Lydia's Homecoming

This is just a quick announcement to let you know that Lydia is coming home.  She will be speaking at 10 am at the Hingham Chapel and there will be an open house for her at 4 pm at our home.   I'm sure she would love to see you! 

A Roller Coaster of a Week!

Mountaintop experiences!

 


Hola Familia,

Today is a sad day because Hermana Jones, other Jones and Hermana Wolferts are going home.  Seeing her pack is even sadder than when I packed.  Monday we have top do so much so I'm writing this letter in advance in case I don't have time to write.

This past week has been crazy!  I feel like so much has happened.  First of all I worked on Monday with Hermana Wolferts and Hermana Navarro so I could go to Chapultapec on Tuesday.  We took some awesome photos I'll try to send them to you.   We went with some other sisters and Elder Miller who I haven't seen since Oriental.  Guess what!  He is going to be Assistant! In our generation 2 of the Elders will be assistants this coming cycle and 3 will be Zone Leaders.  I think there is only 1 other Elder that came in that group.  Plus all the sisters in our generation menos 1 have been sister training leaders.

Anywho,  Tuesday after everything I meet up with my comps to go to a few more citas [appointments] and I found them in shock.  Dana(an awesome member) had just called to tell us that Jazmin (the cousin of Jorge) didn't want anything to do with the Church anymore.  She didn't want to be baptized, she didn't want to come to the activities, and she didn't want us to visit her anymore.  We were understandably crushed.  Jazmin had tried to drop us before because her dad wasn't too happy that she wanted to be baptized, but we talked her out of it.  I figured we could convince her again, so I wasn't super worried.  She has a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, she is just a little worried about her baptism because she understands it is a big step.  So the following day we went up to visit her and dropped by without letting her know we were coming.  You should have seen her face when she opened the door.  from that moment I knew our chances were slimmer than I had originally thought.  She asked if Dana had talked to us and we said yes, but that we "hadn't understood very well."  You could tell she didn't want to let us pass, but we invited ourselves in.

We started talking and she told us what Dana had told us.  She has been feeling a lot of pressure from her friends who say she is changing too much and her Dad (who isn't really her dad, but doesn't know that) gets mad when she wants to go to a church during his day of rest.  Plus she is failing 2 classes and some other stuff and basically just feeling super stressed out.  Plus someone told her that women don't need to be baptized because they can have kids?!?!...

So we retaught the doctrine and blessings of baptism and explained that all of her excuses really weren't valid.  We got her to see that the changes her friends were complaining about really were good changes.  At the end of it, as we gave her 2 options, 1) Postpone her baptism and keep listing to us or 2) keep praying, reading, and letting us visit her.  She told us she wanted some time to analyze her feelings and that she would let us know when she wanted to talk to us.  It was supersad.  We ended bearing our testimonies and Hermana Jones started crying.  It was the first time she cried in a lesson on her whole mission!  I pulled out Jazmin's Book of Mormon and dedicated Moroni 8:3 to her and told her that even if we weren't viviting her I would still be praying for her.  Praying that she would have another chance to accept the gospel and enjoy the blessings thereof.

And then we left.  Hermana Jones started bawling when we had left.  As she explained it had never been so hard to say goodbye before because they had always had the gospel in their lives and Jazmin didn't. :(  It was such a contrast from Jorge.  Why just that morning we had gone with Jorge to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  It was a really cool experience to be in white going down into the font.  I've seen people do that my whole mission but I have't done baptisms in so long. When I walked down into the font, Jorge leaned over to my comp and told her, "It looks like my baptism."   It was such a cool experience to go with him to the temple! :)

Then Thursday I got to go back to the Temple with Prez and all the missionaries going home in December.  It was a beautiful session with people I love.  I will never forget those moments in the celestial room.  We 4 american sisters were sitting on a couch together and PRez came over and kneeled down in front of us.  He grabbed my hand and started to thank us for our service and for being his friends.  We really have been through a lot with him.  Heck, his wife almost died and elders went rogue,  hermanas were in danger and some almost deathly ill.  We have shed sweat, blod, and tears with Prez. Stuz.  I can't even imagine having some one else as my mission prez.  After the temple we went to the offices and spent the day waiting for Jones and Wolferts to have their final interviews.

Friday we had an epic planning session with Hermana Wolferts and Navarro because we are going to combine our 2 areas.  I don't know how we are going to do it.  Our area is already gigantic, but hwere there is a will there's a way!  In total we have 14 people that are ready to accept Fecha (baptismal dates).  Then we went out and hit the streets till advanced English Class.  It is so fun to just talk with latinas who speak English.

So saturday in we went to go look for some new investigators we found through the English class. Guadalupe and Ingrid (you will be hearing more about them in the future) they are so awesome and accepted Fecha for the 7th of January :) Then in the evening we got to go to the temple to see the lights with a recent convert and the Fam Castillo from Oriental were there! They are converts of Hermana  Wolferts and just completed a year as members. It was so great to see them I love that family. 

