Hard But Good Week

This week was hard, but good. I know the first few months are going to be the hardest.

   I keep telling myself that when I want to give up that I can't because I am going to be somebody's Sister Rigby. Also I am going to be a better person, a better wife and a better mom for going on a mission.When I got my blessing last week I was told that people have been prepared just for me. It was like my Patriarchal blessing over again. It was really neat and I am sure Sister Rigby had hard times. If she would have gone home.. I don't know where I would be.. but I def don't think it would be here. I can do this, I can do hard things, and it is going to be a blessing for me to know Spanish when I get home.  

  We had three investigators come to church yesterday!! Yay for improvement!! Our investigators don't really understand why church and the sacrament is important. No matter how much we explain with scriptures. It is frustrating. It is hard because there are so many expectations here and we are trying but our investigators are not progressing.

   I had something neat happen yesterday. We were at  our lunch appointment and the family (the same one I skypéd you from) invited their non member friends. We started talking to them about the church. They are very, very Catholic and wanted nothing to do with it. At the end I just opened my mouth and words literally just came out. There was so much power in me. I have no idea what I was saying but my companion said the spirit was very strong, and Hermana Angles was crying and said it was very powerful.

   This week we did a lot of work with the members and MAs. It is an honor to be a mouth piece for the Lord. He def watches over us and protects us. He tests our faith and patience too. As a missionary you get to study a lot and you become very close to the spirit and our heavenly parents.This week I studied faith and the Atonement.. The more I study it the more I don't understand it and I am confused. This week I think I am going to study grace, and faith, and the Atonement more.

    We still have cold water. We need gas for the boiler and the people said they were going to come and they never did.

   I don't know what else to really tell you about. I played fútbol today. That was fun. I am sore now ha-ha. 

        I love you and hope all is well! 

Hardest Week Ever

  This week was freakin hard.. harder than my first week here to say the least. I hit rock bottom on Wednesday and just cried and cried. I asked myself why I was even here, 1500 miles away from home and everything I am comfortable with. It carried on into Thursday. We had district meeting on Thursday and I got a blessing. Things are still hard but they are getting better.

    I will get a list of all my investigators together this week and send names to you this next week. We have a lot.(We asked for a list of her investigators so we could pray for them by name.)

    Mexico is super hard to teach in because everybody and their dog is Catholic and there is a lot of Bible bashers here. I wouldn't go back in time if I could. I love the person I am becoming. I don't think I have ever had a testimony this strong or have been this close with my Heavenly Father in my life.

   The weather has been nice!! It rained on Saturday but it has been nice since. Transfers are this week. I am staying in Atitalaquia with Hna. Barraza.
  We had 11 Baptisms scheduled for this next week and the week(s) after. But 0 showed up to church so when we called in to report our indications we got a nice chewing out that left me and my companion crying. There are so many expectations for us here and it seems that no matter how hard we work we don't have any success.

   I love this Mormon message a lot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5FxdCgD-qI&list=PL4E784EC0770935C0 and this one too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr8xvw0cgw0&list=PL4E784EC0770935C0 I need to remember that the Gardner is going to trim me because he knows what I am supposed to be and what I can become.
   Here are a few more pictures.

 

   I know this week will be better. I love you.

Mexico City Temple Visit

  Ah!I have so much to say. I hope I can remember it all! Sorry about last week. We were running around with an investigator helping her out all day.. so I only had time to email the President. 

  The Mexico City Temple closed on Saturday for the whole time that I will be here. Luckily the Angeles family (The family who I skyped you from) invited us to go with them. I loved it!! It is such a beautiful temple. I didnt understand a whole lot but it was still a great experience.

  How was your New Years? We had to be in by 7 on New Years so I had a lot of time to reflect on 2013. What a year. I have loved it. I have struggled. and I have grown. In more ways than I ever thought I could. Its just funny to think about where I am now and where I was back in January. 

