Bugs and Dogs!

 

Perrito

Perrito

Hola! I hope you are all doing so well! This week absolutely flew by and was so great!

This next Sunday I will find out if I'm being transferred or not so that's pretty exciting! These past 5 weeks have absolutely flown by.

Yesterday a member asked me to pray in English and it was a good thing they couldn't understand me because it WAS SO DIFFICULT Spanish words kept coming to my mind instead of English words. So now I'm mediocre in two languages  But it's actually pretty cool because my Spanish keeps getting better and I feel so blessed!

OK so I have no idea why but when the first rains of the season hit Oaxaca crazy stuff happens. For example I had not seen one scarab (dung beetle) my entire time here. But these past two weeks I have seen thousands. I have no idea how these bugs have survived for thousands of years. They fly and always run into walls or my forehead (true story) and if they land on their back they can't flip themselves over. So they just wiggle their legs and then die. If you look at any wall here in Oaxaca you will see at least 50 scarabs at the bottom. I have absolutely no clue how they have lasted this long haha. But maybe it's people like me who feel bad for them and flip them over Also another thing that happens when the rain comes is these giant aggressive flying Oaxacan ants leave their burrows and that's when they're harvested and cooked. A family had some and I tasted one, it was actually super good!

We also got to meet a lot of puppies this week and they were super cute! It's a shame they'll grow up and want to eat us like every other dog here But I learned that if a dog is coming at you and you throw your arms up in the shape of a T they freak out and run off. Works like a charm! 

We've been teaching a ton more people this week and I love it so much. Everytime I teach the gospel my testimony of it grows so much. People have so many questions that worry them about life and about religion and the Gospel answers absolutely every one. Yesterday we were teaching a family a four and we had just finished teaching them about the Restoration and then they asked about life after death.  I then proceeded to pull out of my bag the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and they all laughed and were like, "Wow you guys really do have all the answers." I feel like my love for everyone is truly growing. Everytime I see how the gospel could bless someone and then they reject our message it breaks my heart. But I know that I have to keep going and doing to find those who are ready for this sweet and life changing message that I know to be true with all of my heart. ️

The Streets!

When it rains it pours!

Elder Torres the waterbender

Oaxaca!

First time being able to street contact!

Hello Everyone!!!! This week has been so amazing I don't even know where to start!

 

OK well first of all we finally received permission to contact in the streets, knock on doors, and eat with members!!! And oh my goodness it is so much fun! 

 

Another blessing is that out of nowhere I started understanding Spanish a lot better this week.  Which is great because we started talking to a ton of people this week!  I still don't understand everything but I get mostly everything from conversations and if not I understand the gist haha.  Members always say they think I understand really well but in reality I've just gotten really good at nodding and laughing at the right times 😂😂.

 

Another amazing thing this week was we had a devotional broadcast with Elder Holland!!!!! It was so incredible and it gave us a fire we needed to go and share this amazing gospel!  The Spirit was so strong and I know with all my heart that he is an Apostle of our Savior! 

 

Also the same day we got permission to go and contact in the streets, it started raining a ton. But it was actually so much fun trying to find places to cross the street-rivers and help people do the same haha.

 

The members always give us such good food but they give us so much and I always feel like. I'm going to explode because it's so much food 😂.

 

A very powerful experience for this week was when we were visiting a family.  The wife is a member and her husband is not.  We were talking to them and he doesn't believe in religion and he thinks it's silly that people do but he doesn't mind if we talk about it because it's what we believe. He also shared a story that he had a friend who was going through a rough time and his friend prayed for help. He told us that he thought this was ridiculous and that prayer can't make your life better. (Yes I understood all of this and was very proud of myself haha) At the end of our visit with them we wanted to close with a prayer and asked them if there was anything they wanted us to pray for.  As soon as we asked he paused and started crying.  He told us that a friend of his daughter had gotten into a car accident and wasn't doing well. He asked us to please pray for him.  The Spirit was so incredibly strong. After the prayer he thanked us and was still weeping. He told us we could come over at anytime.  This was so powerful for me because just 10 minutes before he was making fun of prayer but then the power of prayer softened his heart!  

 

I am so grateful to be a missionary and have such incredible experiences such as these. They strengthen my testimony so much and I know that this is the Lord's work with all of my heart. 

 

I love you all! Stay safe and let me know how you've been!! 

Ojos Azules

 

Crazy Moto taxi rides!

Gadiel

Pizza!

2 foot Otter Pops!

Hello Everyone!!!  I hope you are all doing so so well!

Rain

This week has been a ton of fun!  Last Monday night we were having a district meeting and it started raining super hard.  So when we were getting ready to leave we took some time to make some raincoats out of garbage bags again.  As soon as we walked out the front gate it stopped raining so we felt kinda silly haha.

