The One With Hermana Aguilar

Hey guys!! This week was definitely a little crazy town...but all is well! My companion right now, Hermana Holt, is an STL (sister training leader) which means that she has to do exchanges with a bunch of other sisters in the mission. So she and another sister (Hermana Castillo) went around with a bunch of sisters and Hermana Castillo’s companion became my companion for the week while they were out there doing that! Sorry that is super confusing but hopefully you get the jist. So my companion for this week was Hermana Aguilar! The first two days, we continued the service project that we did the week before. We, and a few other Elders from a different zone, were there and I handed out water the whole time. Kind of the worst.... but the line ¿quiere agua? will always have a special place in my heart haha. After that, we would spend a day in her area then a day in mine. But we were in Puebla and so it was all just with our phone so it wasn't super efficient. But from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning we went back to Tehuacan! We had a super cool and spiritual Noche De Hogar (Family Home Evening) with our ward. They did a big event about the Plan of Salvation and it was super good! Some investigators came and so it was a super exciting night! Then on Sunday morning we drove to Tepexi, which is about 50 miles away. It was a blessing because our mission president was driving through town and was able to take us with him! So me, Hermana Holt, Aguillar, Castillo, Elder Ruiz y Elder Trejo all squished in the President's minivan and drove to Tepexi where we had a baptism! Zoram Mendoza Cruz was baptized and he is THE CUTEST BOY EVER!! There isn't a font nearby anywhere so their family constructed one!! It was SO precious!! Zoram bore his testimony and started crying talking about how much he loves Jesus and it was adorable! Everyone was crying during it!! The spirit was so strong! I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to go out to their house and visit and meet them in real life because they are the best family ever!!

The One Like West Side Story

This weekend we did something as a mission that was kind of crazy. Our ENTIRE mission came together for a service project in Puebla! In three days there were over 55,000 people who came and got the covid vaccine! Because it was a lot, we went and helped. But no, it wasn't just my mission that went; the Puebla North mission came with us! We were all working together handing out hand sanitizer, organizing lines, doing paperwork, and answering questions. But....there was still this hidden feud between us trying to proclaim who is the better Puebla mission. I truly felt like I was in West Side Story trying to claim my turf. And I'm here to say that clearly the Puebla South mission is better ;) Even though we are both here in Puebla, our lives are SO DIFFERENT! My mission is pretty chill with everything and their mission is EXTREMELY strict! I couldn't believe some of the things that the missionaries told me happened in their mission. There were a bunch of silly things like they couldn't drink soda (and that is about 1/2 of what I drink here), But it made me open my eyes more and realize that people can live such different lives but still have the same main purpose. So many people here love and worship Heavenly Father so differently than what is “normal” or than what I'm accustomed to. But that doesn't make what they're doing wrong. I love that we are all sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father. And we are all loved equally. What a BEAUTIFUL thought that is!!

The One With General Conference

Was conference hype or what?? Honestly if I'm being honest I didn't understand a lot of it haha.... because we listened in the church and my Spanish just isn't fully there. But I still felt the spirit so strong!! I love the fact that we have a living prophet that we can listen to!! He is so wise and so cool. I love that guy. With almost all of our lessons we teach about prophets because what better thing to talk about? Right?? A little embarrassing story from this week is that we were eating at a member's house and I dropped a potato that was covered in mole on my dress.... no one noticed and so I was trying to clean it up as slyly as I could but it wasn't coming off and it STAINED my dress!! And it wasn't just a little drop of food.... that bad boy rolled down my dress leaving multiple lines of mole. After a second everyone started to notice.... when I stood up it was all over. Rough time. But on a happier side of food, we learned how to make chile en nogadas!! They are SO GOOD! We went over to a member's house and made them in between sessions of the conference. They are a traditional food that people eat usually during September and I was so happy I got to make/eat them! I'm beyond grateful that I got to end the week on a brighter note with food! :)