Loving and Serving in Guadalajara: December 22nd "Surviving Bedbugs, Sacrament Talks and Mission Rules"

Ok, I only have a few minutes so this might be short and I will try to answer all the questions! First Yes I have worked out Skype. They don’t know their user name but I can email you back and forth on the 25th to figure everything out and it will be around 5- 5:30 MY time! It’s the bishop’s house and their family is amazing!

Where we study

I haven’t gotten your packages yet but don’t worry Hermana Clayton had a little present for my comp and I to open on Christmas and I will get all of your’s soon! Who knows maybe they will come to me on a day that is really rough and they will make everything better! So here in Vallarta there are a lot of mosquitoes and they eat us alive. But here’s the thing, I think there are bed bugs! I told Hermana Clayton this and she told us all this stuff to do. They are actually in Vallarta these next few days with their daughter.Earlier today she took Hermana and I all around Costco and bought us so much stuff and drove us home so we didn’t have to take the bus. She us drinks and food and clothes and gifts for Christmas and WOW she is totally amazing! They actually all came to our house. Thank goodness Hermana and I are clean people. They were impressed with how organized we were and what not and then she took pics so maybe you’ll see those on the blog! But really we got so spoiled today! I think we are her favorites (;

President Clayton and Hermana Mura

So here’s a funny story so here in the mission there was a rule that everyone told me about... we are not allowed to teach without members like at all and this rule no joke was ruining my life. It would bring me to tears every day and make me really question everything I was doing and I felt like a total failure as a missionary because we would have days where we had several appointments and we just wouldn’t go to any of them because we couldn’t find a member to go with us. Like I said I was struggling with this rule bad. So I was talking with Hermana Clayton and she told me “oh no that’s not right.” Then president told me that after we have done all we could to get a member to got with we should still go and stick to our plans. Cause again this was a huge problem for me, we would have appointments and just not show up and I knew there was no way it was ok for us to just not show up! So ya, President Clayton telling me that was a huge answer to prayer! Basically the whole mission misunderstand this rule! ..... I hope to feel more successful soon!

I love President and Sister Clayton!
Surprise apartment visits are always fun

Our investigator Ignacio dropped his baptism date the day before it was supposed to happen. It was all so strange. He was super faithful and determined to get baptized. Then the next day he was all ”Jesus didn’t get baptized twice why do I need to?” And he was saying so many weird things, this was not like him! I was praying so hard during that lesson to know what to say and the only answer I got was to testify that I know the church is true. Then last night we had noche de hogar with the bishop and his family and we invited Ignacio. We aren’t giving up on him. By this point we learned that a friend had told him to go back to his other church. The bishop invited him on Sunday to church and he came. We had FHE and we watched the restoration and had treats. and It was a perfect noche de hogar. We all bore testimony after the movie and Ignacio said he knows he needs to get baptized. We will see what happens with him this week. I hope and pray he will get baptized in the next 2 weeks.

Yes, it is true I had to give a talk on Sunday! I spent the week preparing it with Hna Muro’s help. It was on missionary work and how we can all be missionaries. And yes, all in Spanish wahooo. I was nervous but not too bad. For some reason this week was the week for every Mormon tourist in Vallarta to come to church!

Text to my mom from an awesome member visiting Puerto Vallarta

Usually there are 50 people who come to sacrament and we had 105 this last Sunday! I was more nervous that there was so many Americans there than Mexicans. ha But my talk went really well. My comp said I sounded really good. After all the Americans were like we didn’t understand anything you said but you did so good! One boy served a Spanish speaking mission and said he could tell I was working really hard especially since I’ve only been here 2 weeks. It was nice to have so many compliments! The lady who sent you the picture was soooooo nice! I talked with her before sacrament and then after she told me she wanted to send my mom a pic and I told her you would love that mom! I’m so glad she offered and it got to you. I was hoping it did!

To answer some random questions Hermana Muro has had a lot of success with packages being sent to the bishop’s house. She has received a lot that way. I’m sure her parents sent her a package for Christmas but it’s not here yet either. The people who sent you the pic were from Highland, Utah but I can’t remember their names! We are the only hermanas in our zone. All the elders are so nice. There are 2 English speaking elders but the others always talk to me and I feel really close to them even though we have very little communication.. The Two Americans are elder Todd and Elder Price. Todd is from Pennsylvania and the other is from Wyoming. We have a district class every week and we actually had a ward party a few days ago so we have been practicing a musical number with them. We see them a lot. The food here is so good and I am gonna get so fat. I can already feel it. Dang, I have to go now but I will talk to you all on Friday! Love you all soooo much!

-- con amor

Hermana Acor