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