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.