You are the second Tortilla...

October 3, 2016

We had a good week.... well mostly.

I made a HUGE mistake and said, out-loud, to my companion: "Sister, it's so weird. We don't have hardly any trials right now." You should NEVER say something like that!!!! All of a sudden EVERYONE started rejecting us. I feel like I really have learned how to "street contact" in a good way; and usually, my companion and I have a fair amount of people who accept us... But I think that ever since I said that, we've only had like 2 or 3 people accept us. And it's been 4 or 5 days now. Bien triste. But one awesome thing is that before in my mission, times like these would maybe get me down, but here, I've learned how to be happy even when sad things are happening. There was a talk about that in General Conference by Elder Russell M. Nelson. Elder Nelson reminded us of the scripture, "Men are that they might have joy..." He also said, "We can feel joy, regardless of what is happening or not happening in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy." ..."If we focus on the joy that can come to us, or those we love, what can we endure that which, presently, seems overwhelming, painful, scary, unfair or simply impossible..." GC was AMAZING, by the way. The Saturday sessions felt like they were, especially for the missionaries. In the first session, they taught the gospel basics--perfect for our investigators, in the second session, they talked about missionary work and members, and that was awesome too!! 

This week I heard a lot of jokes and cute phrases. My comp is a huge joke fan. Here's a sample of one of her jokes: 

Why do I like to ask dogs how I look? Because they always say, "Wow" 

Also, I saw an adorable bookmark. To understand it you need to know that many tacos here have 2 tortillas, because if it just has one tortilla, the taco will break. The bookmark says (in Spanish): You are the second tortilla that gives support to the taco of my life.

Good stuff. We all need that second tortilla. That's why I love my companion. And you guys. YOU are the second tortilla. Thanks for all your support!!  (:

Also.... I sent this text message to my district leader: "Pusimos una agua con vino el viernes a las 5... quieren acompañarnos?"-- We put a water with wine on Friday at 5, do you want to come with us?

He called me and told me that he didn't understand my text... and that he was worried that we were inviting him to break the Word of Wisdom with him. BUT no. What had happened was that the phone has T9 and I wanted to say that we put an appointment (cita, in Spanish... and it is spelled with the same keys as agua) with Tino (the name of an investigator that we have been teaching but who is actually from the elders area and we wanted to pass him off to them but that was auto corrected to vino-- wine). My district leader was a little less stressed after we explained that they were all just auto correct errors. 

But the work is going great! We have some investigators that are progressing and I was so excited that some of them could go to General Conference! I think it helped them a ton. I can't wait to read and re-read all the talks! They were all SO good!!!! It was so sad to think that this is my last conference of the mission. As I listened, I was so happy to be a missionary, as they talked so much about the work!! It is an amazing experience. 

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

Hermana Wolferts

Zone Conference with Hermana Lambert and Hermana Jones

Getting our pushups in...

Who knew exercise could be this much fun in a skirt!

Living the gospel is like going up an escalator...

September 26, 2016

¡Hola!

It's been an eventful two weeks..... Here's a rundown of what's happened:

1. I got a new companion! Hna Navarro. She's from Tijuana and she's great. She's fresh from the CCM and I loveeee herrrrr (: I always say she's like a puppy... she's so sweet and comes with so much energy!) When we are in the house at night she always wants to play and I feel super lame because I just want to sleep! Haha but it's been super fun (:

2. My poor companion has really had the baptism by fire experience here in the mission. These past two weeks have been a bit challenging for her. She had a tooth break that she had to get pulled (the destist used my companion to teach me how to pull teeth and do a filling so I know know how to do it. There are actually dentists here who aren't certified... so I could probably open my own business if I wanted to... haha), a kid threw up on her in public transportation, the streets flooded the other day and the sewage overflowed and we had to wade in calf high water that was pretty much disgusting (not so new for me... but for her, it's a life-style change), our boiler broke so she hasn't had a hot shower since she got here... But she has the BEST attitude. Love her for that.

3. We went to the temple!!! Always an amazing experience and I felt so at peace and like I received so many answers. Also, we felt an earthquake while we were in the temple on Friday. It was small but I accomplished my goal of feeling an earthquake while being here! 

