Saludos de la hermana Vita

Hello family!

Being a missionary is great!  Today are transfers and my compañera is heading off to Xalapa and my new companion is coming tomorrow from Xalapa- Hermana Morales.  This change went by so fast!  They cut it short by a week so that everyone that is going home can be home for Christmas.  It was a really quick change but it was great and it ended with a couple of baptisms yesterday. 

This week was crazy trying to get everyone and everything ready for the baptism.  And we were also going crazy trying to find new people.  We found a ton of new people this week.. none of which went to church but... oh well.. That's not the point, the point is that Hector, Enrique and David got baptized. We almost lost one though but God is great and Moms know how to take care of their children. David is a ten year old boy we've been teaching with his mom.  He is awesome!!  He is so smart he ask us questions from the soul.  Seriously these questions are so deep.  It is crazy!  This week he was so excited to get baptized!  He was counting the days!  But on Friday we saw him and he was sad and didn't want to talk to us. He told us not to come back and that he didn't want to get baptized.  So we talked with him and still he just kept saying no, no, no.  So we finally get him to tell us one of his troubles, one of which was that someone had told him that he couldn't believe in Santa if he was Mormon.  In that moment I understood why children inherit the kingdom of God.  His troubles and doubts are so innocent.  So we talked to him and tried to clear up his doubts but still he wouldn't listen.  So we figured that someone had told him a bunch of bull honky about Mormons.  Like we don't celebrate birthdays or Christmas or anything... That's not us.  So finally we left.  The thing that broke my heart is that he said that he was mad at us.  He was crying, so it was really hard on all of us.  The rest of the week we were busy with interviews and stuff.  Then we got to Sunday.  (Day of rest?... not for missionaries) When we got to church  we were disappointed to see that our investigators had stood us up. I was looking around to room to see who was there when I saw David's little face sitting there with his mom!  Moms and miracles always go hand in hand.  It turns out that on Friday when his mom got home they chatted for a while and someone had told David that Mormons commit suicide.  Poor kid got so scared that he wanted nothing to do with us.  But his mom cleared it all up and they showed up to church on Sunday all ready for his baptism.  It was amazing! I just love David.  In his prayers he always thanks Heavenly Father that ''his hermanas'' (us) came to see him!  Then Enrique got baptized we never thought he'd actually get baptized but he did!  And Hector.  He is the best.  He is always so excited to go to church and visit with us and he is already excited to go on a mission! 

This is great! I am happy to be a missionary! I love you all! Be good!

Hermana Chandler

El es la Dádiva

Hello family!  I hope you all had a splendid Dia de Acción de Gracias! I sure did. I want you all to know that I kept the tradition alive! I set up my own little Christmas tree, and I ate a quesadilla with turkey.  I celebrated Thanksgiving mission style! 

Things here are going fantastically!  I love my new area and I enjoy working with my new companion.  I just want you all to know how awesome the church is.  I feel like I am part of a global church movement!  They just came out with this video called, "El es la Dádiva"... I imagine that in English it is, "He is the Gift."  It is AWESOME!  It talks about how Christmas is about Christ and about how He is the real gift of Christmas.  The cool thing is that the church has been promoting it non-stop.  They are even going to rent out the jumbotron in TIMES SQUARE!  Do you realize what that means?!  AGH!  Also they rented advertising space on youtube.  So on December 7th,  they are going to advertise it all day!! The church is taking over the world!! Yay!! IT IS AWESOME!! I am so excited!  We are showing the video to EVERYONE! So all of you have to do it too!! PUT IT ON FACEBOOK! Send it to everyone!!! The whole world needs to see this video!!! Share the gift!!!  Woo!! 

Anyway, I apologize that I am writing so early. I am taking a little road trip to Xalapa for an all-sisters conference!  Hooray. I am excited! But at the same time... not.. We will see. It will be fun to take a road trip though. We will be in Xalapa for 3 days.  It is going to be great!  

