Un Mes en MEXICO!!!

Wow, I canNOT believe that tomorrow is ONE MONTH in Mexico. Orale!

 

Hermana Ortiz - She is the only member in her family,
has been a member for only 3 years and is on a mission - I love her!

So what? that our mission is a "walking mission."
(i.e. no cars or bikes) 

Well, wanna’ hear something hilarious? I can officially mark off, "Getting food poisoning in Mexico" from my list of, "Things that will probably happen on my mission." Yep, woke up at 4am one morning this week and, well, you can guess how the next couple hours went. Super divertido! But after hugging and becoming best friends with a Mexican toilet for 6 hours, I was able to get back on my feet and WORK! My district leader and his companion gave me a priesthood blessing and, well, I am still alive! I am incredibly grateful for priesthood holders!!! 

Elders Ortiz y Ibanez, THE funniest elders you'll EVER meet. Also, the kindest.
They're the elders who gave me the name, "Hermana Wera."

We taught Luz this week. I feel like we went to her house in the right momento because her grandchild just died from the FLU. In Mexico, the flu (or "gripe") is VERY dangerous because medicine is VERY expensive and so is hospital treatment. October-March is when the death rate goes up from the flu! Man, am I GRATEFUL for my health and the medicine I brought with me. And also, I am SO SO SO grateful for the knowledge that I can live with my family AGAIN - para siempre - forever! I love each and every one you - parents AND siblings! :)

9th de Enero, my zone leaders told me that I received, not one, but TWO packages!!! They will give them to me tomorrow during our district/zone meetings. I can´t wait to open them! Next Monday, I will send pictures of my “Opening Ceremony” J bahaha!!!

To send letters, this is my home address:

Hma. AubriAnna Winsor

Calle 2 del Catero #12

Colonia Centro

99049 Fresnillo, Zacatecas

MEXICO

(But continue to send packages to the Mission Home address now that we know it works.)

Well, we had ANOTHER zone conference in Zacatecas and I SAW HERMANA CALDERON!!! Oh how I miss my companion of the MTC, I love her SO much. Oh, and if you could pray for her - her family is struggling financially and they had to move to Georgia recently; she is from and has lived in California her WHOLE life. So please pray for her and her family. 

The meeting was about filling out baptismal registros correctly, because if they aren't correct, then the people aren't members - literally. Also, we were told that the goal of the misión is to have 40-60 lessons EACH WEEK and 7 lessons each DAY and one baptism EACH week. Holy heavens - what? Well, pray for us, hahaha! I know it is possible. I have seen miracles and I know we can do this! Pray that I can have confidence in the language and that I can just open my mouth and SPEAK.

Elder Moncur y Elder Velasco had a baptism on Saturday and MIGUEL AND MARIA DOLORES CAME - ahhhhh!!! I was SO flippin' happy! And Miguel's reaction when the person was immersed in the water was priceless! He said that he is even more excited to be baptized. Now if he would just attend Church, gosh dangit - hahaha! Also, a little niña sang, "I Like to Look for Rainbows" (in Spanish…duh), and Maria cried - so did I J It was powerful...and it was amazing. I love Maria Dolores. She is a perfect example of how we should be Christlike. She does NOT discriminate other religions, she listens and she serves without complaint - I love her! Her son, Jose Manuel, is 20 years old and he has a God-given talent - he can draw, and is flippin' amazing!!! He drew an owl and, wow, I was blown away! I had to take a foto of it for you, Dad - Go Paideia!!!

Ok, Manuel - we have no idea what happened with him. He tells us every time we call him to schedule a lesson,"Hermanas, I want to learn!! I promise!" But then, he can't or he bails out on us. Like the day of the Elders’ baptism, he said he could go - we were SO excited! We called him and he said he had to take a shower since he just got home from work. Well, that's fine. So we wait outside his house...5 minutes...10 minutes....we're officially late to the baptism and our other investigators are calling us asking where the heck we are. We knock on the door and his mom answers saying, "Oh, he is sleeping." WHHHAAATTT?!?!?! Oh man, I was not very Christlike after she closed the door on our face. I wasn't terrible, but I was not happy! So, I don't know what happened with Manuel. I think we might have to end it with him L  Que triste.

