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 

Mision Mexico Xalaaapa, la primera del Señor.

Agh!  Me dio mucho gusto a ver mi niña hermosa!  Little Baby Chandler (Emily's new niece) is seriously gorgeous! I love her!  Good job and congratulations to all that were involved! I have had a good week! I was extremely anxious because today I knew that I would be seeing Little Baby Chandler!

This mission is super awesome!  I have now hit my half way mark and I can hardly believe how fast time has gone by!  This week there was some really cool stuff that happened!  Such as, I felt my very first earthquake!! Never in my life I have I felt an earthquake.  But don't worry mom, everything is fine.  It just shook the bed.  And it was even better because I was on the top bunk!  Wow! I thought my companion was just shifting around!   This week we didn't do much but my district all got together to do a service project for one of the hermanas in our ward. We helped her move houses.  She is super awesome, and she told us she had never felt the spirit so strong and that it was such an awesome experience to have all 6 missionaries in her house!  It is so weird to think about how people see the missionaries differently. It is a really humbling experience to know how other people see missionaries.  This hermana is super awesome and I just love getting to know the people in my ward.  The ward is a little difficult but we are still trying to work things out with them.  Not a whole lot happened this week but I can't seem to be able to send pictures. Sorry!  But I will send them next week! I love you all! Give the little baby lots of loving for me!  I will be there to make up for it when I come home in 9 months!

Hermana Chandler

Also. Mosiah 5:12 I am not sure if it is written the same way in English but this scripture is pretty sweet!

This picture was sent to Emily's family from the family of the missionary in the blue shirt.