World Wide conference and... Worms?

Dear Fam,

Yay for another epic week for each of you and for me as well. The mission, though loads of work is also a whole bunch of fun! Highlights of this week are in no particular order are, eating worms, going to a baptism with Jorge, World Wide Missionary Training Conference, Interviews with President Mecham, Strawberries and cream, lesson goals met, eating elote, weird paper traditional mexican treats, seeing a ward missionary come home, and making salsa. Pretty epic week.

One of the things on the list that was super cool was going to the World Wide Missionary Training Conference  We had apostles talk to us and I learned that Elder Oaks is chair over the Mission program for the church. Which I think is awesome namley because I love his talks and secondly because his voice is fun to listen to. It´s cool to hear his spiritual power resonate through his voice. We learned a lot of things like how repentance is truly key to everything that we teach and do. Repentance is the only way we are going to feel better about who we are or what we do because it is the only way we will ever truly change. Repentance has taken on a whole new meaning whilst being on a mission because its not just when we do things wrong but it´s also to continue to do things right. Cool things are being learned and applied. I hope that by the end of my mission I will be a Sam 2.0 just like Jack.

And then there´s the question all of you probably have. You ate worms??? Yes I did. I ate one whole and turned the rest into worm paste by squishing them with a rock to make a delicious salsa. That officially goes off my bucket list. And the funniest thing is that here they are a delicacy. A kilo of these things costs 1400 pesos..... Talk about expensive bugs!!! All in all they weren´t that bad. Not amazing but not bad.

More on food is the weird paper treats. They look like colored cardstock but for some reason their pretty great! It honey, a couple of seeds and the cardstocklike stuff. I love it! Super weird to eat but i love them!!!

And to finish off today I´ll talk about the missionary that came home. Her name is Sofi and she is literally amazing. She loved her mission and is so ready and willing to help us with the work here in Educacion. She says she has changed a whole bunch from her mission and that is my goal. Her testimony was so strong and she was so confident in the way she talked about the Gospel and her experiences. I hope I can be that way when I get home!

Love you all and thanks for the love and support! I can´t say enough how grateful I am to have each of you supporting through this adventure called a Mission! Thank you!!!

Love,

Hermana Hyer

A normal week? As if. There´s too much to do to be normal!

Dear Fam,

Hey guys! Guess what? Everything is peachy keen here in Educacion! Progress continues and miracles are afoot around every turn. It´s pretty much the best thing ever right now. I am so glad to continue to see our hard work work out for the best. I´m glad to hear that you all get to have some fun in the snow. Skiing is something I definitely miss but don´t worry, Im not missing out on the cold. I wore tights and boots basically all week, Yikes!!! Thermal tights and sweaters and boots and whatnot and here i am in Mexico... The weather is crazy.

But! Guess what? That´s not the only thing that is crazy! The progress and miracles I´m getting to see are crazy! The Lord is truly blessing us in every moment of the week. So, first of our investigator Olaf continues to progress wonderfully. Yesterday he came to church again and when I asked him how is ¨Tarea¨ meaning reading and homework went he showed me his Restauracion folleto and said " I found some questions and scriptures in the back so I looked them up and answered the questions." Talk about dedicated student! Man, I was super impressed. And we invited him to read Chapter 31 of 2Nefi and he said that he loves it and wants to read more. He is truly a miracle and I am so glad that he is working so hard!

This week we had our visit from Elder Piper of the Seventy and had an awesome conference with him. He taught us a bunch of really cool things like how to us Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 three different ways and what is so important about the sacrament and how we can help the members better understand how we need to worship the Lord on the Sabbath and a whole bunch more. It was amazing. All of my questions on how on earth I could help my barrio be better were answered and I am so excited to put everything into practice.

We also had the opportunity to meet a new investigator named Angel this week who´s going through a really hard time and the Plan of Salvation is exactly what he needs. At first he was super shy but then he opened up to us which is my favorite thing because then we can apply the healing power of the Gospel directly to his life without having to guess what he needs. It was super great!

And we also had intercambios with the Capacitadoras and that was super fun too. I got to lead my Area again while Hermana Goulding went to Taxqueña and rocked it speaking nothing but Spanish all day. I´m so proud of her!

Literally my heart is so full. I love the Mission soooooo much!!! I am not kidding when I say to you all that I will be coming home Mexican. I love it! You might not be able to come and pick me up because we have a joke running that I will be going home on a donkey singing a mexican song all the way home. So don´t worry about me, everything is great here in Mexico. I know that I am meant to be here at this time so that I can help others come to Christ while coming even closer myself. The Gospel is true and truly leads us to become disciples of Christ. I hope you will all strive harder to know your Savior more so that He can be an even greater part of your lives. Love you all!!!!
Hermana Hyer

 

Dia de los reyes!

