POWER ISSUES=SHORT LETTER

I am sorry I can't write this week but the power keeps going out and I don't have any time left. Hope your week is great and I will tell you about this beautiful baptism next week!

Love y'all!

Hermana Beardall

This week's BEAUTIFUL baptism.

Us cleaning/destroying an old couch.

My desk (pic for you Mum)

WHAT A WEEK!

Dear Family,

Wow. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to talk with y'all yesterday! Honestly, I was so nervous when you didn't answer my skype calls, but the minute I heard your voice (dad) over the phone I was so excited to talk to you guys! Not gonna lie, it was hard at times to speak in English even though my Spanish isn't exactly fluent or perfect. Jaja I felt a little ridiculous when I couldn't explain things in English (and Spanish when you wanted me to talk a lot of Spanish). My companions make fun of me for saying "Aye aye aye" when I answered the phone. The weird thing is, I never say that and in that moment I was so excited and the tears were flowing and that was the only thing that came to mind. Jaja it was great to see all of your lovely faces and hear your voices!

So, like I was saying, I have three companions. In the middle of the week we got a phonecall from the oficinas saying that the sisters from Irapuato were coming to work with us in Colinas. Hermana Davis and I were so excited to have them join us! We think that they are going to be with us in this area for the rest of this change. Hermana Davis works with Hermana Orduño and I am SO BLESSED to work with Hermana Noh!!! Seriously, everyday I am learning more words and learning how to be a better missionary. She doesn't speak a stitch of English (except for the few phrases I am teaching her like "very good!") and so I am REALLY forced to learn the language. Let's just say there are many laughs and confusions but all in the name of learning and having fun!

Hermana Noh and I have been working a lot this week with an investigator named Aarón. Before we were struggling to teach him the importance of the day of rest and the importance of going to church but wow! Hermana Noh and I are starting with the Restauración and going through every principal and answering his questions the best we can! He is anxious to be baptized and is gaining a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. I love watching things starting to click with our investigators, especially A because it took us a long time to help him understand. In the MTC I was told that your mission is a privilege that God has given you to have the front row seat at the conversion and miracles of his children- for me His children here in Mexico. I am starting to see why I was called to serve in Querétaro Mexico and serve specific people.

I had my first baptism this Saturday- J. M.  It was a beautiful sight to see the family all so happy for their son (14 yrs old) to be baptized. The mom and D. (hijo, 9yrs) are members and the papa is working towards baptism (after he quits smoking). J. had a BIG smile on his face and you could see his testimony shining through him! Wow, he has a strong testimony of the gospel and I can tell he is ready to live the gospel as a member of this church. The Hermana brought her parents who aren't members to the baptism. They both felt the spirit so strongly that they were both in tears and were more than willing to have the missionaries visit them. It was a beautiful experience all around. (I will send pictures soon)

You mentioned that you wanted to know what we do on a daily basis. Well, here you go:

6:30 wake up and exercise

7:00 shower, get ready, eat breakfast

8:00 Personal Study

9:00 Companion Study

10:00 Idioma- STUDY ESPAÑOL!!! WaHOo!

11:00 Since I am in Training still, I am doining 12 Semanas (training program) with Hermana Noh 

12:00 We go to work!!!

2:00 Comida or the main meal of the day (Dinner basically) with MEMBERS! Don't worry. There is almost always tortillas

3:00 Back to work!!! we visit investigators Less Actives and Recent Converts

8:50 Back in the house to plan for the next day

10:30 BEDTIME!!

Have a beautiful week!!

Love y'all,

Hermana Beardall

The four of us: Orduño, Noh, Davis, y Yo

WOW! What fun!

The four of us (otra vez)

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL WEEK IN MEXICO

Dear family,

This week was another wonderful, beautiful week in Mexico! 

First things first: DÍA DE LAS MADRES- (Mother's Day) We have church at one, meetings til five thirty, and Comida till six thirtyish sooo sometime around six-thirty we will be skyping y'all. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Okay. This week. This week I have really valued my time to study personally. I studied Alma 5 this week (read it. it's good) has helped me think about where I am currently standing and where I want to be when I stand before God and tell him about my life here on Earth. It is a good chapter full of power! I was physically drained of my energy because the chapter was so spiritually powerful. 