  It rains here all the time! Its funny how fast our bodies adapt to the climate.. I am freezing here now!! The houses dont have carpet or heaters so that doesnt help either. 

  I have a cute story. Last week we were working and it was raining and all of our investigators fell through with their appointments or they didnt have time so we started contacting and just talking with everyone and no body wanted to listen to us... we are now soaking wet, freezing, and no body wants to listen.. very frusterated we look at each other and both just start cracking up. We couldnt stop laughing. It was a memory I will always remember here.

  We couldnt make carmels.. here in Mexico they dont have any of the ingrediants that I needed.. 

  I need to write Grandma Johnson, Grandpa and Grandma Turek, Uncle Joes family, Misti, and aunt Marilynn but I havent had a chance to buy stamps yet. Im working on getting letters out though. 

  Today during personal study I read Alma 8. I loved it. It hit home to me because thats how I have felt here. But like Alma, I am not going to give up. Its a really good chapter. I invite you to read and study it. 

  Yesterday we taught the lesson in Relief Sociey. I used the talk You Never Walk Alone by President Monson. I love this talk and I hope you will take the time to read it. 

  I have a million pictures to send so be ready. I love you and hope you have a great week!

I Love Mexico

Time is very short today.. we have been running around like crazy! It was good to talk to you on Christmas!! I loved it!! I love Mexico!! Next week look forward to a grand email! Life is good. I love you! Sorry this is very short. I talked in church yesterday.. it was an adventure. A lot of the members told me the spirit was really strong and I did a great job. My favorite member (this cute little grandma that has the cutest broken English) said That I am such a beautiful missionary and my spirit glows. I had to copy this from my pres. email because I told you on christmas about how we have wires. English:  Do not go up on your rooftops for any reason.  Too many have live electric cables that are not properly secured.  Do not touch any wire or cable, even if it appears to be harmless.  Always be careful and observant.     

Each Day Gets Better

Each day gets a little better. Its still very hard, but I can do it. I have sure been humbled. My companion is great except she doesn't have patience with me and the language.. but other than that it's good. We haven't done language study once so I talked to her about it. I don't think she's very happy with me, but I have to learn this language somehow. I will be honest. This is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I am far from home and anything and everything that's familiar. My companion is great and I love her! but she has no patience with me and the language.

  The members here adore me. It's weird. I know it's because I'm American and they've never seen a sister here serving from America, but I find it weird. I'm not used to the whole greet you with a kiss thing. 

  We got hot water on Friday!! Yay!!! I will never take my hot water for granted again.The water works in the shower. It was just cold. So we would use this heating tool to heat a bucket of water. 

  Hermana Barraza is from Veracruz. Her family is all members, but not her extended family. 

  The church is weird. The floor is all tile and no pews, just chairs. They just call you up to talk too. Our area is huge, but our ward isn't. 

 

  We are all alone here. The next closest missionaries are Elder Calle and Elder Caro in Progreso. They are from Peru and Chile. I'm the lone American. We had a mission Christmas party on Friday and I got to see Hermana Slaughter. So that was good. We are both feeling the same way. My Spanish still sucks but Its getting better. 

 

  Oh do I have a story for you! So I clearly stand out here.. Like I said, I get honked at, starred at, cat called at.. but I have quite the story from Wednesday. So we live right by the Farmacia, and the man who works there speaks English. He lived in Cali but got deported. He told me like everything about his life. Anyways, my comp was looking at eye drops and he was talking to me and he said: I like you hair, it's really pretty, your eyes are gorgeous, your lips are cute, you are beautiful. So I said oh thanks. Then he said you're really hot.. and I laughed right at loud and told him that I was a missionary so he can't talk this way to me.. long story short he asked where I lived because he wants me and he wants to show me off to his family and friends. We now have to take the back way home which is a dark alley. Not fun. I hate standing out!! 

. On Thursday we ate at a members house and she gave us strawberries and lettuce. I totally knew I was going to get sick from it because she didn't clean it and sure enough. I spent Thursday night and Friday morning throwing up everywhere. It was not fun. 

