We Roam With The Spirit...

December 21, 2015

I can't even tell you how great this week was! 

First of all, we just got back from visiting the pyramids at Teotihuacan! They are sooo cool. Also, they are situated farther out of the city, so we were driving on roads with trees and open spaces. There were moments that I felt like I could be back in Utah because it randomly started to look so much like home. While I was there, I had a really cool experience! It's a tourist destination, so tons of people from all over the world were there. When we were walking over to the pyramid, we saw an older lady that was struggling with the stairs. It was pretty obvious she wasn't Mexican, so we asked her if she needed help in English. She responded and as we were talking to her, I realized pretty quickly from her accent, that she was from Germany. I asked her where she was from, and sure enough, Germany. I told her that my grandpa was from Germany and she was so delighted! Then I asked what part of Germany she was from (thinking the whole time, what if she says Wuppertal?!), and she replied... Wuppertal! I was so excited and told her that my Grandpa was from Wuppertal. She didn't seem to recognize Opa`s name, but I was just so excited to get to talk to someone from his home town. Of course, I contacted her and invited her to go to a church service and seek out the missionaries when she gets home (: 

This past week we were helping our recent converts to find all the family names that they could to take to the temple. Fortunately, they had some records like birth and death certificates and other things that we were looking through to find some missing information. We came across a registro de fallecimiento (I don't know what these are called in English... it's a record about their death)  and it had some pretty funny information. One of the things that needed to be filled in, in the record, was time and place of death. They litterally wrote, "Yesterday, in her house." Haha....

AND, this past Saturday, President took me, my comp Hna Martinez and ex comp Hna Wong to the temple to take our recent converts to do baptisms for the dead for the first time, to do the work for the names we found!! I can't express what it feels like to see these sweet new members all dressed in white, in the temple. It's something really really special. Probably what it'll feel like to see them in the Celestial Kingdom one day. 

And then later that day we got to see the baptism of our investigator, Guillermo! Hermana Wong and I started teaching his sister back at the beginning of my mission, and even though she has a testimony that the church is true, she hasn't decided to join the church because she feels like she will be betraying her father who was Catholic and has passed away. But her brothers have decided to join the church now! It was pretty cool to go from baptizing the dead in the morning to baptizing the living in the afternoon (:

One of my new hobbies is translating things directly from Spanish to English. The thing that makes learning a new language hard is just that things don't translate litterally. I'm starting to get the hang of all that and I'm learning the phrases and the more common ways to say things, so I've started trying to see what they would be like if people said them literally, in English. Well there's this one word "andar" that is usually translated "to walk" or something.... but the thing is that it's not just to walk. You can andar on a bicycle, or a car, or by foot, or in a specific building.... so some Elders decided that it meant "to roam." So the other day we were contacting and just finding some really solid people to teach and my companion said "andamos con el espiritu." And it just made me happy because all I could think is that this translates to "we roam with the spirit." (: And I couldn't be happier to roam the streets of Mexico City with the Spirit on my side. 

Also, I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day and I found a scripture that proves that we are supposed to listen to our big sibblings. Nathan, Trevin, and Sara, see below:

 10 And I command you to take it upon you to counsel 

with your elder brothers in your undertakings; for behold,

thou art in thy youth, and ye stand in need to be nourished by your brothers. And give heed to their counsel.

Haha, studying the scriptures is fun. I highly recommend it. 

Also.... we get to skype on Friday! Whattt. It came so fast! I'll update you on everything else then!

Love you all! Merry Christmas!!! Feliz Navidad (;

Hermana Aubriana Wolferts

Family photo with my family Christmas morning

The Week I Wasn't a Missionary...

December 14, 2015

Okay... So I am still a missionary, but this week was super strange!

On Tuesday I went out to the zone conference in Los Reyes to sing with a few other missionaries. We sang "The First Noel" (but in Spanish) in a 4 part harmony. It was really fun (: Afterwards we went out to lunch with President and finally made our way back to our area and started working in the late afternoon.

On Wednesday we had our own zone conference and it didn't take as much time, but we still didn't get to work until 2 pm.

Thursday was the one normal day! YAY!

Friday was the day before the day of the Virgin Mary. We were given explicit directions to go home at 3 PM, no exceptions. And to stay home for all of Friday afternoon, night, and then ALL of Saturday.

