Patita de Pollo

Greetings folks! Hope all is well and just peachy over there. This past week was lots of fun as always. I had the pleasure of trying yet another exquisite dish from here in Mexico: chicken foot! Thankfully it did not have large talons :) We went home for the afternoon to stay the night holed up in the apartment due to the Dia de Independencia festivities and the Familia R invited us to join with them and their relatives for dinner (this was after one of our investigators had bagged up 8 slices of pizza, two members had brought us pambazos, and H gave us a container of Oaxaca style beef with salsa -- there is no escape from food but I am so thankful for the generosity and kindness shown to us here). We enjoyed eating pozole with tostadas de tinga con crema and, at my request, una patita de pollo. I had not yet tried chicken foot and figured that this was as good a time as any to go for't! It was actually not to bad. Tasted like chicken. It is basically skin and tendons with a teeny little bit of meat. I was instructed to just put the toes in my mouth and then spit the bones out afterwards. Anywho, we enjoyed hearing people do fireworks and sing karaoke from our little apartment and just enjoyed a day and a half of rest. During that time I was able to read back through all of the letters and cards that you wonderful people have sent to me throughout my time here and I just want to say thank you for that. I am surrounded by incredible people and I appreciate the time that many of you have taken to write to me.

This last week we enjoyed a special lesson with one of our investigators who has been through a lot of tough stuff. When we arrived we ditched the original lesson plan and instead read 1 Nefi 7 with her. In this chapter Nefi is tied up by his brothers and left for dead in the desert. He prays for strength from the Lord to loosen the bands, works to get them off, is set free and tries to talk with his brothers only to have them get even more angry with him. They are finally humbled by other family members and ask Nefi for forgiveness and then Nefi does something incredible. He writes, "And I did frankly forgive them" or en español "Y yo les perdoné sinceramente" and then invites them to pray to God for forgiveness. This was not the first or last time that this would happen to Nefi -- his brothers tried to kill him on a number of occasions but he forgave them every time and always relied on the Lord and exercised faith in Him. After reading this story, this woman shared with us that this story relates to her life perfectly due to things that have happened in her past in relation with her family. We shared with her that although we cannot change other people, we can always change our attitude or ourselves and not let the negative choices of others create anger or hatred inside of us. Nefi is an example of faith and forgiveness and Christlike love. My companion and I had the opportunity to teach the Principios del Evangelio class yesterday about el servicio, or service. As we were discussing, I realized that one act of service that we can perform, while maybe not the most traditional, is to forgive others. Any time we give service we grow to love those that we serve as well as our Savior. Any time that we forgive someone we allow the love of the Savior to work in our lives. I am grateful for Him and His perfect example and atoning sacrifice for us. I am grateful for all of you and I wish you a happy week :)

Love Hermana Jones

My mission family tree! From left to right: Hermana Llaguarima from Ecuador who trained me (mi mamá) and just finished her mission last week, your favorite guerrita Hermana Jones, my second "hija" Hermana Torres from Mexico, my first "hija" Hermana Carrasco from Ecuador, and the missionary who Hermana Carrasco just finished training, Hermana Becerra, from Mexico (that would make her my "nieta" or granddaughter").

Chicken foot! My companion and Hermana R laughing at me in the background, how kind. It almost looked like it was making a "peace out" sign.

Homemade gelatina with three different flavors -- strawberry (fresa), coconut (coco), and green grape (uva). ¡Feliz Día de Independencia!

Everybody enjoyed dolling me up a little bit. I really do love these people.

It was so much fun to spend time with Familia R laughing and eating and talking. Thank you!

With Hermana R, one of my most absolute favorite people in the whole world, and her little nephew.

Children of people we are teaching.

Hermana R and her daughter R. They are the ones who gave us the shirts we are wearing.

I enjoyed doing some interior decorating during our time in the house. 

My companion and I started a new family home evening lesson that we use with families who have kids. It is the armor of God and we read from Doctrina y Convenios 27 while explaining the different pieces. It has been fun to give him different names every time we teach. Adventure Time or "Hora de Aventura" is a popular show here so one time one of the little boys we taught called him Finn el Humano. I made it in about 20 minutes so the first time I attempted to make the "helmet of salvation" it didn't quite fit :)

Our last district/zone meeting before changes. Love these crazy kids :)

I said goodbye to Hermana Llaguarima and Hermana Martinez last week before flying home. It was fun seeing ward members from Fovissste who came to see Hermana Llaguarima as well as other old pals from other areas.

Elder Alverio and Elder Miller. Here we are 15 months later after leaving the CCM together!

Hermana Llaguarima and Hermana Martinez.

Hermana Nebeker and Elder Orchard.

