¡Hermana Aubriana!: Last P-Day Here...

Well, a week from now I will be in the Mission. I'm so excited! I have LOVED the CCM. Some people told me it would be like a prison, but I have been so happy here. An amazing district, amazing teachers, opportunities to feel the Spirit 24/7, what more could I want? Also it's quite strange to think that I´ve been out here for more than a month. That isn´t thattt long, but it means I've only got 17 left. I feel like it's going too fast already.

I've learned a lot of things from being here:

1. The Church is true. There is no way I could feel this great ALL THE TIME while being away from my family without the Spirit. And what does the Spirit do? It testified of TRUTH. Entonces, this gospel is true.

2. Mexican food is strange. And their pastries aren't very sweet. And their candy is sometimes very... not good. They like spicy, really salty and just a touch of fruity flavor in their candy. And the mix us nauseating. And papaya... don´t even get me started. People told me you have to try it many times to like it, so I tried it every day for 2 or 3 weeks. I had it again this morning. Still nasty.

3. Make friends with the workers! We have an advantage since we are serving in Mexico City so everyone LOVES us. Every Monday we do a service activity (which is great because people constantly serve us here, it helps us get over our guilty conscience) and this last week our friend Esteban took us to the kitchen and had us make Texas sheet cake. And then later that night he gave us pieces of the cake we made. Apparently they were just trying out the recipe, so essentially we made a cake for ourselves... for our service activity.

4. The gift of tongues is real. But like most spiritual things, it's not super obvious. Occasionally, there are lessons where I just feel like words come to my mind that I've hardly studied or like I am able to say things better than I should be able to, but many times the gift of tongues is much less obvious. But it is still there. I've learned Spanish faster than should be possible.

5. Skirts are AWESOME. I hate wearing jeans for service and things.

6. Serve your companion and serve your district. These people help SO much with the transition. I couldn't do it without them.

It is so strange to be leaving so soon. There is a tradition here where they show a slideshow of the districts who are leaving each week. We took our pictures for the slide show yesterday ):

I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting finally! It was on the 4th article of faith, which was great because one of the missionary lessons is essentially the 4th article of faith, so it was easy for me to talk about. During sacrament meeting we give talks in Spanish and the Branch presidency (who are all from Mexico and speak Spanish as their native language) give talks in English. So the whole thing is just people feeling uncomfortable because they aren't speaking in their native language, and yet the spirit is so strong. However, some funny things happen when people don't speak their native tongue. A couple weeks ago one of our friends in another district gave a talk on caridad (charity) but accidentally said castidad (chasity) at one point. And this last Sunday, the speaker from the branch presidency was talking to us and said that this year and a half or 24 years that we serve... and all the guys were like 24 YEARS?? And he realized what he had said and laughed and said "you Elders didn´t realize what you were getting into, did you?!" It was super funny (:

Basically, I love being a missionary. One thing I've really learned this week is FAITH. I am someone who tends to be very self reliant and it has been an adjustment for me to be willing to completely rely on the Lord. The CCM President gave a talk this past week about having complete faith. He told a story of when his wife fell and was in so much pain she thought she may have broken some bones. They couldn't take her to the hospital, so they gave her a priesthood blessing. He then had to go to work and she stayed at home with their 12 year old son. At this point I was on the edge of my chair thinking "how could you just go to work? How could you have faith that Heavenly Father would take care of that?!" But guess what, she was fine. She was healed. The Priesthood is real. But like Ether said, we don't receive a witness until after the trial of our faith (Ether 12:6). Things don't always work out exactly how we want them too, but if it's the Lord's will, He can do anything. So don't forget to have faith.

I love you all (: Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Aubriana Wolferts

p.s. I cried when I saw you with Hermana Garner´s mom. I´m so happy you met!