It might sound exciting to be given permission to not work, but when all you do is work, you get really antsy when you have nothing to do. The 4 of us were pacing back and forth, making crafts, studying our scriptures like crazy, studying Spanish and English respectively, watching movies from the Church, and at the end of all that, we realized that we still had like 5 hours to kill. So we gave each other makeovers. I don't have my camera cord, but Hermana Lambert turned me into a zombie. It was pretty cool. 

And then Sunday we had the dedication of the Mexico, Tijuana temple! Our mission president encouraged us to go to all 3 sessions, and when we learned that Elder Oaks and President Uchtdorf were the members of the 12 and First Presidency that were going to come, we weren't about to ignore the counsel of our mission president. So we went! 

And then today we had the Christmas party! Can I just brag about how I am in the best mission with the best mission president ever. He is so righteous and so in tune with the Spirit, and he inspires us to be better. 

But, after a super exciting week, I'm ready to hit the pavement and be with our investigators again! I can't wait! We've seen miracles this last transfer. Yesterday the bishop told us that they wished we would never have changes and we could have these 4 missionaries in the ward forever. That's a HUGE compliment as a missionary. You aren't always going to be recognized for your hard work in the mission or in life, but it's pretty cool to have someone see it. 

Speaking of changes, I don't know if you have heard the chisme (gossip), but they are adding a huge stake to our mission! And it has areas for sisters! It's called Itztapaluca. I'm not sure what it's like, but we know it has mountains! 

Also, it's been brought to our attention that Christmas isn't all that far away... and apparently we get to skype or something?? (; We are planning on skyping (as of now) at about 6pm (Mexico City time, so 5pm there, I think) on Christmas Day. I'm kinda nervous! I haven't talked to you all in a while, what if I just fall apart!? Prep some questions in case I'm awkward (; 

Thanks for all your love. I really do love you all and think about you all the time. Be good, have family prayer and scripture study, and be nice to everyone. (:

Love, 

Hermana Wolferts

Singing "The First Noel" for the Los Reyes Zone Conference with a few other missionaries

Me and Hermana Emily Jones

At our own Zone Conference

Merry Christmas! Let's have a Christmas party!!!

I love Prez and Sis Stutz!

Arm wrestling with Hermana Erin Jones

Look at that intense concentration...

For the championship...

And the winner is... Hermana Lambert!!!

Hermana Wong and me in a "Stick Pull" contest

Chocolates or Spiders?

December 7, 2015

Hi! How are ya'll?

No, I'm not serving in Texas haha.

Well, things are good here in Mexico! We are definitely starting to get into the Christmas swing! Last night we had a Christmas event for The First Presidency Christmas Devotional! The missionaries stood outside the church singing Christmas carols and contacting and dragging people into the church for a tour and to watch the devotional! We got some good references (: And the devotional was great! I kinda want to watch it in English... I understand everything now but some things just don't hold the same power for me when they aren't in my native language... like I can't appreciate exactly HOW the general authority phrased something, I only know the general significance.

We are planning on having a few other activities like this soon! I'm excited! December is tough because everyone is busy and working all the time, but people are also more receptive. 

I had the opportunity to do some service activities this past week! First of all, we have some recent converts who were preparing for a chocolate exposition and had to make a TON of chocolates. So we went over for an hour and helped them out! I had some major flashbacks of helping my mommy make cupcakes before the mish! I was using this activity to focus on developing the Christ-like attribute of patience. These detail oriented type things really try my patience and stress me out! It's so pathetic because it's chocolate... meanwhile my comp was at heaven with this activity. She's super artsy and a graphic design major, so this was right up her alley! But overall, it was really fun!

Also, we went by to help another recent convert clean her little front yardish area. It was just totally overgrown with weeds and she's a young mom and we knew she didn't have time to take care of it herself. So we went and started wacking at these weeds. Well, there was a little bit of trash that I started to pull out of the weeds, when all of the sudden I saw a GIANT spider. This thing was HUGE. It's body was maybe like the length of my thumb? And Mexico City isn't the most habitable place for wildlife so I just assume that anything that lives here is tough and possibly poisonous. So naturally my hands instantly turned into butter. I was still pulling out trash but also experiencing mild panic attacks everytime one of the weeds touched me. I felt like I was playing that pick up sticks game as I reached through the weeds to grab the trash because I didn't want to rustle everything around and make the spider move to where I couldn't see it!

