I have seen people change and come unto Christ, which has helped me change and come unto Him as well.

Happy Monday everybody! It's good to be back once again before starting another week. I must inform you that you all at home are not the only ones celebrating the victory of the dear Chicago Cubs. Here in my ward there is a wonderful family -- La Familia M -- who loves baseball and was rooting for the Cubs right along with me. They kept me informed throughout the week and on Sunday all gave me huge hugs and high fives when they shared the news with me :) hahaha very sweet people and I am happy to have shared that with them down here in Neza.

This week was fun and a little bit difficult as always, but that is just the way we like it! Hermana Torres has now received her visa and begun the process of interviews and final touches. I think she will be going at the same time with me! We will see what happens. On Saturday we were running around like crazy trying to make sure people could go to the Ward Family Home Evening in the Visitor's Center. After spending the whole day doing that we arrived with a little micro full of people and spent the evening with just 23 members and 1 investigator. I'll admit, I was pretty frustrated but we pressed forward and did the best we could. The evening was centered on Jesus Christ and the Atonement. The Elders and my companion and I took a little bit of time to share messages, and the majority of it was taken by an hermano from the Ward who is a doctor and talked about a recent medical study about the physical trials the Savior went through in Gethsemane and on Calvary. Although the projector didn't work and we just listened instead, it was very impactful and very special for the 24 people who went. The following Sunday many of those who went shared their testimony, including our 14 year old investigator who is the son of H, and he said in front of the whole congregation that he knows that the Church is true and hopes that the hermanas (us) can teach him more about Christ. His dad H also got up and expressed how much he loves us which really means a lot. We were able to do a fast with him to help him stop drinking completely, and he loved the whole experience.

The mission is by far the hardest thing I have ever done but definitely the most rewarding experience I have ever had because I have seen people change and come unto Christ, which has helped me change and come unto Him as well. Our efforts may appear to be in vain or futile but I promise all of you that every time we do our best to help another person, how every big or small the act my be, it means something and measures up. Love you all :)

Hermana Jones

PS I’m still having issues with my camera :(

Parent Note:

The following pictures were taken by Sister Stutznegger of children celebrating Day of the Dead.

Acts of kindness by ordinary people who made a huge difference in our lives.

Happy Halloween and Feliz Dia de Muertos (for the kids tomorrow on the 1st and the adults on the 2nd of Noviembre)! Here in my area one of the main streets that we walk on is jam packed with people buying food, trick-or-treating with the little kids dressed up in costumes, and viewing the ofrendas or "offerings" for the “day of the dead” put on by a few of the regional high schools. I will try to send some pictures. It is a really neat tradition here. They make altars with flowers, candles, fotos, favorite foods of the person who died, and other things to honor the dead. All of the high schools did this for a group project grade in their schools but it is to preserve the traditions here in Mexico. After I finish writing we will head in for the night. Tomorrow should be interesting because they will still be celebrating and it may be hard to get from place to place for our appointments.

