Makin' Memories in Monterrey México: Christmas Craziness (Week 27)

Well.....it is almost Navidad!!! aka 9 days until I see the beautiful faces and hear the beautiful voices of my beloved family through the computer screen!! This week has been so busy with Christmas shenanigans and what not.....but I want to make a few shoutouts to Katie Barrus, Mom, Grammy and Grandpa, and Chloe Bray (currently serving in ROME) for your mail and packages!!! you guys rock...and now the apartment is much more Christmasy :) Here are a few pictures of us in the house of a ward member....she has a gorgeous Christmas tree so we had to have a #photoshoot

elder melara, elder burgsma, hermana mendoza, y yo!

we feel at home with christmas decoarations....

the relief society president here in my ward

so these next 2 weeks we have many exciting plans:

- this thursday night we are having a christmas dinner as a ward with tamales, tacos, Corn, etc and there are going to be many musical numbers performed....as a relief society (the women in the church) we are singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing and I'm playing the piano and my companion is directing haha so that will be fun

- this saturday as a zone we are going to shine shoes and hand out hot coco in a market! It will be a good way to find new investigadores

- next tuesday we have a christmas dinner with the whole mission which will be such a blast! Each zone has to prepare a skit/ musical number.....and so for our zone I am planning (of course the elders put me in charge of this lovely job...haha) a "12 days of Christmas" MEXICO MONTERREY EAST MISSION version hahahah we are changing the words and each companionship is going to have a number and then a funny phrase/ inside joke that pertains to the mission..... instead of singing "on the first day of christmas my true love gave to me" we are going to sing "aquí en la misión en esta Navidad...." and then yeah! I hope to have it recorded so I can send the memory stick home for you guys to watch it is going to be really funny haha. But yes of course Las Hermanas are always put in charge of planning all these creative things....Gracias Elderes!!!!

-we are always going to have a White Elephant gift exchange with the mission next tuesday which will be fun

- Christmas Eve we are going to eat dinner with a family in our ward

-Christmas Day...SKYPING THE FAM!!! for only an hour ;( but yes so so so excited going to be so weird speaking in english literally the most english I have spoken is only when teaching english to my companion!!!

And of course we still go out teaching every day from 11 am to 9 pm every single day! So sadly it isn't all just Christmas fiestas....

So now for the "spiritual" part of my email haha.....so I have been reflecting a lot on my time here as a missionary....I have completed a little over a third of my mission experience! As a missionary you feel a lot of pressure.....and it's easy to feel like you havn't accomplished enough or maybe not spent your time as productively as you should. It's easy to get down on yourself! But What I always have to remember is it is the Lord's Timing....if people don't want to listen, it's not in our hands...every person has their agency to choose to go to church with us, to listen to us, and to progress and ONLY the Lord can convert people. I have learned a lot about El Albedrio/ Personal Agency....how every person has the choice to act or decide for themselves...and at times you just want to make people act a certain way haha! but you can't. All you can do is trust in the Lord, and with His timing all will work out in the end.

"Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him" Psalms 2:12

"Behold, they have been sent to preach my gospel...wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, thus: thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt though bury thy talent that it may not be known" DyC 60:13

During Church yesterday one of my best friends here, Bebita, was secretly taking some photos of Hermana Mendoza and I hahahaha "Las Hermanas caught in action"