ITS BEINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS IN MEXICO

^^^ PONCHE. It is a christmas drink that they make here in mexico that is SOOOOOOOOOOO delicious!!! It is like wassail or cider but with lots of fruits. It was delicious, seriously.^^^

^^^We visited the Hermana that I was telling you guys about that is pretty sick and has almost died a lot of times. We visited them and sang them Christmas hymns. They were soo happy to see us :) ^^^

 

 ^^^ We helped a family who is less active make tamales so that they could go to the hospitals and such to distribute the tamales to people who don't have anything to eat. ^^^

^^^We brought Karla with us to give service. This was one of the only pictures that she let me take with her:) She is a beautiful person in and out. ^^^

^^^ When we finished making the tamales there was quite a bit of chicken and green salsa left over so we made tortas or sandwiches with what was left over. Oh did it taste soooooooooooooooooooo good!!! ^^^

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER

^^^ SUGAR CANE. It is like chewing gum or something. It tastes pretty good but after chewing on it for a while the texture grossed me out. But it makes a pretty great pictures. These boys are the greatest. Everytime we go over to visit them, they run around the house announcing loudly that the missionaries have arrived. :) They are football fanatics in every way and love candies from USA. Isaac is the oldest and has 8 years. His brother Eric is the one next to me. ^^^

^^^ WHAT WE ATE. This is some meet. I think it is cow. Not sure. But it is yummy with some yummy salsa above. Green Spaghetti too. Hermana Lara is an AMAZING cook. ^^^

^^^ Dinner selfie. I love this picture because Eric came and sat by me, stole my arm and put it tight around him. I thought he was falling or something so I asked him what happened and he said something I will never forget: Te quiero. It means I love you. I almost cried. Seriously, I am coming back to Mexico to visit this family! ^^^

^^^ MY VIEW. ^^^

FELIZ NAVIDAD

Dear Family,

Sorry if this letter is kinda short but when I was writing my letter disappeared.

Let me tell you the news about B.

She won't be getting baptized Dec 24.

She will be getting baptized the first Saturday in January!!!

Honestly, we had reached the point where we had no idea what to teach her or tell her because she has completed with everything she needs to before she gets baptized the only thing that keeps her from following through is to step away from her fear and accept the challenge.

We went to her house on Wednesday to see her and K. We didn't say anything about baptism but we talked about how through Jesus Christ we can be clean from sin. We asked her how she thought that this could be possible.  Normally people talk a lot about prayer and faith and perpously avoid saying anything about baptism, but her very first response was BAPTISM. we kept asking questions about Jesus and all and she came right out and told us, Hermanas I want to be baptized. I want to be baptized in January.

I honestly felt so peaceful that she had finally accepted to be baptized and she was doing it because she wanted to and not because we were pressuring her. She looks even happier when she listens to us and when she comes to church. I know she knows what she is doing is the right thing to do.

Her daughter B is also listening to us. She is very rebellious but Hna Plata and I know that she is going to be baptized, too. 

You have no idea how powerful this family is. They have a great potential and grand opportunities in front of them. Slowly, little by little, they are learning and seeing what we see or even better what their Heavenly Father sees in them.

Oh hey, we also had a ward activity with pinatas and tacos. We put on a talent act as missionaries and ooh I was so embarassed but all the members loved it haha

We also went to an act show thingy of members of our stake in Scrooge-s christmas. Many of the members brought their friends to the play and it was a GREAT opportunity to find new people and have ourselves a good Christmas laugh.

Whelp. I will be talking to you on Thursday.

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas.

With lots of holly and jolly and Christmas love,

Hermana Beardall

Christmas in the Pines

Dear Family,

Yesterday we had CAMBIOS. I was sooo nervous because I didn't want to change and not celebrate Christmas with the people I love here in Pinos.

Guess what? 

I am staying here in the Pines (Pinos) for Christmas!!!!!!!!

