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)