hermana rhondeau

frozen mangos with chile that I thought was strawberries until I ate it and almost died because it was so spicy.

dearest family,

Have I ever told you about the moto taxis here? The little motorcycles with seats and a covering attached to the back that they use for transportation? They are slightly hilarious (maybe google a picture) but also convenient, and Hna Pitcher (my new companion) and I have decided that we are going to invest in one for our traveling adventures in Provo once we return home. We have become quite seasoned travelers in the moto taxis because Hna Pitcher is under doctor's orders, so she can't walk for long periods of time and has to avoid certain types of food, which means I get to enjoy the benefits of payed transportation and more healthy meals (the perks of having a sick companion). I absolutely looove Hna Pitcher — she is from Utah and has been out for exactly a year. It has been quite the luxury being able to speak freely in English after six months of non-stop Spanish, remembering Utah summer nights and Bear Lake raspberry shakes and family movie nights and sleeping in a bed. I absolutely love working with her and learning from her and being reminded of a home that is far away but never forgotten.

Some of the things I liked this week:

· eating a chocolate cake that tasted like our family chocolate chocolate chip cake. As much as people love their sweets here, they dont know quite how to make them like the Americans.

· sitting outside on a patio under the scorching sun, listening to Hna Rosita and Hna Grecia (recent converts) talking and not being able to understand anything Hna Rosita was saying. She is the sweetest elderly lady that was baptized a year ago. She has taken the initiative to start learning how to read and write in her later years, and has just learned her vowels. We talked about Christlike attributes and she talked about charity and we just loved her a little bit more because she is charity and light and love and is the type of person that I would have liked to know when she was young with her eight children.

· learning the words for 'kill joy' and 'spoil sport' in Spanish, which directly translated mean "water party"

· practicing how to be baptized with two little girls that we have been teaching that are going to be baptized this Tuesday — brought back memories of when dad practiced with us in our front room before our baptisms — keeping the Rhondeau traditions alive here in Mexico.

The greatest most wonderful experience of this week happened on Saturday when we went to visit Hno Tony (note: I might just talk about him in every single email). He has been praying for weeks to receive an answer that the Book of Mormon is true — it was one of his greatest necessities (one of the sister training leaders here told me that an investigators greatest necessity is the thing that is preventing them from fully coming unto Christ and receiving the fulness of the Gospel — I liked that definition). When we arrived at his house, he began by telling us that he read a chapter in the Book of Mormon, prayed, and had received an answer that it is true. He then followed by asking us when he could be baptized. My heart has never felt as full or as happy as it did in that moment, hearing someone telling you that they know the same things you know to be true; hearing then tell you that they have felt that same joy in receiving an answering and knowing.

Sometimes missionary work is hard (i.e. walking and not finding, teaching and not feeling the Spirit, eating things that you would rather not eat, missing home and the people and places that make it home, failing yourself and failing others and failing God). Yet all the hard things are quickly forgotten when someone that was once a stranger and now a friend tells you that they know what you know is true.

The mission is becoming so much more to me: changing, progressing, failing, trying again, learning, relearning. I love it. I love that God and His goodness are so clearly and fully manifest here through the people we contact and meet and teach. It is amazing and awe-inspiring to think that four weeks ago, Tony was just a name on a reference sheet from missionaries that had contacted him one year ago, and that now he is a person that thanks his Father in every single prayer for sending the missionaries to his home and giving him the means to make a great and good and real change in his life. This mission is so good. Life is so good and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so good and so true.

Wishing you a good week, dear family of mine. Miss you always but love you more.

xoxo,

Hermana Rhondeau