Sunday things got crazy we showed up to church and 4 investigators were there only 2 of which had said they would come. The biggest surprise of all was (drum roll please) . . . JAZMIN waiting for us in the door!!!! She showed up! I may or may not have run up from the gate  to hug her.  She told me "Algo me dijo que tenia que venir"[Something told me I had to come] It was an amazing 3 hours The spirit was felt so strongly. Their usually powerhouse testimony bearers all got up as well as several lovely children with unique testimonies. In my ward there are 4 missionaries going home this month and we all got up as well. Recent converts shared their testimonies, recently reactivated members as well. I love this ward, I love knowing these people and their struggles and seeing their faith I was so happy. The climax however was when JAZMIN! Got up and bore her testimony it was so sweet. She testified of the Book of Mormon and said it had helped her to find many answers and that she was looking forward to the day when she would receive her answer about baptism. She publicly thanked us and said that she knew in the day of her baptism she would feel very ready :) :) :)

She told us she was only going to be able to stay one hour because she still had homework but the jovencitas  [Young Women] del barrio swept her up and she ended up staying all 3 hours. At the end she came up and said she wanted to talk to me about her baptism. In Young Womens they invited her to come do baptisms for the dead with the ward the 23 of Dec but explained she needed to be baptized first so she asked me if she could get baptized on Dec18. Obviously I told her we could make that happen :)

I love the mission, life is crazy and it just keeps moving on :) I really am very happy. I pray for you guys all the time. I can't believe I am going to turn 21! Que loco! Keep sharing the Christmas video with everyone and doing the daily service!

Love,

Hermana Lambert

Singing our farewell song!

Amazing Graffiti

Vigilante Romeo stries again!

 IMG_4345[1].MOV   This is a link to our song.  I hope you enjoy it!!

about 2 weeks ago I was perusing my english hymn book and I found this hymn. As I read the words I realized that it was the perfect song to express the testimony of a missionary aun mas uno que esta regressando a casa.[especially one returning home]  First it gives an earnest testimony of Jesus Christ and as it says what tongue, what language could express my gratitude? Then in the second verse (commonly known as the third verse) it says change frowning foes to smiling friends. That is what the mission is all about! Random strangers on the street who are "too busy to talk" can become life long friends. "Chasten my soul till I shall be in perfect harmony with thee" the mission humbles us and pushes us to be more and more like Christ. As we try to be more like Christ we realize how far we have to go, and we beg every night on our knees "Father make me more worthy of thy love."

The last verse is my favorite in echo of king Benjamin's speech we recognize that we can never repay the lord for all the blessings he has given us. Not with 18 months of service, not even with a life time of service but as the song says we can love him. Then it asks have I not shown my love by preaching they gospel? Has it not been my joy by day and my dream by night? My comps can testify that I teach the lessons in my sleep haha and I promise you that the mission has brought me great joy.

Here comes in going home part "Then let my lips proclaim it still and all my life reflect thy will"  a life of dedicated service does not end with the mission.

I hope you like the recording I feel like we sang it better when we sang it in the going home testimony meeting but prez begged us to sing it again in the night so he could record it :)

The home stretch, a new Book of Mormon translation

Hey guysI love you so much!

SorryI haven't been writing a lot. Since I don't have a ton of p-days left  in my mission I have been visiting the pyramids, going to church camps ,and all sorts of fun things that don't leave a ton of time for writing. 

Every once and a while as a missionary you are getting ready to leave for the day and you check your agenda and see a lot of appointments that seem not to matter. It can appear that none of the people you are going to visit that day really want to listen to you or want or progress. But never fear, the Holy Ghost is here! Inspiration is just the best and  even with so much time listening for and seeking the guidance of the spirit I often don't realize it was  inspiration till we get to the appointment and they tell me "I know that my heavenly father loves me because I have _____ problem and he sent you" that happened 3 times this week. A single mom with depression who was at the end of her rope. And old grandma recovering from vertigo with an alcoholic son and a daughter, about to complete 6 years living with cancer, who just wants to come to church but is the breadwinner in her family and cant see a way to do without working Sundays, and a young recently married  member whose husband is a convert and a recovering alcoholic. I know that as missionaries we are nothing more than instruments en los manos del Señor.[in the hands of God]. There is nothing more beautiful than having the privilege of being a manifestation of God's love hacia estas personas. I know that God loves and knows each of us individualmente and he is ALWAYS aware of what is happening in our lives.  He is ALWAYS reaching out to help us because he loves us. He is our Father. He created a plan of happiness, a plan for our salvation! As missionaries we always teach about the plan of salvation that applies to all of us but I know that he also has individual plans for each and everyone of u--Plans for OUR happiness--plans to save us :)