Oh hey, guess what mom? I got your package!!!! Thank you to kolob and back for everything and my compa wants me to tell you a million more thanks for her gift. She can't stop telling me that my mom is the best. Good thing I already knew that :) I will tell you more details in my package I am going to send this week.

We had our activity/comida with President Mejorada this week. It was sooo beautiful and I LOVE celebrating Christmas in the mission. We got flu shots as our first gift of christmas. We did a christmas gift exchange with the hermanas with the whole left right story thing to pass the gifts around. 

It was fun to see old companions (my trainer who goes home tomorrow- Hna Miguez!!) and elderes y hermanas from my generation!!

We have been working really hard with B so that she keeps progressing towards baptism and well you know her salvation. She accepted to be baptized on 24 of December but she got scared when we went to visit her the next day and she backed out on her goal. I know that she will get baptized but it is going to be a lot of work to help her not get scared and back out again.

Her granddaughter K is excited to leave school for vacation and start to work with us! She said she wants to go one ENTIRE DAY to work with us! What a good way to prepare for a future mission :)

I am not exactly sure when I will be skyping you but I am sure it will be Christmas Day. We just recieved instructions and we are going to find a member this week that we can go to skype. Next Monday I will tell you more details.

Now is the time to study about the life of Jesus Christ and remember all that he has done for you- the greatest gift of all times is His Atonement. I invite ALL to search the scriptures for the greatest gift and pray to know that God loves you.

SEE YA LATER!!!

Hermana Beardall

PICS:

1. Hey. That's my companion's name. (Street in our area)

2 y 3. A house in the Fuentes Ward  puts on a Christmas production. It's a house of a member and she had the institute here in Celaya sing for the program. It was sooo pretty and soo cool to hear Mexican Christmas songs- I don't remember what it is called but some song about the perspective of the fish in the river on the night christ was born. My companion says it is called Peces en el Río. Look it up and what it means. Jaja I like it :)

UNTITLED

Dear Family,

Let me tell you a little about this week.

To start with the big event of the week, we had an activity in the ward  where the church was an open house and the members brought their friends and family that aren`t members to learn what we do in the church. The activity was one day before the church would be cleaned so the elders, our ward mission leaders and my companion and I came early to clean the church.  The activity went pretty well and we have some future new families to teach! I am excited!!

As a district this week, we put some goals and decided to have a special fast for our investigators that we have planned to be baptized this month of December. We fasted for two of our investigadors that have had a hard time living the Word of Wisdom and one that has some pretty interesting ideas and talks a lot. Man! We have seen MIRACLES working here in Pinos!!!

Blanca let us remove the coffee from her house and promised not to buy more. She is going to drink hot chocolate or something hot that isn't against the WoW in place of coffee from now on. Why is this a miracle? Because two weeks before, she said there was nothing in the world that would convince her to stop drinking coffee. It was neccessary and she had to have it. She has gone one whole week without her coffee :)

Irene has to fight hard to quit smoking. She has put forth an effort to not smoke day for day, taking it one step at a time and SHE IS DOING IT.  Miracles exist because God exists and hears our pleas.

Pablo still has his interesting ideas and we found out that he doesn't believe in the Bible and still talks a lot. The miracle here is that we have some how committed him to read about the Godhead in the scriptures and to pray about it. He seems pretty receptive and we will see how things turn out. Story to be continued.

We have had a MAJOR struggle to find new people and FAMILIES that we can teach. it's hard because we have to leave other families that aren't progressing and we are left with the desparate search for work, for FAMILIES to teach. 

I hope it is a snowy blizzard in Utah this week and that you can send some pictures. I am living an October-like December here in Pinos. Its weird that I am walking around in short sleeves still. 

Whelp. That's all for this week.

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

Hermana Beardall

p.s. see this video here- christmas.mormon.org again and again if you have to.

BAPTISMO: K. V.

Dearest loved ones,

This week will be brief.

We faced innumerable trials this week. All because Satan knew that we were going to do and well, the least I can say is that it ended with ONE MORE WIN AGAINST SATAN. 

