The Wonders of Bucket Showers

HOLA FAMILIA

I had an AMAZING week!!  And this is why:

My new area is overwhelmingly huge with tons of hills.  This means that I am getting and will get lots of great exercise!  This also means that there are rather astonishing views of mountains piled with many, many homes (I hope to send some pictures home for you to see just how many people live in just this little amount of area).  This also means that there are loads of people just waiting to hear the Gospel. I am so happy for this because I came into the area with only 2 investigators, none even close to baptism.  However, as the week played out, Elder Figueroa and I have been really obedient and have seen some amazing things happen.

We had one investigator named Jaqueline who I was told hardly listened to what the missionaries said and just giggled and said "I don´t know."  Elder Figueroa told me all of these things as we were walking to her house.  She walks out and is acting just as he told me she would act.  We started the lesson with a hymn and prayer to invite the Spirit.  I was just searching for something to say or do to help her realize that we come here with a purpose.  I got to know her a little and then asked if she had prayed about anything the missionaries had taught her.  She answered yes.  We then taught her how she would get an answer from God.  I then pointed out to her that the good feelings she felt in the prayer mean that she received an answer.  This changed everything.  She would stare us right in the eyes, answer every question we asked, and even readily accepted a baptism date in that very same lesson.  The power of the Holy Ghost is so amazing. Not only that but as we had to visit with her mom on three separate occasions to finally get permission for her baptism, she would tell her mom just how much she wanted it.  Also, she convinced her mom to take off work, to take the family to church, and then attend the baptism.  In Church, Elder Figueroa and I taught Gospel Principles and felt that we should teach about baptism.  After the spiritual baptismal service, we asked the mom if we could come by and share this same message with her and the rest of the family.  She told us that we could come by on Tuesday!!!  We are so excited to have this extremely huge blessing from the Lord!  Not only did we have a surprise baptism but we also get to teach the rest of the family!

On another note, I took my first bucket shower!  This means that I fill up a bucket of water throw in a calentador (i.e., heater) and wait 20 minutes.  The air is freezing in the morning and the water only stays warm for a little bit.  Sometimes the water will run out before all of the soap is off.  Luckily that hasn´t happened to me yet.  What an experience I am having here in Mexico.  I love every experience I have that takes me out of the bubble I lived in Coppell.  These sort of experiences have helped me to love the people even more and be that much more humble.

I had a wonderful week and have faith that another one is on its way!

Love,
Elder Janis