight! Also, I spoke to them in Spanish...and I told him that he needs to tell my family that I can speak Spanish now! haha.

Also, Hermana Ward and I bought a little fake Christmas tree the other day so that we could feel a little bit more the Christmas Spirit. You can see it in the picture of me with the pie. :)

I love you all so much! I can't believe that it is December!!!!!! The year is almost over. In 4 days I complete 10 months! It feels like I just completed 9.

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The more I share the gospel with others, I can see how truly perfect the church is. We are the imperfect ones, but our Heavenly Father loves us so perfectly. He is happy even with our mortal efforts to be better. I know that Christ makes up all the difference. He just asks us to be obedient and do the best we can.

I hope all the preparations for Christmas are coming along nicely! Don't forget the true meaning of the season. There is a really awesome video on mormon.org called He is the Gift. You should all watch it. I will admit, it made me kiiinnda homesick. But also really happy to be a missionary and for the opportunity to share this message with the world!

Love you all!!! Have a happy week!

Love,

Hermana Durham

Another Change in Pradera

Nobody fear...I'm still in Pradera. I have a feeling I am going to die here. But I am excited that I get to spend Christmas and my birthday here because the members love giving us cake!

This week was good but we had some disappointments, too. Welcome to the mission.

On Tuesday, we had a really good district meeting. Before, we were assigned to study something to help prepare us for the meeting and Hna. Ward and I decided that we needed to start praying for and expecting more miracles. Our District Leader was going home...one of the valiant ones! It was his last meeting and it was super powerful. We all were super pumped when we left the church and ready to work. We decided to put into practice what he was teaching and use inspired questions in all of our contacts in the street instead of saying the same things over and over again. We also were expecting to see miracles this day, especially with our dear investigator, Lucy.

We ended up finding 3 people who accepted a baptismal date in the street! Seriously, If someone came up to me in the street and asked me to be baptized in their church, I would think they were crazy. But occasionally we feel inspired to ask people and they accept! That was one miracle of the day.

We had been praying to be able to find Lucy because her baptismal date was on Saturday and we still weren't sure if she wanted to be baptized. We got the feeling that she didn't but we wanted to talk to her. She had a store next to her house and she is either working or out running errands so it is hard to get in a good lesson with her. We prayed really hard to find her in her house and when we went to find her...she wasn't there. We talked to her husband who is catholic and doesn't have any interest in the church and he told us that she doesn't want to get baptized. I felt so sad but as we walked out of the store, Lucy was coming around the corner with some groceries. We helped her in the house and she had some time to talk. We taught her about the importance of baptism and how it is a covenant with God and not us. We talked about the blessings we received and really had a good lesson with her. In the end she said that she still doesn't feel the need to be baptized yet. She said she is missing the desire. She knows the church is true but still doesn't want to be baptized. We asked her if we could fast with her that day so that she could receive an answer from God if she should be baptized. She said that would be fine and we planned on going back later that night to start the fast because she hadn't eaten anything that day.

We went back at 7 that night and started the fast. I had such faith that she would receive her answer. The next day we fasted so we went to the food (we usually eat at 3pm) with Tupperware to bring it back to our house since we couldn't eat it. It was the hottest day of the week, too. I was super thristy but the whole time I just kept thinking, 'This is for Lucy! She is going to get baptized on Saturday!' We went to her house at 7 the next day and she told us that she felt really good. We had assigned her a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon, too. She read it and said that she liked it a lot. I was so happy. Then we broke our fast and we asked her how she felt about her baptism on Saturday. She looked at us and said that she still didn't feel the desire or need to get baptized. That she wants to feel more prepared. We asked her the baptismal interview questions and she passed them all. She told us that she knows this is the true church and she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and everything! I was so sad. So so so sad. And thirsty. But I didn't cry and I didn't feel defeated because I knew that we had done everything in our power to help her and it just isn't her time. She isn't ready. She said that she will still come to church and that one day she will be ready to be baptized. We will still visit her, too. It made me sad because she obviously doesn't understand how important baptism is, but we literally explained everything and tried so hard. I know that we planted the seeds, though. I know that she will be a member one day. Oh Lucy, you broke my heart. So we headed home after that and I bought a tub of ice cream to eat away my sorrows.