So the cool thing about my area is that it is gigantic.  There are cool things in every corner.  It is awesome. We have ruins in our area.  AAAH!! It is so awesome! It is an ancient temple!  I still haven't gone in yet because we haven't had time but it is awesome.  

The people out in this community are awesome. I am sure that they are all escogido.  Why?  Because they like 45 minutes from the chapel.. so it will be difficult but not impossible.  We met this family who is just awesome. They are always so happy to see us and they already have friends that are members of the church.  I am loving working here, and meeting these people.  Papantla is super traditional so they wear the traditional clothing of Veracruz.  Also they speak in dialects.  (which I am dominating.. just kidding.. its really hard..)  It is called Totonacu.  It reminds me of the language they speak in the movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy.  Because it is just a bunch of strange sounds that don't make sense.  But I am loving it!  The mission is great! And I hope you are all happy this week!  

I love you all!

No olviden a compartir la Dadiva!!

Hermana Chandler

Totonaco

Nicolalawila: ¿Como esta?

Nicolawalikana: ¿Como te llamas?

I ate a banana directly from the tree.

I hope you all understood the title of my email.  I ate a banana DIRECTLY from the tree.  I hope you all realize that is impossible in Utah.  Also did you know that bananas grow from like this weird pod thing?  It is amazing! I have never seen anything like this in my whole life.  

Papantla is super awesome and tropical.  So tropical that it used to be the ocean.  Papantla is also really really hilly.  The whole city is built on hills.  So one day I was walking on top of a hill, minding my own little missionary business when suddenly I saw that there were seashells!!! On top of this mountain!! Seashells!!! The whole city was once under the water!!! Agh! Do you realize how cool that is!?  Anyway.  

Things here are going just great.  We have been finding a lot of people and we have been working in a new area called Tajin.  It is a tiny community near the ruins of Tajin and it is out in the middle of nowhere.  But we went out there and we found a bunch of people and we found a donkey. And we fed it ilote.  It was a great moment. This area is super awesome.  There is so much greeen!!!!  It is amazing! Almost everyone has a banana tree outside their house.  

The ward is super great, I have been getting to know the people a little bit better and they are awesome!  I think they are accepting me into their herd.. haha They are always working and visit inactives and just being epic.  Just like every ward should be!! I am happy to be here and I am happy that it is almost Christmas!!!! I hope you all enjoy Thanksgiving this week! Eat lots of turkey for me!! Be happy! I love you all!

 

Hermana Chanclita

Barrio Xanath

So this week has been great.  I got to my new area on Tuesday!  I said goodbye to my neighbors and it was really really rough.  They are just the best.  But I know that they will be just fine.  Then off the ADO (that's what they call the bus system here). All day in the bus... woohoo.. that was awesome.  One awesome thing about Veracrus is that every street in this state is extremely curvy.  So basically to travel in ADO, you feel like death.  So after traveling for 5 hours in ADO I felt awesome!! I got here around 1 met my companion Hermana Vite and we started working at 2.  It was great!  Very tiring.. but great!  

This area is awesome.  I am in Barrio Xanath.  These members are great and the people here are just awesome.  Another super cool thing is that here they speak another language.  They speak totonaco (I don't know how to write that..) But it is this crazy dialect. Papantla is like a tiny pueblo, super super super traditional.  The people here are awesome.  They are so friendly!! And they are so willing to listen.  Well obviously not everyone but yes there are definitely more people to talk to here in Papantla. 

The area is cool, it is very very very green. Almost a jungle!!  Which is awesome!  But also means there are a lot of little creatures.. gross.  The weather here is cold.  Everyone told me I would be dying of heat but it has been ridiculously cold.  And I sure love bathing in cold water when it is cold.. you could say that I just don't bathe now... okay.. That's not true.  But it is pretty miserable.  

