18 Months in Mexico: Week 12! "All the Love in the World"

From Monday, March 31, 2014

Hola Family and Friends!!

WOOOOOO what a week! This week was full of incredible experiences. That's not to say that every day is hunky dorey. Some days are pretty 'pesado' but the Lord always always helps us!

"We had a great week!!! Saturday, Investigator 'V' was baptized! WOO!! :) V was so excited for her baptism, and a very sweet spirit was present during her baptism and confirmation on Sunday. She just radiated with joy & she said that she felt so clean and new. She is a really special person and I'm grateful for her & how she's helped me grow personally. She is someone who was prepared by the Lord her whole life to receive the gospel.

I was really in awe this week of how many people are prepared to receive the gospel wholeheartedly. In appointments with new investigators, it's really amazing to see a light ignite in their eyes during the lesson. It's like the gospel has a familiar ring to them, so it's easier for them to accept the truth. I LOVE THAT.

One day this week, Hermana 'C' and I headed out of the apartment with our day scheduled as well as we've ever had. We had back up plans for our back up plans. Well, that day every single appointment & back up plan fell through. No one was home, some weren't interested and so on. It was a little discouraging because we felt like the day was being wasted.

As we walked down a sidewalk, we discussed what we could do to meet our goals for that day. Hermana C thought that we should pray to find someone who was ready for the gospel. We prayed together on that street corner and asked for help to find someone who was prepared to hear the gospel. We decided to keep walking and go to another area. On the way, we ran into a man that tried to contend with us in the street and prove to us why we were the wrong church. That was also a little discouraging...especially right after our prayer. haha.

But as this man talked to us, another crossed our path. 'J' walked right past us, then turned around and asked, are you Mormons? I've been looking for your church. Where do you meet? My jaw almost dropped when he said that! What was even greater was that he was talking to us in English.

He said he was really interested in learning more about the church and carefully took down the directions to the church and our appointment time. We were completely elated! If we weren't in that exact place at that exact time, we wouldn't have met him.

As we kept walking, we contacted someone else that was also really interested in the message of the gospel. We set an appointment to meet with him the following week. WOO we were pumped. We were so happy that the Lord had answered our prayers and allowed us to find them!

That same night we went to another appointment--and the individual wasn't home. Big surprise haha. But we found a woman named 'A' and her daughter. She invited us to teach her and her family that very night. The spirit was so strong in their home as we talked about the message of the Restoration.

When Hermana C shared the first vision, one of the daughters in the family walked over to where we were and sat down directly in front of us. Joseph Smith's experience really touched the family and same with the Book of Mormon. A and her daughter accepted 10 mayo to be baptized. We are really excited to have more teaching appointments with them and hope that the whole family will make a goal to be baptized.

This whole week was so great. I've noticed a great relationship to exact obedience and diligence to having the Spirit. The Lord has helped us in every step we've taken together. We've been trying to do the best we can and the Lord has blessed us to find many who are ready to accept the gospel.

I am also really grateful for Hermana C. She makes me want to be better and work harder every day. She has such a great desire to teach and work which invites the Spirit that much more. She really is such a wonderful missionary. I am so excited to work this week and find others who are ready to receive the gospel. I love being a missionary!! :)"

Other cool tidbits:

1) Chamba is a Morelos, MX word to say job. Esto es mi chamba, is translated to, this is my job. Pretty cool. Chamba=job.

2) Wednesday was the hardest day this week but also the best. In the morning during our personal studies, I was having a hard time. I started to feel a little stressed and incapable. Just looking at our plans for that day made me a little worried. It's hard to explain but when I feel a little overwhelmed, I feel really close to home. I feel the support and strength of my family and many friends that I consider family. I thought about mom and dad.

There was a lot of commotion outside of our house and our neighbor always listens to Jose Jose in the mornings and 60s Mexican music. Which is cool normally. But not that day. haha. Our neighbor changed the song and started listening to another. And I LITERALLY ALMOST CRIED. He started playing All the Love in the World, by Outfield. I immediately felt so close to home. It was so cool. All that day when it started being hard again, I just heard the words in my head "All the love, all the love in the world, All the love, I'll be sending you girl". It felt like dad was singing that song to me to encourage me. It was a super big blessing!!

3) We had an hour to clean the baptismal font before V's baptism and man, that business was a mess! We got into the font to clean the spiders and random floating dead things that were hanging out from the last baptism. But everything worked out last minute! :)

4) I am really excited for general conference this week! The North American elders and sisters get to watch it in ENGLISH in the high council room at the stake center. Special privileges. I am so so happy that we get to watch it in English, you have no idea.

5) I love the stories that dad, ben, mom, amy, matthew, and tiffany have been writing. It's so amazing to hear how everyone is doing :)

I am about to head out to district meeting, but I just want to share that I know this church is true. I am so grateful to have been born into the church and now to share that truth with others. I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that He lives. I know that He loves us. He knows our struggles because He has felt them. Our Redeemer has paid the penalty for our sins and has borne our afflictions so that we might be liberated and find peace and happiness in this life and eternal life to come.

I am so grateful for families. I know that they are the most important unit in time and eternity and that we can find the greatest joy within our families. I am so happy and grateful to be where I am now. All that I ever do and am can never repay my Savior for His sacrifice, but I'm grateful that He's allowed me to serve Him during this special time on a mission.

I love you all and hope you have the best week. Trust in Heavenly Father, go forward in faith. Go to general conference with a question, and listen for an answer. Revelation will come. The prophet truly does teach us the will of our Heavenly Father for us in this precise moment in our lives. Watch General Conference with a prayer in your heart and a pen in your hands. Those special promptings will help strengthen you and help you press forward.

President Kusch said once during a zone conference to the missionaries, Pay special attention, this may be the most important conference of your life. And if you don't pay heed, you could miss it.

LOVE YOU :D :D

Con Amor,

Hermana Fernelius

Our last day as companions.. Hermana "P" and me outside our apartment!!

Hermana "C" and me

We use that make-shift plunger to plunge our laundry in a paint bucket. It helps to loosen the dirt before washing the clothes. We learned this tip from an return missionary. He says 'it gets the clothes reeeal clean.' haha. I am learning how to be self sufficient and survive.

I feel like a little girl playing 'grown up' sometimes haha. but those experiences have been helping me be a little more grateful and to have a little more faith in the Lord! For example, we survived this week with an empty fridge and pantry. We make do. I don't know how, but it happens. haha

Interesting experience 2: I sat on a huge black beatle (like 3 or 4 inch long!!!!!!) this week and got stung in the rear. do you know what I did? I just walked it off, after my companion and I screamed a little. But yeah. anyway. All during that day, my companion said, Hermana, how's your butt? You should check it. I'm really worried about you. hahaha. We have endless amounts of weird and awkward stories. But it's all good. It builds character!

Don't mind my face, I don't know what's up with it, but look at my legs. The other missionaries make fun of me for it haha. modest tan lines. very attractive.