Hermana Dangl - Missionary in Mexico: Semana 71

Happy Monday!

This week we had a lot of days, that weren’t long enough. . . as in, we have so much to do and there isn’t enough time in the day. Time is running out for me in many ways. I am trying to take President Doman’s motto to heart though: “Love, Work, Enjoy!” I think it’s a great life motto honestly.

On Monday (P-day) we had a zone party for one of the Elder’s birthday. He bought us all pizza (with you guessed it, Coke) and we sang and the Elders smashed his face into basically the whole cake. We’ve been dealing with a lot of investigators who believe what we teach but for whatever reason, don’t want to keep their commitments. It stinks! Something that it says in Preach My Gospel is that when we apply or “liken” the doctrine to ourselves, we create a mental bridge between understanding the doctrine and living the doctrine. page 110. It’s true! For example, we all know that it’s bad to steal – yet robbery is a common crime. The mental bridge has to happen for all people.

A member treated us to Gringas, they are tortillas with carne al pastor, pineapple, onion, peppers, and lots of good stuff. It was super good. Hermana Diaz and I are playing a game so that we contact more people in the street. I give her a random word and she has to work it into the conversation. If she does it successfully, it’s my turn!

District meeting! We got lost though and couldn’t find the combi but in the end arrived. When we got there, we found a tree loaded with mandarins and couldn’t believe it so everyone picked one to eat. . . and then we found out why there were so many, they were basically lemons! Super sour! The meeting went well, I taught a small part about leadership and shared a quote I really like by President Uchtdorf that says (basically) that leadership in the church isn’t as much about “leading” others and is more about being led by God. It’s so true! We watched some inspirational videos and then our Sister Training Leaders washed our feet . . . it was actually a super cool and different experience.

Companion Exchanges! Hermana Marrero was in my area, Comitan 2, with me and it went really well! We totally saw a miracle . . .while we were walking, we contacted a man whose wife and kids are members, but we had no clue. So he didn’t really want anything to do with us, and later on an appointment fell through so we decided to visit a less active and we only knew that she lived in a certain neighborhood with a white gate. We knocked on the first one we found and the same guy we had contacted before answered the door. What?! This time he couldn’t deny God’s hand in all things.

We taught J, one of our investigators who has never accepted the baptismal invitation, and we went over the Restoration again even though he’d already learned it. My testimony of the importance of this lesson, the Restoration, grew because when people actually understand, they can make their mental bridge of application. At the end of the lesson for the first time ever, he accepted to be baptized.

16 months in the mission! My companion asked me how I felt . . “Viejita” (old) haha, but really, it’s crazy and I try not to think about it. I think it’s harder to leave the mission than to come. I hope you all have a great week, don’t forget to love, work, and enjoy!

Con amor, Hermana Dangl