Catching up

From Aubri's mom: The last 2 emails have been addressed to us, so this is an excerpt from both letters so that y'all are up to speed on her whereabouts.

August 18

Hey Mom & Dad,

So...this happened this week - ​Yup, I was in the hospital Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sunday, I had the "pins and needles" feeling in my stomach. Took some Pepto, but still had pain. That night it was SUPER painful and I didn't sleep. Monday, it was still there. We taught FHE with Hna Marta Acosta and I could NOT concentrate I was in so much pain. That night, it became extreme and I didn't sleep again.

Tuesday morning, my companions let me sleep in. At 8:45am, Hna Carreto woke me up, "We called Hna Villarreal, we're going to the hospital." Well, when we arrived, I felt even worse, dizzy, nausea, extreme pain in my stomach, bones and kidneys.

They did studies (took blood, x-rays, etc.) and then put an IV in my hand to take away a little of the pain as we waited for the results. We waited 4 hours in a teeny tiny urgent care room (w/o AC) and the gastrologist came in, "We're going to keep you overnight until Wednesday night, so we can do more studies."

They moved me to a hospital room and Elder Olalde came, gave me a blessing & helped me out of my extreme discouragement. haha! Las líderes capacitadoras came and visited me. The doctor put me on a PURE liqiud diet, but the problem is, whatever I ate, I felt like I was going to throw up.

Tuesday night, I did not sleep a lot. I am pretty sure I slept about 1-2 hours because the nurses were doing their job right and checking on me every other hour, hahaha :) Wednesday, the medicine they gave me had me in migraines and nausea.

The President and his wife happened to be in San Luis and they visited me also. President told me I would be having transfers to Aguascalientes so that I can get studies from the doctors over there, and so I can be closer to the President and his wife. But today we received transfers and I didn't receive transfers for Aguascalientes. I am confused but SUPER happy that I get to stay in San Luis Potosi. I love it here!)

Well, after they left, the doctor entered and showed me the results. The good news is, I DON'T have Typhoid! yaaaaay! BUT, I have something called Proteus. (Note from mom: I think that's what The Elephant Man had. Now who's confused?) 

I can't eat anything with lactose, grease, irritants, chicken. I have no idea what I CAN eat, haha. I left the hospital Wednesday night, Hna Paty Saldaña helped us get to the house. But the car ride to the house messed me up and I got super sick again. I was up ALL night. I was absolutely miserable Wednesday night/Thursday Morning.

The doctor gave me a super strong prescription to take away the bacteria, and pure bed rest for FIVE. DAYS. Oh my gosh, I was babysat by members and I was SO bored!!! I really do appreciate their support and help. But holy cow, SO BORING just sitting in a bed. Hna Carreto and Hna Albornoz left to work, and when they came back they never really talked to me. Well, it was a REALLY long week!

Hna Villarreal told us Saturday night, I could go to church on Sunday and work. Well, Sunday night I didn't sleep (same Friday night and Thursday night) so I was exhausted and since I hadn't walked a lot/hadn't eaten much in 6 days, I was SUPER weak/dizzy. We walked the 30 minute walk to the chapel and I barely made it through the 3 hours of church. Since I got more sick, I stayed with the mission leader's family. They let me sleep, fed me fruit and a little bit of bread. They really helped me A LOT, they talked to me and got me to laugh. Hna Gonzalez Diaz (mission leader's wife) helped me out A BUNCH. She reminded me a lot of you Mom :)

I returned to our house and none of us received transfers! I jumped for joy a couple times and I am still jumping for joy :) I love San Luis!

But yeah, please pray for me. I do NOT want to come home early. If I do get transfers to Aguascalientes and I DON'T get better, there is a 80% chance that I am going home early. I don't have words for how much I will feel like I failed. If I go home, I am afraid that I will feel like I wasted not only everyone's time here...but the Lord's time as well.

August 25

Well, I will be coming home this week. I am ready to get better physically and emotionally. I love you both and I really appreciate your support in this. I know this is what I need to do. As much as I want to stay here, I gotta return home. When I get home, can we go to the temple? I need that spirit there :) 

In Philippians 2:14, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings." I gotta do His will. He wants the best for me...well then, I have no reason to complain.

