Keep Hoping

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had an absolutely wonderful Christmas, and I hope you haven´t stopped celebrating it. My Christmas was really nice. After a few problems with skype, I got to talk to my family yesterday. It was great to see them, and to know that I still speak English, almost. 

My companion and I also made our own little Christmas tree out of broomsticks, clothes hangers, a lot of duct tape, and some Liahona magazines. I tried to send some pictures, but this computer doesn´t seem to want to accept them, so maybe next week.

We also had a nice mission Christmas devotional last Thursday. It was the first chance we got to meet our newest mission president, President Urrea. So, after President and Hermana Titensor went back to Utah for cancer treatments, President and Hermana Garcia came to look after us for about a month and a half. During that time, the church was calling new mission presidents, most of whom will start next July. Well, President Urrea was called to be president of the Mexico City North mission, and he was informed that he would be starting as soon as possible, not in July. So they got as much as their life in order as they could in less than a month and arrived here about a week and a half ago. President and Hermana Urrea seem really really nice, and much more relaxed than President Garcia was. They are from Monterey.

One of the best parts of the Christmas devotional was when our three assistants to the President came out dressed as the three wise men and delivered to us our Christmas packages. They were impressive costumes. Again, hopefully I´ll be able to send pictures next week.

I was also glad to see that the assistants were ok, because right now their area is Tultepec. Tultepec is right next to my area. I could walk there in about 10 minutes. Some of you may have already heard what happened there this past Tuesday, my family already did. Hermana Morillón and I were eating some pambazos when we heard a number of loud bangs. Everyone started going outside to see what was going on and so we did too, and we saw a huge cloud rising just to the east of us. I honestly thought a bomb had gone off, and I wasn´t that far off. The core of the Tultepec economy is fireworks. One member told me that 80% of the fireworks in Mexico come out of Tultepec, and 40% of the fireworks in the world. I don´t know if that´s true, but the point is, they are crazy about fireworks here. There is a big marketplace that sells 100% fireworks. And somehow, on Tuesday, it all exploded. All of it. Literally tons of explosives. It was really really bad. And it was really scary too. I personally don´t know anyone who was there, but I have heard that well over 30 people are already dead, and a lot more are seriously injured. 

So please keep Tultepec in your prayers right now. 

It was really inspiring for me to see the care with which the people of Mexico responded. And the hope with which they were still able to celebrate this special Christmas season. Because that is really what Christmas is about: hope. 

So keep hoping. And keep believing. 

I love and miss you all!

Hermana Herron

Feliz Navidad!

Hola Everyone, y ¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Have I told you all about la familia Mendez yet? La mamá, Alejandra, was a referral from a member here in the ward. We went to visit her, and she was very receptive, but she told us that she wanted to learn more before we taught her family too. That was a few weeks ago. For a while we struggled to get lessons or to get her to church. But then, last week, her entire family came to church!!!!! And they all liked it a lot. Alejandra invited us over to eat Tuesday, and then Thursday we had another lesson, but this time with the entire family. And they are golden!!!! Alejandra´s husband is named Oscar, he´s a math teacher :) They have three children, two young women and a baby named Mateo. Alejandra has already been teaching her daughters and husband everything that we had already taught her, and Oscar gave the prayer at the end of our lesson, and it was so beautiful. They are the best.

So, if you didn´t already know, this Sunday is Christmas! It is not every day that we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ by partaking of the sacrament and remembering His suffering and sacrifice for us. I hope it makes your Christmas even more wonderful and special this year. 

I love this time of year. I love the lights and music and trees and presents and  all our traditions, especially here in Mexico. But much much more than all that, I love my Savior. We don´t celebrate Christmas for the presents or the commercialism or even for the general spirit of love and giving. And we don´t celebrate it because a baby was born either. We celebrate Christmas for who that baby was and is, for what He did and does, and because God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son. 

Ok, I don´t have any more time. Pero les deseo una feliz navidad. Les amo muchísimo.

-Hermana Herron

Tacos and Puppies

Hi friends!

I don´t have time this week, so I´ll just explain a few pictures.

First of all, last Monday, Innocencia and Bulmaro took us to eat some tacos. And they ordered some special ones for me to try. The taco on the left is tripa (intestine), the taco on the right is ojo (eyeball). They tasted exactly how they sound.

Also, Bulmaro has now come to church 4 times in a row!!!!! We are planning his baptism for the 24th, Christmas eve!

Second, Hermana Morillón and I saved a puppy this week. She was wandering in the street and looked like she already had a while living in the street. We asked a round a little and couldn´t find the owner, so we took her to Hermana Esther, who was more than happy to care for the little puppy. 

The work goes on here in Joyas, and we are doing our best to share the real message of hope and joy that belongs to this Christmas season, the message that is centered on our Savior Jesus Christ.

Love and miss you all!

Hermana Herron

Light the World

Hi everyone,

Well, this week was nice.... honestly all of the days and weeks have kinda blurred together.

Well, we have worked really hard here in this area, and one of the biggest problems we have been facing has been finding the time to visit all of the investigators we have that are progressing, help other investigators start to progress, and keep finding new investigators. Because our area is so big and there isn´t much transportation, it sometimes feels like we spend a lot more time walking than teaching. Well, the Lord answered our prayers in an unexpected way. This transfer we are going to be opening Joyas 1 and Joyas 2. Sister Morillón and I are going to be here in Joyas 2, which has the colonias Santa Elena, Joyas, and Villas, the zone leaders are going to arrive in Joyas 2, which is the rest of the area. I´m a little sad about losing half of the people that we´re teaching, but I know that it´s better this way, because all the people here deserve more time than we can give them. I´ve never shared a ward with another companionship before, so it should be fun. 