This last week was a little tough but had some real gems. Although we struggled with helping the people we are teaching to progress, we had some neat experiences from following the guidance of the Spirit. One of which was we passed by a woman sitting on a moto-taxi on the side of the road and I felt the need to talk to her. They had some sketchy (I don't know how else to describe it haha) music playing and it just looked kind of uncomfortable to talk to her so I didn't say anything and we kept walking. I felt it again but stronger this time so we went back to talk to the woman. She definitely looked a little surprised to see us but as we started talking and asking how she was doing she told us she was not too well because her mother in law had just passed away days before. We gave her a pamphlet of the Plan of Salvation and shared more of that with her. She does not live nearby but I hope that she can get in contact with other missionaries. Another neat experience we had was during a Zone activity in another area doing a similar thing we did in mine -- looking for people who are less active in the Gospel. We went to a certain house and out came a less active woman who has been unable to attend Church for awhile due to declining health. She was so happy to see us and told us that about two weeks ago she had a dream of missionaries coming to her door and visiting her. It was a special experience to be able to really help someone out who had been waiting for a visit. Another neat experience was when we went to the home of a contact we made in the street. An older woman answered the door and after we told her that we are missionaries and representatives of Christ, she asked us if we would like to come in and drink some water. She was so kind to us. We were able to visit with her and her husband who is really ill and declining fast. I asked them why she had decided to let us in and she said that it was because of what she felt when she was with us. She sensed that we brought goodness with us. They accepted an invitation to learn more. It will be really hard for them to make it to Church due to her husband's health but we are excited to teach them more. Our wonderful investigator Berenice in the wheelchair is so incredibly powerful. She loved Church last Sunday and is praying to know if the gospel is true. This last week during one of our visits when introducing the Book of Mormon to her, her eyes lit up as we talked more about it. We assigned the introduction to her as homework for the next time. She cannot read while lying down so she asked us right there in that moment to help her sit up. We got her situated and, after asking for the book, began to read the introduction right then and there. I love her! We invited her to be baptized and, after she said yes, we began to talk to her about a specific date and that through her faith and our's she would be at a point physically when she could be baptized. We extended December 3rd (my last weekend here in the mission) and she said, "Oh yes, that will totally be fine!" and was very happy because that is her dad's birthday. She wants him to baptize her. It is going to be so beautiful and we are so happy for her :) Well, we have two awesome Elders here in the Ward with us now. We spent a bit of time showing them around and presenting them to people. One of them got sick during the week and, being new in the area, had nothing to eat in their house so we went to buy them some food. We stopped at the tienda of a man we had contacted before who did not have interest in learning more but recognized who we are. After trying to figure out what we could feed two Elders, without a whole lot of money to feed them, and asking this man for the price of every single thing in the store, I handed him the money that I had which would exactly cover what we needed to buy. He accepted one bill but the other he handed back to me and asked me to please take it. He said that he sees us walking all over, back and forth-back and forth, in front of his store every day and knows that we are here doing something good. He insisted that we take the rest of the money and said that whenever we need anything, ANYTHING, we can come to him. I teared up a little as I thanked him. After that, we crossed a super busy street in which a man stopped to let us cross first even though there were a lot of people behind him. We stopped by the Elders' house and learned that they did not have any drinking water, so we went to another tienda and had just enough money to buy water for them thanks to the man in the other tienda. It was a series of very incredible miracles and acts of kindness by ordinary people who made a huge difference in our lives. I went home very grateful that night for Heavenly Father's love and awareness of us in our little spot of the world. I am sure that there are more incredible things to tell you all but I honestly cannot remember them but I have them written in my journal so don't worry. I love you all and wish you a wonderful first week of November!

Love Hermana Jones

PS I am so sorry but my camera has a virus so it is really hard for me to send pictures and I need to get home now. Next week when I have more time I will dedicate a good half hour to do it, I promise.

We had a great day. President and Sister Stutznegger were kind enough to take us to Plaza de la Ciudadela...it has a bunch of Mexican handcrafts and is a little overwhelming haha. I was able to buy some fun things.

President and Sister Stutznegger are the best! They found out that I wanted a pumpkin to carve for Halloween and they found one for me :)

We also had a surprise birthday party this morning for one of our zone leaders, Elder V in the blue and white soccer jersey just above me. It turned out really well and was a lot of fun :)

Someone who I needed to find during my mission.

Hello everybody! Only one week til Halloween. I have looked high and low for a pumpkin to carve but have searched in vain... I guess my companion and I will just celebrate by buying and eating our own candy and pan de muerto in the house. Today begins my last cycle/transfer of the mission ): That is all I will say about that. A few neat experiences this past week. First of all, my comp and I waged WWIII in the apartment today, her in the kitchen and me in the bathroom. We basically live in the Titanic due to old pipes and the leaky shower which means water and mold EVERYWHERE! Yuuuusssss. When we pulled a table away from the wall we found little uncooked frijoles all in a row stuck to the wall. I whipped out the good old broom and a fancy new anti-hongo (anti-fungus) spray I bought today and went ham wild in the baño, spraying and scrubbing and screaming in frustration at times, so much so that pretty soon I had a hard time breathing and had to run out for fresh air. Maybe opening the little window before fumigating the place may have been a wise decision. In any event, it is a little bit cleaner now. The water still leaks out of the bathroom and makes a nice puddle outside the door, but we will take what we can get. Also, we made brownies :)