My new companions took me on a mini tour of
Aguas. Lots of catedrales here. When I first arrived,
they took us here...memory lane :)

I am here in Aguascalientes in a trio with Hermana Canales (from Honduras..trainer. She is 27 years old, but looks like she is 18 years old), Hermana Miner (from Utah...trainee). They have been really good to me and have helped me out a lot in this rather difficult time. I know the Lord will prepare the way as long as we are obedient. He sent me these 2 awesome sisters to help me out before the return and I am FOREVER grateful for them :) 

Well Mom and Dad, I love you and I will be seeing you soon. The President hasn't told me the plan if I am returning, but all I know is, Pronto nos vemos. Les amo y gracias por todo que han hecho por mi. 

Adios :)

Hermana Winsor

The 6 foot 2 inches giant  Elder Olalde had transfers and is going to
finish his mission in Fresnillo!

I found hermana Eliason also, my twin! :)

The Aguas Trio :)

 This is what happens when you ask the elders to help you
take pictures....Elder Matos form Brasil and Elder Tebbs from Utah.

En Aguascalientes, preparing to go home...and saw Hna Fa'asa! :) 

A few tears were shed.. she speaks Spanish REALLY well, is 

happy all the time, and is really progressing!

This is the most awesome-est investigator,
Maria de Lourdes, who will be getting baptized Sept 27th :)

Before I traveled with the Presidente and his wife
to Aguascalientes, said goodbye to Hna Carreto.

September 15: Mexico Day! The stores are
FILLED with things of mexico. And this day
is a Monday soooo....we should definitely
do a Mexico family home evening :)

Three-O

Hola mi Familia,

This is what happens when you decide to not bring your
umbrella and it starts to rain like mad....
and you have to look for shelter and juuuust wait...

A week full of heat and hurricane-like rain. It is hurricane season here in Mexico and since we are no where near the ocean, we DO receive the "after math". Curtains of rain, streets flooded and a BUNCH of lightning. Slightly scary but SUPER fun!

We helped Hna Vera at el central, EAARLY in the mornin'

We had a district meeting in ENGLISH! Wanna know something kinda weird? I like the district meetings better in Spanish. Haha! Anywho, we learned about how to have ONE voice in our companionship(s). 

On Sunday, I received a secret note from Hna Albornoz saying how much she was suffering with her companion and how she didn't know what to do. Well, I gave her every single piece of advice I have in my 118 lb body and she rejected EVERY bit. hahaha! Poor thing. She ended up convincing ME to talk to the zone leaders because she was "too scared." Annnnd BOOM - "Special transfers."

Hna Vera was transferred early to Aguascalientes and President never assigned a companion to Hermana Albornoz. So I am going to be in a trio until the 16th when we have REAL transfers: so our area grew since NOW we have to work in the area of Hna Albornoz also. Please pray that I can keep my patience, my strength, and my health this week.

My health this week? Ehhhhhh...it's there! hahaha! I did find medicine/probiotics, but keep praying for me! Maybe it's because of the huge weightloss or maybe it's another awesome sickness that I inherited...haha. WHO KNOWS!

We taught Diego and Luis- and it was REAAALY hard this week. Their mom, aunt, and dad do NOT help us at all. They leave the room so that we can babysit them and after the mayhem this week, yeah, it's obvious Diego does not want to be baptized. Luis, on the other hand, wants nothing else BUT a baptism. But his parents push him to the side because he is 8 yrs old and the bishop is in control of him, not us. BUT their parents don't help AT ALL. When we ask them to help us, 1) they pout, 2) they make up excuses so they don't help us and go into the other room and watch TV, and 3) When they DO help us, they get their boys MORE distracted. 

We had an appointment with them on Friday but they never showed up. When Hna Paty Luna called them, "Oh we forgot, but we're coming right now!" Well, after 2 hours of waiting...they STILL never showed up. We had to leave because we had another appointment. But we left 2 pamphlets for Diego and Luis to read. We asked Hna Paty on Sunday if they ever showed up, and she said no! And they never answered their phones! The mom of Diego is a member, the dad isn't but they BOTH told us that they would help...well, it's incredibly sad to watch Luis (who WANTS to be baptized) be pushed aside by his incredibly unaware and lazy parents.

My favorite food here! Molletes! Bread with beans, lettuce,
tomatoes, creme, and weritos! (parts of pig stomach)

Maria de Lourdes LOVED church!!! She didn't go to church this last Sunday because of work. She HAS to work because she is incredibly poor and has no food. So we are working around her work schedule to give her a baptismal date. We had an awesome lesson with her and Hna Acosta about repentance and The Atonement. She hasn't accepted a date because she is SUPER scared...and doesn't feel ready. But she is not only SUPER ready, she is CHOSEN! Keep praying for her!!!