Ok, next thing, this week we started the new Christmas Initiative, Ilumina el munda.... Dejenme checar como es en ingles..... Light the World. And it is super beautiful. If you have not yet heard about it or seen the video, go to mormon.org right now and click on the first thing you see. And then decide what you are going to do this Christmas season to follow the example of our Savior and light the world. There are ideas on mormon.org of things you can do everyday, but choose at least one thing. 

Also, if you didn´t get a chance to see the Christmas devotional last night, please see it. And cheer every time you see a French horn for me. 

With the initiative and the Christmas devotional and the new Christmas season we´re entering, I´ve been thinking a lot about Christ. Even more than normal. Nothing I do as a missionary has any meaning without Christ. I am one of His representatives, and I have the opportunity everyday to testify of Him. But it also surprised me when I first got here in the mission how many menial things we do as well, like filling out forms and calling a million people on the phone everyday and looking for members to accompany us and things like that. If we do the normal everyday things just because we have to do them, it´s rather boring and routine. But if I do it because I love my Savior, because I want to serve Him, with my eye single to the glory of God, then this becomes the most amazing work and the most amazing life ever. 

So, dedicate a few moments today to the Savior. And a few minutes tomorrow, and the next day and the next.... For those of you who are members of the church, you have covenanted to always remember Christ. I challenge you to try a little more to keep that covenant.

I love you all. Thank you so much for your support and your prayers.

Hermana Herron

A Year of Miracles

Hi Everyone

Well.... I am now officially super old. I have a year in the mission (is that how you say it in English? Ya no recuerdo....) I´m having trouble coming to terms with that. This has to be the fastest year of my life. My consolation is that I still have 6 months to work my hardest here in Mexico.

This week was full of miracles!

First of all, I don´t know if any of you were able to find the talk "Open your Mouths" that I mentioned last week? Well, in it he talks about an approach he uses to invite people to learn about the gospel. He just asks two questions: 1) Do you like to read? and 2) If I sent you a book about the visit of Jesus Christ here to the Americas, would you read it? Now, I´m not really a fan of set methods of contacting, but this week we saw some miracles unfold as we invited people to read the book of Mormon in our contacts. 

For example, last Monday all our appointments fell through, but we saw a young couple putting up Christmas lights and started to help them. We started trying to talk to them about how families can last forever, which is usually quite effective, but they didn´t seem to respond. So we changed tactic and started talking about the Restoration of the Gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith, which Preach my Gospel encourages to do in every contact. Still, they weren´t too interested. In fact, the wife started telling us how they were very happy in their religion, how they go to study groups every other week to read the Bible, how they really don´t want to learn about any other religion... But then we mentioned the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. We read together 3 Nephi 11:1-12, which I have done many times in lessons but never in a street contact before. And this time we had their attention. We passed by yesterday to deliver their own copy of the Book of Mormon, and they are still very interested and want to read it, and we have another appointment to go and talk with them more :)

The biggest miracle was Saturday when Edith was baptized!!! I think I only mentioned her once before in my emails. Honestly, everything moved very fast with her, and we weren´t 100% sure that she was going to be able to be baptized this weekend, but she did! And she is so so happy. Edith was a kind of special case. 5 of the 6 missionaries in my district taught her at one point or another, so the entire district came to the baptism. Also, right before her interview on Thursday, she heard me playing one of the piano solos that Kellie sent me, "Nearer my God to Thee," and we showed her the lyrics and she really liked it, so I played it again as part of baptismal program. Considering the fact that I basically haven´t practiced in a year, it wasn´t too bad. 

Also, sorry for not sending pictures for so long, I might have lost the cord to my camera, so I´m borrowing my companion´s camera right now to send you all pictures. 

These are some pics from Edith´s baptism on Saturday. The last one is a 3 generation picture of my trainer, my trainee, and me. 

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. No one here celebrates it, but that day we ate with a member who is a professional baker, so I still ate a lot of really good food :)

I love you all! Hasta luego

-Hermana Herron

Very Grateful

Hi friends!

So guess what guess what guess what.... Bulmaro came to church yesterday!!!!!!!!!

You all remember Bulmaro? I talked about him in the first few weeks after I came to this area. he is blind and has only one leg. Every time he has wanted to come to church, something has happened. He`s gotten sick or fallen the night before. but yesterday he finally came! It made me so so so happy to see him there yesterday, in his big coat and his wheelchair. Yesterday just happened to be the primary program, and he really liked that. And he was still feeling good after Sacrament Meeting, so he came to Gospels Principles class too. It was soooo great! We have been praying and fasting that he would be able to come and he finally did!

Now we just have to baptize him :)

So, yes, anyways, we had a very nice week. 

I read a devotional by Elder Bednar this week that he gave at BYU about 10 years ago, called "Quick to Observe." And it might just change my life, it was that good. He talked about the spiritual gift of being quick to observe, both in our observance of the commandments of God as well as observing the needs of those around us, and how the gift of being quick to observe is a prerequisite of the divine spiritual gift of discernment. It really fortified my desire to seek these gifts of the Spirit. You can read it on the BYU speeches page. 

I also read a devotional by elder Harman Rector Jr. called "Open Your Mouths" this week, and I don`t have time to comment on it, but for all of you who are members of the church, I would like to invite you to read it and to take the challenge that he gives. I don`t know where you can find it on the internet, so, if you can`t find it either, let me know and I`ll give you at least the invitation next week. 

