Temple Day and Eating Coconut

Right now I'm just here talking to you all and eating coconut.. weird I know, but I have acquired a taste for it or something. And it's a nice snack. But I'm not really thinking I will stick with the whole eating coconut after the mission thing because it won't be the same..

This week we got a call on Tuesday and they told us we were off to Tuxtla (three hours from the call) because I expire today.. So we packed up, went to our district meeting and headed off to Tuxtla. On the way we picked up (guess who?) Hermana Bate! (companion from the MTC) So we got to travel there together and chat and catch up and all that fun stuff. Then President George had us stay in the mission home while we were there. So we got to stay there (super nice + hot showers = happy camper.. well without the camping). And the next morning we went and got our finger prints taken (again (even though we did that last year.. do they think they change?.. it was weird, but it works)). And we were with like 5 of us from our district! It was so great to see them all (I also saw the others as they were out in Tuxtla and such)! So it was a good day.

Then later that day, we asked president if we could stay for an extra night because they were all going to the temple that night. And he said we could! That was so great! We ended up being there for three days including all the travel time and such - four hours each way.

With all that, it kind of took away from a lot of our working time, but we still did what we could, so that counts. The work just keeps on putting along. Sometimes it's not as hard as other times, but it's never easy. The people who say they'll go to church rarely do, but we just keep working and learning. I've certainly learned a lot this week and just keep on learning every day. On Saturday for Valentines day I studied about love.. the love God and Jesus had for each of us is so special and amazing! And we just need to love others. The two commandments most important that we have are to love God and to love others. So I invite you all to do the same. It will bless your lives and the lives of many around you! Have a cool week!

Hermana Humphrey

P.S. today I read 1 Nephi 13 and suggest for you all to read it and analyze it. It's really cool and talks a lot about the Book of Mormon, the Bible, the Restoration, and other good things.

I know the Book of Mormon is true and we have it now for our benefit and use because God loves us and doesn't want us to be left without knowledge of the truth and of the right. 2 Nephi 3:12.
Have fun! :)

I Don't Have a Cool Title, But Hi

Hey friends and family! I hope you are all doing great and are enjoying your February days. I've heard it's feeling like spring there, so does that mean that the groundhog didn't see his shadow?

This week has been  a good week. Not a super eventful or crazy week, but a good one though. We had a super special lesson Monday night. We have an investigator who has been to church many times, but never in his time living here. His dad is a member, but he's just never chosen to be baptized too. We've visited him a few times, but he just seemed to be afraid to pray, but on Monday we talked with him and he said he was in 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. So we decided to have a prayer there with him to ask if it was true. And it was so cool to be able to have that opportunity. We prayed and stayed kneeling about 5 minutes after. And then after that he told us he felt really hot and he was sweating. It was definitely the Spirit! We could feel it and know that that's what it was. And it was even stronger for him.

We also had other great lessons this week. But besides those I have had some learning experiences (as always). One was that we had to figure out and do an activity at the church again. This time it was all on us - not just a basic idea that we make happen. So it was good that we were able to do that. It was weird, but now I'm learning to be better at that kind of thing.

I'm still not very good at giving talks. I think last week I mentioned that I had been assigned to talk yesterday. Well I studied all week to plan for it and I learned a lot that's for sure. But when the moment came to get up and talk it was much harder than I expected. It was my first talk that I've ever done with the attempt at not having a written script to read. I feel like having a companion and not being in front of so many people makes it so much easier, but I'm learning. It was good that I had the opportunity. But also it was good that the stake people came because that meant that there was one more speaker and I didn't have to talk as long.

All in all, we had a good week. We did good things. And we have some great investigators. The family I think I told you all about last week is still doing great and we are excited working with them. They haven't been to church yet, but I know they will get there! We have a few others we're working hard with and I know the miracles always come and the success we always work for! We just don't always know when it will be.

Have a lovely week and do good things! Enjoy Valentines!!

Hermana Humphrey

These are lambs - not dogs

So beautiful!

2-D Spider Day

Hey.. Happy Groundhog Day dear friends!! I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does. I'm hoping that next year it falls on a weekend so I can be at home to celebrate it with the family! :) So today I saw a spider. Wow what a weird thing for here in Mexico. But this one was really teeny tiny and I just looked at it and thought.. wow that is a 2-D spider. I didn't even know that was a thing. But it almost is..