This week we had a baptism.  A little girl named Debani.  She is super cute and she was so excited for her baptism.  She wanted so badly for her dad to baptize her but he couldn't because he wouldn't stop drinking coffee. One of the new elders helped us with the ordinance.  Poor guy.  He just got here and he struggles with the language.  I remember those days.. we are doing what we can to help him feel good here, so we let him baptize her!  It was a super cool experience.  We had to baptize her in the other chapel because there was no water in our chapel but everything turned out really well.  The work of the Lord can't be frustrated.  I have seen so much proof of that in my mission.  All the weird things that happen that seem to be a huge stumbling blocks...all just kind of go away.  God is awesome.  He always has out backs.  I hope you all always remember that.  I love you all and I hope you are all happy! 

Hermana Chandler 

Tacos al Pastor

Hi family,

I hope that you are all happy and healthy!! Things here are going well!  This week are changes so tomorrow I will be embarking on a new adventure to Papantla, Xanath!  I am pretty excited! I have heard a lot of super cool stuff about Papantla!! There are lots of ruins and this super cool place called Tajin!  I can't wait to see it in person!! I am a little sad about leaving my area because I really do love it!  In spite of all the complaining, I really did love it! 

This week was pretty awesome.  We had a Bautstrito, meaning that companions in our district had a baptism this week! It was amazing! Why? Because I know that God really does perform miracles!  We baptized one my best friends from the entire mission! Her name is Kassandra. We started teaching her forever ago and on my last Sunday in Museo she got baptized! I am so happy!  She is super awesome and I know that she is going to be an awesome missionary one day! Things here are going really well. I am sad that I have to say goodbye to everyone but I think that I will enjoy my next area just as much as my first two!! 

I love you all and I am sorry that this letter is short and a little boring.  I wrote it with love!  

Hermana Chandle

r 

Greetings

Welp, here I am living the life of la misionera in Xalapa, Mexico.  I am only 6 months short of coming home and AAAAAH!!!!! Wow. How the time just flies!  Pero bueno, alli voy.  

The cool thing about a mission is that you get to meet at ton of super cool people.  Por ejemplo, my neighbors!  They take such good care of us.  Every night when we get home we go over and see how they are doing.  But this week we got home late and tired so we just went to our little house instead of visiting them, so they came over and said they were worried about why we didn't want to go over and visit them. And then they made us dinner. It is great.  Its like being part of a tiny cute family.  Every night when we get home they greet us with a big hug (just like moms do).  I guess that is what makes the mission so bitter sweet.  You make such good friends that you leave behind.  But oh well.  This week has been pretty good. 

This week also we went to this super cool park called Tecajetes!  It is a little nature park.  Everything is green and beautiful!!  I don't know what I am going to do when I go back to the desert.  Because absolutely everything here is green.  You could plant a stick of gum and a gum tree would grow.  Seriously!  This is such a cool place.  

I love you all be good!

Hermana Chandler

Pantuflas- slippers 

It's fine. I didn't like cats anyway.

Well family it seems that I have inherited more than my good looks from Mom.  I am very allegric to cats.  I get hives all over and I sneeze.  Awesome.  Good thing there are millions of cats in Xalapa.   So anyway this week was great.  We started teaching our neighbors, they are so great!  They always take care of us and bring us food at night when we get home.  Including last week when she brought us coffee...awkward..  They went to church and they liked it a lot.  They have a tiny tienda of fruit across the street so in order for them to come to church with us we went and helped them set up in the morning.  So I am pretty proud to say that I have become a professional at making freshly squeezed orange juice.  But I am sad to say that all day today I have been sore.  

This week was pretty good.  I learned a lot about myself and about how to Lord communicates with us.  It is very mysterious.  We've been working a lot and we have been finding new people.  I am sorry because I really don't have mucho to say but I sure love you all and I hope this week is so ridiculously fantastic for each and every one of you!  Be good!  Go, fight, win!

