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."