24.2.15

Constant He is, and Kind.



dearest family,

This week started off with the whole of Mexico celebrating something called "The Carnival." We still don't really know what it means or what it really entails, but we did get to go to a ward party because of it, so we didn't complain. The ward party for The Carnival ended up being an Anti-Carnival, and included all the things that a missionary can't really do (i.e. One Direction songs and Mexican dancing), but we loved the hour time slot we got to spend eating Mexican famous meat and watching and listening to the things that we aren't usually supposed to watch or listen to. After the big start of the Carnival (note: will someone please look up the signicance of this event and let me now what it means? #thankyou) the rest of the week included moments of small adventures and little glimpses of eternal things. We contacted a reference for a less-active in the ward that was baptized a year ago, and ended up contacting her mom who just so happens to hate Americans. It was probably one of the strangest experiences of my life, sitting in a foreign home with a foreign lady telling me (without looking at me) all the horrible happenings that occur in the world because of Americans. She might have joked about spiking my water with poison (at least I think she was joking). For a moment, my heart started to fear for its life but after sharing a hymn and a scripture, we quickly left and aren't sure if we should attempt another visit. All the other lessons in comparison to the latter were not near as exciting, but all the more beautiful — sitting in the home of Alfonso and his children (who accepted a baptism date for March), sitting outside of the house of Hno Gamaliel, who continues to amaze us with his goodness and faith, and seeing la Familia Estudillo (who has yet to be baptized because of some pending issues with the mom's ex-husband. We are hoping for 13th of March!). 

On Tuesday we had a surprise Zone Conference with Pres. Garcia, which included a surprise viewing of Meet the Mormons. Hermana Huerta and I were just a little bit more than excited and might have cried the entire time (sidenote: Hermana Huerta is my BFF and I love her. She likes to clean the house and arrange everything so that a room feels a little more like home. She is studying to be a teacher, and I often find myself thinking of her as a future Miss Honey--the one from Mathilda--because she is just as good and magical. God gave me a lot of beautiful things this transfer that stir a never-ending flow of gratitude in my heart, Hermana Huerta being one of them. Among other things: discovering peanut butter in our nearby grocery store, a return of avocado toast with salt, new friends in the mission like Hna. Ellgen who has five weeks here and has the same sense of humor and view of life, and investigators who give me a vision of how God sees us and how He loves us). While watching this video, something great began to stir within my heart, and after a week of thinking about what really penetrated my soul during that hour, I came to the conclusion that it was the overwhelming acknowledgment of the goodness of humans. The video depicts six different stories of families at different stages in life, and within every single story and person there was the underlying theme of them trying to be good and live a good life. It made me think of the life of Christ, and how He is the perfect example of someone who tried to be good — who chose to be good — every single day. The more I feel the love of my Savior and the more I learn about Him, the more I have come to realize that I do not only love Him for His sacrifice and redeeming power, but that I love Him even more for who He was and who He continues to be--kind, constant, true, and good. I am beginning to think more about Christ as a person — still one of great power and immortality, as the only Son of God--but also as someone who I could talk to and learn from; someone that would like to talk and learn from me, too; someone that is simply kind and simply loving. I like to think about my Savior in this way, knowing without doubt that He was good and that He made other people want to be good. 

At times I am overwhelmed with all the things I want to be, and all the things I want to do. But then I remember Christ, and I feel His love and his surety, and come to find that all I really want to be is good, and all I really want to do is live a good life. So be good. Do good. 

all my love,
N

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