It's been a nice week. We had intercambios for two days (Tuesday and Wednesday). It went really well. But we went to the part of our area that is like a desert and I kind of got cooked because I didn't use sunscreen on my arms. Bad idea.. the things you learn in a mission are very important. It was a good time, but it was also nice to be back with my normal companion here.

Besides that we had the opportunity to work a lot with the members here. It has helped so much in the work. For one thing it makes us even more excited because we know it's much more effective that way. Two, the members get excited too. Three, good things happen like when the people start to come to church. And all that good stuff. We found a boy who is 13 years old and he's super excited. He has friends in the branch and has accepted to prepare for baptism! So I'm excited for him. We also have found a few others who are really looking like they'll progress!

Another cool thing for the week is that I learned that I can give a lesson/activity on the spot. Before the mission that would've freaked me out a lot. But when we got to the activity on Thursday we asked what was the plan and they said they had a basic idea, but we decided to help so it would be more interactive. And that is just what we did. We taught about baptism and the temple. But we didn't just teach.. we taught like a family home evening type thing where they had to look up scriptures and answer questions and such.

The mission is really helping me to prepare for my future. To have callings in the church and also just for my life in general. The things I have to do here sometimes are things I wouldn't have been willing to do back home, but now I have learned that I can do it and there's no reason to worry. I'm pretty sure that next week I will have learned that giving a talk without a script is a doable thing. I'm preparing a talk for next week and right now I'm a little nervous. But I know it will go just fine. It's a good thing I am having this opportunity (it's the first time I've been asked to give a talk in my mission - weird as it is). So we'll see how it goes! Great for sure.

I hope you all have a fun and exciting week full of good and positive things! I love hearing from you all and hope you have a great February!!

Hermana Humphrey

Week of Lots To Do

We had a lot to do this week. We just worked and worked and worked.. as always, but we had a bit more success with it all this week. Recently we've been a little low on new people to teach, but this week we found like 21, so that will help us out a lot. We had a meeting with all the leaders of the branch here which was good and now we also have a lot of leaders who have committed to come with us for some lessons this week. That makes me very happy. So it's been a good week with lots of work, but unfortunately no one came to church.. Sad. That really is the hardest part about this all. We just work and work all week long and invite literally everyone we talk to to church, but no one comes even though they say they will.

It has been fun working here all this week because it's been cool to see how many lessons we were able to have and to invite everyone to baptism and do all kinds of great things! We found this one lady here who is super great! She just accepted us to come in without hesitation. Then she just listened so intently and when we invited her to be baptized, she accepted. The only problem was that she had to leave to Tuxtla for the weekend because she and her child have a sad disease that comes from the evil mosquitoes.. There are just way too many of them here. So she went to the doctor there, but said that she might be able to go to church there. I'm excited to be able to see and talk to her again and see how it all went!

This is kind of a boring email this week, but it has been a good week, so that's what counts. It makes it all okay. I'm happy and all that fun stuff and I'm hoping I can have a more exciting email next week. Just know that this is the work of the Lord and that He loves us all. Everyone needs the Gospel and I'm so happy that I'm here to share it!

Hermana Humphrey

I Got the Lame Computer Again

This is the lame computer which means the one that the numbers and their symbols don't work.. I thought it was just that day, but no. So I'm copying and pasting these  !!  but not going to have many other symbols this week.

We had a different and fun week. A bit hard, but it has been good though. We haven't had a ton of lessons, or contacts, or much else really but it's because we've been doing lots of other things. We went to Chahuites.. about 45 minutes from here in a bus.. for a thing where some sisters teach us about family history. I learned a little, but it still is hard to know how to find people. One day I'll find someone I know it! And after that we stayed there because it would have been late enough when we would've gotten back that it wouldn't even be worth it to go home because the next morning we left before the crack of dawn to go to Tuxtla with all of our zone for a conference by someone from the 70 .. Elder Valenzuela I think.. It was really great! We had five of the ten zones there so it was cool because we got to see half of the people from the mission. It was the biggest conference I've had in my whole mission.We went back that night and so we had lost two whole days of work with all that. It was good stuff though so it's all good.

We had a really great thing happen this week. We had a baptism!! And it was super special. A brother who has been an investigator for over a year finally accepted to be baptized. In my first lesson with him we talked about testimony and other stuff.. I don't even remember what because it was the Spirit that spoke not me. And he accepted. He's so great and really has a lot of desire to progress and keep on learning and such! He'll make a great member and leader some day.

