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. 

Sisters in Pants

Hola todos!

Hope you are all having a great summer and a great week. My week was a little different, a little rough at times, but overall pretty good. 

Quick fun fact, this week: elotes. Elotes is just another name for corn, but they´re different from the sweet corn we have the united states. They are whiter, and not quite as sweet. But they are still really good. Street venders here sell them on the cob or in a cup, with mayonnaise, chili, and cheese, and they are super good. We bought some in the tianguis on the way here, and I´m eating them right now. 

Also, this week I wanted to tell you all about Elisa. Elisa has been a member her whole life, but for most of her life she was less-active. About a year or two ago, the missionaries found her again, and started working to reactivate her and baptize her family. And she has come back so strong. Now, she and her two children attend church almost every week, and she gave a talk in church the same week I did :) She´s about the friendliest person you will ever meet too. Yesterday we did divisiones again, where I was with one member and Hermana Orrantia went with another to have more lessons, and I was with Elisa. We had a super powerful first lesson with a new investigator, Patricia, and Elisa was able to connect with her really well and help her feel comfortable. 

During exchanges with the capacitadoras this week, we had just one lesson, and it was basically a missionary´s nightmare. This investigator was going to have his baptismal interview, but he just wasn´t feeling well that day or algo, because he was very angry when we went to visit him, and said some really ugly things to Hermana Chavez. But she responded very calmly and very sincerely, and we saw an amazing change in this investigator. By the end he still wasn´t ready to go to a baptismal interview, but his whole attitude had changed, and he was calm and more accepting. Just another example of the power the spirit can have on people when we invite the spirit in by responding the way the Savior would.  

Well, I love you all. I love being a missionary. I love the Lord a lot. And I love having this opportunity to share His gospel with these people.

Cuidense!

-Hermana Herron

ps. Pictures. I´d like to present to you all your sister missionaries in pants. We just about gave the Relief Society president a heart attack when she saw us.

Papeleria in the Rain

Hi Everyone!

So first things first, I bought pants today. For anyone who doesn´t know. Sister missionaries have always worn skirts or dresses, until a recent change that allows some sister missionaries in certain parts of the world to wear dress pants, for added protection against mosquitos that may carry diseases. I haven´t had any problems so far with mosquitos, but my compañera has, so I guess they´re there. The mission gave us some money to buy about 3 pairs each, and we finally had time to go buy them today. Pictures to come. 

Quick culture tidbit, here the very hospitable, cordial thing to do is tell your guests that they´re in their own house, "Estas en tu casa."

We recently started visiting another less-active member. She actually found us and asked us to visit her again, we had no idea she existed. Even though she is baptized, she hasn´t attended in a long time and has been attending various Christian churches, so she has some interesting beliefs. We´re treating her like a brand new investigator. But she is all gung-ho. She has attended church and the activities every week since we first started teaching her.

On Wednesday, we were walking along, headed for the home of un menos activo, when it started pouring hard. We were not very well prepared that day, we didn´t have umbrellas or jackets or anything, so we were basically running through the rain to try to get to the nearest members house. But pretty soon it was pouring so hard that we had to take cover in a random papeleria. We started chatting a little with the woman who owns the papeleria and lives right behind it. And long story short, she is golden! We had just talked about teaching the Godhead in our District meeting that morning, so we talked a little about that, and she was super impressed. She said that she has investigated many different religions, but none of them felt quite right, and none of them talk about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost like us. We chatted with her for a while, and she was loving every word we said. We left her with a pamphlet and another set appointment.

The very next day, we received a text with a new referral, and it was the same woman, Maria Lourdes! She had read the entire pamphlet, gone to mormon.org, and requested a Book of Mormon! We visited her again later to give her the Book of Mormon, and she was asking us questions and everything. Honestly, Hermana Orrantia and I are still kinda in shock.

Maria Lourdes herself said that it´s no coincidence that it started raining when it did and that we found her.  

I hope you all know that this church is true. God is real, and He is our Father. Jesus Christ is our Savior. You can know that as I know it, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Miracles are real. 

I love you all.

Hermana Herron

The Temple and a Baptism!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I didn´t write yesterday, we had our Pday moved to today because we went to the Mexico City temple today!!!!1 Ah, it was beautiful, the temple and the experience. I already want to go again. Hopefully we will be able to again in January.

So, all of the emails I got today reminded me of the fourth of July. Honestly, I almost forgot about it. Obviously, the 4th of July isn´t really celebrated here. The 16th of September is. That actually has to do with my fun fact this week. Around here, there are a lot of streets that are named after important dates in Mexican history: 1 de Mayo, 5 de Mayo, 24 de Junio, 3 de Octubre.... We have a whole colonia where all the streets are dates. And the avenue closest to our house is named Avenida 16 de Septiembre. 

Big news this week, Hammurabi got baptized!!!!!!!!!!! I was so so happy to see him get baptized, even in my short time here I have seen a lot of progress in him. As Hammurabi was standing in the font, he started crying, but afterwards he was all smiles. It was another really beautiful exprience. 

I actually took some pictures this week! First ones are from Hammurabi´s baptism. Then a few from the temple this morning, first with Hermana Orrantia, second with Hermana Jimenez, another misionera from my generation. We were in the same district together for over 4 months. And one with Elder Parke. I don´t think I ever really believed that he was also coming to my mission, but there´s the proof. Wadsworth Ward represented. 

Love and miss you all!

Hermana Herron