Now to teaching. The week before last we met a sweet old lady named M outside of her business/house (the majority of people here have the two connected in the same building and multiple families live in the same house) while she was weeding. We finished the weeding for her and then began talking with her. When she mentioned that her husband passed away a year ago from cancer, we gave her a folleto (pamphlet) of El Plan de Salvación and sacamos una cita (made an appointment) for a few days later. When we went back, she first started out by saying that she didn't want to waste our time because she cannot change her religion. She said she cannot always come to Church and she is still learning to read and feels that she cannot read and speak as eloquently as other people; but she invited us to come in anyway. As we began talking more she told us of how much she loved the pamphlet we had given her. Although she is still learning to read and write and has partial facial paralysis which makes seeing out of her right eye even more difficult, she had read it little by little until she had finished the whole thing. She told us of how a day after we had given her the folleto, she received news that a dear friend had passed away, which was devastating in and of itself. It also brought back emotions to the surface related to her husband's death. She was going through papers on the table, found the pamphlet, and began reading. She was overwhelmed with peace and comfort reading about the Plan that God has for us and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She prayed and felt that it was true. As I listened to all of this, I was filled with so much love for this sweet woman. I felt what I am sure is only a little tiny bit of the love that our Heavenly Father and the Savior feel for us, but it was enough to bring tears to my eyes and want her more than anything to be happy. As I offered the opening prayer, I had tears streaming down my face as I pleaded that she could be healthy and strong and know that what we teach is true. After that I couldn't talk much and my companion took over for awhile. Maria continued to ask amazing, sincere questions and by the time we had finished she was wanting to go to Church. I said a prayer in my heart that she would accept baptism, and when Hermana Torres invited her to be baptized on the 26th of November she said yes because she wants to do what God commands us to do. It was so incredible. She is so powerful. I really felt that she is someone who I needed to find during my mission. Two elders will be coming back tomorrow and taking over the other half of the area where she lives but I am grateful for the time we spent with her. We have another new investigator named B who is also amazing. She is 34. Several of her family members are members of the Church but she and her 10 year old son are not. A little over a month ago she was on a motorcycle when she crashed and flew I don't know how far into the street and completely split her head open. She has been left with the left side of her body paralyzed, a severely fractured hand, and other injuries. She is looking for God in her life. From what the doctors had said, it is a miracle that she is alive. She has so much desire to do all that she can to come to know Him better. A Ward member is helping us take her to Church on Sundays which is wonderful. We are grateful that we can teach her during these next several weeks. Hermana Torres and I are finishing things off together this next cycle which I am so thrilled about :) We are going to bust a move in our half of the area while we are here.

We were protected this week. Last night we went to the home of a less active family to have a Family Home Evening and we were planning on just teaching the grandparents of the family. We were unaware that their son-in-law, who is an old investigator of ours, was there. We were in one room talking to the hermana as we started to hear a heated discussion outside. All of the sudden, the old investigator stormed into the room and started shouting and swearing, saying that he doesn't want anything to do with us. Then he stormed out of the room and started fighting, and throwing mirrors and movie discs all over. Then he stormed out of the house with his wife chasing after him. It was really sad because their four year old daughter didn't understand what was going on and began crying. We felt a strong impression to get out of the house, which we did, and a minute after doing so we saw the man storming back to the house. It was a very good thing that we were not there. We felt pretty badly because we don't want anybody to get hurt, while at the same time feeling thankful that we were kept safe. We had another similar experience this week where thankfully we were not in a certain place at a certain time or else who knows what could have happened. The Lord watches over and protects us. Well I need to go but I hope you enjoy your week and I love you all! My camera is being stinky, again, so I apologize for no pictures :/

Love Hermana Jones

Lost sheep.

Hey everybody! I am still here and still preaching the good word. I am sorry that I did not write last week; we got to visit Teotihuacan and returned late. I don’t have much time today either and this may be the lamest letter of my mission. Just know that I am happy, well, and still working hard. Life has been very busy. We had an activity on Saturday in our area with missionaries in our zone, along with a few ward members who helped us out. What we did is my companion and I took a few hours to go through all of the baptism records in our area books, organize them by address, and divide them into groups of about 4 or 5 homes. We marked where to find them on maps and gave each companionship 2 lists, along with maps, and sent them on their way with a Ward member to look for these "lost sheep" -- people who have been baptized in the last 2-5 years and then fell off the face of the earth. There is a lot of retention to do here. My comp and I also had the chance a few weeks ago to do a training on contacting and finding which was fun. Last week Hermana Jonapá and I participated in a training for new district leaders and talked about leadership -- we used the example of Captain Moroni to illustrate the type of leader we should be. Not many of our investigators are progressing which is difficult but we are trying to involve more Ward members in our lessons. Yesterday the Primary in our Ward presented its annual program and it was absolutely incredible. Those little kids are darling. Lilian did very well playing "Soy un hijo de Dios" on the violin. I was able to help her get it tuned and warmed up before the meeting (by the way, I will send pics next week I promise). We had fun teaching families this last week and sharing teachings from the Bible. Man I love the Bible and am grateful for the time I have had on my mission to study it more and to learn it. Well, take care this week! Enjoy the Halloween festivities!