I have served in 6 diff wards in this stake since January, I love going to all the stake activities and knowing everyone. This Sunday was the primary program and the Stake primary prez (from monte corona) came down to watch. They had all the missionaries (there are 7 in my ward) get up and sing with the kids Army of Healman  as we sang with these sweet children "we will be the Lord's missionaries and bring the world his truth¨ there was hardly a dry eye in the whole building. It was so touching to see the audience mouthing the words. See the missionary moms crying, seeing the young single adults who are struggling to get out on missions cry. They recently made a new rule here in Mexico. The church is not going to pay for the missions anymore.  Everyone who wants to go has to pay 80,000 y tantos pesos. That is money most people here just don't have. Especially if only 1 or neither of their parents are members. There are 2 jovencitas in the ward who want to go NOW but are trying to work and borrow and beg to get the money they need to go on their missions. Also Jorge talked with the bishop and is going to start his papers and a cuenta para ir appartando his dinero and they are looking into getting help from the stake to help him go on a mission. When I heard Jorge wanted to go on a mission I almost cried :) I will be so happy if he goes. I know that our leaders are inspired and if the youth here have to pay for their own missions it will only make them stronger and the Lord will prepare a way for them to save the money if they keep the commandments.

 I have had a great mental wall up and didn't even think about going home  until recently. Hna Jones only has 2 weeks left and seeing her get ready to go has smashed that wall into a million pieces. Well to be honest, more than Hna Jones it is Prez calling us crying on the phone to say how much he will miss us or Prez asking is he can come to appointments with us and then making sad eyes at us. During the mission tour every time he looked our way he started to tear up. It is a little hard to stay focussed when everyone talks so much about going home. Pres told us he was really sad but now not so much because the Holy Ghost revealed to him how happy our lives are going to be after the mission or rather that prez should let us move on. He said that probably 3 times and the third time he said it he added. ¨But its a lie because really I am still sad¨ It is sad to see the mission ending but it only makes me more dedicated to make this last month count for all it is worth.

They recently came out with a newly formatted Book of Mormon in Spanish. It is so weird! I was just reading a long and all of a sudden THE WORDS WERE DIFFERENT! Turns out the revised it to be more like the english translation but it weirded me out to have my scriptures changed. In Mosiah 2:21 they changed inutiles to improductivos. so when I saw that I went and checked other scriptures that I had noticed were diff from the way are in English. I was surprised that they didn't change Alma 7:6 because I feel that it is very different. Also side note I like Alma 34:31 better in Spanish. Basically in general I like the scriptures better in Spanish I wonder if that will change when I go home...

Anywho I love you guys!

Hna Lambert

p.s. Pray for Jazmin she is still nervous about getting baptized (Jorge is going to baptize her)

Ayotla

Hermana Jones my compa!

All is great here in Ayotla. We had a baptism this week... kind of. He is 8 and his mom is a recent convert who just completed a year of membership.  However he didnt want to get baptized because he is super shy and didnt want anyone to see him, he wouldnt even talk to us when we went over to visit him. Hna Jones and I have been visiting him since the begining of the cycle and telling him Book of Mormon stories that have to do with Baptism Like how Abinidi stoon up to Wicked King Noah, and then Alma baptized a ton of people, or how Amman cut off a ton of arms of his enemies and impressed the knig and them baptized the  king and basically his whole pueblo. Each time we told these stories we would end bearing our testimonies of baptisim and how it has helped us in our lives. We also got him a children's Book of Mormon and he started reaqding it with his mom. Then finally we invited  him to be baptized and he said yes!!! It was so wonderful to see him vencer [copnquer] his fears and take a step to follow Christ. But his baptisim was so stressful! We invited literally no one beacause that is how he wanted it, but about 25 people showed up! I can't get that many people to come to baptisms when I invite them! 

We found a lot of super cool new investigators this week which is good because the people we were teaching just weren't progressing. We meet Mauricio who just finished college and wants to know if God exist, Carlos (17) who would be atheist but he says the world is just to sad if you don't belive in anything-- and has been investigating varios religiones, and then David and his family and Yazmin. Yazmin is Jorge´s cousin/sister (there is a mixed up telenovela storyline if I ever heard one) she is so awesome! One day I was worried about Jorge and I just felt like we really needed to go visit him. It wasn't in the plans but we decided to go.  We practically ran. My stomach started to feel physically sick as I felt almost the desperate need to get to his house. I felt so ridiculous I knew que a lo mejor ni nada estaba pasando con el pero senti que teniamos que llegar. [most likely nothing was hapenning, but I felt we had to get there.] We had been calling his phone the whole way there as well and he hadn't picked up. When we got to his door we knocked and he wasn't even home! But his cousin answered the door and like the missionaries we are we contacted her and put a return appointment. I felt so dumb walking away from that house why had I felt  SO STRONGLY that we had to go if he wasn't even home? As we started teaching Yazmin I began to understand why. I have no time to tell the story bien but basically this we have taught her 2 times, she has come to church, she has fecha for the 26th of November, she has prayed and KNOWS that this is the true church that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the BoM is true, she has told her dad she is a mormon now, and is willing to do EVERYTHING requiered of her by our Father in Heaven :) It makes me so happy to teach people like her. The Story of David and his family is also really cool but I have no time left.