So, we ran to the stake center (which is literally 3 miles away from our house. I am not kidding when I say "I have lost A LOT of weight").  We were stopped by a sweet old lady, named Maria, our next door neighbor. The first thing she tells us, "I want you Hermanas to come over and teach me with the Bible." Whhhaaatt? Contacts are NEVER that easy, haha! We said, “Of course,” and, well, we went to her house yesterday and taught her! She is a STRONG Catholic woman who loves her Savior and God. She also told us after our lesson, "If you ever need anything - blankets, food, hot water to shower with, a bed, I am always here for you." I could have hugged her. I love her so much.

 

   For P-day, our zone played HOCKEY in the capilla with broomsticks and a wooden whiteboard eraser. I made a GOAL!!! And of COURSE I screamed (with quiet dignity)..."GOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!"

I learned that my zone is REALLY competitive... but not Elder Lambert and
 Elder Carr...pure love. Bahaha!

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The crazy happy family (some of them): Elders Lambert and Risueño go home in 2 weeks,
Elders Romero, Carr and Moncur go home in 7 days, my district leader, Elder Aguilar, Hermana Hernández, Hermana Moreno, YO, Hermana Ortiz, Hermana Morales, Hermana Lugo.

This is what I mean by competitive...we broke 5 BROOMS.

Hermana Ortiz and yo had red broomsticks and our hands were stained ROJO!

Ok, remember the BOOOOM we heard in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago during the rain? Well, we heard it AGAIN! It wasn't the exact same, but it was pretty dang similar. It got me thinking, "Híjole, was that a bomb?" Well, I woke up to ANOTHER BOOM 12 de Enero during a rainstorm and the misión leader told us THAT was thunder. The other boom, people have NO idea what that was. The thunder here is NUTS, it literally sounds like a bomb!!!

Yesterday in Sunday School, we were taught about how we were PREORDAINED before we were born. We were chosen, we are given talents for a reason! I was preordained to be a missionary in Aguascalientes Mexico, I was preordained to play the piano, I was preordained to speak Spanish…life has a reason! I know each and every one of us were preordained. Our Heavenly Father knows us and has given us gifts - USE YOUR GIFTS! Your gifts are not for yourself, they are to be shared with others.

I thought a lot about Danny and Melanie, the best rock climbers IN THE WORLD. And how whenever they are with someone, they invite them to go rock climbing with them...or they show them pictures of their rock climbing adventures...or when they ARE rock climbing, they encourage and show an amazing amount of support. They constantly share their amazing talent. And remember, talents are just actions...your personality and characteristics are talents as well -Share your talents!

I love you all, and I pray for you each morning, evening, night. I hope you are all doing well and you are safe! Remember, "Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece." Vida es difícil pero no es imposible. Para Cristo, nunca lo fue fácil, NUNCA. El conóce nuestros dolores, enfermedades, tentaciones, de todas las clases. No estamos solo en esa vida. Estoy muy agradecida por mi Salvador, no soy perfecta, pero puedo ser perfecta como Dios. Recuerde, tenemos el mismo potencial a llegar a ser como Dios, solamente por medio de Cristo. Les amo muchísimo! No puedo esperar por el dia cuando puedo verles otra vez! Les amo!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Winsor 

P.S. The packages came just in time because tomorrow marks 1 month in Mexico!!! AH! Crazy!! Haha, oh and Mom, don't worry.... if I have learned anything in Mexico, it is to eat EVERYTHING, no matter how weird it tastes :) haha. Oh and also, I FOUND PEANUT BUTTER!!! It's very rare here; my (Mexican) companion asked, "What is that?" But I found it! It was in a teeny tiny corner, bottom shelf, not touched, waiting for me to buy it J hahaha! But I almost cried when I saw it....