Hermana Chandler

Tortillas

Hello my pretties.

Things here in the good ol' mission are sure good.  Things have been a little rough with the work but you know what? It is okay.  We just keep moving forward. The Lord works in mysterious ways.  This week we found this lady named Maria.  She is this little old lady who lives alone in a gigantic very fresa (fancy/rich) house.  She has the most incredible story.  She is from Chiapas (a very very very poor place)  She was so poor at one time that she lived in a cemetery.  And it was there in this little old Chiapas that she first encountered the missionaries.  At the age of 25 she moved to England.  Where she found the church again but did not get baptized.  She married there and lived in Oxford for 30 years, when they told her that she had cancer, and that she only had 6 months to live.  She then told them that it wasn't true and that she was going to live longer with out treatment.  So she refused treatment and here she is 10 years later.  Why she lives here with out her husband I don't understand.. but randomly we found her in the street about two weeks ago because we were lost but we decided that we would go by and visit her.  I realized that throughout her whole life she has had a connection with the church but never joined it.  And now we are teaching her and she is accepting the message so well. SHe told us in the first visit that she knew it was true and that this was the church that Jesus Christ had established.  (Wow.)  That was a really cool missionary moment.  

This week was really awesome.  We really found a ton of people, one of which happens to be our next door neighbor.  They are so awesome.  They invite us over to eat all the time and they are always so excited when we visit them!! I love it!  

Today I was lucky enough to spend my p day with one of my dear friends Hermana Finlinson. She is just the best.  We went to the Centro and we ate ice cream and we met a man who is just funny and dresses like Aladdin and gives you a little fortune like the fortunes that you get from the fortune cookies.  Anyway, I love the mission because I make new friends.  It's cool because you learn to see them differently.  Because everybody has a cool story!! (I don't know what it is about the badge but when they see it.. they start telling their whole life story.. and confessing.. it's awkward.)  

I love you all! I hope you can all be missionaries for your little friends!  Don't be afraid of rejection.  When you get scared that someone won't listen to you, just think. Hey Emily gets rejected everyday and you will feel more confidence.  I LOVE YOU ALL!! Be good. 

Hermana Chandler 

1 in 88,000

Well family I am one of 88,000 misioneros.  What the weird!?  Things here are lovely! I got to watch conference and it got me all pumped about being a Mormon! I sure hope it had the same effect on all of you! WE ARE MORMONS!  How great is that?!  I loved conference! I even got to watch it in English!  And Cantonese and Portuguese and Spanish... That was pretty cool!  

Anyway this week I have come around to the fact that I am staying here in Museo.  I am sucking up my pride because I know that God has got something pretty awesome planned for me here.  Now I just have to find it... dang it.   Oh well!  I am happy!  This week we worked super epic-ly and found a ton of new people.  We started teaching these little old ladies who seriously just cracked me up! Seriously.  Ana Maria and Mikaela.  They are old investigators of the elders that we started teaching. So we were visiting them and we were all sitting there about to start, feeling the spirit and stuff when suddenly this little cat snuck in the room when Mikaela (88 years old) sprang to her feet, went running over, grabbed the cat my the scruff of its neck, gave it a good hard shake, and hurled it out the door!!!  All while saying ''gato cochino''.  I know it may not sound too hilarious.. but it was!!  

Another interesting thing that happened is that every Monday we wash our clothes with a hermana from our ward who has a grown son with autism.  He is super great, he hardly talks and when he gets mad or embarrassed or anything he will start to yell and run around.  But anyway.   He sort of has this feddish with gym shorts.  I don't know why but he just loves them.  When we got to their house I saw that he was wearing a pair of shorts that were oddly familiar... I finally figured out what happened to my shorts that went missing over a month ago!!  I almost died laughing when I saw him.  The shorts were obviously very tight and short but he didn't care.  He just started laughing and running around saying, "Pantalones!  Pantalones!!" ... hahaha he knew exactly what he was doing.  Haha I almost died!! Anyway. This week was really great and I hope you all enjoyed conference!  Remember, decisions determine destiny.  You are lovely people and I hope you keep getting lovelier! 