Love Hermana Jones

I don't want this time to end.

Hello everybody! Sorry for the delay. We went to the Temple today so our p-day was changed (and just a heads up for next week, all of us who go home in December are planning a trip to Teotihuacan next Monday so my writing time may be short but I will do my best). Anyhoooo, what a week. Lots of great stuff going on. I am trying to remember all that has happened but honestly the days just blend together. We are working on cleaning out our list of people we are teaching -- those who are progressing and those who are not. We have been able to find many new people to teach but it is a whole other story getting them on the path and keeping them going. We were able to bring the first counselor of the bishopric to an appointment we had with the Familia S. B. which was cool. They gave us agua azul, which is water with roots in it that dye the water a metallic blue and supposedly helps your kidneys. Some of them are less-active members and others are not Church members. 13 year old B is a champ. He really has a desire to learn. We taught them the Restoration and it was cool to see the countenance of the very closed off dad change throughout the lesson, especially when teaching the First Vision. That is such a powerful event to teach and testify of. I love telling people that los cielos ya no están cerrados, or that the heavens are not sealed/closed and that God reveals His will to a living prophet today.

We got soaked this last week in the rain, actually the last two to three weeks we have been getting poured on but it makes running between appointments a little more exciting. We have started to try and visit more of the active families, sharing basic Gospel principles with them, and get them motivated to share the Gospel with their friends. It was a lot of fun to get people revved up for General Conference which I absolutely loved. I watched it in Spanish in the Neza stake center. I look forward to reading the talks and being able to delve into what they are really saying. When I start to jot down little notes during the conference it is harder for me to listen to all that is being said, especially when the adorable little 3 year old next me starts handing me her my little pony toys or bouncing them around on my arm haha but it was a wonderful experience. I was shedding tears through the whole Saturday afternoon session which was mainly dedicated to missionary work. I also received distinct answers to prayers during that time. I loved listening to the MTC choir sing "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" -- it brought back many memories to my mind of all that has happened these past 16 months and all that awaits me in the time I have left. I just don't want to go. I don't want this time to end. I mean, I do but I don't. It is hard to explain, but there is just not anything else quite like the mission. It has been such a special experience for me.

In between the sessions on Saturday we went with the Familia J and taught them the Restoration. A, the dad, accepted a baptismal date for the 5th of November just like that. He is loving learning more and is very excited to continue on this path. Everything that the Spirit taught to him while we were teaching just made sense to him and he gets it. His daughter needs more time to think about it but we are happy for them :) I am enjoying practicing “Soy Un Hijo de Dios” on the violin with L, the bishop's daughter. Brings back good old memories of giving violin lessons to S. W. and Little Jimbo back home :) Yesterday we caught our little buddy who was baptized last year drinking and he began to cry because he feels bad and really does not want to do this any more. We had him take the remaining cans and dump them in the drain on the side of the street right then and there. It was actually a pretty powerful experience and he said that he felt much better afterwards. It is a process but I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that brings us hope and a way to be better people. Being in the Temple this morning was wonderful and I am looking forward to the rest of the week. On Monday my comp got her braces off and we were able to see Hermana Stutznegger again :) So good to see her! We have all missed her dearly. I love you guys and hope you have a nice couple days until I write again!

Hermana Jones

My zone/district at the temple today (October 5 :) These are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. We went to the 8 am session and then enjoyed eating in the Temple cafeteria afterwards and navigating our way through the hot, stuffy metro on the way home. Last night my comp and I spent the night with the Lucero hermanas because Hermana Jonapá and I did divisions with a few other hermanas in Oriental so our hijas worked together yesterday.

My little friend M on the 15 de Septiembre.

Hermana F who we found in the rain during our first week in the area and brought

back to Church with us. She gave us a nice dinner Saturday evening.

These pics are of our recent zone conference. The pushups I was doing (oh gosh I do not even want to see that picture haha) were part of "Chicken Fat" -- it is an exercise routine created for kids back in the 60s. We did that for about 15 minutes as a break during our zone conference.  Photo credit to Sister Stutznegger.

We love President :)

Faith includes understanding that God can do all things, and could do all things, but that it is necessary to have opposition in all things as well.