Thanks for being awesome, I love you guys :)

Hna Lambert

Doing well and doing good..

So this week ws fun we walked A LOT! One day we walked for 2 hours, sat down to eat and then got up and walked for 2 more hours. pretty much all the days were like that and since we spent Monday climbing pyramids.... well it is a recipe for sore legs and tired feet!

I really do love this area. Sometimes you get to an area and in every home you get to they talk about Elder so-and-so or sister so-and-so, their names are all over the registros, random nonmembers in the street come up and ask about them. It is crazy how much of a legend some one can be. I have often wondered how much of a mark I leave in the wards I have visited. Heck when I had been in Oriental 7 months people still didn't know my name! Bit this week I really felt that I had made a mark. I was in the Izcalli ward for about 2 months right before I went home and once or twice I ate with Hna Mascarenas and her non-member husband. After that I would say "Hi" to her at church and chat her up activities but not much. Yesterday I finally made the connection that her grown up daughter is the Gospel Principles teacher in the ward I am in now. Her mom had been talking about a Hermana Lambert that had hurt her hand and her daughter made the connection that it was me and her mom told her to thank me because the first time I entered their house I said "Que casa tan bonita y mexicana" [What a beautiful mexican house.] She told me her dad had been remodeling the house for years  with the dream that one day someone would say that. She thanked me for being receptive enought to the spirit to say it. Something that meant even more to her dad because an American was saying it. It makes me so happy to know that I won a place in the hearts of this family. It also made so much more sense why the sister was so loving with me.

This week in Sociodad de Soccoro a recently reactivated sister was giving the lesson on Charity. She shared how her sister had been suffering from cancer for 5 years and Miercoles at 11:45 her sister finally passed away and how that day before 1:00 we showed up. We went in to the room where her sister was laid out and sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again and Conmigo quedate Senor. and something else I think. She shared how this experience filled her with peace.  I love that family so much. Her children are so fantastic. It amazes me how I can love people so much after such a short time.

We are also planning the baptism of Felipe the son of a recent convert. He is 8 years old almost 9 and has refused to get baptised. The bishop talked to him, the other missionaries have passed and passed and he always says no because he is very, very shy. Hna Jones and I decided that instead of inviting him to be baptized we would do dramatic retellings of book of Mormon stories that related to baptisim. We also got him a children's BoM and got him to start reading it. It worked. After almost a month of visiting him Hna Jones and I invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and to be baptized. He said yes :) I am so happy he really is an adorable kid :)

Jorge keeps being fantastic. He hasn't even been baptized for a month and he is already in Jacob, reading Genesis and has passed chapter 12 of the Gospel Principles book! This kid is on FIRE! Plus he has told us he is thinking about going on a mission and when others ask him he says he would like to :) I hope he does! I will write him every week if he does.

Yesterday Prez called us to ask Jones and I our opinions on changes and it looks like we are going to get to stay together! He is going to send us a latina though so we will be in trio but that should be fun and will help us to speak more spanish. It also means that when I go home I will have had 14 companions in 17 months. Que loco verdad!? Prez also asked me when I want to go home. He said anywhere from Dec.7th to January 31st but I think I am going to stick with January first even if it mean I miss Christmas con ustedes.

I love hearing bout how you guys are doing. I think I lucked out and got the best family in the whole world :) I love the mission, It is the best thing I have ever done with my life :)

Hna Lambert

Hector's Baptism

Sorry I haven't written lately but I have started writing in my journal again so at least there will be some record for future gererations.

This week Hector got baptized. Gosh baptisms are so stressful! The day gets there and its like ARGH I don't even want them to get baptized anymore--everything is going wrong!! But it all turned out in the end. Hector is married to a less active and his in-laws are members as well. At the top of our area there is a colonia called Capulin. Hermana Wong had felt for a long time that we needed to go find some one up there and that there was a lot of potential, so we went. We knocked the door of some menos activas and an old lady leaned over the wall  and shouted " I'm busy could you come back latter? And my son in law wants to get baptized!" We were all a little shocked but quickly gathered our wits and put an appointment. I have had people before tell me they want to get baptized but usually they don't even show up for their appointments, so I didn't really have high hopes. Hector was convinced from the day we started teaching him that he wanted to get baptized but we couldn't really figure out why, since he didn't appear to have a testimony of anything. Heck, when the time came for his baptismal interview we adamantly advised the Elder not to pass him because we didn't think he was ready. When Hector and the Elder came out of the interview they were both bawling. Hna Jones and I didn't really know how to react. Elder Galindo just said "He's good to go! I don't know why you said he wasn't ready." Which kind of hit us like a slap in the face. I mean, we taught him everything, we invited him to read the Book of Mormon every lesson, and he hadn't done it.  We told him to pray to know if the church and he said he had but hadn't received his answer yet. We later got it out of them. So his interview was on Thursday and the last time we had seen him was Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon he headed out to Puebla to pick up his ailing father and on his way started the Book of Mormon. That is when everything changed. He now has a testimony of Joseph Smith, that the priesthood has been restored,  and that the Book of Mormon is true.