Well, out of time. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I really am grateful for this gospel. I am very grateful for my Savior Jesus Crist, for His atonement, and for the great opportunity I have to go tell everyone about it. I am grateful for the chance I have had this week to see the Atonement working in the lives of people here in Mexico. I am grateful for the privilege I have to talk to my Heavenly Father through prayer, and I am so grateful that He always takes the time to listen to me and to answer.

I love this gospel!

And I love you all too!

-Hermana Herron

Farewell to the Titensors

Hi Everyone

Hope you are all having a very nice November. I´m trying very very hard to ignore the fact that I´m old and that I´ve been out here for almost a year already.

So just two quick things from this week:

First of all, President and Hermana Titensor have been officially and honorably released. President Titensor came back on Friday and got to see us and talk to us one last time. As part of that, all of the missionaries here in the Cuautitlan and Tepalcapa Zones sang I am a Child of God for him, (in English!), and I played the piano. Mexicans aren´t exactly known for having the best voices in the world, but it was actually really really beautiful. I think we were all crying a little bit, President Titensor most of all.

I love President and Hermana Titensor a lot. They have taught me so so so much, by their words and their example, and the mission just doesn´t feel the same without them. They live in Orem Utah, too, so hopefully I´ll be able to visit them again after my mission when I´m back at BYU. 

President Garcia will be presiding over the mission until next July when the new president comes. We had a zone conference on Wednesday so we got to meet him and Hermana Garcia there. Of course all of us are still kinda in shock and still adjusting to the change, but they seem very nice. President Garcia is very wise and strict, and has a lot of experience, but at the same time he is... I don´t remember the word, but he seems to do things and make decisions on the fly a lot. 

The zone conference was interesting too, because for the last hour, the stake and ward leaders were invited for a small part about working together with the missionaries. And because Barrio Joyas is the best, they asked us to hold a quick, real Ward council there in front of everyone! It was the second ward council ever of Hermana Morillon. But it went well. It was the most productive 20 minutes any ward council has ever had I´m sure :) But my ward here really is the best, so it wasn´t any different than normal. 

Ok, the other quick thing is that we had a regional conference yesterday. It was broadcast from Salt Lake to all of Mexico, and it was really good. Sister Carol F. McConkie, Elder Benjamin de Hollos, Elder Robert D. Hales, and President Nelson all spoke. Elder de Hollos is from Mexico, so he conducted and spoke in perfect Spanish, but I was surprised when both Sister McConkie and President Nelson also delivered their talks in Spanish! They both have a very strong gringo accent, stronger than mine ;) but it was really good. And I think it shows a lot of love and respect for Mexico and the members here and their language that they went to the trouble to speak in Spanish. I loved it.

If your prayers lately have been getting a little repetitive or lazy, I invite you all to evaluate your prayers and really start again to pray with your heart. Prayer works, I can promise you all that. 

Sé que Jesucristo es mi salvador y que vive. Y esta es Su iglesia.

Les amo muchísimo, que tengan una semana muy linda.

-Hermana Herron

Day of the Dead

Hi everyone!

So we celebrated day of the dead in our house last Tuesday, but it was fun. We bought some chocolate skulls and special day of the dead pan, and we decorated a little bit. 

This week was a good week. We found some really promising investigators. And a lot of people came to church yesterday! Also, Edith is progressing a lot. I can`t remember if I`ve already written about her. Edith was listening to the missionaries a while ago in another ward with her boyfriend. He got baptized, but she still wasn`t convinced, and then she moved here. One day she was feeling bad so she just got up and went to the Cuautitlan chapel. The sister missionaries there sent us the referral, and now we are teaching her. And she is super golden. She has attended church every week for the past 5 weeks either in Cuautitlan or here. She downloaded the Gospel library and has been watching all the videos :) Also, she has already finished 1 and 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. Golden.

So, last week my Mission president and his wife returned to the United States to receive treatment because they have detected cancer in my mission president`s wife. We don`t know how long they will be there or if they will be able to return. For now, we have a substitute mission president and wife, the Garcias. They seem very nice.

Ok, love you all, I know this church is true and that Jesus is the Christ, I`ll send pictures next week :)

-Hermana Herron

The Vision of a Missionary

Hi Everyone. And Happy Halloween

This week is also day of the dead, or dìa de los muertos, here in Mexico. I`m pretty excited for that :)

So, this week I got a new companion, and she is brand new. Her name is Hermana Morillon, and she just left home October 4. I have over 10 months more than her in the mission. But she is fantastic! I would never guess that she was brand new in the mission. We are already good friends, and we are enjoying are time together a lot.

I just have one experience from the week that I wanted to share with you all. We visited Mary Moya this week (she and her son Jordi are recent converts, I don`t remember if I`ve written about them yet... Mary is a very artistic and happy person. She`s a professional singer, and her voice is beautiful. And she`s just always happy and fun to be around. She got baptized 3 or 4 months ago, before I got here. Her son Jordi is 20 years old and got baptized about a month before Mary.) Jordi has completely stopped coming to church, and every time we went to their house, he either wasn`t home or would leave soon after we got there. Well this week he was dead tired from school and work when we showed up, but we somehow convinced him to give us 5 minutos of his time. We asked him some questions to try and figure out what`s been going on, and he started to tell us about his dreams and interests. He has been working and studying very very hard to be able to grow in his career. We asked him what his vision for his life is and he told us that he wants to be retired by the time he`s 40 to be able to have time to pursue other interests. I honestly didn`t really know what to say. Jordi speaks very intelligently and uses big words that I don`t always understand. But I could tell that the problem is that he is primarily focused on material things and outward expressions of success. And even though he told us that he feels good about his progress, we could see that he was absolutely exhausted, and that he knew he was still missing something. I then asked him what he thinks our vision is, as missionaries. Why would we leave behind school and work and home and basically everything that we have to serve a mission. He said, "I don`t know, tell me." And my own answer surprised me.