Besides this, we had a good week. Fairly normal besides the fact that I had divisions for the first time in my mission. Super weird it's been this long. So I went with Ceci.. a new convert as of two weeks.. and my companion was with a member from here. It was cool, but different though because I had to be the only teacher and just ask Ceci questions every now and again. It went well though.
And... today is transfer day. I'm staying here with Hermana Oliphant! No changes in our whole district as strange as it is. It's going to be a great transfer with lots of work and helping others yay!

Hermana Humphrey

Loading everyone into the back of the truck

Rocking it in the back of the truck

Jehovah's Witnesses gave food made from pumpkin skin

HOLA!

Hey friends and everyone! I hope you are all having a fun week!

This week we had a special opportunity. We got to go to the temple!! It was so cool. We went up to Tuxtla for a day and the president let us go to the temple with them. It was a nice opportunity and also so weird because it was the first time listening to it in Spanish. But I really liked it. (P.S. the temple here is really small, but very lovely). Anyway we had a long bus ride there and back. And we had to figure it all out this time (not our leaders). Two white girls taking a bus around Mexico.. it was exciting. And we didn't even get very lost. We thought we left the mission for a bit, but then found out that it was really part of the mission so no worries.

Other news.. I completed a year in the mission on Thursday. That was fun. We had a little surprise birthday type party with a few members. It was a fun thing my companion did for me! :) It made me happy.

Yesterday president George and Pres. Olea (I think he's from the area presidency maybe) randomly showed up to church with us. A little weird.. mostly because the branch leaders all froze up a little and were all nervous. It was funny. Then after that they came with us to a lesson. So we had important people with us at the lesson. It was fancy. A once in a mission/lifetime type of experience!

It's been quite an interesting week. We found a couple who are so great! They accepted us and listened intently in the lesson - asked questions, got a little teary eyed and everything. It was cool. Then they accepted a baptism date. Unfortunately they didn't end up coming to church, but we're hoping that it was because they literally couldn't for some reason. I have my hope high with them and am excited to help them accept the Gospel in their lives!

Also tonight we're having a baptism interview! I hope everything goes well for this man because he's so excited to be baptized. (And it's way cool because he's been listening to missionaries for about a year now and just now has the desire to be baptized). I'm excited and know that this will change these peoples' lives. It's so great and the gospel is perfect. It's for everyone and we just need to accept it in our lives and live it!

Hermana Humphrey


Thank you Hna. Oliphant for sending these pictures! It's great to see these cute faces!!
 

Twins!

Beautiful Hermanas!

Fun Selfie!

Outside the Temple

Temple Trip!

Happy One Year in the Mission!

One Year Celebration for Hna. Humphrey

Happy One Year!!

"Snow" from the Christmas Box

Just Add Water for "Snow"

Happy New Year!!

Hey friends! Happy 2015! I hope you all welcomed the new year in a fun way. I did.. well at least I woke up for a minute at midnight, heard the fireworks, and went to bed. It was pretty low key. But it was good though. It isn't really the most exciting day in the mission. But it was good because I at least woke up.

This week has been a good one. We had a member who was home for the holiday break and he came with us for a lot of our lessons. So we actually had members in our lessons. That was really nice. He also showed us where some inactive members live so we could go teach them. I really learned the importance of members this week which was a great thing. You'd think I should have already known by now, but no.. not so much. We had a good week of lessons and such and one day that we taught 11 in the whole day! It was crazy!~

On Saturday it was the baptism of one of the girls that the elders from our district were teaching, but we've been a part of her conversion from the beginning so it was really cool to be able to be there. She's so excited and I love to see baptisms of people who are really being baptized because they know it's true.

The other good part about new years day is that everyone is drunk.. That was pretty exciting. Well not exactly. It was weird trying to hide from some and just hearing and laughing at others. :) And also lots of people aren't home. But good news.. Everyone that has been here for vacation or whatever is now on their way home this week, so it will be a lot easier to find people to teach.

All in all it was a good week. I want to invite you all to be awesome and help the missionaries this week. They need you and they will love you lots if you help them out! And you'll get blessings. So it's worth it! I know it's true and this is the Lord's work.

Have a great week!!
Hermana Humphrey