Cool stuff

So as missionaries we use a list of steps in Preach My Gospel to plan each week for our investigators. I have grown to love this process on my mission. It helps me  to organize my thoughts and see what we need to do to help those whom we are teaching. So this past week Hna Jones and I made a step by step Plan for how to plan when we get home :) I am so excited it is going to help me so much :)

w

Love you guys, Hermana Lambert #1

With Jorge at the temple!

Sis. Jones and I

Rocking the new missionary attire!

Doing service!

Love this temple!

Loving Being in Mexico!

Sis. Jones (my new compa), Sis. Wolferts and me!

Back with the team!!

Our wonderful investigator who was baptized and received the priesthood today!

Friday phone call, Monday in Mexico!

Arrivederci Boston!

Can you Spot the Missionary?  Logan Airport, Monday morning! Answer at the bottom of the page.



Friday morning we got a phone call that Lydia could leave Monday morning for Mexico.  We were in Maine, she was in Worcester.  Her doctor (the amazing Steve Barr) had talked with the church doctors and told them that in all his 20plus years of practice he had never seen such great healing.  He convinced them that she was good to go, and didn't even need the second cast he had anticipated.  It has been so wonderful to have Lydia pass through our home a few times as she has been here and to see her great love and dedication to the mission as she worked in the wonderful Boston Massachusetts Mission!!  She loved her presidents and her companions and had some very important experiences while she served here.

Here are some pictures of her with her mission family and her eternal family. :)

Sis. Jensen, Sis. Buck, Elizabeth, Lydia, the MILLERS!

Saying good-bye to Pres. Miller

Good-bye to Sis. Jensen and Sis. Miller

Good-bye to Sis. Buck

Dad's favorite missionary in all the world!

Sisters and FUTURE sisters (Abigail was in Maine, Elizabeth?)

Mom & Lydia

Hyrum is planning to be taller than Lydia soon.

See you in January, bro!

HERE SHE IS!!

Sis. Lambert is BACK IN MEXICO!

Hurray!  I'm back!!  Dr. Barr don't look at this picture!

In the combi going to my new area!

Sorry I didn't write last week but we didn't really have time. But last week was fantastic! this week ... not so much. This week Hna Wong got sick so we basically spent the whole week at Prez's house watching the Olympics and running around to doctors. at least it felt that way. 

This area is so awesome! It is just so easy to work here I can't really explain it but the spirit is just so strong in preparing people before we even get there, and then guiding us to them. and it is not just 1 or 2 but lots!!

The first week I got here we invited 3 people to baptism and put dates/goals with them. Plus someone Wong was previously teaching got baptized my first Saturday there. It was a sweet old lady who was SO HAPPY to be baptized it was amazing.

Then Sunday. Wow! Sunday may have been one of the happiest days of my life. I just couldn't contain how happy I was when EVERY SINGLE ONE of our investigators that we had visited, and even some we hadn't, came to church and had good experiences.

Here are the baptism plans right now. Only Alejandra and Armando were taught somewhat before I got here. 

Alejandra 27 de Agosto (if she gets married)

Armando y Jorge 10 de septiembre 

Anayeli y Anali 17 de Septiembre

Alicia 14 de Octubre

Plus Anayeli has a 10 year old boy who we can most likely set a date with. Plus we found some really promising nuevos [investigators] and I am excited to work with them as well!

----------

[Ed. note:  This is a picture and short letter from a sister Lydia taught before she left for her operation.  This sister was baptized while Lydia was stateside.]

 "I hope you are doing well since your operation.  I want to share with you that I was baptized.  You and Sis. Jones were a great help as I took this decision.  After hearing your testimony, I read the Book of Mormon.  Since then, my life began to have meaning.  Thank you Sister Lambert.  May God bless you."

Espero se encuentre bien,despues de su operación. Le quiero compartir;que me bautise.Usted y la hermana Jones fueron de gran ayuda,para tomar esta desición.Despues de su testimonio.Leí el Libro de mormón.Y  desde entonces mi vida comenzo a tener sentido.Gracias hermana Lambert.Dios la bendiga.

Woostah!

[Editor's note:  Lydia is currently serving a mini-mission in Worcester, while her arm heals from surgery.  She had a bone graft and pins, took a small mini-vacation to our family reunion in Utah and travelled back across the country by Amtrak to get her arm re-cast and plunge back into mission work.  We loved having her with us!]

The lady in red is Maria, the one in pink flowers is her sister Justina, the guy with long hair is her son Joseph, the guy with the beard is a recent convert from Cuba that is going to the temple in a few weeks. He grew that beard because he loves Brigham Young and wanted to be just like him.