My companion got sick this week from the food we ate. God blessed me with only a stomach ache that was bearable enough to care for my companion. The members in our ward are a great help and helped us find the medicine that she needed. Thank goodness she is feeling better again.

Trials in terms of the baptism this week we faced MUCHÍSIMO. To name one, we didn't find baptismal clothes for K until 10 minutes before the baptism. But all in all, the trials don't matter because God's power made it possible that His beloved daughter could make a covenant with Him and in return that she could recieve blessings of peace and happiness. 

My feelings before her baptism were endless feelings of numbness, but when she came up from the water her face of pureness and happiness changed my feelings to infinite chills running through my body (aka el Espíritu).

There isn't a sense of joy greater that the joy one feels when one of God's beloved children come closer to Him. I understood my purpose as a missionary a thousand times stronger and felt the great importance of this grand work.

If you have fallen away spiritually (or maybe phyisically too) from your Heavenly Father I invite you to ask your self the same question that God asked Adam: Where art thou? Reflect on the happiness you have and how much happier you can and will be when you fall to your knees and remove the infinite space that is between you and the heavens and begin to pour your heart to that loving Father who created you. Now we are entering into the Christmas season and NOW IS THE PERFECT TIME TO COME UNTO HIM. 

I know that my Redeemer lives. I know it because I have felt it.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Beardall

One cumple of a year here in Mexico

Familia,

Here we go. 

Investigadors first.

FAM C-- There BIGGEST dificulty is to go to church on sunday. It hurts us because they can-t progress towards baptism- or even better eternal family if they can-t go to church. If you can, prayers in their behalf would be a grand blessing.

C- her baptism got changed to this upcoming Saturday. She wanted her uncle who is member to baptize her. I think it will be a beautiful experience. As for B, we are still working hard with her and we are going to try teaching with family history so that maybe we can find one of her interests and deseos so that she can accept a baptismal date.

We have had to dejar a lot of our investigadors this week and now we are on an adventurous hunt for new people to teach. 

Its hard when they don-t go to church.

As for my birthday. I thought I had cake comin out of my ears I was sooo spoiled and I didn-t even know that it was possible. First, the elders and sisters in our zone surprised me with cake , next the comida and later Hna villalobos with tacos. SPOILED. Sorry, I think my memory card has a virus so this week I can-t send fotos.

Talk to ya next week!

Hermana Beardall

CAMBIOS (pero no en la temperatura)

Dear Family,

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much (maybe to Kolob and back) for your letters and Birthday Wishes. I feel the love even if you aren't here with me in person. 

This week has taught me a MILLION things. Maybe I'll share a few.

1. New Compa HERMANA PLATA is from Mexico (don't ask me where because it's a place that I always forget what it is called :) hehe) She has three months in the mission and it is her second area and second companion. She has beautiful curly hair (that reminds me of McKayla's hair when we were littles) and the coolest colored eyes!! She loves to work hard all the time and to learn and share the things she learns every day :) She is a very animated person about missionary work and helps me to remember the things that one forgets with time. I've learned to love the new energy that she brings to Pinos :)

2. I HAVE GOTTEN SOOO LOST IT IS NOT EVEN FUNNY. I have learned where to go but even better where not to go and which buses NOT to take. Thank goodness that our investigadors have paciencia with us as I am trying remember and learn every nook and corner of our area. Thank goodness that my companion has paciencia too :) With much time spent on my knees and walkpraying I am finally learning more of the area and how to be a better missionary. 

3. FAMILIA CRUZ BOLAÑOS ACCEPTED TO BE BAPTIZED. Before they were sort of maybe so if i feel it going to be baptized but now they have a date set- a GOAL- and very excited to be working towards this goal. They found out that it was my birthday this upcoming Jueves and decided that they are going to celebrate it with me :) Even though I can't have my Family de Sangre my family here in Mexico will be celebrating with me :) 

4. WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS WEEK. C, 14 years old, has decided que SI she is going to be baptized. Pictures and more coming soon (next Monday to be exact).