Eventually, all the trash was out and we were ready to wack the weeds! But as we started out in the corner where I originally saw the giant spìder, a ton of these spiders started pouring out! Some of them were smaller... but not by much. My comp was laughing so hard at me because I started freaking out and talking in English. All the words I used were mission approved, but they were in English and the poor lady whose house it was was soo confused. She went and got insecticide and we sprayed them... I feel bad hoping they all died, but I really hope they all died. After that she told us that one morning the week before one of her children had woken up with one of those spiders on their forehead. ughhhhh *chills*

Needless to say, the chocolate service activity won favorite of the week.

But the real highlight was Diego's baptism! Earlier in my mission, we baptized the rest of his family, but he wasn't ready and didn't have the desire quite yet. But recently we went back to see him, and he said he was ready and so we set a date! About a week ago we were talking to his mom and realized she didn't know that he had decided to be baptized! (Teenage boys don't tell their mom's anything here, either.) She was so excited and emotional!

When we got to the church on Saturday to set up for the baptism, we realized that none of the lights in the baptisimal font or the room attached to the font worked! And this baptism was scheduled for 6, which is 6:30 Mexican time, and it's already dark at that time, this time of year. So that was a problem. The witnesses have to see if he goes all the way under! Well we got creative and used some of the Christmas lights to light the font and room a bit. And it was super pretty! His sister was complaining that her baptism wasn't as pretty as his haha (; 

I love you all so much! Have an AMAZING week!

Hermana Wolferts

ps. Mom! First I love you! Second, I got the dress! It's dang cute! I love it! And so did everyone else. I wore it yesterday and got lots of compliments. It's the best I've looked my whole mission. Thank you sooo much!

Me and my companion Hermana Martinez.

Me and Hermana Emily Jones

The Elders putting up the lights for Diego's baptism

Look how beautiful our solution of light for Diego's baptism turned out!

Our recent convert who just recieved the Aaronic Priesthood and got to baptize his son!! Their family is the best. Start practicing Spanish so you can talk to them!

After the baptism

Our Christmas tree, haha!

Our apartment gets cold! We look like this every morning! Okayyy maybe it's only like 60 degrees....

About to cut Hermana Jones hair! Getting some good practice... Should've paid more attention, Mom (;

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 30, 2015

Hey family!

Ahh this week was a happy one (: 

We found sooo many new, very prepared people to teach. There is this one family that is just remarkable. They have been searching for the Gospel, but they just didn't know where to find it. We started explaining the Restoration and how Jesus Christ established his Church and how we need to have the same church in our life. And then the father said, "Well that church doesn't exist anymore. People have changed the Bible and interpreted things differently and they don't have the authority to do that."--Basically exactly what happened in the Great Apostasy! So then we taught him the Restoration and how that church HAS been restored and he was just so excited! Previously, we were super bummed because we had started teaching his wife earlier in the week, and she had told us that she was going to be at church and she didn't go. But, if she had, we wouldn't have come by at the time when her husband was home and who knows if we ever would have started teaching him! So it was a little miracle disguised as a disappointment. There are a lot of those in life. 

We also have several other investigators who are progressing really well. And we get to see how the gospel can really change lives. The biggest differences are in the families. Families that were once filled with contention and resentment are suddenly filled with love. It's really really cool to see. 

We also got to have a good ol' Thanksgiving dinner with President and Hermana Stutz! They are so good to us. It was sooo yummy. I love Mexican food, but I really do love our American food too. Also, I feel like I really nailed Thanksgiving this year. I got to eat a ton and didn't even feel terribly full after! The mission has just been amazing training for this. We usually eat a light breakfast and then a huge meal at like 2 or 3. This manner of eating has trained my stomach really well to stretch for a Thanksgiving-like meal every day. So yeah, pretty much nailed it (; Mom, you are going to have to help me heal my metabolism when I get home. I am gonna need sooo many green smoothies! 