Happy Monday! Today President Stutznegger took us to the orthodontist so my companion could get her braces off but we will be going back again next week and I took advantage of getting my permanent retainer fixed. Some of the glue popped off one of the teeth several months ago. Sorry for not sending pics, the computer is being difficult but I will do so next week. We spoke in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and I was assigned to speak on an article from this month's Liahona by Elder Clarke about practicing Pure Religion. I started out by mentioning how I play violin and that the violin is an interesting instrument because if it is left in the case for a long time without being played, it loses its resonance and tone and beautiful sound. I related that to us being instruments in God's hands to practice pure religion, taking care of the widows, orphans, poor and needy, and "the sheep of the fold" as mentioned in James 1:27. If we do not serve, we lose our pure tone and resonance and cannot be useful instruments in the Lord's hands. When talking about taking care of orphans, I shared that Grandpa W and Aunt P were adopted and thanks to the examples and values and principles that Great Grandma and Grandpa W taught them, Grandpa was prepared to search for and accept the restored Gospel and how that has affected future generations, me included. I also invited the Church members to take care of the children and teens in the ward whose parents are less active in the Gospel because it affects future generations. It was fun to speak -- love doing it -- and later that day the bishop's wife and 10 year old daughter asked me to help her prepare to play a primary song on the violin in the primary program in October. That will be fun to help :) 

Now that we are here at the end of September, October begins my favorite time of the year with all the festivities and weather and such. It will be wonderful to start things off with General Conference this coming weekend! I have to admit that Saturday night my comp and I completely forgot about the Women's Session and did not end up seeing it :/ The good news is that during that time we found a new family of five to teach and they are AWESOME! So I guess it was worth it :) Thanks to my CCM teacher, Grandma W, and Mom for all telling me a little bit about President Uchtdorf's talk about faith. That is something I needed to hear this week (the baptism we were supposed to have on Saturday fell due to the woman's personal decision concerning a few things and it was quite frustrating). It is important to understand that faith includes understanding that God can do all things and could do all things but that it is necessary to have opposition in all things as well. Faith can move mountains if it is expedient in God's will to do so. In any case, I look forward to reading the talks from that session in the November Liahona. 

This last week was very exciting because we found FAMILIES! That does not happen for us very often -- as in a complete family of papà, mamà, and hijos who all want to listen. We are very excited to teach the B, T, R, and J families :) We found La Familia B through the registro of a convert of about 2 years ago who no longer attends Church. There are probably about 10 integrantes in this family and little B went to church with us yesterday so this will be a lot of fun. We found a member of La Familia T in the street. The three of us were waiting to cross the same street and I complimented her on her sweet little bicycle ("shocks, pegs....lucky!") and we began to talk with her. Turns out that the Elders in that area gave her and her husband a Libro de Mormòn about 4 months ago and have started reading. It is an older couple with kids all grown up, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They are very kind and genuinely interested. La Familia R is a reaffirming testimony to me of what Elder Holland has said before that we need to do all that is possible in our power as missionaries until the last minute of the work day. After a long day of contacting with little success, we were about five houses away from our house when we stopped to talk to a man and his two daughters who were just arriving home as well. He was super excited to talk to us and enthusiastically invited us to come back. We went to visit him, his wife, and three daughters on Saturday. Turns out that the mom, E, listened to two sister missionaries about 12 years ago as a jovencita and has read the whole Book of Mormon and everything. When the hermanas left, she lost contact and did not continue learning. We enjoyed a good visit getting to know them. La Familia J came from a member presenting us to a jovencita who has been to Church twice now with her step-sister and step-grandma who are members. They invited us over after Church yesterday and we showed up unexpectedly at their house, catching the parents off guard. Oooops. I saw the look on the dad's face (the dad of the jovencita) and could immediately tell that he was not pleased to see us there. We nervously and kind of uncomfortably sat down and began to try to get to know everyone. It consists of a family, some of which are Church members but less active presently. Two are deaf and mute, and the dad and daughter from eastern Mexicao and are not Church members. I offered a silent prayer in my heart to have the Spirit with us as we taught -- there seemed to be a lot of tension in the room -- and we began to navigate the situation. One of the daughters was signing in sign language to the mom who is deaf and mute throughout the whole visit. I was able to show them that I know the alphabet in sign language and that helped ease things a bit. Slowly but surely, as we began to talk about our purpose as missionaries and share our feelings about the Savior, I could feel the Spirit testify to them that what we were saying is true. By the end of the lesson, the dad asked us to do them the favor of not eating beforehand when we visit them on Saturday and come ready to eat with them :) It was a very neat experience.

I am loving being here. Every day is an opportunity to be better and work harder. I love each of you and wish you a wonderful week :)

Love Hermana Jones

We enjoyed some ice-cream with our wonderful President Stutznegger today while on our orthodontist outing. I cannot imagine a better mission president! (Photo credit to President Stutznegger)

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.