5. B. B is the gma and "mama" of C. All this time she hasn't had the desire to be baptized but she enjoys going to church with C. This week when we were in the class Principles of the Gospel we talked about the Temple and the work you do inside. I noticed a change in her attention for the things they where saying and also  her desire to participate in the class. After the meetings were over, an Elder in our ward was talking to her about baptism and later told me that ya she is prepared to accept the baptism challange. Story to be continued...

Thank you thank you thank you, I can't thank you enough. You guys are some of my grandest blessings and I thank you for that!!

MUCHO LUVIN' from Celaya to Cedar Hills,

Hermana Beardall and Hermana Plata

Pinos are Pine Trees

Dear Family,

I cannot believe that I have been in Pinos for six weeks and ya we have transfers.

My companion, Hna Gimenez is going to Queretaro in the same area she was in before she came to Pinos. Apparently she didn't finish the work she did in Queretaro.

As for me, I am staying in Pinos :) :) :) :) :) Oh how I love Pinos!!! I am recieving a new companion- Hermana Plata. They put me as Senior Companion y oh nelly am I nervous but excited!! What an adventure we are going to have, Hna Plata and I!!!

They are putting elders in Pinos again and elder Torres, who was in Pinos, is returning with Elder Carlson who came to mexico the same time I did. Pinos is very big and thank goodness Hna Plata and I don't have to cover the area alone!!

As for C, we don't know what happened but he didn´t show up on Sunday. We confirmed with him on Saturday and he said he would go, but nothing happened. Hna Plata and I are going to pass by this week to see what happened.

I don't remember if I said anything about I but she is an old investigator that we found and are teaching again. She has had all the lessons and was just about ready to be baptized when the missionaries stopped visiting and she stopped going to church. The bishop tells us that she was pretty much a member besides the fact that she wasn't baptized. She went to every activity and everything. We are teaching her de nuevo and preparing her for baptism. She is nervous, but she wants so badly to be sure of her descision to be baptized and that's what we are there for :) to help her feel ready for her baptism. Her son, D (22 or 23 yrs old)  has been joining us in the lessons and asking when we are going to come back. He wants to read the Book of Mormon and when we didn't have one to give to him, he was taking his mom's to read. Don't worry, he has one now and he is pretty excited to read it! 

This week I had a very spiritual experience separate from the experiences I have with my investigadors and I wanted to share a little of my experience or mas que nada my testimony with you. This week I have faced some experiences that were pretty difficult and I felt it was necessary to ask for a priesthood blessing. The blessing confirmed that Y'ALL  are my support and my smiles that keep me going every week. Also, the scriptures. God knows that words are important to me and knows that I needed to hear Him tell me that I can find comfort in your letters and in the scriptures. Entonces, THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORDS. 

Also, something specific that I can't forget is this: "Dios te ha creado para tener pruebas" or God has created you to have pruebas (sorry, I don't remember how to say this word in english). Normally, these words aren't that comforting but in that moment I knew that I agreed when I came to this earth to pass these trials and that I am strong enough to overcome them. 

I want you to know the same, that YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH. Know that you are strong enough to overcome your trials and that before you came to this earth you agreed to pass these trials because YOU KNEW YOU COULD DO IT. Don't forget what you promised God you could do. If you forget for a moment, your Heavenly Father is there to help you remember that you can do it and gives you His power and strength (POWER and STRENGTH not from man but from God) to keep on movin'.

YOU CAN DO IT.

JUST DO IT.

Les amamos,

Hermana Beardall y Hermana Giménez

TODOS SOMOS UNO

Dear Family,

Ok mercy has been given to me and I can write you a quick letter :)

This week has been a whirlwind! 