Angels and un borracho

So borracho is a word for drunk people.  We were walking home and a man walked up to us and started talking.  I didn't understand a ton of the conversation but he insisted on buying us a snack from the nearby store.  We kept saying it was alright and that we had to get home but he insisted and bought us a snack.  We talked to him for about 10 min and I didn't understand a ton because it was all wild but I did understand that he said thought we were angels so that was a pretty funny experience. 

Ojos Azules

Ok so I think I said last week that we are working with the family of one of the Diego's we baptized and I LOVE THEM SO SO MUCH!  So we have a baptisimal date for his cousin Gadiel and we have been doing a lot of family history with them and they're getting really excited!  (While we were doing family history I found the missing person I needed to link me directly back to the First Lacey so that was pretty awesome!)  Ok so Gadiel is their cousin and he is 13.  He always calls me Ojos Azules (Blue Eyes) and it's so funny.  We had a lesson with him and it was rough for me because he didn't understand me well.  So I was pretty bummed.  But then we were talking with them and said that one of us would probably be leaving and they were all so sad and then Gadiel said, "Nooooo Ojos Azules don't go!!!"  And they were all asking us not to leave so that cheered me up.  Now Gladiel and I are buddies and he asked me if I could baptize him!

My testimony is continuing to grow so much and I love the Gospel so much!  I am so extremely grateful to have the opportunity to share the Gospel!!

Love you all!

We moved!

 

Zone Conference

Zone Conference

Beautiful Oaxaca

Corn!

View of Oaxaca from the roof of their place

Hello everyone!!! I hope you are all doing well and had a wonderful week! 

This week we moved to our new house and I LOVE IT SO MUCH! It makes me so so happy! The family that owns the place are members and they are such a cool family.  They are so nice and you can tell they love and live the gospel! 

While some of you were at prom I was eating 10 delicious al pastor tacos for two dollars so I 100 percent made the right choice coming out on a mission early 

We had zone conference this week and it was a blast!  Like half of our zone is new to the zone so it was fun getting to meet everyone.  It was an elder and a sisters birthday so we had fun celebrating that as well! 

We are starting to teach some of the family of one of the Diegos we baptized last week!  As we've got to know them ive seen how much the gospel could help them and change their lives so I'm really excited for that and pray it goes well! 

OK SO I LOVE THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA SO SO MUCH! We had dinner with these members and they lived in very humble circumstances most of their roof was a tarp.  But that didn't matter at all to them they were so so happy and kept talking about how much the gospel helps and blesses them.  They also gave us more food than anyone else has.  It was truly a testimony builder for me that "Joy has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and has everything to do with the focus of our lives." I know this to be so true.  One of the greatest blessings of the mission is being able to just focus on the Savior and his work.  The mission and oaxaca are the absolute best!! 

I love you all so so much! Stay safe and focus on the joy that our Savior can bring!! 

oh also there was a youth activity and they played basketball and soccer and many of you may know that I'm garbage at soccer.  I was very nervous to embarrass myself in front of a bunch of 14 year old Mexican kids but I made a goal Truly a mission blessing

Baptismo!

 

Baptism of Diego

Another Diego being Baptized!

Diego's brother Enrique

Baptism of Diego

Elder Torres and President Martinez

Elder Torres' birthday cake from Elder Lacey

Elder Torres' birthday cake from President 

Happy birthday Elder Torres!

Last picture of original Linda Vista District

Que tallll todos! Como esta?

This week was absolutely so incredible!  A lot of people were transferred but I absolutely love the new Elders in my district!  They're so cool! 

Also this week we were able to get ahold of a part member family and one of their kids wanted to be baptized.  We had a baptism coming up on Friday and we thought it would be more fun to baptize them all together especially because Friday the 30th is El Dia del Niño which is actually kinda a big holiday here.  So we taught him all the lessons this week so he was ready!

Teaching kids is definitely not as difficult as teaching adults because the kids have such great faith in the gospel and know it's true!  In reality while we were teaching them they taught me more!  We showed them a video of temples and the look of awe on Diego's face made me feel the spirit so strong!  It reminded me how excited I was to go to the temple the first time!  The Savior truly loves children and is so evident why, their spirits and faith is so strong!

Friday was definitely the best day of my mission so far!  It was Elder Torres's Birthday so I bought him a little cake and surprised him with some balloons!  (Later that day president came and visited us and showed me up with a bigger and much better cake) Our ward had an activity before the baptism for the kids and it was so much fun to meet more members!  The spirit was so strong! I also was joking around in Spanish and I felt like myself! It was so awesome!

So I made a new friend and he is the coolest person ever.  He is the older brother of one of the Diegos we baptized.  He's 16 and was ordained a priest this week so he could baptize Diego!  It reminded me how my brother baptized me and brought back so many fond memories!  His name is Enrique and he is so cool and funny and his testimony is so strong!  I baptized the other Diego and I did okay so that was a blessing haha!

I love you all and I hope you all are doing well! Quédense Mucho!