Tell Uncle Brian and Aunt Angie thanks a billion for the sweet Christmas package! I love it! I have the service manger all set up and put up the decorations. I also colored the coloring page already! Coloring has become very destressing for me... I've been coloring things in a lot... you do what you can. I think it started when I lost my music and didn't have that anymore. I got a lot of my music back when I was at President's house, though! But seriously, thank them for me. It was really really nice of them to think of me! Tell them I love them!

You guys all look so good! Everyone is looking so tall! It's going to be so weird to come home to big sibblings. Also, I'll have you know that EVERY time I show pictures of my family to people they all RAVE about how gorgeous you all are! And it's true. You guys are really cute. 

I love you all. Have an amazing week!

Love,

Hermana Wolferts

Happy thanksgiving Mom and Dad!! President is so happy to let us talk to you... He practically wants us to FaceTime... Maybe not, but I'll talk to you really soon! I love you so much and am so grateful for you(:

Hey look! You are joining us for Thanksgiving!

Mom has been a little teary-eyed missing our cherished daughter today, but so grateful knowing she is where she should be!

Picture of the Hermanas on Thanksgiving in front of Mission home.

President Stutznegger and a few Elders cooked Thanksgiving dinner for all of the Sisters.

Chillin' with Hermanas Martinez, Lambert and Wong.

Ahhh... The benefits of being in a mission with almost no Sisters for Thanksgiving.

The Wolferts side of the family enjoying the time together back in my home,
and also missing those of us who aren't there with them.

The cousins!!! Yep... I'm in there too.

THE ALLEGORY OF THE MISSIONARY WHO'S BEEN IN HER AREA FOR A FEW TRANSFERS

November 23, 2015

Hey!

It was a good week (:

First of all, everyone is repainting their houses right now. It must be a thing here. Maybe for the holidays? Quien sabe. But it's so fun and colorful! The HOA would freak out about the houses here haha. Everyone's houses are these crazy bright colors!

Secondly, I found out that I DONT HAVE CHANGES!

Yay (: I'm so happy to be here again. I wasn't ready to leave. I'm really looking forward to this transfer! Also, Hermana Martinez is still going to be my companion which is such a blessing because we have a really good flow going. 

However, Hermana Lambert and I were reading Jacob 5 and the allegory of the tree and saw some striking similarities between the allegory and being called for another transfer in the same area (Hermana Lambert has had more time in her area than I do). I was actually praying to be in this area again, so this is just in jest... but I think it's funny. I'm going to explain how we feel with scriptures, but don't worry, it's not going to be boring. Or else I've become too much of a missionary and I just always think the scriptures are cool... anyway:

THE ALLEGORY OF THE MISSIONARY WHO'S BEEN IN HER AREA FOR A FEW TRANSFERS

Our little area here in Mexico City is our vineyard, and as the missionaries here, we are in charge of the work in our vineyard.

We've seen successes, but missionary work is also full of disappointment. People move, or don't progress in the gospel, or choose their Catholic traditions. Sometimes when we are down, we feel like this:

 47 But what could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretchedforth mine hand almost all the day long, and the enddraweth nigh. And it grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire that they should be burned. Who is it that has corrupted my vineyard?

Well, after this goes on for a couple months, you might start to get a little frustrated. You might think you want to change areas, or give up on everyone you are teaching... or:

 49 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: Let us go to and hew down the trees of the vineyard and cast them into the fire, that they shall not cumber the ground of my vineyard, for I have done all. What could I have done more for my vineyard?

But then you find out you are going to be in the same area again... and the Spirit and your companion remind you to...:

 50 But, behold, the servant said unto the Lord of the vineyard: Spare it a little longer.

And you get your act together and get excited to get to work in this area again!:

 51 And the Lord said: Yea, I will spare it a little longer, for it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard.

And you work with full confidence that the Lord always fulfills His promises when we do our part. I have no doubt that we are going to see the fruits of our work this transfer and that the Lord will be well pleased with our efforts here if we do everything we can (:

 75 And it came to pass that when the Lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good, and that his vineyard was no more corrupt, he called up his servants, and said unto them: Behold, for this last time have we nourished my vineyard; and thou beholdest that I have done according to my will; and I have preserved the natural fruit, that it is good, even like as it was in the beginning. And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard.