Thanks for praying for Victor! I know he has a potential very big as a member of God's church but it is hard to help him see the potential he has. This past week we have passed to see him reading the news and I thought that surely he had lost his interest to read the book of mormon and learn more, but just the other day we saw him reading again :) 

As for the Cruz Bolaños family, we haven't seen them much this week but they are still receptive to our message AND are sharing the gospel with their family and friends that also need the blessings of the gospel! It is beautiful to see them share the gospel light that has entered into their hearts and has given them the hope they need in their life. 

Answer to your question: Their daughter was 23 years old.

Here in Mexico there is some trick or treating but not much. Not everybody hands out candies. The day of the dead is actually two days where they make an alter-like thing of their loved ones that have passed away with a little bit of the dead's favorite food and flowers because they believe that the dead comes back in this night to eat the food they have left. They also worship a Saint that is called the Saint of Death. Interesting, eh?

We had an activity as a Zone this past friday to help strengthen the Ward Pinos. The activity is called, TODOS SOMOS UNO (We are all one or something like that...) We worked together in our area (Pinos) to visit Less Actives, and Old Investigadors, Investigadors, etc. The purpose is to strengthen the ward and find more people to teach. The elders of Pinos were taken from our area and sent to Queretaro right before our activity and my companion is a sister training leader and was working with other missionaries, so together with my Zone Leaders we scrambled to put together what the elders of Pinos left us (which wasn't much) and what my compa and I had to make an activity of success for our zone. All things said and done, the activity gave us many fruits and MUCH to work with! It was a blessing that came in perfect timing!

As for the elders that I recently mentioned, we know very little for why they left. All we know is that now we are going to be the only missionaries in Pinos until Cambios or who knows when :) 

We found an Hermano named Carlos where we go to write practically every week. He contacted us asking us who we were and if he could go to church. This week we passed and saw an hermano of our ward talking with him. We introduced the hermano to Carlos as a member of our church and the next appointment we had with Carlos he asked about baptism. It is a testimony to us that God is preparing his children to hear the gospel. I have a strong feeling that Carlos is going to be very strong hands in the kingdom of God, here in the earth strengthening and inviting God's children to know the gospel. Stay tuned to hear more about his story.... NEXT WEEK :)

Whelp, Tango que irme! 

Les amamos!!!

Hermana Beardall (y Hermana Giménez)

Just another day in Paradise (Or in other words- CELAYA)

Dear Family,

First things first, on Sunday I gave my first talk in Spanish. I was pretty nervous all week what I should say to our ward, but in the end all turned out well. Along with speaking in Sacrament Meeting, we started a new program or activity with our ward. Its called Ayuno de 40 Días or Fast for 40 Days. With this program the members have signed up on our calendar a day to fast for our investigadors. We remind them before it´s there turn and in that day they can fast for whatever they want and also for our investigadors. We will see how things turn out these 40 days :)

With Victor, we have ran into a problem. He has MILLIONS of questions about deep doctrine and random things that make it really hard to focus on the basic principles that we would like to teach him. He has lossed a little bit of the excitment that he had the past week but we are working on helping him towards making a covenant with God. If he doesn´t accept a baptismal date we have to let him aside for a while so that he can begin to live and choose the things for himself.

On a more positive note, we found an old investigator named Karla and she really wants to be baptized. She only has one hour free in the entire day so we work really hard to visit her everyday at this time. Her gma who is practically her mom (oh btw she has 14 years) doesn´t want to get baptized but Karla si. She is a bright girl who I would say is member for the light she has and gets along so well with the members and the young women in our ward. We are going to help her prepare for a baptism for not this saturday but the next! We will see how it goes!

We also recieved a reference of elders in our zone of a family really special. Familia Cruz Bolaños lost their daughter two months ago and it has been really hard for their family. We began to teach them the Plan of Salvation and we can see very clearly how our message as missionaries brings hope and blessings to families of every circumstance. They are very intentive to listen and want the blessings of the gospel, blessings of hope and comfort in these their hard times.

I invite you to accompany the missionaries if you can because it is a beautiful experience that strengthens your testimony- to see the gospel beginning to work in the lives of these people is something that you can't describe with words. 