Missionary work is so different here and I feel like I am finally getting the hang of it. We have meet some intensely awesome people here. First I want to talk about Francis. Francis is Polish. she came here 8 years ago. The plan was to stay for 3 months and visit a friend but she has never gone back. She has 3 sons, 1 daughter, and 5 grand kids 3 of which she has never met. She works cleaning the house of one of the less active members of the ward. 4 months ago when Sis Jensen first meet her she spoke literally no English. Her downstairs neighbor would sometimes help her translate but that was it. So Sis Jensen started teaching her English. When I showed up she had learned enough that she could somewhat communicate and with us.  She started to read the children's BoM in English. She loves it! she has been learning so much and last time when we showed up for class she had a questioned prepared and she asked "how is your bible different than my bible? " we were then (with the help of a computer and google translate) able to explain the Book of Mormon and bear our testimonies. She is the sweetest old lady I have ever meet. Every time we go over she makes us a delicious desert and we can just tell she is so happy to see us. Last class we also helped her find a polish Book of Mormon online through lds.org and she saved it on her favorites list! We will check in in a few days and see if she has read it :)

Then there is Eme. A few transfers ago Sis Jensen and her comp were really struggling in the area because the basically didn't have investigators so they decided to pray and as guided by the spirit write down specific attributes at the investigator they needed to find and baptize would have. Sis Jensen thought of a young, beautiful Dominican with great hair. And her comp thought of a short over weight Puerto Rican lady. So both pretty different but they kept looking for these people and nothing really happened until Hna Jensen's comp left and a week or 2 before I got here, Hna Buck and Hna Jensen contacted Eme, a young beautiful Dominican with great hair. Hna Jensen says when she saw her face she KNEW it was the girl she had been picturing. When they asked if she would like to hear a message about Jesus Christ she said "Sure, I love Jesus"! They weren't able to teach her till I joined them but now we have taught her twice-ish and she is totally on FIRE! We Committed her to baptism and she totally accepted and pretty soon we are going to put a date with her that she can prepare for.

Next we have Joseph. He is an old investigator of the sisters but they dropped him because he would never come to church or keep commitments and they had been teaching him for about a month. But then the week they dropped him on of the members who had visited Jose with them went to visit him and talked to him for an hour and a half and convinced him to come to church on Sunday!!! through a long and eventful string of happenstances He came to church! he has been twice now, he is being baptized the 23 and wishes he could be baptized sooner, and he is going to the temple August 6th to do baptisms for the dead for his father and brothers. Joseph is awesome we meet with him everyday!

The one investigator I am really worried about is Maria....[personal info].... 

Sorry I didn't really write last week we went in to Boston and had a blast but didn't really had time for anything else. I love you guys!The work is good and the church is true!

Love Sis Lambert

A Little Wrinkle in Mission Time

At Leadership Council

Hi Everyone,

This is just a note to let you know that Lydia's wrist which has been hurting is actually broken.  She is coming home tomorrow for surgery including a bone graft and pins.  We hope that after everything is on course she'll be back in Mexico soon!  Thanks for your support!

Week 47: Fish Bellybuttons?

fish bellybuttons?

Hey guys I love you :)

 My new area is super awesome I love it! this week we found 11 new people to teach and we put fecha with 3 people the elders were already teaching. We have found some really nice open people here that could really go far. Now we just have to get them to church. I got sun burned where I forgot to put sun screen and super tan where I did put it. I feel like I can see my native american ancestry coming out :)

I feel like some of my favorite p-day activities include walking slowly, sitting down, and being able to lie on my bed and leisurely eat a banana--or being able to take the time to go buy ice cream if I want. You know, the simple things. life is just so go, go, GO! as a missionary sometimes. I feel like especially in this area there is always lots to do and we are always rushing to do it.

On a side note, we ate fish bellybuttons this week. Now I know what you are thinking ¨But Lydia fish don't have bellybuttons¨ That's what I thought but apparently in the fish called la lissa there are belly buttons on the inside of the fish so yah. It is not something I would eat again but I had to try it at least once.

You guys said I should tell you more stories about my teaching experiences but I don't really know what to say. We taught some really cool people this week but when I tried to write about it in my journal it just sounded stupid. :(

Also on skype you asked me what you guys should do to prepare the future missionaries back home and I said study Preach My Gospel. I think the best place to start would be in the 3 main lessons we teach. Just knowing really well the basics and where the scriptures are that correlate. Practice teaching each other in fhe. You wouldn't believe how many missionaries didn't know how Joseph Smith got the priesthood till the MTC. Another good place to study is chapter 6 attributes of Jesus Christ studying and working on anyone of those is sure to help. I love you guys :)

Hna Lambert

Week 46: Piercing of the Hand

Hola Familia!

Im doing well. They are turning over our area to elders to see if they can do anything with the area and if they don't baptize either then they are going to close it :( Part of me wants them to have a lot of success especial since we just found some cool people that I really want to progress, but it will also stink if they just come in and baptize everyone because everyone will think we didn't work or some thing.