This is what I told Jordi, and it`s what I want to tell you all too. 

I have never been happier than I am here in the mission. I`ve never had such a clear purpose. I`ve never felt more driven to do my best. I work all the time, every day, without breaks or vacations, yet I`m not tired. There is nothing more energizing than service. And I`m here because, like Jordi, my greatest fear is to not reach my potential. I know that someday I will die and it won`t matter one bit how much money I had or if I had a good job. It won`t matter that much if I had time to learn the guitar or travel the world. But in that day when I return to my Heavenly Father, I don`t want Him to look at me and say, "You didn`t do too bad... but I expected more of you." That is my fear, and that is why I`m here. Because I want help the people that God wants me to help, I want to serve how He wants me to serve, and I want to become what He wants me to become. In the end my career won`t matter. But my service will.

In a great missionary lesson, if I am listening to the Spirit, I learn something new. In the best lessons, if I`m listening to the Spirit, I learn something new about myself.

I love you guys. I`m super happy here. Have a wonderful Halloween and a wonderful week.

-Hermana Herron

Photos: Mi hijita and I ;), and a last photo with Hermana Baquero and with Mary Moya and her animals, Maggie and Romeo

Cambio Time

Hi everyone!

So,  I had a nice week. It was a little rough at times. We were going to have 3 baptisms yesterday, we ended up with none, but, I learned a little about faith. As a missionary it´s pretty easy to just make baptism the answer to everything sometimes, and everything we do is to help people progress and baptism is a very important step in that progression. But the Lord always knows when the time is right. Not us. 

This whole cambio, um, transfer, has been quite a learning experience for me, but I have grown and learned a lot. 

Well, as for transfers, my dear companion is off to the far end of the mission way up in un pueblito in Tula, and I´ll be staying here in Joyas and training, which means that my companion is going to be straight out of the CCM. Should be fun. 

Well, I just want to tell you all that Jesus Christ is real. He is everything that we always say He is. He knows our struggles, because He has experienced it all. He lives today, and He directs His church and His work. I am so grateful that I get to be a part of it, and participate a little. 

Love you all!

ps, the picture is me and Hermana Baquero in a bicitaxi. It´s a little carriage behind a bike that will take us anywhere in Santa Elena, the colonia where we live, and it only costs 6 pesos each. They are awesome. 

Still Smiling

Hey everyone

So, I hope you all are enjoying your fall. My week was a little interesting.

It started last Monday night. We were headed home when my companion tripped and fell and really hurt one of her toes. She thought it was broken. We were able to make it home alright, we were already close when she tripped. But basically the whole week we had to take it really slow, pay a lot of public transportation, and always look for member with cars to accompany us. Wednesday we spent most of the day in the clinic to get it looked at and luckily it looks like there isn´t any lasting damage. Thursday we had permission to stay inside until 6 to let Hna Baquero rest her foot a little. And it´s a good thing too, because that day, I ended up with a stomach infection, my 4th one in the mission. And ever since then I have been fighting off this infection.

So, between all of that, it was a miracle that we got any work at all done this week, but we were actually able to have a really good week. 

Remember Elizabeth from last week? She came to church yesterday, with her little baby, and she really liked it. 

Ok, I´m already out of time, but I hope you all have a very safe, healthy happy week. I know that even when the week may be a little rough, the Lord can give us the strength we need, because I have felt it. In fact, the strength of the Lord is all I´ve really been running on the last few days, and I´m still going and I´m still smiling :)

Love you all!

Hermana Herron

Led by the Spirit

Hi Everyone!

It´s been a while since I´ve shared a fun fact, so here´s a quick one. Here in Mexico they like to fry their food. Everything is cooked on the stove with a lot of grease. Because of that, no one here really uses the oven. So most people, if they have an oven, keep pots and pans in it. If they do have to use the oven to make a cake or something, they have to take out all of their pots and pans first, which I find pretty funny.

Well, we had a really good week this week. Vanesa and Diego are progressing really well, and Diego has agreed to be baptized October 23rd! We also have another investigator, a young girl named Valeria, who also wants to be baptized that day because it´s the day she turns 10. Hopefully they will all be able to be baptized that day. Valeria is the daughter of a less-active member, but the whole family is returning to church thanks to the faith and desire of their little girl. 

Quick miracle: We received a referral, Elizabeth, from a sister in our ward that we were going to visit last Saturday, but the hermana couldn´t accompany us so we were on our own to find the house. All we knew was the street name and the colonia, and we forgot our map of the colonia. We asked a few people in the street, but no one knew where the street was, so we ended up literally just wandering around. I eventually suggested that we visit another hermana, maybe she would know where the street was, and as we were walking there, we passed the street!! But we still didn´t know which house it was. We were just about to knock on some random door to ask if an Elizabeth lived there when a woman came out of a house and called out to us "Hermanitas!" And it was her!! She had seen us because my companion nearly tripped and fell into her fence, so I guess she heard that and came to see what the problem was. 

We had a beautiful little visit with her. Elizabeth has been going some very hard times. She has a 3 month old son, but her husband just left her. She lost her job, her car stopped working, and she lost her phone all at the same time. She really just needs a lot of help and love, and that´s why the Lord sent us, creo. She accepted a baptismal date without hesitating because we said that baptism is a way to be born again, or to start all over. 