  This week we have 12 new investigators!! 8 have baptismal dates!! Only three made it to church yesterday though.. Sabino, Raul, and Erik. They're going to be baptized on Jan. 25. His wife left him a while ago and he is an amazing man. We also got our first rejection. It made me really sad. I have come to love and care about our investigators and when they decide they don't want this anymore its hard. You know it will change their life and bring so much happiness. 

  I've lost a lot of weight (ha-ha). If you want a good weight loss program, come to Mexico. I'm not a big fan of the food here. We had pig skin tacos and it was gross. I had my first Mexican Ice cream on Saturday. I liked it a lot!! (ha-ha). 

  Things are still really hard here, but every day things get a little easier. I love you! Until Next week.

  Hermana Turek

So I'm Here

So.. I'm here. I don't really know how to feel about it. It is very different from Utah and I'm very homesick. There is a huge language barrier and the food makes me feel blah, We also don't have hot water, but my companion has this weird thing that uses electricity to heat the water so we shower with a bucket. Just don't touch the water while its heating. I learned that the hard way haha. 

   The people make such a fuss about me here and I don't exactly know why.. but this cute little abuela (grandma) in her very broken English told me that I was very, very special to her. I get honked at and stared at all of the time. It's annoying. I'm  in an area called Atitalquia. We are the first Sisters to serve here ever. So the President has a lot of faith in us. We have four new investigators and visit inactives a lot. Today, we hiked this huge mountain!

    Also, our house is sketchy haha. There is a bunch of wires right outside our door. And, the toilet and shower are all together. Mexico is very different than I expected. I realized something really, really cool the other day. The reason I had problems with my white count is because if I wouldn't have had that week delay, I wouldn't be here!! My  mission opened up to American sister on July 1, and my call was assigned on July 5th. Pretty cool. 

    I am also very sunburned! President Call says to tell Tyler hello. 

    I will be sending photos here in a min. 

    I love you all and miss you much!

 Ps I dont know how to work this keyboard. 

week 6.. goodbye MTC, Hello MEXICO!

      Last email from the MTC!! Man, time has sure flown by! I got my travel plans on Wednesday. I leave for the airport at 2:30 in the morn. My flight doesn't leave until 6:15 though. I'm flying with American Airlines on flight 304 into Dallas/ Fort Worth Texas. From Texas I fly into Mexico City on flight 393. So you can track me Dad. To answer some of the questions you've sent me, no, no one helps us get to the right place at the airport. They stick us on a bus then drop us at the curb. The Elders take VERY good care of us Sisters though, so don't worry. 

      My Thanksgiving was SO good and busy! You prolly already saw on the news but we filled 350,208 bags of soup for kids who are hungry in Utah. We also listened to Elder Russell M. Nelson. He and his wife did a really good job. I LOVED Ephraim's Rescue. I cried the whole entire time. I also cried when Lyssa got engaged. I wish I could be there, but I know this is where I'm supposed to be. It still doesn't make it any easier. 

       I'm sending home quite a few packages because the over weight fee is $330. I'm still at 60 pounds in my big suit case so I'm kinda at a loss of what to do. 

      Dad my favorite scripture right now is Luke 1:37. My favorite thing to teach is The restoration of the gospel of jesus church through joseph smith. It's so powerful. As far as my baptismal dialog.. Seguria el ejemplo de Jesucristo al ser bautizado por alguien que posea la autoridad del sacerdocio de Dios: El (enter date here) tendemos un servicio bautismal se preparara para ser bautizado ese die? :) That's the baptismal invitation in Spanish. 

        Mom, Hermana Slaughter is like my best friend. We are in the same district and are both going to Mexico City North. She's from Orlando, Florida. :) 

       This week has been pretty busy. I love you all bunches! The next email you get will prolly be from Mexico. So long America! -Hermana Turek