Roxanna really wants to be baptized ASAP but her sister asked her to participate in her nephews catholic baptism in December. But if you are a member of the Church, you can't participate in things like this. And she wants to have a baptism AFTER December so she can help her sister...GAH. December is SO far away :(

Ok, this week was hard, when we talk language-wise. There is a member who gave us a reference and went with us to visit this family. And of course, I am not perfect in the language (that's obvious), but this brother began to ridicule me IN FRONT of the investigators. We finished the lesson and we went to go eat with a member family. I tried letting it roll of my shoulders this day. 

Paty Saldaña's daughter finished her mission!

Then on Saturday before going to go eat, we visited the SAME member and his wife because we could not find ANYONE else. We were sitting down chatting and he goes, "Look, Hna Winsor, I have no idea what you are saying. You make me sad because you have been here for 9 months and you can't speak - what have you been doing here? Are you at least trying? Do you even understand me?" HE GOES OFF! And I just sat there, and I took it all in. Yes Dad, I went silent because I was going to burst into tears if I said something. "Stop trying Hna Winsor, you are wasting your breath." 

Yeah, it was hard. I definitely burst into tears right after we walked into the other members house, where we were going to go eat. The other member, Hna Liliana, thought I was sick. I explained what happened and she says, "You really believe what he said? Yeah, you are not PERFECT in the language, but neither are we as natives of Mexico! We can understand you and you can understand us. Don't worry about him; he has no idea what he is talking about." She hugged me, gave me tissues and then told me the food would help me feel better. Hahahaha! I really appreciated her love and help. She shared this scripture with me: 

"But I say, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 

and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matt 5:44)

She told me to pray for this member, that he can feel the love of Christ more in his life. THEN, she said I need to talk to this member privately. I laughed and said, "I am WAY too scared." Then she shared Isaiah 41:10:

​Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; 

yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 

​

I have no reason to fear, Heavenly Father is with me and he is with US. He will NEVER abandon us. I can speak the language, it is evidence that Heavenly Father has always been here with me.

I love you family! Keep strong, come what may & love it! Keep practicing Spanish so that you can come here to San Luis Potosi and see how amazing it is! LES AMO TANTO! :) Nos vemos en 9 meses :)

Con Amor,

Hna Winsor

PS. I sent a package to Mom and Dad, a letter to Hna Calderon and a letter to Sami Nielsen :)

We went to El Centro here in San Luis Potosi (po-TOE-see) last Monday - I forgot to send these :)

9 months, 39 weeks - 274 days!

SO I just received an email from Hna Fa'asa and CESAR GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! WHAT?! I am going to count that as my 1st baptism :) ...even though I wasn't there... haha!

Ignore my red face and fly-a-ways. We JUST had
returned home from a day of HARD work :)

BOOM! Look at me now- 9 months done and 9 more to go! SINGLE DIGITS PEOPLE!

Well, one of the things that happened on my 9 month mark... a man on a bike casually rode by REALLY close annnnnd...grabbed my rear end. Did I imagine his death? Yes. Did I feel 1100% violated? YUP. But don't worry, I received permission from the zone leaders that if it happens again, I can carry a rock in my bag to chuck at the man's head. In situations like this, charity does NOT apply.

This week was pretty genial: Elder Olalde and Elder Hermansen had a baptism for a woman named Marilou, who has 3 more months of life because of stomach cancer. It was the most powerful experience watching her being baptized by a young father who was JUST baptized 2 weeks earlier. The Spirit was SO strong during her baptism :) Later that day, there was a baptism for an 8 yr old boy, Nefia and Maria de Lourdes came! It took some convincing, "hermanas, I am tired...hermanas, I am lazy...blah blah blah." After 3 minutes of PURE persuasion, she came...and she liked the baptism A LOT! Heck, she liked it so much that she was more than willing to come to church! and she DID! She loved the testimony meeting and she said that she felt something strong. We passed for her in the morning and she was COMPLETELY ready :) It was a miracle-filled Sunday! We had THREE investigators come to church :)

Friday we had a zone conference, but this time when we talked about numbers, we talked about that the numbers are NOT important and shouldn't be our main focus: the people are the main focus. I swear I heard angels sing during this conference! 