Anyways, later that night, when we returned to the casa, I looked at the map of the colonia to find out where in the world we had been. And the street where Elizabeth lives is literally the farthest, most out-lying street there. We never should have found it! But we did. It was a very literal experience of being led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand where we would go. 

Well, the church is true. God lives. Miracles are real. Forgiveness is available. Joseph Smith was a prophet. Prayer works. Families can be forever. And I know it. 

I love you all!

Hermana Herron

Sign Language

Hi everyone!!!

 

I am pretty short on time today, so this email is going to be short as well. Sorry! 

 

I hope you all loved conference as much as I did! One of the big themes was missionary work, so of course we liked that. My companion and I also liked how much of the conference was about the pure and simple doctrine of Christ, especially repentance. Repentance was a big theme. And I really like how President Monson, President Uchtdorf, President Eyring, and President Nelson all talked about basically the same subject: how to really feel the gospel, how to find joy in living it. 

 

We visited a semi-active family this week, the daughter is 15 years old and says that she wants to serve a mission. She is deaf and can only talk in sign-language. So we did a mini question and answer session. She asked us all her questions about missionary work, and her mom translated for her. It was a really beautiful experience, partly because sign language is a really beautiful language, but mostly because the spirit was strong. Her mother told us about all the difficulties they have had having a deaf daughter, and how many people have asked her and her husband what great sin they committed that their daughter was born deaf. But just like Jesus told his apostles, neither she nor her parents committed any great sin, but she was born this way so that the power of God can be manifested in her (sorry, I don´t have the exact wording). And it may be that the power of God will be manifested when she serves a mission.

I know that God is no respecter of persons, that His love for us is infinite and enduring, and that while we may have the tendency to see only our weaknesses, He sees our strengths, and He sees the potential we truly have. 

 

That´s really all I have time for, but I still love you all! Have a wonderful week!

-Hermana Herron

New Investigators

Hey everyone, ¿qué tal?

So first things first, I´ve learned the rest of the lyrics to "La Cucaracha"

La cucaracha, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar

porque le falta, porque le falta, una pata para caminar.

It literally translates to "The cockroach, the cockroach can´t walk anymore. Because he doesn´t have, because he doesn´t have, a leg to walk with."

Next I´m hoping to learn "Popcorn Popping" in Spanish.

Well, this week was fun. I really like my new area. 

I promised I would tell you about some of our investigators, and I´ll start this week with Vanessa and Diego, and Bulmaro.

Vanessa and Diego are a young married couple and they are wonderful. They are practically already Mormons. They have a 7 year old son, and a 6 month old baby. They have a baptismal date for mid October, and they are progressing really really well. Vanessa has told us many times that she wants to get baptized, and that she and Diego have already talked about getting sealed in the temple. Diego is also ready to get baptized, he´s just a little harder to convince that he´s ready. He keeps telling us that he wants to be sure, that he doesn´t want to get baptized and then luego luego back out, that he wants to receive a sure answer. But then he always has questions for us about baptism. Last time we visited them, he said, "So, I saw someone in the chapel on Sunday in the bathroom, who was getting ready to get baptized. He had some kind of suit, but it was way way too big for him," Then he paused, and asked us with a totally straight face, "when I get baptized, can you get me something a little more sexy to be baptized in?" Vanessa and Diego are both golden, and we know that Diego will receive the sure answer that he wants in General Conference this weekend.

Speaking of which, general conference is this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you are all prayerfully preparing for this AMAZING opportunity we have. And if you didn´t get to see the women’s session this last Saturday, you can see it at www.lds.org.

Ok, and Bulmaro. Bulmaro is about 70 years old, completely blind, partly deaf, diabetic, and one of his legs was amputated. And he is also golden! He wants to get baptized, but because of his condition, it is very hard for him to attend church. But I can already see how the Lord is providing the way for Bulmaro to progress, it´s really quite amazing. 

Well, like I said, go watch conference this weekend. It´s Saturday and Sunday, 10am and 2pm mountain time both days. And I know that if you have a question, or a problem, if you don´t know what to do or what to believe, I can promise you that during the conference, the clarity will come. 

I love you all! I know I say that every week, but I say it because it´s true. Cuidense todos.

-Hermana Herron

New Area - Joyas

 Hola Everyone!

First of all, happy 16 de Septiembre this past week. It`s the Mexican equivalent of our 4th of July. For safety reasons, all of the missionaries in the mission had to be home by 7:00 pm instead of by 9:00 like normal the 15th, but it was still pretty cool to see everyone out celebrating. Everyone has their bright Mexican flags flying, and all the kids were dressed up in very traditional clothing, they were adorable. And I celebrated that night by unpacking and settling into my new casa.

My new area is awesome! It`s pretty big, it was two areas until one transfer ago when they took out the elders and made the whole ward one big area. Like my last area, it seems to have a pretty good variety of rich and poor. But it`s a tad more rural here. I`ve seen a ton of corn fields! It makes me so happy. The barrio here is very friendly, and we have some pretty promising investigators. I`ll tell you all about them, uh, next week. 

My new companion is la Hermana Baquero, and she is so sweet! She is from Quito Ecuador. She just barely finished her training and only has about 3 months in the mission, but she is a super good missionary. She`s the shyest of all of my companions so far, but I think we will get a long great, and have a lot of success here together in Joyas. 