With our investigators this week we have learned the importance of being simple so that everyone can understand the gospel. We have an investigator who we don't really know how old she is because everytime we ask her she gives us a different age, but she is about 90 years old. We teach her everyday and review everything everyday and she finally remembers how to pray! That first prayer was the sweetest prayer I have ever heard! I am forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to have a front row seat to the miracles of his children here in Colinas. Not only is my testimony growing but those of the people here in Mexico!

My spanish is... wow. I can't believe how much I have learned in the past three or so months. Wow. that's another thing. How did I complete three months? Time flies!

I love you all and for those that have a big week this week- you are in my prayers!!!!

I love all of you!!

Talk to you in six days!

HERMANA BEARDALL

Hna Davis y Yo making cupcakes

Las Hermanas en nuestra casa. Fue mi tres meses. (The sisters in our house.  It's been three months.)

I bent down to fix my shoe and my skirt fell into a puddle of water. Jaja yeah...oops!

Casa hermanas on Día de Preparación (Sisters house on Preparation Day)

All of the Hermanas in my Zone on Día de Preparación

HOLA

Dearest Familia,

Oh how I love writing y'all every week!

This week we have gained many investigators who want us to teach english. It is so interesting to teach someone english! We are helping one of our investigators on a project in her english class. She is pretty good we just help her refine her language :) Her name is G. She is a joy to be around and I love teaching her both english and the gospel! Crazy but we taught her the word of wisdom the first lesson because she had questions that only the word of wisdom could answer! We will see how she progresses this week!

In the same house as G., we have another investigator named C. She is a hoot! She has 84 years and love to joke around with us. Of course I joke right back at her but my companion, Hna Davis is pretty gullable (sp?). Either way, lessons are always enjoyable with her! She has a lot of faith and her testimony is growing. Oh, we also have the same blusa and so I think we need a picture :)

There are so many joys of being to white girls in Mexico. Everybody asks us where we are from and what we are doing in Mexico. WHAT A GREAT WAY to introduce the gospel!! We love it!!!

We are learning so much about the different ways people learn the gospel, specifically with one of our investigators, J. She is too old to remember her age and we have to teach VERY SIMPLE. It also requires a lot of faith that God will help each person.

Welp, Gotta go!

ADIOS!!!

Hermana Beardall

COLINAS

Familia,

I am in Colinas Querétaro this change! It is SIGNIFICANTLY HOTTER here and the roads are flat (not rocky). With my weak ankles you think I would be happy that the roads are flat, but I miss the rocky streets of San Miguel. I had to watch my step and that helped me stay awake. I am searching for something else to keep me awake and not thinking about the heat.

The ward here is significantly larger than my ward in San Miguel. The members here are so welcoming and so friendly! I am suprised at how many conversations I am able to have with members- EN ESPAÑOL!

Hermana Davis and I are the first American sister companionship in the mission. She has one more change (6 weeks) more than me and we both know about the same amount of spanish. She knows more than I do, that's for sure.

The whole world is on vacaciones right now which means that more than half of our investigators are gone. It's weird not having anyone to teach, but this next week should be better.

It is weird going from opening an area and having no one to a place where we have TONS!! It is great!

odo bien aquí en Colinas! 

Sunday meetings are like ours but in Spanish. Really though. Okay. One MAJOR difference is that most people show up 15-30 min late and not Cedar Hills 8th ward 30 min early.

We have church in a stake center here in Colinas and it is pretty nice and big and all. I don't know if there is a ward choir here, but we will see. We have a piano and I am pretty sure they have a calling for a person to press the button for the hymn to play. Haha it makes me laugh!!

I haven't spoken yet (knock on wood), but we will see. 

My companion is American and very girly. She insisted on doing my makeup one day and I about died. I have never worn that much makeup EVER. She was having fun so I didn't say anything... She's attempted to do my hair several times too but my hair is just too complicated. Ha.

Oout of time! Write more next week!

LOVE YA!!

Hermana Beardall

HOLY WEEK!!