4. We had an investigator get baptized! I'll send a picture next week, but his story is amazing. He had been investigating the church for years but something always happened and he couldn't get baptized... until some other missionaries found him in the street and talked with him and sent us the referral. And he already got the Aaronic Priesthood and is so excited about the step he has taken! An investigator of the other sisters in my ward that I taught a couple times also got baptized. He found out about the church because his friend went on a mission and that made him curious about why he had made the decision to leave his family and everything behind for 2 years. So he got in contact with the missionaries and started learning about the church and got baptized this past week! Sooo cool. Remember that even if you aren't a missionary, you CAN do missionary work. Members really are the best missionaries. 

5. We hiked up to a waterfall..... This new part of our mission is sooo pretty. I seriously felt like I could have been in Utah in the mountains, or in Washington; it was CRAZY. And it is so clean and pure out there (unlike the city) that they use the water that falls from this waterfall for drinking water. AHHHH...

6. We had Zone Conference which, in our mission, is when President gives a really awesome, really crazy training that inspires everyone to be better. It's so fun to go to the conference and then just go back with a huge desire to work!! My comp and I got to see it all twice because I went to help translate for one of the senior missionaries in a zone where there aren't hermanas. We weren't complaining about having to see it all twice. Super awesome.

7. We watched the woman's session of General Conference!! Soooo goood I loved President

 Uchtdorf´s talk. And Sister Oscarson just made me think that we just all need to step up our game and get serious about this. These are the last days and this is the true and restored gospel and we just can't afford to not live and teach it 100%. 

These past couple weeks have been really eventful but also really good. I love this work. I love being a missionary. I love my Savior and I love this gospel. And I know it's true. Remember to do the little things every day like pray and read the scriptures. One of the assistants shared in his training that living the gospel is like going up an escalator... that is moving in the downward dirrection. If we aren't progressing and running upward, we are going to fall down. If we aren't searching to improve our testimony, we are going to lose it. Remember to strengthen your testimony every day!!!

Love you all!!

Hermana Wolferts

They Went to Church... :-)

September 12, 2016

Hey!

This week was good (: 

The highlight was church yesterday! Almost all of our most promising investigators came to church! And the missionaries (there are 6 of us in the ward) did a special musical number that turned out (I thought) pretty well. The talks were good, and the classes were good, and our investigators were happy... After the services my companion started to say goodbye to everyone because she is going to have changes. And when she was saying goodbye to some of our investigators, who have plans to get baptized, she told them she would come back to be at their baptisms. Then, their super Catholic family member told her that she wanted to get baptized too!! We set a date right then and there. Super cool! It was like the cherry on top of an already really great day. 

I'm sad that my comp is going to have changes - she's awesome. But I am super excited that I am going to train a new sister missionary again! 

I love you all so much! Thanks for all of your love and support. You're the best. (:

Love,

Hermana Wolferts

Pictures from the Wax Museum

August 29, 2016

We went to the wax museum!!! Soooo coool!!! But I remembered how nerdy I am because my favorites were all of the famous rich people like, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and poloticians like Obama... And also the Beatles.

Fotos from Ixtapaluca!

We ride in moto taxis a lot now that our area is so much bigger... and my comp is all about the mototaxi selfie (:

Fotos featuring the new dress code changes... rocking the sunglasses and sombrero. I seriously love that they let us wear them now.

The missionaries of our ward and sisters from Ixcalli.

A family in our ward that is going to the temple to be sealed soon! They are actually related to one of my favorite families in my last ward! 

Finding the Elect...

August 22, 2016

This week was cool (:

We saw a lot of really awesome miracles this past week.

On Friday we ate lunch in an little restaurant called an "economic kitchen". There are a ton of these here that sell SUPER cheap food that is actually pretty good. Normally, it's kinda lame to eat in one of these, and not be with members instead, because we feel like we just lose time eating and we don't get to share something and strengthen a family while we eat. But this past Friday as we were eating out and we saw a guy, 30 or so years old, eating and reading the bible. My companion and I looked at each other and thought, "interesting." And, as we waited, we found an opportunity to talk to him. As we talked, he expressed his frustration with religion... That things have changed; that people have started to think that what we do doesn't matter; that all we need to do is have faith... when actually, the bible teaches us that we need to act and make covenants with God... He expressed frustration that people have forgotten all of this. My comp and I were just sitting there with our mouths open, ha ha... Saying things like "uh huh, asi es." We taught him a bit of the restoration and we invited him to church... And he came!!! In a spiffy suit jacket and everything. The only bummer is that I don't think that he actually lives in our area, but he has definitely been prepared to hear the gospel!