Hermana Chandler

Mikaela y Ana Maria 

Conference!

This guy sitting on the couch is Keke.. he is the one who stole my pants.

The changes that weren't quite changeful.

One thing I have decided is that if there was ever to be a zombie apocalypse I would want to be in Mexico.  Every house has bars on the windows so I think you'd be pretty safe there.  But in other news, as you may have guessed, this week were changes!  But they were not very eventful for me or my companion.  We are both staying here in dear sweet Museo.  Cool.  6 months.  Oh well.  It might be awkward because I said good bye to everybody yesterday so when I show up on Sunday it is going to be really uncomfortable.  But it is okay.  I really do like Museo.  The members are super cool. and I have made a lot of friends that I hope will be in my life for a long time!  

This week was pretty cool.  We met a lot of new people!!  One great thing that happened that I can now check off my bucket list is that I played an accordion!  Gilberto just randomly bought an accordion and decided that he wants to learn to play the hymns!  It made me laugh.   

Anyway, the church is true and I love you all!  

Hermana Chandler

Hello Family!

Things here have been really great!  My compañera y yo have been working here in our area having the same struggles as usual- finding people to teach-  but we are getting there. I have faith that we are going to find some new people that are so ready!  It is true what they say, that God is preparing people the hear the gospel! It is pretty awesome!  

Next week are changes and I expect that I will be leaving Museo 3.  Who knows?  I don't want to jinx it!  But I am ready for a new adventure.  This week has been pretty interesting... well that's not true.  This week was pretty much a normal week of the mission!  But I still love it!  Right now I am racking my mind for a good story!  But I am not sure! For the 15 Septiembre we stayed in our apartment and played Uno and ate french fries.  That's how we celebrate Mexican Independence.  Like foreigners! But yeah, this week it rained, and rained and rained more.  It rained so much that a hermana locked us in her house so we wouldn't leave and get all wet in the rain.  Then she so kindly gave us a giant sheet of bubble wrap to protect us from the rain!  We then capitalized on this oh so special gift and began to dance on it! (like mr magorium.) I didn't think the situation out very well.  Bubble wrap, water, tile floor... I definitely fell flat on my back.  It hurt really bad.  But I got up and started dancing again, vale la pena.  Anyway, I know this letter is kind of lacking something interesting... sorry.  But I love you all! Be good!

Hermana Chandler

ps. Gilberto went to the temple!  Agh!

The bubble wrap!

Feliz Día de Independencia!!

Mis Carnalitos!

Happy Mexico Day!  Well.. I guess not too happy because our president is making us stay in our houses today!  We can't even go out to  work. Triste Xalapa. 

Well this week, just like every other week, had its ups and its downs. But I am still loving it.  So don't worry.  I realized that the problems that I have to face aren't really my problems. I just have to help other people with their problems.  It is kind of cool.  I don't know what I am going to do when I come home and I have to worry about
my problems.  Geez. 

Anyway so this week I did divisions with the sister training leader and she got me sick.  Thanks. So I have been fighting with a wicked cold all week long.  And it is hard because I am losing this fight. Why?  Because it is always raining.  ALWAYS.  Let me tell ya.  The cows don't even stand up here! Apart from that it has been great! 

I had my first Noche Mexicana... which was very Mexican.  One of the members gave me this necklace so that I could look more festive. There are a few members here that I just adore! They are my favorite. We have this hermana that we eat with almost every day, at least two or three times a week.  And she just takes such good care of us!  Her name is Hermana Galmiche and her sister's name is Blanca. We just love visiting them. (okay, I know you are all sick of hearing about Gilberto..) This week Gilberto got the priesthood!!! Wow!!! And this weekend he is going to the temple to do baptisms.  I am so happy!!!!!  I am so happy to see my conversos taking these  steps in the gospel!!!  It is amazing! 