Querida Familia,

Here in Mexico they are celebrating Holy Week. I don't exactly know what that means, but there are a lot of shrines with Jesus and Saints and they handed out free popsicles and such. All of the buses always have a cross with Jesus but this week they put flowers underneath the cross. It is so fun to learn about different cultures!

This week Hna Miguez and I have been talking with the lideres of the ward (like our mission president told us to do so that we could have more success) and WOW! We are starting to have more success in San Miguel de Allende!! The lideres are trusting us with their friends and we are visiting them and teaching them the gospel. So far they are all very accepting what we are teaching and progressing in learning. Blessings follow when you are obedient and we have seen that happen this week specifically!!

Familia Soto is so close to accepting a baptismal date! They accept everything we teach them and they Victor (the husband) loves to ask A LOT of questions! I always enjoy going to teach them because the Spirit is always so strong ! The last time we went and taught them, Hermana Leticia was making... I don't exactly know what they are called, but basically it is a jello cup and she takes a doctor-like needle filled with colored milk and makes a flower! IT IS THE COOLEST THING EVER!! I will attatch pictures so you can see and understand what i am trying to explain. 

This week, one of the members, Benjamin Velez, found out that I had never eaten sushi so he bought Hna M and I sushi. Never say never, my friend, because I have already accomplished three things I said I would never do: 1) learn Spanish 2) go to Mexico (I don't know why I didn't want to go to Mexico- it's BEAUTIFUL) and 3) eat sushi. It was weird, but I liked it. But if you gave me the choice between sushi and a hamburger, I would easily pick the hamburger. But the sushi was great :)

It is crazy that I am saying this but we have CAMBIOS!! It is really hard for me because I am not very good with change, but Hna Miguez is staying in San Miguel and I am headed to Querétaro tomorrow. I cried for the longest time because we were just beginning to see the fruits of our labors here in San Miguel, finally starting to have a decent number of people to teach and now we have cambios. It is hard but I am learning to be okay with it:) My new companion is HERMANA DAVIS from Spanish Fork, UT!! Crazy thing is we both recognize each other from choir festivals in highschool- IT'S CRAZY!! Anywho, she has one more change than me  (she just finished her training) and she's my new trainer!!! Mixed emotions, but I think I will love this change!! I am definitely going to miss San Miguel de Allende and when I come back and visit I definitely want to come here (I think you would love it here mummsie)!!

Pues, I am going to finish sending pics and writing! I hope your week is grand and dandy!

LOVE Y'ALL!!

Love,

HERMANA BEARDALL

sushi

Hna L. and her cool flower jello

flower jellos

yo and the castle (I call it the Castle but really it is "just" a church)

Hna Miguez y Yo on our last P-day

people eating popsicles at a shrine (I think everyone has a popsicle haha)

The Castle :)

QUICK LETTER THIS WEEK

Better than nothing right?

We taught a family this week- Familia S. We have had a hard time trying to keep an appointment with them but when we finally got to enter their house and teach them, the Spirit hit us sooo strong! I didn't understand every word, but I understood the Spirit. They were having family issues and were visiting the Catholic Church's family help programs. They felt like the catholic church didn't have the relief they were looking for and that it wasn't personal. L. S. said that we were angels and answers to her prayers- we shared the message of the gospel and we taught the gospel to her needs! They have a desire to be baptized and learn more!! Hna M and I were overwhelmed with joy and almost started crying on the bus ride home (after the lesson). Missionary work has it's ups and downs but the ups override all the downs because of their spiritual impact on the heart.

I loved conference this weekend and was BLESSED to watch it in ENGLISH!! We had many pauses but I watched all of it in english! One of my favorite talks was M. Russell Ballard's talk about following up and Preach My Gospel. Before my mission I didn't really understand the power of PMG but now that I read it every day I can't believe I didn't read it more before the mission. I challenge you to read PMG and get to know it REALLY well. PMG is for every member because every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a missionary!! 

I saw Brynn and Dani in the choir!!! Ahh that made my day because I did not expect to see familiar faces that I love so dearly!! 

I am teaching Elder Vicente English and he is teaching me Spanish- our conversations are benificial and BEYOND hilarious!  I can see a major difference in my confidence in speaking and also my vocabulary. I am starting to enjoy the language more!!

I love all of you and miss you much!