December 14, 2015

Hello Everyone! Well this week has flown by and we continue to get closer and closer to Christmas day. It is still really hard for me to believe that it is the Christmas season. Juchitan is having more parties than ever in the streets. Actually it has lead to our hardest days yet so far in the mission. On Friday and Saturday it was a huge celebration for the Catholic Church. In each street there was a big tent set up with food and drinks and everything for the people. At 11 Friday night there was a massive parade in front of our house with fireworks and singing and everything, it was a struggle because I would rather sleep than have a parade. Saturday we woke up having had very little sleep, my companion got sick and could hardly talk. Saturday we had 10 people planned to talk to as well as 10 others that we could visit if the others couldnt talk. All but 3 were there to talk to us. So we were left to knocking on doors for the rest of the day. We knocked on doors for 2 whole streets and nobody was there in their houses because they were all out partying. We returned home humbled by the experience but it was awesome to see the faith of my companion Sunday as we got to watch the dedication of the Tijuana Temple. We heard President Uchtdorf speak as well as Elder Oaks, and it was a really spiritual experience. After that the Lord blessed us through our afflictions, as we went out with humility and all of our confidence in him. We found 3 people that we hadnt been able to talk to previously because they were always gone. We talked to them and had some of the most spiritual lessons yet. The first lesson we had we taught with a lady named Diane. In this lesson she had a huge desire to learn and find for herself. We talked with her and I felt prompted to tell her "Diane, I know that if you continue with this same desire you will have an answer that all of this is true in 1 month, I know it and I know you will find it for yourself" She accepted baptism and everything! The second was with another lady named Teresa. By the end of this lesson she was in tears saying that she had never felt anything like this before with any religion. She too accepted baptizm. It goes to show that the Lord will always bless you more abundantly through your afflicitions if you can confront them with faith in him rather than faith in the things of the world. I know that this is possible because Christ conquered all for us, he never took the easy way out, he conquered it all with faith in his father, our perfect example. I hope that in this season you all can remember every aspect of the life of Jesus Christ, without him we are nothing. Everyone have an amazing holiday season!