Something amazing about Mexico is that it is really old.  And because it is really old it has millions of stories!!! Supposedly, Merida, Yucatan is where Jesus Christ appeared to the Nephites!  There are a ton of ruins of temples there and there are legends that talk about how a loooong time ago a white god appeared to the people at the temple.  But in this culture they called him Quetzalcoatl (ket-sa-kua-tel). But how cool is that?!?!?! Seriously! I am living on set!  I am living on the set of the Libro de Mormon!!   In a museum they have a painting of the tree of life! 

Here in Xalapa the people are very superstitious.  They believe in leprechauns!  Also my favorite is, you know how in the US we tell the kids to put their teeth under pillows and a little fairy will come and give you money?  Well here it is a little different.  They believe in something called Ratón Perez.... they say that a rat comes and leaves you money.... que asco.  But Mexico is pretty legit.  I am enjoying learning about this culture because it is really interesting!

This week I did receive some sad news.  My missionary daughter, Hermana Daza, got sent home for her health.  I am so sad!  But I know that she will  be okay there and that she will come back soon!  But anyway.  I love you all to bits and hope you enjoy your P-DAY!! I love you!

Hermana Chanclita!

It's P day P day gotta get down on P day...

Hello my lovely lovely family that I love so much!

Well this week we have had all sorts of great adventures.  One of which.. (mom please don't freak out) we were going to visit one of our investigators and they weren't home but their crazy dueño came out to the gate and started yelling at us and telling us to come in and being crazy. (He was very drugged up) So we were like, 'nope okay,' so we started leaving and then he started following us.  Agh!  So we left very swiftly. (Don't worry, we found our investigators in the street and they saved us.) The reason I tell this story is to let you all know the difference between misioneros and normal folk.  We were being accompanied by one of the young women in the ward and she was very very very frightened. She was walking so fast and my companion and I were laughing and we felt very calm.  She kind of chewed us out because we were laughing about what happened but I figure it is better to
laugh than to be scared!  It is amazing to realize the things that were very scary before are now like... oh man whatever.  He can't do anything.  Anyway, doesn't matter.  

We changed our house this week!! Woohoo! We are living the high life now!  Still showering out of a bucket but at least we can stand up in our bathroom (included is a photo of our bathroom before..)  Wakala. We had a conference with our president this week and it was really awesome!  It was kind of sad because every time I leave one of these conferences I feel like I am not missionarying nearly as hard as I should or could.  But it was still great!  Our new presidents are so great! Hermana Greer is a little angel.  I just love them! This week was a week of conferences.  We had stake conference this week and it was lovely!  I got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in ages!! I just loved it!  I even met some man that knows Carson!  That was cool!  It is a small world! I love the Gospel!  I love the Church!  And I am so happy to be apart of this great cause!! I love you all! Be good!

Hermana Chandler

Welp the mish is over...

Oh my dearest family.  I've fulfilled my mission!  I can come home now! GILBERTO SE BAUTIZO!!! Agh!! I am so so so happy!  Yesterday was the most spiritual wonderful day of my life.  Gilberto got baptized!  He had his interview and my nerves were shot!  I was so scared to know if he was able to get baptized.  And yes!! And then we went to his house to get him on Sunday morning and there he was waiting for us in his little suit coat.  This man seriously is just the best!  I want him to be my uncle or something. We were sitting there waiting for his neighbor so we could all go together and he was there all antsy like, 'come on!! Time to go!!' It was so adorable; he was so excited!  I have never felt so attached or protective of an investigator!  I felt so happy and so proud of the changes he made in his life. In spite of his mean family who told him he was crazy and sat there trying to get him to fail.  Seriously everyday his son would sit in his house and smoke. But he is so strong!!  I love being a missionary!  It is amazing!  The baptismal service was amazingly spiritual and I was so happy because he was so happy to be baptized!  The mission rocks my socks.