THE END (:

Haha... I'm really happy to be here again (:

On Friday we got to go to the temple! It was amazing and not even super hard in Spanish. So that was pretty cool (: And it was amazing to be there again after 5 months!

Also, one of my recent converts gave a talk in sacrament meeting and talked about how much the gospel means to her and her family and how it has changed everything in their lives. It was so impactful to see someone who really recognizes the blessings of the gospel, and not just the eternal blessings, but the blessings we receive now. WE ARE SO BLESSED. 

So often I have taken these truths for granted, but really they mean everything. I'm a missionary, so I extend invitations and commitments all the time. And today I want to invite you to say a prayer of gratitude for the gospel in your life, and to ask to recognize more easily the blessings we receive NOW from having and living the gospel. It's a gospel of sacrifice, but the blessings we receive are so much greater than any sacrifice we make.

Thanks for being so faithful and great. I love you all. Keep choosing the right (: 

Love,

Hermana Aubriana Wolferts

I love primary programs (:

November 9, 2015

Hola (:

This week was great!

First of all, I realized I haven't really told you about my companion! Her name is Hermana Martinez and she is from Chihuahua, Chihuahua. They have this funny accent up there where "ch" is like "sh" so she is from "SHihuahua" and she like "leSHe" (leche-milk) and that reminds me: mom, you have to learn how to make arroz con leche because it's dang good. Anyway.... she's an awesome missionary and we are doing great. I like the way we are learning to teach together. We're getting pretty good at really teaching the person and not just the lesson and that's helping us see success.

Yesterday was the PRIMARY PROGRAM here!! AHHHH I promise there is nothing cuter than 15 adorable Mexican kids belting the primary songs out in Spanish. It was amazinngggg. I seriously felt the spirit so strongly and felt sooo happy to be here in the mission. I was blessed with a lot of neat experiences with our members this past week that really helped me to understand them. The church isn't as strong here as it is in Utah. These people are so active and work so hard to keep the ward going. We ate lunch with one of the members of the Relief Society Presidency and she started crying when she told us how much the gospel means to her. They don't take this for granted. A lot of them are converts and have seen the difference the gospel has made in their lives.

As always, I have a miracle to share (: About a month ago, we saw a 22 year old less active at a ward activity. After that we started teaching him and his mom and have become good friends with them. He had started coming back to church, but she had to work on Sundays and told us that she didn't think her schedule was going to change any time soon. We read 1 Nephi 3:7 and talked about how when we have commandments the Lord will prepare a way for us to accomplish them. Then we prayed with her and asked Heavenly Father to help her return to church. Well, this past week we went by to see her and she told us that, unexpectedly, her work schedule had changed and she was going to be able to go to church at least every other week! We were so excited, and even more excited because she recognized that this was an answer to her prayer and that Heavenly Father really had helped her out. 

It is so weird to hear how things are cooling down so much there, in Utah! The weather is seriously the same here. It might be warmer than it was when I got here.. because it doesn't rain anymore. I can't believe it's actually November. 

I love you all a bunch! I hope that you are doing well (:

Love,

Hermana Aubriana Wolferts

Hermana Lambert looking beautiful and Mexican in the streets of Mexico City (:

A recent convert that we took to the visitors center.

The classic meal we eat here is as follows. We almost always have 3-4 courses. I'm working hard to not get fat. That's actually not really true. I eat a ton. It's good that we walk a lot!

The first course is almost always some sort of soup, usually a pasta or vegetable soup, or both.

The second course is rice! I really like the rice here (: And people put either banana or egg on it sometimes and it's really yummy (I promise, it sounds weird but it's actually really good).

And then we have some sort of a main dish! I'm in love with salsa verde. I'm going to buy that stuff by the gallon from cafe rio when I get back (it tastes a lot like the cafe rio stuff, but that's about the only similarity between the food here and there).

And ALWAYS the meals are supplemented with tortillas. It doesn't matter what you eat. The people here are just SHOCKED when I tell them we don't have little tortilla stores on every corner back home. They all tell me I need to start a tortilleria when I get home. But the thing is that NO ONE eats tortillas in the states like they do here.

Here is a picture of a chocolate lollipop that my recent convert made me! He is so great and it was yummy. He's the same one who made me the basket and flower and box.