Loving and Serving in Guadalajara: December 15th "Praying for Unplanned Opportunities to Teach the Gospel."

Ok these last few days have been so crazy I just hope I can try and remember everything! First off I am so sorry for not emailing yesterday! We had a Christmas party with 2 other zones and so we had to travel to Tepic which is about 3 hours away. So the night before Hermana Muro and I had to sleep at another Hermana’s house so we were closer to where everyone else would meet up in the morning. We actually had to sleep on the floor and we had no blankets or pillows. ha Hermana Muro and I both did not sleep that night. Then we got up really early and left for Tepic. When we got there they split us all up and we did contacting. So it was kinda like a normal day!

Missionary Christmas gift exchange $50 peso's limit
(about $3.00 US)

It’s fun to see different areas. I have now been to Guadalajara and Tepic and I can honestly say Vallarta is one of the prettiest areas! Again, I am so lucky! But after contacting we went to the church and had a big gift exchange. We all had to buy a gift that was under 50 pesos. It was fun! Then we all sang songs. My zone did a rendition of the 12 days of Christmas but of course in Spanish. We did it like it like it was for a missionary! Then we had a catered meal and it was so yummy! I know I’ve only been in the field for a week but it was nice to have something besides tacos haha. It was fun to see everyone and meet so many new people! Even if I couldn’t understand everything that was going on.... Then we headed back home kinda late. On the bus everyone started singing Christmas songs and then it turned into a battle between the Americans and the Latinos... I of course was with the Latinos haha and some other Americans were too but no joke this music battle went on for like an hour! It was pretty entertaining. But then I totally fell asleep. I’ve already had a good handful of sleepless nights here. My comp and I were so tired once we got back. It was 12 a.m. When we got back to the house there was a HUGE birthday party going on in the little field in the middle of all the little houses where we live..full on drunk and loud music. We were both were like seriously! And all of them kept being like “Hermanas come party with us.”

My apartment In Puerto Vallarta

hahah Man I am on some crazy adventure! But then my comp was looking for our cell phone once we got to the house and she realized she left it in the Taxi! This was really bad because our District leaders wouldn’t go to sleep until we told them we were home safely. We decided to say a prayer and hope that the taxi we had taken home for some reason would just be sitting down the street. As Hermana was saying the prayer I had the strongest feeling that it was all going to be ok and we would find the phone! And guess what? The driver was parked down the street waiting for us to realize we forgot our phone! That never happens here, people just don’t think like that. It really was such a blessing! And we don’t have to pay for a lost phone wahooooo!

My Missionary President and Mission Mom
Pres. and Sister Clayton in front of
Guadalajara Temple

I love my areas here in the mission! We have a baptism this Saturday for someone my comp and her previous comp found by contacting. His name is Ignacio and he is an amazing investigator! We taught him about that Word of Wisdom. After we taught him we asked him why he thought it was important to obey this law. He said because our bodies are a temple. IS HE NOT A PERFECT INVESTIGATOR? I’m so excited to watch him be baptized.

One of my favorite towns in my mission is Mismaloya. It literally is a town on the side of the mountain in the Jungle. I love it and there are some amazing members that live there! Oh mom and dad where you spent your honey moon is in my mission and my comp has actually been there because a member owns a room there or something and had lunch for them there. Another area we visited was Playa Larga. We did not have any investigators in this area so before we left we prayed that we would find people to teach there. Earlier in the day I had studied in "Preach My Gospel" the chapter on how to find people. One thing it said was to pray for unplanned opportunities to preach the gospel. I told my comp about this and so we prayed that morning for unplanned opportunities. And guess what! We ended up teaching a family through their bedroom window on our way to a referral. Can you say unplanned or what?! I am so excited to teach them. I have a good feeling! But after praying for investigators in this area we now have 6! Prayer is an amazing thing!

Going out to teach as soon as we got off the plane
in Guadalajara

To answer the question probably many have.... the language is coming. Ha kinda. There have been times when everything about the mission is very overwhelming. Trying to not only learn Spanish but only having instructions oh how to do things in Spanish is also very hard. There is a lot to memorize but I am already starting to get the hang of things! Just keep the prayers coming and I know everything will be fine! I have a little cold because it has been raining and we have been walking all day in it. But Hermana Clayton has helped me. But pray I get better fast because I don’t need to be sick on top of everything.

This is how excited I get when I get mail! Thanks Elder Elmont.

Let’s see I am trying to answer all your questions. I’m sorry time goes by so quickly when I email. My comp is very smart and loves to play the piano and sing...all the time. haha She is the one everyone turns to when they need someone to play the piano. Oh this Sunday was actually the dedication of the Tijuana Temple so we didn’t have church. The dedication was nice and some apostles spoke and they had translators for them so I was able to understand some talks! But it was really good I loved it. The work is hastening in Mexico!

My little desk in my apartment in Puerto Vallarta

I have met a lot of the ward members because we have lunch at a members house everyday so far. My comp family lives in the LDS colonies and went to the LDS school out there. Hmm.. There’s a lot of tiendas around us and there is someone who will wash our clothes. For our garments we have a wash room where we do them by hand.

I love you all and will try to answer mas pregutas next week!! I love and miss you guys!

-- Con Amor

Hermana Acor