Also, Mexico is to coolest place ever.  Why? Because here in Mexico is where a lot of the Book of Mormon took place!  It is so amazing!  There is proof everywhere that the Book of Mormon is true there are so many ruins and artifacts that people don't understand unless you are Mormon!  I am so happy!  I know the church is true and it is pretty cool to be a representative of it!  I love you all!  Sorry it is kind of short but I don't have tons of time!  Be good!

Hermana Chandler

Us with Gilberto!

Gilberto's baptism

Cerro Macuitepetl

My last day with mi hija :(

Sometimes missionarying is the best

Ollo.. Hello.  Hello my beautiful family.  I am so happy to hear that everyone had a lovely little family reunion (although I know that it was not complete... you were missing someone pretty important.)  I love the pictures and I am glad that you all gave little baby Chandler a warm welcome to the world.  She is one lucky gal.  She is a Chandler.  I have sure loved being a Chandler so I know she will too. 

Well fam.  As you all know life is craziness.  We had changes this week and my missionary daughter left me here to die in Museo.  I am starting to think that President doesn't know what to do with me so he just leaves
me in my areas until I start to die.. Oh well.  Little Hermana Lopez is flying solo now, she doesn't need her missionary mommy so much. I miss her lots, she was great! But now my compa is Hermana Hidalgo.  Other than my new comp and new district leader we didn't have many changes.  My new district leader is Elder SIlva!! One of the Elders from my district in the MTC! It is great! My new compa is from Chile.  We get along really well because she is really sarcastic.  I love it!  I am loving life as a missionary.  The ward here is good but a little fresa, or in other words snotty. They are pretty judgy so I get really nervous to bring investigators to church!  Especially GIlberto (who by the way will be getting baptized this week!). I feel so attached and protective of him!  I just love visiting him and teaching him. He is such a surprising person.  He is super deep.  I
feel at times he is teaching us! Something I did this week that I can check off my bucket list is that I totally made the most delicious tamales ever.  I can make tamales.  I guess you can say that I am practically mexican now. Yeah, I am totally rocking this mission biz.  Just kidding, that's a lie, I learn new things everyday!  Sorry I am short on time! Pictures next week! I love you all!

Hermana Chancla

AAAGH!!!

This week was a whirlwind.  La verdad, I have never had a crazier, more stressful week in my whole life.  But I can't really complain because I learned so much this week.  Seriously, I have never seen more proof that Satan exists, also I have never seen so much proof that God exists. And that he is watching out for us.  He is a pretty good guy I'd have to say.  He's definitely got my back.  Anyway, so let me begin.  

Remember that miracle Gilberto fella?  Well, I have never cared about an investigator more in my life! He is amazing!  But even if you are amazing, Satan is going to attack. His baptism was supposed to be this week, and we went to visit him throughout the week and we went over the baptism questions we filled out the cedula and everything was perfect and ready!  Then we show up with our DL and Gilberto is missing.  He won't answer our calls and so we started worrying a little bit.  We went by at least 6 times that day and he never got home.  Then we showed up the next day with our DL and lo and behold, NOT THERE!  Gah!  So we called and we asked around and it turns out that he had gone to visit his brother who is a pastor of some Christian church and they filled him with about a gazillion terrible ideas about "los mormones." Gilberto can't read and so they told him that because he can't read we had been lying to him!  They told him so many chafa things that I can't even expressed how angry I was!  So he was missing!  And there was no way to find him!  We spent 3 days looking for him!  It was Saturday and we still hadn't found him and I was spent!  All of our leaders were telling us that we hadn't done enough and that it was our fault that he was missing... thanks for your support?  Gosh.  I have never felt more.. AGH!  Anyway, so we came up with a strategy.  We decided to intercept him at his work.  We went walking over to the boonies for this guy and his freaking work was closed!  And so after a moment of distress we looked again and out of nowhere he was sitting there on the curb alone.  God is so awesome!!! I know that he made it possible for us to find him! So miraculously we found him and had the chance to talk to him for 15 precious minutes!  I don't even remember what we talked about but somehow we got everything on track again.  Sunday morning (again) we took our DL over there to do the interview.  They were in there for about an hour and a half!  I think my hair was falling out I was so nervous!  But as it turned out, Gilberto also was feeling stressed and sad so he drank coffee... and alcohol...and he smoked... Freaking Satan and his tristes temptations. But Gilberto was so sad.  When our DL left he was crying, and we cried with him.  He didn't get baptized this week but I know that he is going to get baptized!  I am going to see that man in el reino celestial!!  