Patita de Pollo

Greetings folks! Hope all is well and just peachy over there. This past week was lots of fun as always. I had the pleasure of trying yet another exquisite dish from here in Mexico: chicken foot! Thankfully it did not have large talons :) We went home for the afternoon to stay the night holed up in the apartment due to the Dia de Independencia festivities and the Familia R invited us to join with them and their relatives for dinner (this was after one of our investigators had bagged up 8 slices of pizza, two members had brought us pambazos, and H gave us a container of Oaxaca style beef with salsa -- there is no escape from food but I am so thankful for the generosity and kindness shown to us here). We enjoyed eating pozole with tostadas de tinga con crema and, at my request, una patita de pollo. I had not yet tried chicken foot and figured that this was as good a time as any to go for't! It was actually not to bad. Tasted like chicken. It is basically skin and tendons with a teeny little bit of meat. I was instructed to just put the toes in my mouth and then spit the bones out afterwards. Anywho, we enjoyed hearing people do fireworks and sing karaoke from our little apartment and just enjoyed a day and a half of rest. During that time I was able to read back through all of the letters and cards that you wonderful people have sent to me throughout my time here and I just want to say thank you for that. I am surrounded by incredible people and I appreciate the time that many of you have taken to write to me.

This last week we enjoyed a special lesson with one of our investigators who has been through a lot of tough stuff. When we arrived we ditched the original lesson plan and instead read 1 Nefi 7 with her. In this chapter Nefi is tied up by his brothers and left for dead in the desert. He prays for strength from the Lord to loosen the bands, works to get them off, is set free and tries to talk with his brothers only to have them get even more angry with him. They are finally humbled by other family members and ask Nefi for forgiveness and then Nefi does something incredible. He writes, "And I did frankly forgive them" or en español "Y yo les perdoné sinceramente" and then invites them to pray to God for forgiveness. This was not the first or last time that this would happen to Nefi -- his brothers tried to kill him on a number of occasions but he forgave them every time and always relied on the Lord and exercised faith in Him. After reading this story, this woman shared with us that this story relates to her life perfectly due to things that have happened in her past in relation with her family. We shared with her that although we cannot change other people, we can always change our attitude or ourselves and not let the negative choices of others create anger or hatred inside of us. Nefi is an example of faith and forgiveness and Christlike love. My companion and I had the opportunity to teach the Principios del Evangelio class yesterday about el servicio, or service. As we were discussing, I realized that one act of service that we can perform, while maybe not the most traditional, is to forgive others. Any time we give service we grow to love those that we serve as well as our Savior. Any time that we forgive someone we allow the love of the Savior to work in our lives. I am grateful for Him and His perfect example and atoning sacrifice for us. I am grateful for all of you and I wish you a happy week :)

Love Hermana Jones

My mission family tree! From left to right: Hermana Llaguarima from Ecuador who trained me (mi mamá) and just finished her mission last week, your favorite guerrita Hermana Jones, my second "hija" Hermana Torres from Mexico, my first "hija" Hermana Carrasco from Ecuador, and the missionary who Hermana Carrasco just finished training, Hermana Becerra, from Mexico (that would make her my "nieta" or granddaughter").

Chicken foot! My companion and Hermana R laughing at me in the background, how kind. It almost looked like it was making a "peace out" sign.

Homemade gelatina with three different flavors -- strawberry (fresa), coconut (coco), and green grape (uva). ¡Feliz Día de Independencia!

Everybody enjoyed dolling me up a little bit. I really do love these people.

It was so much fun to spend time with Familia R laughing and eating and talking. Thank you!

With Hermana R, one of my most absolute favorite people in the whole world, and her little nephew.

Children of people we are teaching.

Hermana R and her daughter R. They are the ones who gave us the shirts we are wearing.

I enjoyed doing some interior decorating during our time in the house. 

My companion and I started a new family home evening lesson that we use with families who have kids. It is the armor of God and we read from Doctrina y Convenios 27 while explaining the different pieces. It has been fun to give him different names every time we teach. Adventure Time or "Hora de Aventura" is a popular show here so one time one of the little boys we taught called him Finn el Humano. I made it in about 20 minutes so the first time I attempted to make the "helmet of salvation" it didn't quite fit :)

Our last district/zone meeting before changes. Love these crazy kids :)

I said goodbye to Hermana Llaguarima and Hermana Martinez last week before flying home. It was fun seeing ward members from Fovissste who came to see Hermana Llaguarima as well as other old pals from other areas.

Elder Alverio and Elder Miller. Here we are 15 months later after leaving the CCM together!

Hermana Llaguarima and Hermana Martinez.

Hermana Nebeker and Elder Orchard.

¡Feliz Dìa de Independencia de Mèxico!

