Alejandra

Hi Everyone!

The man in the street last week was breathing fire. Not just breathing. Sorry, I was rushed. 

Ok, so here in La Aurora, we have a lot of Tianguis. Tianguis are open-air markets, and they are awesome. There are venders selling literally everything imaginable in the Tianguis: food, clothes, movies, toys...We walked through one to get to the internet where we are emailing today, and we saw a huge booth selling just shoe laces. I love Tianguis.

Ok, well, this was a good week. I have a new compañera, Hermana Orrantia. She has one cambio less than me in the mission field, and she´s great. 

This week I thought I would tell you all about Alejandra. I think I may have mentioned her before. Alejandra is a sweet investigator that we contacted in the street one day. We helped her carry all her bags home, and then we stayed and helped her wash all her dishes and make some agua. She is very very sweet, and very sincere. She can´t read, and she learns very slowly, so we haven´t been able to teach her very much yet, but we´re working on it. She accepted a baptismal date this past week, but then she forgot that we were going to pass by for her on the way to church, and she wasn´t home. But, there´s always next week. I think once she really gets a confirming witness from the Holy Ghost that this gospel is true, she will be unstoppable.

I was studying this week in Mosiah, in the Book of Mormon, about Abinadi. And Abinadi is my hero. As I read the story, I get the feeling that Abinadi may have been a bit of an outsider even before he started preaching and prophesying among the people of King Noah. But that´s just a testimony to me that the Lord calls the weak and simple to bring about His work. I also think Abinadi must have known that he was going to be killed, but that didn´t stop him. And maybe in the end he didn´t feel like he had success or had much of an impact. But thanks to him, Alma was converted, and organized the church of God. And the whole line of prophets that came after Alma: Alma, Helaman, Helaman, Nephi and Lehi, Nephi... It all started with Abinadi. 

Just some thoughts I was having this week. If you are unfamiliar with the story of Abinadi, you can read it in Mosiah chapters 11 through 17 in the Book of Mormon. 

Love you all, have a great week!

Hermana Herron

The Intersections

Hi everyone!!

Cambios are this week, and I´m getting a new companion tomorrow. But I´m staying here in Aurora! Which is really good, I feel like I´m just barely starting to figure out my way around this huge area.

So there are a lot of people that seem to make their living in intersections here. In every intersection big enough to have a stoplight, there are always people performing or selling things. Yesterday on the way to church I saw a man breathing, so that was pretty cool. My favorites though are the windshield washers. They´re amazing. They can clean the windshield of your car in about 20 seconds, and they can do 3 or 4 cars just while they´re waiting for the green light. 

So I realized that I´ve been neglecting talking about the people here, especially our investigators, so I´ll try to tell you a little more about them from now on. Today I just wanted to tell you about Hammurabi. He´s about 25 years old, and he is what we like to call "de oro." He is golden. He has so much faith! He first started investigating the church when he showed up to the Sunday worship services in another ward. The missionaries there passed on his contact information to La Aurora Ward, but the missionaries here weren´t able to contact him for about a week. But he went to church again in the other ward the following Sunday. Apparently he told the missionaries there, "No one contacted me this week, but I have feet, so I came here myself." And he always has that attitude. His mom is not all that supportive of the church, so we can´t teach him in his house, we always have to find members who are willing to host the lesson, but that has actually been really good. Now a lot of members know him and are able to fellowship him. He was scheduled to be baptized at the beginning of this month, but due to some personal issues we had to reschedule it for the second of July. But he is bien preparado. I´m so excited to finally see him get baptized, and I hope I´ll be able to tell you all about that here in a couple of weeks. 

Ok, out of time. I love and miss you all. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that he lives today. 

And remember, "No esperes el momento perfecto, toma el momento y hazlo perfecto." Don´t wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect.

-Hermana Herron

Testimony

Hey everyone!

So, I don´t have too much time today, just enough for a quick fun fact and a testimony, but I´m doing great. We had interviews with Presidente Titensor (the mission president) this week, and I know every missionary in every mission in the world says this, but I have the greatest mission president in the world. He answered some of my prayers, and answered questions that I didn´t even ask, he´s just really in tune with the Spirit. And he expressed so much love that he and Hermana Titensor have for my compañera and I. 

So for the fun fact, when children in Mexico lose a tooth, it isn´t picked up and replaced with money by a tooth fairy, but a tooth mouse. 

I read this week the last testimony of Elder Bruce R McConkie, which he gave just two weeks before passing away, and I was really really moved by it. This is what he said: 

"As pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that He is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person.

I am one of His witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in His hands and in His feet and shall wet His feet with my tears.

But I shall not know any better then than I know now that He is God´s Almighty Son, that He is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through His atoning blood and in no other way."

I too know that Jesus Christ is the Creator and Savior of the world. I know He lived for us, died for us, and lives again for us. And like Elder McConkie, this isn´t just something I believe because it´s a nice doctrine and because I like this church. It is something I know. As an official representative of Jesus Christ, I testify to everyone of you that He is real, and He lives. He is the way and the truth and the life, and I declare it in His name. 

I love you all, and I pray for you all.

-Hermana Herron

¡Sea feliz, sea Mormón!

Hola familia y amigos!

I hope you all are doing well. Because last week´s email was so long this one is going to have to be pretty short. I´m sorry about that. 

For a fun fact today, I´m going to tell you all the origin of the word "mosquito," because I am sure you are all dying to know. Mosquito is a Spanish word. It literally means "little fly" (mosco = fly, ito = little). Thankfully at this altitude in Cuautitlan, mosquitos aren´t too much of a problem, but they are definitely still present. 

Well, as all of my siblings reminded me in their emails today, I´m basically ancient now. I turned 20 this week. And I celebrated throwing up all night from something I ate. But it honestly was still a good birthday. I felt a lot of love from a lot of people, and I was just happy to be here. 

I´ll just say that I love the Gospel. I love this church and the opportunities it has given me to learn and grow and share. I love my Savior. I have definitely had some hard, trying days recently. But I am coming to know that Jesus Christ, the Creator and Savior, of the world, knows and loves me infinitely better than I know and love myself. 

I hope you all can come to know that too.

Love you all, remember, ¡Sea feliz, sea Mormón! 

Hermana Herron