So just two quick miracles for you all:

First of all, this past week in our District meeting, literally my first full day in Joyas, we talked about finding new investigators, because the week before the entire district had only had 3 new investigators. Each companionship set a goal to find new investigators in the rest of the week, from Wednesday to Saturday, and Hermana Baquero and I set the goal of 6. We worked really hard the whole week to find people, and by Saturday we had found 3. Then that day, we went to meet a less-active sister, and found her whole family there, and they all are interested and listened!  She is the only baptized member in her family, so with her husband and her 3 children that are over 8 years old, we got 4 new investigators, for a grand total of 7 last week! 

I know that the Lord didn`t give us that family to help us meet a little goal, He gave us that family because they are prepared to receive the gospel, but it still feels good :) The oldest daughter especially, Alejandra, is dying to be baptized. She was already attending church before they moved, and she has a very bright testimony. 

Second miracle, the day of los cambios, all the missionaries go to the mission offices to find their new companions. While I was there, I saw my trainer, Hermana Gonzalez again! It was great to see her, but while we were talking, she asked me if I remembered Jesus, the son of one of the investigators, Olga, we had way way way back in February. We had been teaching Olga, and she had been progressing very well. Jesus joined us in just one of the lessons, but he had also been very interested, and Hermana Gonzalez and I thought that he was even more likely to get baptized. Then all of a sudden they moved, and they didn`t leave a number or address or anything with us. After Hermana Gonzalez left Mira Azul, I had spent a little more time trying to find a way to contact Olga, but eventually I gave up. 

Well, turns out that they moved to the Izcalli ward, which is in my stake. And just two weeks ago, Jesus got baptized!!!!!! I was able to confirm that with the sister missionaries in Izcalli, but I still almost can`t believe it.

We never really know the affect we may have, and sometimes we can`t see all of the miracles here in the mission in the moment.

Honestly, I`m sure that I`m pretty unaware of most of what goes on here in my mission. The Lord is working miracles, and protecting us from all sorts of trouble that we`re unaware of I`m sure. Someday, after this life, I`ll be welcomed home in the mansions of my Heavenly Father, and I`m sure He will pop in some Family Home Video and show me what really happened on my mission. 

Love you all!

Hermana Herron

PS Pictures 1) Hermana Orrantia and I with the family of our Ward mission leader in la Aurora. 

2 and 3) Some more pics from la Aurora, with the family of Elisa, and some more hermanas from the ward

4) Hermana Baquero and me

The Book of Mormon

Hellooooooo Everyone!!!!!!!!

I hope you all have been having a great week. 

Well, I owe you all a longer email, so here it is. 

First things first, this week is transfers otra vez, and tomorrow I will be moving again. My new area will be Joyas. I´ll tell you all about it next week when I know a little more. 

I´ll just say that when I left Mira Azul and came here to la Aurora, I didn´t think it would be possible to come to love this area as much as my first. But I was wrong. I love this place a lot. I love all of the people here. My heart really grew a lot here. I´ll be pretty sad to leave it all, but I know there´s a lot waiting for me in Joyas too, and that I´ll learn a lot there too.

Just a quick thought, the Mexico Mexico City North mission has recently had to close a lot of areas. The main reason is that every transfer, a lot more missionaries return home than come to the mission. The majority of the missionaries that are coming are Latina sister missionaries. Every district and zone has a lot more sisters than elders right now, I believe. So, if you know any young men who are capable of serving a mission, get on them to go out and serve. Not only will it be one of the best decisions they will ever make in their life, the Lord needs more elders. 

Also, fun fact, of the many many many sister missionaries in my mission, I believe there are only 5 Americanas.  And 3 of them will be going home in the coming months. Which means the chances of me ever having a compañera who speaks English are going down and down. But that´s ok, the Latinas are a lot of fun. 

Ok, last thought, though it´s a long one. This month, our mission is focusing on the Book of Mormon, and so this week I was studying about it a bit in my personal study. 

For those of you who know little or nothing about the Book of Mormon or the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I´ll summarize really quickly. The church was organized in modern times through the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1830. Joseph Smith was an average young man with little education from New York state. But he didn´t claim to have another Christian church. He didn´t base his teachings off of another interpretation of the Bible. The church is not another branch off of another religion. Joseph Smith claimed to have seen God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in vision, to have been visited by angels, and he claimed to have the authority to preach the full gospel of Jesus Christ and to organize the church of Jesus Christ once again on the earth. As part of these claims, he also published the Book of Mormon, which he testified was scripture written by ancient prophets, delivered to him by an angel, and which he had translated into English through the power of God. 

Now, one thing has to be clear. Either Joseph Smith really was a prophet, and everything he claimed is true, or it´s not, and everything is a lie. There is no other option. 

The Book of Mormon is either true, inspired scripture, or it was all made up. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not claim to be just another nice church. Our purpose is not just to help people become better people. We claim to be the only true church of Jesus Christ in the world, the only church with all of the truth and all of the authority to help the sons and daughters of God return to His presence.

Either this is all true, or it´s not, and everything that I am sharing here with the people of Mexico is a lie. 

The Book of Mormon is the proof. If that book is true, then Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God, and this church really is the church of Jesus Christ. 

It is so important that everyone, you, me, the people here in Mexico, everyone in the world, read and find out if the Book of Mormon is true. Because if it is, this is the way to salvation. If you have never read the Book of Mormon, start today. If you don´t know where to start, here is the Book of Mormon online: www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng May I suggest that you start with the Introduction, the testimonies, and then from the beginning in 1 Nephi. Or, you can also start with one of my favorite parts, in Mosiah, chapters 2 through 5. And ask God in prayer if it´s true, because He will never lie to you.