 I am pretty sad to be leaving this area. We found some really cool nuevos this week. Sometimes when we find nuevos it feels like well yah, they accepted a return appointment, but are they really going to progress? But these guys are awesome! They could totally get baptized! It is a family of father and 5 hijos (4 boys 1 girl) the youngest 2 are twins and are 7.  I think they are so great--both the dad and the oldest son seperately told us that they were looking for God but didn't know how to find him. Plus they were both totally on board with all the compromisos and accepted bautizmo (we will put a date next time)! Then there is this other girl who is 15 named Nurhy. We have been friends with her for about a 2.5 months but she would never agree to a return apointment aun cuando le ensenabamos varios veces. (although we taught her many times). We always find her in this member's store and the member always start talking about church doctrine and we all sit down and it just turns into a lesson. But FINALLY she came looking for us because one of her friends (also 15 years old) has cancer. We have taught plan of salvation, restoration, and Book of Mormon in the last week and she is so receptive! I love her! SHE CAN TOTALLY GET BAPTIZED!!!! IF her parents don't say no but... we will see. So yah, things are going great up here in Avila we found some cool people in Rio Frio as well and the bishop is actively looking for a house to rent up there so we can start the branch :) This area has so much potential! Plus there is one eternal investigator who should be getting married this month so she can finally get baptized and we have like 3 menos activo kids that want to get baptized. The Elders that get sent out here can definitely have a lot of exito! [success!] :) I'm only a little bit jealous. I honestly would be happy to stay here another cycle.

So in other news this past week we were helping out the ward mission leaders wife by.... drum roll please.... Teaching seminary!!!! At 6 in the morning! I think this experience is probably to help me remember that 6:30 really isn't that early and that I used to get up at 5:30 all the time. Plus we are studying Jeremiah so that's a blast :) Today we taught the Book of Lamentations. Did you know that 3 of the 5 chapters in that book were written in the form of an acrostic poem? I felt like I was back in Latin class analyzing ancient poetry as I delved in to  how Jeremiah used  a form of poetry so structured to describe the chaos that was passing in Jerusalem as they were conquered by Babylonia--because it wasn't coincidence! It was the logical and structured consequence of the the jew's sin and disobedience as prophesied by servants of the lord! SO COOL! But maybe just to me-haha!

This Friday when we went to unlock the church for seminary in the morning the keys would not work! we tried and tried. As the students arrived everyone took turns but no one could get it open. I decided that  it would be a good idea to jump the church fence and try to open it from the other side and let everyone else in. Drastic times call for drastic measures! I had previously taken a good look at the fence and it looked easy--almost as if they had conveniently designed it so that some one of my height could climb it. Granted I am rather a bit taller than the average Mexican. So I quickly looked around to make sure no guys were watching and in my Sunday skirt and flats I started to climb the fence. At first it was going fine, just as I had predicted. However as I pulled myself up to the top a stabbing pain reminded me that I sprained my wrist a week ago and it was far from better. I managed not to scream but quickly grabbed the top with my other wrist without time to be careful and impaled my palm on one of the spikes on top of the fence. The worst was I couldn't let go of the spike or I was going to fall because my other wrist/hand could not support my weight so I just leaned on it till I could pull my legs up. I got over and made it down the other side but when I looked at my hand the palm/heel was bleeding thick and red and blood was dripping off my fingers. I put pressure on it and tried to hide it from the students/ my comp and chatted cheerfully but it sure hurt like heck as I tried to open the gate from the inside. But it still wouldn't open!!!!!!! so now I had to cross over again! This time I was more careful and crossed safely making jokes about breaking into the church. After we sent the kids home I finally showed my comp. So yah.. thats one more thing that we can add to the list of things that I am waiting for to be healed.

I Just wanted to share with you guys the letter Prez wrote the mission. I love him :)

[Elders and Sisters,

Tonight I am sitting in a chair in the hospital at my wife's side, Hermana Stutz ("Mama Stutz").  I am thinking of her, her health, and how much I love her.  Also, I am thinking about you who seem so far away from me.  Looking through the hospital window, I can see the mountains of Paradise, and I can imagine where you are... even the furthest in Texcoco, Chapingo, Ixtapaluca and even the Sisters in the mountains and pueblo of Avila Camacho!!

As I look through the window I am thinking of all of you, working with faith, of your own volition, 

contacting, teaching, gathering with your investigators, praying and giving your all.  Tears fall from my eyes, thinking in your sacrifices, and your efforts.  Many thanks for giving so much, for serving faithfully as servants of the Lord.  Please continue en virtue and diligence.  