My companion and I have made a discovery about the mission, it is really interesting, because us as missionaries, have about a gazillion and one problems... but the problems aren't our own.  They are all problems of our investigators!  We spend all our time focused on other people.  It is really cool honestly! I love it! 

I really have learned that the Lord has a lot of things prepared for us. This week we had this really random thought that we had to go and visit this referral that we received about 5 weeks ago but we never found him.  So we went over to his apartment and his little neighbor came out and talked to us, she told us that we really shouldn't visit him because he was all drugged up, but she invited us in and now we are teaching a family of 5 (that seriously happen to be golden).  So I know that God has got it all worked out.  Entonces tenga fe in su padre celestial!  Les amo!

Hermana Chandler

Hmm... Que les puedo decir...

Pues, pues, pues.  I am happy to hear that you are all doing well and all of you are healthy.  Stay that way.  

This week was pretty good. We have been meeting new people and we are slowly but surely having success! I have been learning throughout this last 9 months that we can see miracles everyday if we look for them. And even though they may not seem like miracles they definitely are. Por ejemplo, this week we were to have a baptism... but it fell.. awesome. That was a bummer but I think it is for something. God always has something better planned out for us. Anyway, so we found out that we weren't going to have the baptism.  Shoot. So we were bummed out.  But we have this investigator who should be baptized this next week.  And we are so impressed with him.  Because when we first met him he so did not care about anything.  He would just sit there not listen and finally we just wanted to give up but he surprisingly enough always went to church with us.  So we kept teaching him.  And we have slowly but surely seen these changes in him.  His prayers are super sincere he wants to invite his family to come to church and his baptism. But this Sunday we were distraught when we showed up to his house and he was not there to go to church!!! Agh!  Triste Gilberto!  So we went by for someone else and when we came back out he was there all ready and waiting for us to go to church!  AGH!  I just love Gilbert.  He is so awesome, keep him in your prayers.  He is one of those tiny unexpected miracles that we had this week!  It just goes to show that you never know when someone is ready for the gospel.  Because this guy is this 50 year old man who looks like one of those men that hang out in casinos.  Always has his shirt un buttoned with his chub hanging out with his creepy aviators sunglasses.  But this guy is awesome.  I am excited.  

Anyway on to the other news, this week I ate fish, and more fish, and then I ate pig skin. Why Mexico? Why?  I really couldn't tell you why that sounds good... Anyway we ate this soup with pig skin in it I couldn't do it!  I think the spirit told me that morning that I had to wear my skirt with pockets.  I wrapped this huge chunk up in a napkin and stuffed it away.  Then I look over and my poor compa was dying.  She had a mountain of napkins sitting on her chair with little hunks of pig wrapped in them.. ew.  So me, being the good mom that I am, wrapped it up and stuffed it away in my other pocket.  So I left that lunch with meat stuffed in my pocket but it was worth it because. ew. Hopefully the future holds comida mas deliciousa. Ojala. I love you all!  Be good! Be happy! And always remember that the bark grows on the outside of the tree. Know what I mean? 

Hermana Chandler