WELP have a wonderful week and PLEASE BE SAFE.

I love you to pieces but I don't want you in pieces, eh? :)

Read your scriptures.

Keep a study Journal.

LIVE and ENJOY the gospel and the testimony that each of you have.

You all are spiritual giants for me and even more so here in the mission. 

Les amamos mucho (yo y mi compa)!!

Hermana Beardall

1. Meeting and interviews with President :)

2. The magic hole in the wall that takes us to where Karla lives :) I feel like I am entering a secret world every time we pass :)

3. Maybe we aren't that tall but our spiritual shadows, si :)

4. Halloween or Day of the Dead her in Mexico. Here we go.

Greetings from San Miguel de Allende

Hello.

We spent our Pday in SM and so I am writing here in SM. 

So here's the details of this week:

1. I gave away one of the LDMs that you sent me with your testimony to an investigador named V. He sells Pan Dulce Monday-Friday in the night and Hna V (member in our ward) introduced him to us about a week ago. He is VERY Catholic and when Hna V gave him a LDM he didn't want very much to do with the church. We began to visit him in the night (occasionally buying pan dulce) and trying to answer all of his dudas- HE HAS A TON!!!

One day, we had a lesson in Hna V´s house where we shared our testimonies and WOW was the spirit sooo strong! It was clear that every one of us felt the spirit!! I gave him the book and explained with a few tears how important this book is to me and to my family. It touched him that you wanted to share your testimony with him.

The next day when we passed to go home in the night, we caught him intently reading the Book of Mormon, to the point where he didn't even know we came up to greet him. 

He doesn´t want to accept a Baptism right now but he is reading into the church through the LDM looking for his answers. 

THANKS for sharing such a beautiful moment with me this week!!

2. We worked in SM this week because SM is part of our zone. I saw a member that had recently gone inactive (since I was here) and we shared a small moment with her. She has her trials and she said that the lesson we shared was just what she needed to hear.

The missionaries in the area told us that she went to church and went for all three hours- something she hasn't done in a long time.

Welp. time for me to go.

Love ya bunches!!

Hermana Beardall

PHOTOS:

1.My companion, Hna Gimenez gets really cold when we are studying :)

2. The two of us :)

3. Celebration of 50 years of marriage (The Hermana in purple is his wife)- Familia Guzman!!

1. Beautiful skies of Celaya

2. Vicky and Victor (the Vickys) after their casamiento (sorry I don't remember the word in english)

3. RS- EMPENADAS!!!

1.RS- EMPENADAS (don't worry I have the recepie... in spanish :) )

2. Our adopted daughter :) (I gave her a HLJ ring and she LOVED it)

3. Working in San Miguel de Allende

1. Member of Barrio Aldea in San Miguel de Allende Yoanna- VERY SPECIAL PERSON

2. Pday in San Miguel de Allende

1. Crickets. To eat.

2. Cricket number one

3. Cricket number two.

 WANNSUM? (In the words of baby Reagan)

1. Streets of SM

Historia Familiar

Hello familia,
We couldn't find a server with enough computers today so I don't have a full hour to write :( But I do want to write a few things and hopefully send pictures (if not I have TONS for the next week)

1. My companion got sick again :( But now she is feeling so much better :) One night when she was feeling really sick, we left our house only to buy medicine. We found three people and taught them a basic lesson in the street- now three new investigadors. It was amazing to see the miracles that God gives us every day (your prayers are being answered).
2. We had a workshop for FAMILY HISTORY!!! It was sooo cool to see the different family trees of other people and  one that went all the way back to ADAM!!! They had investigadors members and people for their first time in contact with the church there at the activity and the Spirit of Elijah was very strong inviting all of us to do our family history.
3. Our investigador V is getting married this Thursday which means..... SHE CAN GET BAPTIZED!!! This Saturday we are hoping to have her baptismal service. Prayers that all goes well!!

Ok. I will try to send some pics.

Les amo mucho!!
Hermana Beardall