Hello everybody and ¡Feliz Dìa de Independencia de Mèxico! This coming Thursday afternoon, and all Friday, we will be holed up in the house once again after hopefully eating lots of pozole and chiles enogadas. I remember last year when Hermana Llaguarima and I ran up to the rooftop of our apartment building to see the fireworks. Hope to do the same again this year :) We had another fast and busy week. We are enjoying working in the two areas and finding more people to teach little by little. There is a tire mechanic place where we teach H, a man with nine kids. He took us and a few others to Church Sunday in one of his beat up taxis :) So just picture me sitting on an old gasoline stained sofa teaching H as he sits on an overturned bucket with El Libro de Mormòn is his hands :) I love it. On Friday we were running from one place to another, late to everything, and it was a little stressful but when we went to eat at a Church members' house I had the opportunity to share Mosìah 8:18 with them -- I remember when you shared that verse in an email with me Dad and it is one that I have enjoyed sharing with many throughout the mission -- and I shared a few tears as I told them how genuinely grateful we are for their service and feeding us in their home. This has been one of my favorite parts of the mission -- learning to truly love people and feel the impact that their service and faith has in my life. We truly are capable of doing miracles in the lives of others.

Something weird happened last night. We went over to a home of some Church members to help one of the family practice speaking in English and honestly...it was a bit difficult for me. Writing in English is fine because I have been doing that every Monday. However, trying to have a normal small-talk conversation, or report, or do interviews, or Church related things in English is hard! Early on I never thought that would happen. I am seeing the fulfillment of part of the blessing I received when I was set apart. I also dream mostly in Spanish now. Last night I woke myself up because I was teaching a lesson in Spanish in my dream. It is really weird because now I neither speak Spanish nor English perfectly haha I am a mess. We did a lot of teaching lessons in the streets and peoples' doorways and store windows this last week. We helped one of our investigators in her work disassembling old jerseys and sorting the pieces of fabric into different bags. The other night we shared with the wife of one of our investigators a list of scriptures that teach the need of a restoration of all things after a great apostasy, as prophesied in the Bible, and how the Bible also prophecies of the Book of Mormon. It is so cool to find and teach and understand these doctrines better and better.

I must say that lately I have started to feel sad about ending the mission and coming to grips with the fact that I will never have the same calling again and all that comes with it. I know it is going to be a hard adjustment. When the time comes a little wise counsel on how to handle that will be appreciated. For now I still have 3 months! :) Well take care this week. That is all I have for now. Please keep Hermana Stutznegger in your prayers! Les quiero!

Hermana Jones

I don't have any pics from events of this last week so here are some long awaited pictures of the inside of my apartment in Izcalli (previous area) in the street Circuito Citlali.

It was just another enjoyable busy week and I couldn't ask for more.

Hey everybody! We went to Chapultepec Park today (Tuesday, September 6) with Hermana Martinez before she finishes her mission and it was so much fun! It was also fun to take the Metro into the city – sure do love that thing :) People give me weird looks every time I say that. (Chapultepec is the largest city park in the Western Hemisphere. It was originally a retreat for Aztec rulers and later, during Spanish rule, Chapultepec Castle was built there. For a time, Mexican heads of state also lived there. It also has a zoo and two museums.)

It´s good to be back after another crazy week. I honestly don't remember much of what happened but it was all good things. Last Thursday and Friday I went on divisions with Hermana Pinto from Peru and worked in her area -- my old stomping grounds, Fovissste! It was good but also weird to be back. We visited R, the first person I was able to work with and see baptized. We had a very meaningful talk. She has been through a lot this last year but I was able to remind her of the things she needs to be doing and the worth she has as a daughter of God. The look on her face when she opened the door and saw me made my whole day. I was also able to see a few other people I had visited which was nice. My companion and I also enjoyed getting to know the rest of our area a little bit more. There are so many wonderful people we are teaching who are going through tough times and really trying their best. We are teaching a man named J who is so cool. We met him and his brother in the street outside their house. He came to Church this week and was planning on leaving early to go to his soccer game but after watching the John Rowe Moyle video, in the Principios del Evangelio class, he decided to stay. We learned about the principle of effort and sacrifice during that class and it really impacted him. We went to visit him and his mom later that afternoon and he told us that being in Church that morning was a very peaceful experience and that he knows that this is all true. He accepted a baptismal date for October 8th and really wants to keep learning. His mom also accepted baptism (all of the Church members who live on her street are in shock that she even opened the door to us). We have found a few other people who are interested in learning and are making headway with a few Church members who are currently less actives. We also taught a woman that the Elders were teaching who has been listening for awhile. Our zone leaders came with us and we had a great lesson. She is so prepared. When I invited her to be baptized she made one of those bon apetite kisses with her hand in the air and, with tears in her eyes, said yes. It was so sweet :) It was just another enjoyable busy week and I couldn't ask for more. I hope that everyone enjoyed their first week of school!

Love Hermana Jones

The pics above are all from Chapultepec.

Celebrating Hermana Carrasco´s 20th birthday during our zone/district meeting yesterday.

With V and her abuelita.

Hanging up laundry in the house after it got rained on up on the roof haha our clothes did not smell like clean laundry any more.

A view from our rooftop. I love it here!