Hey fam!

First of all, I need to say, Happy Birthday JuJu!!! I hope you are having fun growing up and whatnot. Stay true to that spunky little capricorn I know and love!!!

Secondly, I´m glad all is well up there in Utah where it snows so there is actually a reason for it to be cold. Here´s been a little chilly as in, I´ve been wearing tights most of the days this week. Eww but necessary considering the weather circumstances. I don’t wike it! ;) but the heat is coming so i may as well enjoy the ride.

So, this week was super eventful. It´s Dia de los Reyes which is a fun tradition. We part a cake bread thing and eat a piece each. Inside the bread there are little plastic dolls that represent the Baby Jesus. If you end up getting one of these dolls you have to make or buy tamales for everyone at the party on the 2nd of February. Also, the Catholic part of the tradition requires you to dress the child and bring him back to be blessed in a shrine and whatnot. Pretty cool if you ask me! So, we ended up eating a bunch of rosca these last couple of days and I had two babies, one from a rosca that hermana Goulding and I bought and the other from the one the Bishop gave us. That one the Bishop said that if we got it we had to talk in ward conference which is next month but if I get transferred the 1st then I won’t be speaking. Who knows if I´m staying here or if I´m off. we´ll just have to see.

We also had 4, that’s right, count´em, 4 investigators come to church, WHOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!

It´s a really big deal for me, okay? This area hasn´t seen that many investigators at church for longer than since I or Hermana Escoto have been here so it´s a really big deal! I am soooo excited to be seeing people progressing I might have a panic attack...... Just kidding, that´s not going to happen, but I am super excited!

Also, the ward is changing! There is a little bit more love and more work being done. I´m hoping it´s not just because of the new years because we´ve had some real progress the past couple of weeks. I hope it keeps up! And we have been visiting a family who have never been visited in their 3 years of being in the ward (sad but true) and they are awesome! We are having a family home evening with them on tuesday and I´m super excited!

This work takes lots of work and everyone is working a little bit harder and a little bit longer and it´s really making a difference! I love it! On this coming thrusday we will be visited by Elder Piper of the Seventy as a mission and I am super excited/nervous because he wants to interview missionaries and we don´t know who will be chosen! To think that I could be interviewed by a general authority is really nerve racking. I have no idea what I would even say!!! Adventures are coming and transfers too, and i have been here for 6 months....... totally in denial, I´m not gonna lie. It doesn’t feel like it and I thought I´d feel way more effective at this point but all i can do is keep on working.

Love you alll!!!

Hermana Hyer

Feliz año nuevo! (and no sleep)

Dear Fam,

Happy new year and Feliz año nuevo a todos!

I´m happy to know that traditions aren´t being dropped while I am gone. It´s fun to see that you guys are still having some fun and don´t worry, I am too.

Mexico is real interesting this time of year, no one is ever home... Or, they invite all of their friends over and have a party from 9pm until 9am in the morning singing and dancing and drinking the whole way through. It would have been nice if they could have maybe turned the music down at night after maybe 1 but here there are no noise laws or anything fancy like that so if your neighbor is having a party you just gotta suck it up and learn how to sleep through it. Judging by the title of my email, you can probably guess that I didn´t, and you would be right. But, we had a double dip of Preparation days this week seeing as we got Friday off and now I get today too. It´s so exciting! Why? Cuz Friday we got to go to Coyoacan again! We had the opportunity this time to go into the giant Catholic church and run around and look at things. It was awesome. We went in to the artisan thing again and I am in love!!! It´s the best.

So teaching has been going well too. We had a miracle yesterday as a result of our fasting when Jorge one of our investigators went to church. It was beautiful! He stayed for all three hours and got a priesthood blessing for all of the health issues that he has and really liked it. He showed up and my heart about exploded with joy! And then he told us he would go again which almost never happens with the people here and I am through the roof excited! Missionary work is awesome! It has its ups and downs and whatnot but in the end all of the learning is so worth it.

I know that the Gospel is true and that Heavenly Father really does listen to our prays and helps us in the ways that He knows are best for us. He is perfect and so if we let Him guide our lives, He will help us gain what will make us truly happy. The best way we can show our love to Him is by submitting our will to His and knowing that it will all work out in the end. I love all of you and I hope you can stay planted on the Rock of our Salvation this whole year!

Lots of love!

Hermana Hyer