And well, until you get that answer from God, you can lean on my testimony. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know it with all my heart, with all my mind, and with everything I have and am. 

I know that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God, and that today there is also a prophet on the earth, Thomas S. Monson.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I know that it is the only true church of Christ. Other churches have a lot of truth and do a lot of good, but they simply don´t have all of the true, nor the authority to effect the ordinances needed for salvation. 

That is why I´m here. 

Well, I love you all. "Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever." - Elder Holland. 

-Hermana Herron

A Good Feeling Week!

Hello everyone!

So today we actually did something fun for our Preparation Day. We went to a place called Arcos del Sitio up in the mountains surrounding Tepotzotlan, and wow, it was beautiful there! But, thanks to that little trip once again I am a little short on time today. 

This past week was a  really good feeling week. We had a lot of lessons, met a lot of new people, and saw a lot of progress. Rodolfo was interviewed yesterday to receive the Aaronic priesthood. And yesterday the church was packed! All summer the attendance has been pretty low, but yesterday there were a ton of people there. And we had a lot of people in our Gospel Principles class too! Ah, it felt so good. Missionary work is never ever about numbers, but every once in a while a good week like this does a lot to boost one`s animo. 

We also have a new investigator, Erandeny! She`s 22 years old and golden. She was introduced to the church be a friend in another ward, and has already attended that ward 3 times, but yesterday she came to our ward. She is really really excited to learn everything she can about the gospel, and already wants to be baptized... and she was asking us about missions too. I think her friend is a returned missionary and has been telling her about the mission.

Well, I love you all. I am very happy here, I am so incredibly grateful for my Savior and His atonement, and I know that He lives and that this is His church. Enjoy the pictures, and have a great week. 

-Hermana Herron

ps. Scripture of the week, Moroni 8:16

"Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear."

Rodolfo

Hi everyone,

My mom told me I should send longer emails, but this week I got stuck with a really slow computer, so this week´s email will probably be pretty short again. I´m sorry. Also, this computer and my camera aren´t getting along very well, so you’ll have to wait for pictures until next week too. I´m sorry again.

This week was pretty slow as far as  lessons and finding people goes. I also spent basically the whole week sick. But that´s ok because Saturday, Rodolfo got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the first time that I got to teach someone all the lessons and see them baptized. It´s something I´ve wanted my whole mission because with the other baptisms I´ve had, I didn´t feel like I really did very much to help the person progress and get to baptism. The funny thing is though, I feel the same way about Rodolfo. Sure, we taught him and planned the baptism and all, but that´s about all we the missionaries did. Like I said, Rodolfo was one of those people who just fell out of the sky already taught and prepared and ready to be baptized. We didn´t do anything to help him, The Lord did all the work. 

Rodolfo is really really special, and the Spirit was very strong in his baptism. He is very happy too. The first few times we visited him, he was a little sad and depressed, but now every time we see him, he has a big smile on his face.

Well, pictures to come next week. I hope you all are working hard and praying and studying the scriptures every day, and that you all have a fantastic week. Love and miss you all!

Hermana Herron

Golden Investigator

Hi Everyone,

I don´t have very much time this week, but I´m doing really well and I hope that you are all doing well too.

Just a quick fun fact, when I tell people that I´m from Ohio, people usually ask me if I like potatoes because they get it mixed up with Idaho. And then when I clarify, "No, I live in Ohio," they pause and then say, "¿Dónde estás? Estoy en Ohio!" It took me forever to figure out that here, Estoy en Ohio, sounds to them like Estoy enojado, which means I´m angry. They all think it´s really funny.

Well, this week was a little slow, but we have  few investigators who are progressing really well. One is Rodolfo, I think I talked about him last week, but he is golden and should be getting baptized, if not this week, then pretty soon. 

I´m sorry I don´t have more time, but I know this church is true, and I´m so happy to be here, even when it´s hard.

Love you all,

Hermana Herron

Obedience

Hi Everyone!

This week was really good. We had exchanges again and for the second time in my mission, I got to stay in my own area. It went really well, we had a lot of success that day, and Hermana Carrillo is super sweet.

I want to tell you all about Rodolfo. Rodolfo is one of those golden investigators that just kinda fell out of the sky. That happens a lot. Usually the people we contact in the street and try to find on our own aren´t the people that progress, but when we are working hard and doing all that we can, the Lord gives us some of His investigators that He´s already prepared. Rodolfo is the son-in-law of a member, and his daughter is also a member and served a mission, but later moved to another area. Rodolfo just out of the blue decided that he needed to find the truth, and decided to start coming to church. He had already attended two times in another ward before we even knew he existed, and once more in our ward before we could have a lesson with him. In our second visit with him, he told us that he was already reading the Book of Mormon, that he had already prayed to know if it was true, and that he had already received an answer. He also had already started living the Word of Wisdom (for any of you who don´t know, the Word of Wisdom is the Lord´s law of health, and part of it includes giving up all alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea, which can be a little difficult for many of the people that we teach). Rodolfo has accepted a baptismal date, and we´re hoping that he can get baptized the end of this month. I honestly am shocked by how ready and willing he is, and how much work the Lord has already done with him. But I am also really excited. Rodolfo is really really special.

So I said a couple of weeks ago that I would talk a little bit about obedience, and what I´ve learned about obedience and consecration. I was blessed to come to a mission with a strong culture of obedience, both to God´s commandments, and to His rules for us missionaries, which He gives us through our mission president. This past week we had a zone conference, and my mission president asked me to talk really briefly on obedience. I definitely did not feel qualified for that assignment, but I have learned a lot.