Also, we had a really cool experience with some investigators. A couple weeks ago we were looking for a particular investigator, but couldn't find her, so we knocked the neighbor's door asking around for her (missionary strategy... We see if the neighbors know the person that we are looking for. This way, we find out if the address we have for the person we are looking for is a good address...AND we also get to contact the person's neighbors in the process. (: Kind of a two for one thing!) So, while we were doing this process, we contacted a 20 something year old girl that lived there. She told us we could share part of our message with her, so we started asking her questions and talking about the restoration. But while we were talking with her, it started to rain. And then it started to rain a little harder... And then, hallelujah, she invited us into her house! I love the rain for that reason! Only rude people or people who legitimately can't receive us, reject us when it is raining. So they let us in and we got to teach her whole family! While we were teaching them, we invited them to baptism and everything... Super cool lesson. And then we went back this past week and they told us that right after we talked to them, they went to find a movie to watch. She said that one caught her attention, and that as they were watching, they realized that it was exactly what we had explained to them about the Book of Mormon...that a boy had an angel appear to him and tell him where plates of gold were and that after he found them, people tried to take them away from him... and just a bunch of stuff that happened with the Book of Mormon - things that we hadn't even explained to them... and they were telling us all of this! I don't know if they found some church movie hanging out in the pirated movie stand or what... but they were talking to us like "I don't know if it's a sign or what... but it kinda freaked us out..." So that was pretty cool. God really does help us in this work.

Things are going so well here! We have a lot of investigators - people who have goals for baptism. We are happy and super excited!

Love you all!

Hermana Wolferts

Us in the rain. We were walking to an appointment in the rain and saw a family running and getting soaked, so we lent them our umbrellas. We got super wet...but on the bright side, we are teaching the family now (:

I want to bear my testimony, I know the church is true... (imagine voice of primary-aged child...)

August 8, 2016

HOLA!!! Cómo están?? 

This week was fun and crazy and all of the above! 

There were days when we found tons of people...

and there were days where NO ONE accepted us. On Friday my companion almost died of exhaustion because we walked and walked and contacted and tried to find less actives or get members to introduce us to someone or just ANYTHING, but nothing was working out. And we found a couple people in the street to teach, but all they wanted to do was fight or try to convert us to their religion. We got home and my companion went straight to her bed and fell asleep. The poor thing was super tired. 

But in general, we love our new area (:

My companion is adorable and so sweet and tender... and she has a huge HUGE fear of bodily injuries. Like to the point where she can't even hear about them. And in fast and testimony meeting a very sweet sister spent about 5 solid minutes describing in intense detail her accident that she had had that week. She brought it around at the end and talked about the gospel but I seriously was worried my companion was going to pass out....

Also I cleaned the toilet with a rock today. We went to buy cleaning supplies and the lady who owned the cleaning supplies store gave us a free special cleaning rock! And it actually worked really well.... really gets the stains out. (: Not sure if this is a Mexican thing or if anyone else has done this before?? 

We have had a ton of success in this area with finding less actives and teaching their non member family members. I think all but 2 of our investigators were found through the less active members. It's been really cool! And we have hope for a lot of them! But with a lot of less actives, the reason that they aren't active anymore is because they never really had a testimony to start and were baptized for some other reason. This past week we met a less active who was baptized because his wife was a member. After they separated, he went inactive. He is now with someone else and we found them and got to teach them. And he started to tell us that the church is like a business with the goal to take advantage of the people, and that we worship the prophet and that the Book of Mormon isn't true... and just a bunch of stuff and my comp and I were just like, "Woah." But then the Spirit took over. Scriptures that I had read that morning came to my mind and I was able to respond (very respectfully) to everything he said. Something that I've learned as a missionary is how to be strong but not rude or over the top. We KNOW this is true and we testify of the truth. But we don't need to offend people or contend with them. If we have the Spirit with us and we open our mouths, they will feel the power of the truth. He actually ended up apologizing and saying that he didn't understand very well what we believed and they invited us back to teach them again. (: Yay!

I love you all so much! I hope that you have a fabulous week. I want you to know that I know that this is the true church. We always testify of this to the people, but this week I felt like a lot of people attacked us and we had to really TESTIFY. And I know it's true. I feel it. Remember to say your prayers and read your scriptures. It's the little things that keep us strong (: 

Love,

Hermana Aubriana Wolferts