This week was great...like always!

This week was great...like always!

Tuesday: We had a district meeting with the other missionaries - but since it was the last Tuesday of the month it was all in English! SO WEIRD! Only Elder Bell and I are fluent / from the US and the meetings in English are supposed to be practice for the native missionaries.  But I literally couldn't speak out loud correctly, and kept mixing my sentences up.  The only thing I can relate it to is a triathlon: when I transition from the bike portion to the run portion ... my legs are like jello and it is awkward/unfamiliar for a bit. The same is with Spanish and English - although I write in my journal in English, I NEVER speak English out loud, so it was an interesting experience.  But it also made me so grateful for the gift of tongues and how quickly I am learning the language!

Wednesday: We taught Gael (a 10 year old boy who comes from a less active family).  He is a great kid and we also teach his uncles. One of his uncles told us "the day I attended church with the two of you was the first time in 2 years Ive been to church. Thank you for helping me come." It made me realize the importance of working with and fellowshipping the less active members.  I was so excited for him to feel the Spirit in the church building and partake of the sacrament after such a long time.

Thursday: We visited the Perez family and after the lesson they showed us an old photo album with super cool pictures dating back to the 1800s (pictures of their parents).  Hermana Ortiz looked at one of the pictures and the type of dress they used, then looked at me and exclaimed "Hipster!" hahaha 

Another older member in our ward gave us a 1950s Libro de Mormon (which was super cool because it was around the time the church was beginning to grow here in Mexico more).  The pages are all yellow and marked up with notes!

Friday: I held a Tarantula! Gael has a big pet tarantula that he let me hold! It was all fuzzy and black and orange!  Hermana Ortiz was a bit timid at first but then she also held it!

Saturday: I adore two little girls who are Gael´s cousins. They are both 3 years old and always playing with each other at the house of their grandma; because both of their moms work. And each time we arrive they get so excited and give us big hugs. Then they sit by us during the lessons and ask when we will return :) 

Sunday:  Church went really well and we taught lessons in the evening about the Articles of Faith. Hermana Ortiz wasn't feeling too well, so I had a great study session in the scriptures while she rested!

Here is when we visited the Piña family and held
their pet rooster and played with their dogs!

Here is the P-day when we visited our investigator
Alfredo and he showed us how to prepare pizzas

This is the P-day when we all got
together as a zone and played soccer!

Here we are with Hermana Andreita
(super old and cute right?) 

Here is a picture of the outside of our
new house (we live on the top floor)

Hey I found the street to lead me home! haha

I don't have time today to respond much, only 5 minutes left! ah no time at all here!!!  I LOVE you all so much!! I will write more next week!!!

- Hermana Eliason

BAPTISM!

This week was fantastic!

Victor was baptized on Saturday and it was such an amazing feeling! The Spirit was so strong and he was beaming! He shared his testimony afterwards and said he couldn't use words to describe what he felt! And my cheeks literally hurt from smiling while we were walking home.  I felt pure joy and absolutely love being a missionary here.

The next day in church he received the Holy Ghost and cried! It is amazing how powerful the Spirit is and how easily it can be felt with the members.

We visited the Vargas family and they fed us bread and milk while telling us all about their 17 children! There are some really big families here (Hermana Vargas said she went to school with a girl who later ended up having 25 children!) Big families have their advantages- for example, there are always people in their home so they are never lonely. They also said they have a lot of connections because of all the different jobs their children and grandchildren have.

On Sunday, we ate lunch at the Piña Family-s house It was really yummy and afterwards they let us hold their pet rooster who literally acts like one of their 4 dogs! 

(Kiley could only send 1 picture this week, this pic is a random internet one)

The people here are so kind and humble. They live a simple life and work really hard.  I learn so much from everyone here and realize that money or material things don't bring happiness.  I can see happy people here everyday who have little, but love life, and love their families.  People truly matter in the long run.

I hope all is well back home, and I apologize that I haven't been able to send pictures the past two weeks. But hopefully next monday I will be able send a ton that we've taken here!

Hermana Eliason

Ch-ch-changes ;)

(I have so many cool pictures I want to send, but I cant send them until next week ;(  The computers in this cyber are super old)

This week went really well, and we went through a lot of changes.

In the beginning of the week, we taught a lesson to our district. I spoke for the first 30 minutes and it went great! I love being able to understand and carry on more conversations in spanish.  Oh, and I had a dream in spanish (Hermana Ortiz said I was sleep talking and reciting the missionary purpose!) haha

One day it was super cold and rained!  But the sky was bright so it was a weird sensation.  We made strawberry jello-which I was strangely craving ;) haha

We ate lunch with a member who grew up on a ranchero and described to us the life of living way outside of town in adobe/brick houses with all your family as your neighbors. They live off the land with lots of crops and animals. It is so interesting to learn the different ways of life here !

We moved houses! It took all day to pack up everything in a big cargo truck one of the members has and then unload it all into our new house.  We live in a yellow house on the second story (the lady renting out the place to us lives below and her name is Hermana Cookie! ) haha   I really like the new house - one of the walls is painted with zebra stripes and the kitchen has cool sun and moon tiles. 

We visited the bishop's house and they fed us hot chocolate with bread!)  !
(and playing on the television in the background was the movie Enchanted

It is so cool to hear everything translated into spanish

Hermana Ortiz and I got our hair cut by one of our investigators, (so we were able to do a little teaching while she trimmed our hair!)   Usually it costs 25 pesos each, but she only charged us each 15 pesos (which is just over a dollar!) Gotta love the prices here!