First, a quick story. I heard this story from another missionary, I have no way to verify if it´s true or not, but I like it. The story goes that once, President Packer presided in a special leadership training for the leaders of about 50 stakes. The training was going to be held in the BYU Marriot Center, which is absolutely huge. There was no way that they were going to fill the Marriot Center, so about 15 minutes before the meeting started, President Packer invited one of the members of the seventy who was there to go to the microphone and invite everyone to move closer. Hardly anyone moved. He invited them a second and a third time, and still, almost no one moved. Finally the meeting started. When it was President Packer´s turn to speak, he went up to the microphone, and said, "You are not prepared to receive the message that I have prepared for you today," and sat down.

Like I said, I have no proof if that actually happened. But it teaches a powerful lesson. Obedience has everything to do with faith and humility. If we have faith that the Lord speaks to us through His servants, and if we are humble enough to accept His will, we will strive always to be exactly obedient. 

More than once during my time here, my mission president has asked us to do things that have been really hard. But I know that the Lord doesn´t give us commandments without preparing the way for us to follow them, and I know that He can only bless us with the Spirit to be our constant guide if we are willing to heed His promptings and strive always to be obedient. 

But it´s also important to remember that obedience in and of itself isn´t the end, but the means.

Anyways, that´s my lengthy spiritual thought for you all this week.

Love you all!

Hermana Herron

Ps. pictures 1) us with our capacitadoras after the exchanges we had this week, 2) I made deviled eggs this week ;)

The Impossible

Hi friends, 

I´m sorry, I don´t have much time this week to write. But I hope you are all doing well. Nothing too exciting happened this week, we didn´t find many new investigators, but we are finding a lot of less actives, and we have seen a lot of miracles as they are returning to church. 

Just one quick quote that I heard this week:

Hay que hacer lo posible para que Dios haga lo imposible.

In other words,

We have to do the possible, so that God can do the impossible. 

I can testify that that is true. When we work hard and give our all, that´s when we start to see the miracles. And I can testify too that miracles are real.

I love you all, I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He lives!

Hermana Herron

Consecration

Hey friends

I hope you are all doing really well. I am really happy here. Cambios are tomorrow, but Hermana Orrantia and I don´t have any changes, and we are super happy. We have worked really hard this entire transfer, we have seen a lot of miracles, and now we are excited to start seeing all these people progress and the ward grow. We have a new ward mission leader too, and he is very excited to help us, so that is also exciting. 

Even though we don´t have cambios in La Aurora, the rest of the zone has a ton of changes. Before, Cuautitlan stake had two zones, now we´re just going to be one zone, and my district before was just la Aurora, the leaders in Bellavista, and the elders in Jardines, but Jardines is being closed, and two other areas of sister missionaries are being added to our district. 

Sorry if that was a lot of missionary lingo. Also, I want to apologize if I sometimes use a lot of Spanish in my emails. I do my best not to.

Well, I don´t have much time, but I just wanted to mention something really quick. Misión México Norte is going be doing a special focus as a mission on consecration this month. We started by all fasting together yesterday. I´m actually really excited about this, because I had been feeling for a little while like I was slumping a little, spiritually and as a missionary. And now I am feeling energized and excited again, and I have some goals that I will be working on this month to become a more consecrated missionary.

Consecration is not easy though. Consecration is giving everything, literally everything to the Lord. Our whole heart, might, mind, and strength. We like to give a little, but it´s always the last part that´s the hardest. But it´s the last part that really counts.

Everything that we give to the Lord-- our time, our talents, our resources, our strength, our lives-- we´re really just returning to Him, because everything we have is a gift from Him. But there is one thing that is absolutely our own, the only real gift that we can give to Him: ourselves. And that is consecration. 

For that reason, humility and exact obedience are so important. I´m out of time, but think about how those two attribute, humility and obedience, lead to consecration, and I´ll try to share more next week. Hopefully I´ll see a lot of progress in myself this week too.

I love you all a lot. Thank you all for your support and your prayers. I am so happy here.

-Hermana Herron

ps. our zone this past transfer

Tepotzotlan

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all having an amazing summer and are reading your scriptures every day. If not, take a day to go to the pool for me, and start reading the Book of Mormon again. 

Quick fun fact, we are all used to nodding our head to say yes. That´s common here as well. But in Mexico, they also nod the finger to say yes. They hold up their first finger and bend it, like a nod. I think it technically means andale, or something like "that´s right, keep it up."

Well, this week was a really good week. We had 9 new investigators! We are starting to find not just investigators, but families and couples, which is really exciting. And one of our investigators, Hermana Lulu, is the very definition of golden. She has been coming to all of the activities, she´s already read about half the book of Mormon, and when we teach her, she just says, "I already know all this hermanitas." If you remember from a few weeks ago, she is the same investigator that we found when we took refuge in her papeleria from the rain. 

Today we finally did something fun on our Preparation Day and went to Tepotzotlan. It´s a town not too far from here that is absolutely beautiful. Everything is Old-Mexico style, the streets are cobbled, and it´s just beautiful. We spent some time in the Tianguis there, where they sell authentic Mexican things. It was fun and relaxing. 

Have a good week everyone. Sorry I don´t have a really amazing spiritual thought this week, but I know this church is true, I know miracles are real, and I know the Lord is helping us and protecting us here.

Love you all!

Hermana Herron

Ps. pics from Tepotzotlan. The beautiful church/museum there, the candy stall in the Tianguis there, an hermana that we met, and my Chile relleno quesadilla with a blue corn tortilla that I had. It was super good.