Week Dieciseis

Good news! Our mission president changed our P-day to end at 6pm instead of 5pm! Whoo!! That extra hour is HUGE! I´m so happy! Also this week was great and it absolutely flew by! I understood a ton more Spanish this week which was nice. :) The little twins that call me Barbie said that I´ve learned a lot more.

Last Monday after we emailed, we visited the pyramids in Tula again, this time as a district. So it was nice cause I had Elder Koehler to talk to in English. I got better pictures this time because we spent more time there than the first time. I also bought three more traditional Mexican blouses, all of which are very orange. :D

We were with some members and they were talking about this place Teotihucan, that´s like Atlantis in Tula, but with more pyramids. It´s not in the mission boundaries unfortunately, so I´ll have to visit Mexico after my mission. ;) But it´s way cool looking. They showed us all these pictures and were talking about how they believe that this is the place where Christ appeared to the Nephites, not the place in Tula. Who knows? Either way it´s all really cool.

Transfers are in two weeks. My companion thinks she´s getting transferred, but we really still want to stay together. Pray that we´ll get one more transfer together! I´m scared that I´ll be staying and have to teach another companion the area... I don´t know it well enough yet! But, I know that whatever happens will be what the Lord wants and I know it will be for the best. But seriously, my companion and I compliment each other very well. She makes my bed every morning (something I´ve never seen the point of doing because I´m just gonna mess it up again in the night) and I sweep the floor every day. It works out well. ;)

So a couple weeks ago we were at a member´s house and she wanted us to buy Mary Kay products from her, but I misunderstood at first and thought she was giving them to us. So after I had picked out some stuff was when I realized she wanted us to buy, so I was pretty much obligated to buy something at that point. Well, this week another member gave my companion and I both a ton of Mary Kay products for free! Literally probably over $1,000 worth of make up (that stuff isn´t cheap!) for each of us.

My companion taught me the words to the song ¨La Cucaracha.¨ All I knew before was ¨La cucaracha, la cucaracha.¨ I had no idea there were more words after that. So this is how it goes:

¨La cucaracha, la cucaracha,

ya no puede caminar,

porque le falta, porque le falta,

las patitas de atras.¨

Translated (more or less):

¨The cockroach, the cockroach,

can´t walk now,

because he lacks, because he lacks,

his legs in the back.¨

Jajaja... not as catchy in English. ;)

One less active sister has been reading the Book of Mormon. This week she told us that she was up to 3 Nephi. We were impressed because last week she was in 2 Nephi, which meant she had read over 300 pages. Then she proceeded to tell us that she has skipped to 3 Nephi after 2 Nephi (skipping Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Word of Mormon, Mosiah, Alma and Helaman) because she thought the third was supposed to go after the second. We thought that was pretty funny!

Part of the reason this week was so good was because I was able to help teach a lot more. On the mission, there are probably more hard times than really good times, but the wonderful thing is that you only remember the good ones. This week we had some not-so-good lessons I´m sure, but  we also had one really amazing one. It was with a less active sister and her husband. We simply talked about how our Heavenly Father loves us, more than we can imagine. The Spirit was absolutely strong, it was almost tangible. I mean, you could´ve almost cut it with a knife, it was so incredibly present. That was a huge testimony to me that our Heavenly Father really does care about us, and I know that the message we teach is true. My companion told me a few times this week that 

I´ve helped her to feel the spirit stronger, and here (as well as before my mission) people have told me that I have a special way of communicating the spirit. I think that´s what I have to contribute here. Without a doubt, I know 

I´m supposed to be here at this time and with these people.

Also, I know there are people here that I can help because of trials I´ve gone though. Trials are not fun, but it´s absolutely beautiful when you can help someone because you know what they´re feeling. I had two experiences like that this week. I love helping people so much! It makes me think of how the Savior helps us cause He knows exactly how we feel. I love Alma 7:11-13, especially part of verse 12 that says ¨...that he may know according to the flesh how to succor His people according to their infirmities.¨ I know that because of the wonderful gift of the atonement, we can receive the strength and comfort we need to get through hard times.

It makes me think of what a friend emailed to me about the scripture found in Matthew 11:28-30: ¨Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.¨ When Christ invites us to follow Him, He´s not inviting us to follow behind Him but to walk side-by-side with Him. A yoke links us together with Christ and with Him we can find help and rest. I just love that!

I also love Jacob chapter 5. It talks all about the vineyard of the Lord, which represents all of the people in the world. Basically it´s all about missionary work in these last days. I love how it says in verse 72: ¨...and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them.¨ I know that the Lord only wants to help us, He doesn´t make us do it alone. And I´m so grateful for that.

I testify that through Christ, we can do anything. We need only have sufficient faith. If we feel like we lack faith, we can cry out to our Savior, like the man in Mark 9:24: ¨...Lord I believe; help thou my unbelief.¨ 

We had a meeting on Thursday as a zone with the President and his wife. We talked about the difference between testimony and conversion. A testimony is something you know, but conversion is what you do because of that knowledge. It´s possible to have a testimony of something but not be converted. For example, most people are aware that eating healthy and exercising is good for them, but not everyone does that.

We also talked about pride, a subject that I continue to learn more and more about and as I do I realize how much pride I have. Something interesting that the president said is that when we are nervous or embarrassed about something, that´s usually pride because we´re worrying more about ourselves and what we feel, rather than trying to help others.

Speaking of pride, I´ve been reading the Book of Mormon at a pretty fast pace. I never liked taking longer than two months to read it from cover to cover because I lose track of what´s happening. So reading it in six weeks has been great! It really helps me learn so much more and I´ve been able to notice just how often the pride cycle happens in it. Someone once told me that the main theme of the Book of Mormon is pride, and it´s so true. There´s so much to be learned in it about how to avoid pride and avoid the bad things in the world.

Alma 43 (specifically verses 19-21) and Alma 49 (specifically verses 1-8) teach a powerful lesson about us and Satan. In these chapters, the Lamanites can represent Satan and the Nephites can represent us. The first time, the Lamanites don´t have any protection as they go up to battle against the Nephites. But the Nephites have breastplates and shields and all manner of protection. Then, the second time the Lamanites go up to battle against the Nephites they learn from the previous time and come prepared with protection and think they´ll easily will. But they are astonished when the Nephites have build up and fortified the weak parts of their cities. This is like us and Satan because Satan learns from us and if we aren´t continually fortifying ourselves (especially in our weak places because that´s where Satan is most likely to attack) we will fall captive to him.

I also love 3 Nephi 3:14: Änd he caused that fortifications should be built round about them, and the strength thereof should be exceedingly great...¨ This is exactly what we need to do in order to win the great battle with Satan. I love the war chapters in the Book of Mormon. There is SO MUCH to learn from them!

I love this gospel of Jesus Christ and how it blesses my life. I know that it is true and that it can benefit everyone in their life. I know that we can live with our Heavenly Father again and that we can overcome the hard stuff in our lives by continually having faith and striving to do our best. ¨He that is faithful and endureth to the end shall overcome the world.¨ (D&C 63:47)