Semana 10

Dear Fam,

     So guess what? I still love you guys. Even though you are really far away. And I´m sorry I´m not so great at responding to questions so that´s what I´m going to do right now, first thing. So Hurricane Patricia I had not even heard about until this week from the members. Just goes to show how little of the world I actually get to see/ know about/ hear the news that´s important to my life in Mexico. We haven´t been hit by Her at all. No crazy rain or winds or storms or anything. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.   Let´s just say I´m super duper blessed cuz apparently she´s wreaking havoc all across the coast of Mexico and in the US too. 

     Cultural note and warning for all who do not enjoy creepy things that appear to come from the devil. If you are one of those people who doesn´t like gorey zombie and flesh rotting stuff at every corner you walk/ house that you visit, do not visit Mexico during October or the Day of the Dead. Just don´t do it. It´s our Halloween but way more intense. Here in Mexico people like to dress up like creatures from the underworld with face paint that honestly makes them look like the mutilated creatures they want to be. It´s literally a horror show at every store / street corner we pass that sells the masks and costumes. The members of the Church don´t really celebrate Day of the Dead because it´s a tradition that includes making elaborate altars for the people that they loved that have died. Extravagant flower settings with all types of food and drinks and cigars and whatever the person the altar is dedicated to enjoyed while they were alive. We haven´t been notified if we´ll be stuck more hours indoors the 1st and 2nd of November or not. Next week I´ll send some pics of what I end up observing this week. But the upside of Day of the Dead is Pan de Muertos cuz it´s delicious.

    So my adventure of the week is I have learned the hard way that you never, ever, eat tortas al Pastor from the Metro. My lovely sisters will understand when I say that one bowl a day keeps the (fill in the blank) away... Yeah, that happened to me. It was pretty horrific. But I survived and learned a very valuable lesson that I will keep with me the rest of my mission. So I´m grateful for the experience.

     I also learned this week that I can be an effective missionary on my own. We had an activity that we went on splits with members form the Estrella ward and I was left on my own to lead two members out into the field looking for the less actives. To start with I was really worried that I wasn´t gonna be able to do it but as soon as we got going my hardcore Hyer part of me kicked in and I lead those sisters with the power and authority of a real missionary. It was probably the coolest thing that´s happened yet. So, I´m gonna be just fine when I finish my training.

     Love you all and I hope you have an excellent week! Go have some fun!

Hermana Hyer

Semana 9

Dear Fam Fam,

     I´m doubly jealous that you guys got some sweet mountain biking in this week. Oh how I miss riding my bike! It´s funny what you miss when you no longer have the option to do something. For right now I´m craving a nice bike ride or an hour in the pool but for now missionary work will keep me happy.
     So, I finally received one of your packages, the one with the leggings and just in time too because it’s getting really cold again. And it´s not just me that´s getting cold. We had a run in with President Mecham yesterday and he and his wife were just as bundled up as I was. Sister Mecham even commented that she never thought she would get cold in Mexico. Me neither but it is what it is. Mexico City acts a lot like home. One day it´s scorching hot and the next it’s really cold. The thing that´s missing is the mountains. Cuz I have a really hard time knowing which direction is which without my mountains as a point of reference. I´m surrounded by cement, cement, and more cement, which doesn´t help me figure out where I am in the slightest. But I´m sure I´ll get it one day.
    So this week, was the final week of our beloved Hermana Cordova. She left at 4AM this morning for her mission in Chiapas. Best of luck to her cuz it apparently is scorching hot there all of the time. Which I would not be able to handle all that well.
     So, remember how I used to tell you guys about my investigators? Well, I´m learning that a lot of people reject the Gospel. These past couple of weeks have been basically one rejection after another until finally we have found some people who are more open to the Gospel. There’s a car shop that recently we have been spending a lot of time in. We have three investigators that are part of the same family but are all grown up so we teach them all separately. Plus in our spare time waiting for them to show up I paint the door of the garage and we teach more people that Hermano Martin (the boss who doesn´t want anything to do with the gospel) invites into the garage for us to teach. He´s basically a generator for new investigators and it´s such a blessing. So just know that amoungst all of the hard work that it is to be a missionary, we´re having some fun too. And that´s the way it´s supposed to be. Developing relationships with new people every day and getting to know them is super fun and bringing the Gospel into their lives is undoubtably the best part. I love my mission!
    Thanks for all the continued love and support! You guys are the best!}
Love,
Hermana Hyer

Semana 8

Welp, it´s that time of the week again where I get to try and describe to you all of the happenings I can remember of the week, upload photos, and basically try not to explode from all the love I receive from home. I love you guys so much!!! Your encouragement is something I look forward to every week.

So, here´s the haps of the week.

First off, Monday of last week we had cake and ice cream after district meeting because it was the President´s birthday! Which was cool, i have to admit. He´s pretty awesome. The following morning I had an interview with him and it was really nice to speak some English for thirty minutes, well, more like hear it. He told me a bunch of stories about his mission and that he´s really impressed with how good my Spanish is in this small amount of time. That was really nice to hear. Looks like I´m doing pretty well!