I extend an invitation to any who for any reason are already tired and don't with to serve with zeal.  Please, search inside your hearts to find the love that you have for this work, this service so beautiful and sacred.  Invite yourselves to come to Christ.  Your actions (getting up on time, meeting people, teaching, etc) show the Lord your love for Him.  Do you think He doesn't see your actions?  How blind they are who think this way!  He sees you even in your discouragement, your lack of desire to give everything.  I know you can, all of you.  Imagine, all of you... how would the work of the Mission MexicoCd de Mexico be if everyone gave it all, all the time.  I know you can, and that the Lord will bless you.  Thank you for your prayers for Sis. Stutznegger.  She is fighting to be rid of an infection in her body. She is a fighter!!! I know that very soon she will get up from her bed in this hospital.  Meanwhile, many thanks for your faith and for being here in the best mission in the world.

Presidente Stutznegger]

Elderes y Hermanas,

Esta noche siento en una silla en un hospital al lado de mi esposa, Hermana Stutz ("Mama Stutz"). Pienso en ella, su salud, y lo mucho que yo la quiero a ella. Tambien, pienso en ustedes que parecen lejos de mi. Viendo por la ventana del hospital, puedo ver a los cerros de Paraiso, y puedo imaginar a donde estan todos ustedes...aun los mas lejos en Texcoco, Chapingo, Ixtapaluca, y aun las Hermanas en las montañas en el pueblo de Avila Camacho!! 

Al mirar por la ventana, pienso en todos ustedes, trabajando con fe, de su propia voluntad, contactando, enseñando, arrodillandose con investigadores, orando, y dando de todo. Lagrimas salen de mis hojos pensando en sus sacrificios, y de sus esfuerzos. Muchas gracias por dar tanto, por servir fielmente como siervos del Señor. Favor de continuar en virtud y diiligencia. 

Hago una invitacion a algunos que por alguna razon, ya estan cansados o no desean servir con fervor. Por favor, buscan de en dentro de sus corazones para encontrar el amor que tienen por esta obra, este servicio tan hermoso y sagrado. Inviten a sis mismos a venir a Cristo. Sus acciones (levantarse a tiempo, encontrar, enseñar, etc) muestran al Señor su amor por El. Piensan ustedes que El no ve sus acciones? Que engañados son si es asi!" El les ve tal vez en su desanimo, su falta de deseo de dar de todo. Se que pueden, todos. Imaginenses todos...como seria la obra en la Mision Mexico Cd de Mexico si todos pueden dar de todo, todo el tiempo. Se que pueden, y que El Señor le va a bendecir. 

Gracias por sus oraciones para Hna Stutznegger. Esta peleando para quitar una infeccion en su cuerpo! Ella es una luchadora!!! Se que muy pronto se levantara de su cama en este hospital. 

Mientras, muchas gracias por su fe y por estar aqui en el mejor mision en el mundo. 

Presidente Stutznegger

Well I love you guys a lot. I can't believe that I am going to be talking to you guys again in a week! We forgot to talk to members about where we could Skype you from but we will figure it out this week we will probs try to talk to you guys at like 5 our time. Have a great week :)

Week 45: Friday Night Feasts

Preaching to all God's creatures!

So it is official 9 de Mayo prez is taking us of the hill and moving us to... wait for it... another hill!

I realize I probably haven't ever described what my pueblo is actually like. It is a very interesting mix of EXTREMELY tranquil and surprises around every corner. 

There is a guy here (they say he is a narco pero quin sabe) who has a tiger. On our street everyone is a member (feel like l live in Provo) except for one house that has a virgin shrine out front and these investigators have a garden that stretches the length of the block. IT IS HUGE! and inside they have a bunch of peacocks including an albino and a bunch of other exotic animals and birds. There is a ranch here with 30 min ponies! and then they have 150 normal horses. And by normal, I just mean big because these are not ordinary horses--Arabians, and Thoroughbreds and all sorts of fancy horses.

lots of people gallop around on horses here. For me it is super funny when some whistles at us as they ride by on their horse I feel like saying " I was checking out your horse not you!"

if you live below the highway you are probably Mormon, if you live above the highway you are Catholic or an inactive member

The pueblo is normally very calm but weekends above the highway! WATCH OUT they go crazy! There are parties everywhere. They shut whole streets down every weekend to host their parties. The good thing is that once we told some of our investigators we can't go to parties as missionaries, so she fills us up plates of food and has children deliver it to our house at about 9:30 Friday and Saturday. Party food over here is usually mole or mixote (I think that is how it is spelled. The fun thing about mixchote is that is kind of like a goodie bag. The bad thing is you can never be sure what you are going to get.)

Basically mixote is carne de res (beef) (which is normally SUPER GOOD) with a bunch of spices (I think they even put a curry-like thing in there)  and nopales in a bag made of this certain plant they also make tequila out of. But you never know which part of the bull you are going to get. This week as we were eating at a members house in my "goodie bag" I got umm.. well... lets just say rocky mountain oysters with some other interesting pieces... I shudder just thinking about it I went home and brushed my teeth because I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth.

Well I love you guys and I will be seeing you super soon! Just let me know what time you want to skype on Mother's Day and we can make it happen as long as it is after 3 our time.

He knows he is beautiful!

Hna Lambert