On Thursday we couldn't leave our house because it was 20 de Noviembre and apparently there were manifestations and such in all of Mexico so we had to stay in the house all day long. The lady that was supposed to give us food was like 'Oh I am so sorry! That is too bad' and didn't offer to bring us anything! So we ordered subway and had it delivered to our house! It was kind of boring but I got caught up in my journal!

On Friday, we had a Noche de Hogar (FHE) with the ward and it was super fun. We played a game and then everyone went around and introduced themselves and told us why they know the church is true. The Pintor Family was there and Edgar said something that made me so happy. He said that before the sisters showed up at their house, he felt like he was missing something in his life. He was looking for it but didn't know where to find what he was looking for or what exactly he wanted. When we taught him, he knew that this was exactly what he needed and has changed so much and now he is so happy!

On Saturday, our stake had a really awesome activity. Since we had so many missionaries here, they did a missionary day with all the youth. Each of them got a fake missionary tag and they were assigned a companionship and people (menos activos) to visit. President Kusch was there and gave a little training. Hna. Ward and I were assigned two young women from a different ward in the stake. We were giving 5 people to go find in an area we didn't know! haha...luckily I know how to open an area! The girls were super cute and helped us contact everyone on the street. We went to every house that we had and the first 4 addresses either didn't exist or the people didn't live there anymore. We had one more to go and actually found a less active family! The man wouldn't let us in because he was heading to work, but we talked to him about going to church, reading his scriptures and saying his prayers. He said that he wants to go to church but his wife doesn't. We had a good chat with him in the street and then headed back. The girls were so happy that we were able to find someone and that hopefully our testimonies help him come back to church. After, we had a testimony meeting and it was so powerful. Almost every youth that got up said that they wanted to go on a mission now because of this experience, that it was super hard and they didn't find hardly anyone, but that they were able to talk to people in the street and feel the spirit! This little 12 year old who was super short got up and said 'Today I learned that size doesn't matter!' He started crying and said that he knows the church is true and wants to be a missionary one day. It was so adorable.

Later that night, we stopped by to visit Rosario. It was her little boy's birthday (Diego). He turned 2. She had mentioned that they probably wouldn't do anything since there isn't much money so Hna. Ward and I bought a little hostess cupcake and a fake candle that I made from paper! Haha. It was super cute. I love that little family. We taught the plan of salvation and Rosario loved it. She is so great. She came to church by herself yesterday with her two little boys and loved it again.

Yesterday we didn't receive changes like I mentioned in the beginning. I wasn't that shocked since...I mean, there isn't really any places to put us. It's always nice to have changes in the mission, but I know that this is where I need to be for now.

We met up with Hna. Hellstern today in the center with her new Companion, Hna. Peterson (from my generation). We ate lunch and we are going to hang out in the zocalo for a little while.

Well, like you just read, this week was full of highs and lows. It is so hard to see people you love not accept the thing that will make them the happiest in their life. Maybe I am understanding a little bit about what it's like to be a parent. You teach your kids the best you can and hope they make the right choices. Sometimes they do sometimes they don't, but you still love them anyway. I know that the efforts I make every day to get up and work aren't going to waste. We are planting seeds and finding those that are already prepared.

I love you all and hope you enjoy THANKSGIVING! I will miss the turkey and potatoes. I am sure I will eat some tacos to celebrate! haha. And mom, they don't celebrate it here, it's an American Holiday! haha.

Love you all. Don't forget that my birthday is coming up and any cards or packages are welcome. :)

Love,

Hermana Durham