Wednesday Hermana Escoto and I went to the temple to buy some new g´s for her cuz she´s basically worn out the ones she has. I was feeling a little weird that day and found out the next that it´s because I got sick. I got something they call "gripa" which is basically a nasty head cold and a sore throat combined. Stuffy nose and itchy throat made sleeping that night near impossible. But now I´m fine. I used some of my Alertec and whatnot but the drugs that they gave me here seemed to work better. I´m super grateful for the opportunity I had to be sick though cuz it gave Hermana Escoto an opportunity to serve me. Unfortunately for her, she caught this nasty bug and has been definitely worse off than I am. But she´s doing better as well so all is good.

Also, I hit my third month mark on Thursday and may I just say, I am super blessed to have some awesome sisters that I get to work with, laugh with, and basically have an awesome time with. They all pooled together a bit of cash and found for me a lovely little TMNT pillow and gave it to me on this occasion. Super thoughtful and kind! I love them lots.

I have also had the grand opportunity of doing some service while I´ve been out here. This week I whitewashed a garage door and changed a tire. Next week I´ll be cleaning some windows and painting part of a house. All of these activities are part of our efforts to unify our ward cuz they are not as much of a family as our ward at home. We´ll be bringing members to other member´s houses to serve in order to boost the dangerously low levels of love amongst the ward.

Speaking of service, I´d like to challenge each of you who end up reading this letter to find a way to serve somebody you know this week and then write me about it next week. I know that performing service helps each of us come closer to Christ and closer as a family of God´s children. So do it and get back to me alright? Thanks!

I love you all so much and I know that the Gospel truly blesses each of our lives in ways that we sometimes don´t see but that we definitely feel.
Until next week!

Love,
Hermana Hyer

Semana, Conference weekend (What number is this?)

So things are a little bit of a rollercoaster right now with the companionships in my area and conference and Hermana Escoto´s ankle and whatnot. Let´s just say this week was a little dramatic but it wasn´t anything we couldn´t handle.

First, background info: Up until this week there have only been four missionaries in my area, me, Hermana Escoto, Hermana Sanchez, and Hermana Villafranca, and we were/are basically the best power quartet of missionaries ever. We always have lunch together at the member´s houses have had a grand ole time with them. I have made it through my first six weeks of training and so I have to have a test. And this week was week one through our new transfers.

So, Tuesday strikes and I find out that I´m going to have a test on how to be a missionary and basically panic. I have never been so nervous for an exam in my entire life, including finals for college, and I´ve come to understand that this test really is the only one that matters because it tests how good of a missionary I am and how much I know about the Gospel and the skills I may or may not possess in sharing the word in a simple manner with others. So naturally, I was very very very nervous for this test. As you can tell from this email, I am alive, I made it through the test and they didn´t send me home. As it turns out it wasn´t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Obviously, I still have a lot to learn but as of right now all is well with me in the missionary world.

Friday comes and Hermana Sanchez and Hermana Villafranca recieve their third missionary to complete the trio. Her name is Hermana Cordova from Ecuador and she is not part of our mission but her residency permit has not arrived so she can´t leave DF and so she is stuck here with us. She´s great and I love her but the other Hermanas are having a harder time accepting her. Which is sad but I don´t know if she acts the same in the house so my opinion is pretty much void on the subject but whatever. We are now five sisters in a small area.

Hermanas Escoto (Honduras), Sanchez (Mexico), Villafranca (Honduras), Cordova (Ecuador) & Hyer

Saturday begins conference and guess what? I listened to all of conference in Spanish that day. Yup. All of the Gringo Elders got to listen to conference in English and I was in Spanish because I am the only English speaking sister missionary in my stake and I cannot sit in the room full of Elders without another sister with me. But I´m not bitter about it at all because I actually understood 90% of what was said and so I´m pretty proud of myself. After the first session the Elders informed me that there was indeed another female member present in the English session but it didn´t matter because I enjoyed my time in Spanish. We watched the second session at Mama Susuki´s house and I enjoyed a second testimony to the fact that I am getting so much better at Spanish!

Sunday I got to watch all of Conference in English and was particularly struck by the talk about ponderizing. First let me say that all of us English speaking missionaries got a kick of trying to figure out how on earth they were going to translate that talk into Spanish but they did just fine from what my companion tells me. On the spiritual side of this talk it was basically an answer to a prayer and question I have had for a long time. My goal is to follow the advice and "meditezar" a passage of scripture every week. My goal this week is John 14:12-14. I´ll let you know what I´ve come up with next week! And I promise to go over more of my conference thoughts as the weeks progress. I´ll get a copy of the Liahona next month with everything in English and we´ll see how I did at understanding everything.

My nickname is brujita which means little witch in spanish.

I love you guys so much and can´t wait to hear from you again next week! The Gospel is true and I know that it changes lives. I hope you will share how it´s changed yours with me sometime soon!
Love,
Hermana Hyer

After cleaning the church the bishop took us out for monster sandwiches.