The Garcia family came to church for the second time in 3 weeks, which is great because all the other members in the ward asked how we did it. Apparently, they haven't been to church in many years and haven't accepted the invitation to attend from their visiting/home teachers or other former missionaries. I don't know how Hermana Ortiz and I are different, but I truly love this family and the youngest daughter bore her testimony in church and said "I am so happy that Hermana Allyson (that's me) and her companion invited us to come to church." God truly is preparing the hearts and minds of the people here! I love my area and I absolutely adore the people I have been blessed to meet.

Today we played soccer as a zone! The natives and practically everyone here in Mexico is a champion soccer player!  It was a lot of fun...and one of the Elders from Guatemala was my buddy and helped me score a goal! Wahoo! haha

S C O R E !!!

All is well and I am loving life! I hope all is going great back in the US! 

I love you all and keep you in my prayers!

Hermana Eliason

This week was CRAZY!

Hello family and friends! Hope all is well!

This week was CRAZY!

Monday: Hermana Ortiz wasn't feeling too great, so we taught a couple of lessons, then in the evening made "hot cakes!" They were really yummy, but quite a bit different from the pancakes I am used to. They were super thin and we ate them with some sort of cream - I honestly have no idea what it was, but it was super sweet and thick. Oh, and the night sky here is gorgeous! There isn't much of a moon right now, so I can see a ton of stars. Sometimes Hermana Ortiz and I just stand outside for a quick break to look at them!

Tuesday: A normal day. The main problem with teaching here, is that everyone works ALL day! They leave early in the morning and return late and night and don't get paid much at all. So, during the day, we sometimes teach in their little shops. But, the people here are so humble and friendly. They are hard working and have a lot of faith. In the evening Hermana Ortiz had one of her toe nails fall off! So that is something I get to look forward to... haha

Wednesday: We are going to move! Right now we are in the process of looking for a new house closer to our area because it is a 20 minute walk each way from our little house to the center of our area. Hopefully this upcoming week we can get a member with a truck to help us move everything. I will have to attach a picture next week.

Thursday: What a nightmare! I wasn't feeling too great after lunch, and after one lesson I could barely walk straight! I was nauscious and fevering the rest of the evening. Hermana Ortiz called the doctor and he told us to walk to the pharmacy and pick up some medicine for my stomach. I felt terrible and said a silent prayer that God would provide a way for me to walk the distance (over a mile in the cold) to the pharmacy for my medicine. After the first 3 minutes of our walk, a member in the ward drove up next to us and offered us a ride! It  was a miracle! Because this member is never on our side of town and it was dark (around 8pm), so I am surprised he could even see us on the side walk! After throwing up, taking some medicine, and then sleeping like a rock all night I felt better. 

Friday: It was the 81st birthday of Hermana Perez! A super sweet old member in our area! We helped her prepare this jello dessert and her whole family was in her house. It was so fun and I felt at home with all the smiling faces, music playing, and preparing food. This area is becoming a second home to me and the people are so warm and welcoming!

Happy 81st Hermana Perez!

Saturday:  On Saturday we had a powerful lesson with Victor! He is getting so excited for his batism this month, and so am I! We taught the lesson with a member present and the member brought his 7 year old son, who drew on the chalkboard behind us the whole time. At the end of the lesson when we turned around it was a picture of he and his dad and the "misioneras!" We were all in the church and Jesus was on top. Super adorable right? haha

Sunday: [ My wonderful Mother's birthday! :) ]  Church went really well, and we had 3 investigators show up! Now that my spanish is improving, I am able to understand most of the lessons and classes at church. I was able to learn more about the 4 books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that make up the Gospels. It was actually really cool to be able to participate and learn in spanish about the gospel from the members! In the eveing we had Family Home Evening with the Bishop and another family in the ward. We sang hymns, prayed, had a lesson, then ate pizza and played a game. It was a lot of fun! I feel so comfortable with the people here and each day just gets better and better!

So all in all, life is great! I love my area, my companion, the people in general are great here and I am growing so much! 

Family Home Evening with Ian

I love you all and keep you in my prayers!

Hermana Eliason

Good bye February!

This month flew by so quickly (and not just because there were less days!) 

My week was pretty normal: lots of walking, lots of lessons, lots of learning, and not a lot of sleep. But I am loving my time here.

On Saturday we had a service project at a local elementary school. We painted all the tree trunks white (which is very common here to keep the bugs and critters off) and also repainted some of the bars and walls. It was fun to be with our whole zone.

My District

This week I ate a giant green fried pepper. In the moment it was fine, but my stomach wasn't too happy a couple hours later. Still adjusting to my new diet here!

Here I am eating a fresh hot pink tamale in the morning!

At a members house, we were offered popcorn with salsa because they were just about to watch Frozen! That was the last movie I watched before my mission and my companion Hermana Oriz didn't know anything about it because she has been on a mission for 8 months now! Soon that will be me!

We taught our investigator Victor who only has a couple weeks left until his baptism! Wahoo! He is great and I can feel the Spirit so strongly each time we talk with him about the gospel.

Here I am with the Perez family! They are so old and absolutely adorable. Sometime we even cook lunch for them because it is hard for them to do much. They always are so loving and welcoming.

The Perez Family

One evening we watched a movie about the miracles of Christ with a less active family. It was very powerful and of course I was on the brink of crying. (Family: I thought of the quote from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs..."Get back in there tear!!" haha) The mission has definitely made me more sensitive and emotional! But it is a blessing because I am truly happy.

A monument in a park near our house

 

Thats all for this week! I love you all!

Hermana Eliason