Elder Hermansen talked about 1 Timothy 4:12, "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." We need to represent Jesus Christ in EVERYTHING we do. Being "an example of the believers" is showing that you BELIEVE in Christ & His Gospel. We must show our love for Christ in our lives and through our obvious love for the Savior; we'll be able to draw others to Christ through our light. And when you are a believer, you aren't afraid to show it. 

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation 

to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

​Barrio Joyas missionaries :) Elder Olalde, Elder Hermansen
(makin' the creeper face), Hermana Albornoz and Hermana Vera

Elder Olalde then talked about "How can we have more investigators in Sacrament?" We NEED to have a strong testimony of the Sacrament before we expect to have investigators in Sacrament Meeting. He asked all of us, "When was the last time you REALLY paid attencion (how do you spell that in English?) to the Sacrament prayers?" How am I going to teach the grand importance of the Sacrament if even I don't even understand and I don't pay atención? It is 110% guaranteed that I will NOT have investigators in Sacrament. The Investigators need to understand the promise that "they may always have HIS Spirit ot be with them." and that nothing is impossible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That through HIS Spirit, they can receive the answer of what is true.

"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon MY holy day." The Spirit we receive from La Santa Cena [the sacrament] will keep us unspotted & in peace :)

TAREA [homework]: This Sunday, pay atencion to the Sacrament Prayers :)

My zone leaders are awesome & I'm happy to be in the same ward as them. I just wanted to also add that on Sunday, I asked for a Priesthood Blessing from Elder Olalde. I needed some encouragement, realizing that you only have 9 months left on the mission and you haven't had ONE baptism...it is SUPER hard and emotionally draining. When they say, "Time isn't merciful..." it's frightening and true. He asked me, "What's goin' on?" All I told him was that I needed some strength. I did NOT go into specific information but yet, as he gave me the blessing, he blessed me with such specific things that met to my EXACT needs. The priesthood is AMAZING- Heavenly Father knows me and my needs. He used Elder Olalde to help me with specific things that I needed. After the huge amount of love I felt on Sunday, there is NO way I can deny that the Priesthood is the power & authority of God, our Heavenly Father.

Hna Carlsen, Hermana Garcia (super hilarious) y yo.

On Friday & Saturday, I went on intercambios with Hna Carlsen (she arrived to Mexico with me)! Her companion is Hna Moreno and she went with my companion. During intercambios, there was A LOT of "Come What May and Love it" moments, for example: We ate with the Garcia Family (AWESOME FAMILY!) 

and as I was sitting next to the wall, eating...part of the ceiling fell into my hair and food. It wasn't alot but it was enough to notice that...there was ceiling in my food. But, oh, how we laughed & laughed! Everytime they asked if I wanted food, I held up my plate to the ceiling and said, "No Hermana, I am waiting for some more of your ceiling to fall..it was incredibly delicious." We laughed some more! There is no reason for me to complain that there was ceiling in my food, when obviously I could pick out the ceiling pieces and laugh. As I continued eating, a little more fell into my food and I said, "Oh! Manna!" We were ALL holding our sides, we were laughing so hard. 

I loved this moment, because there was no reason for me to be angry or annoyed. I CHOSE to "come what may and love it" :) Hna Carlsen taught me this phrase by Pres. Hinckley, "You haven't failed until you stopped trying."

Pues, tengo 9 meses en la misión. Realmente, el tiempo no tiene misericordia. Sí, no tengo mi propio bautismo pero...uno de mis investigadores de Fresnillo fue bautizado. Cesar era un investigador por 5 años y a penas fue bautizado. MILAGRO! Yo no estuve en su bautismo, pero durante 7 meses enseñándole... yo puedo decir, he ayudado alguien a venir a cristo :) No he fallado y no quiero fallar. No voy a fallar, y no puedo porque Jesucristo esta siempre conmigo. Estoy tan agradecida por la carga que Padre Celestial ha quitado de mis hombros. Soy una misionera exitosa y feliz. Recuerde su Padre Celestial y SU voluntad, es SU tiempo :) El tiempo no tiene misericordia y esto significa que no debamos perder el tiempo...por que es el tiempo del Señor. Les amo mucho, mi familia y nos vemos MUY pronto. Después 9 meses, he sentido el tiempo corre mas aprisa. Lean sus escrituras, sean ejemplos de los creyentes :) Les amo y hasta la próxima semana :)

ADIOS!

Con amor,

Hermana Winsor

PS. I have sent letters to Madison Seaman, Danny and Melanie and Mom and Dad :)

Perfection.

We walked into an investigator's house, and they randomly have a pet hawk....WHAT?!?