Hola Familia!
We had a rollercoaster week with days that were beyond awesome and other days that were a little hard to get through. However all of the hard times were well worth the product of the week!
Before I tell you how the week ended, I thought I would describe a few of the awesome things that happened. One day Elder Diaz and I passed by our home in order to use a clean bathroom. As we were exiting the house, I felt impressed to leave one of the windows unlocked. I have thought about doing this a couple times in the last 2 months in case we forget our keys but just never did it. However, it just made a whole lot of sense in this moment to leave one of them unlocked. About 7 o´clock later that night, I dug my hands into my pocket in order to use a key to knock on a metal door. To be honest, I freaked out and frantically started asking my companion if he knew where they were. We searched pockets and backpacks without any success. I remembered that I had left one of the windows unlocked and could still enter the house. I then decided that I could worry about the keys later and went on with the night. As my companion started to enter through the window later that night he found my keys sitting on my desk...sad huh!! I am thankful for the impression of the Spirit to leave one window unlocked and from now on check my pockets before leaving the house.
The Morales Family that we are teaching told me the other day that they are relatives to a major marijuana dealer in this part of Mexico. They have nothing to do with the drugs but enjoy a considerable amount of protection from crime. They informed me that if anyone tries to assault me, I can say that I am friends with the family Tarango and they will do me no harm. Don't worry Mom, I have not been assaulted and won't be. Heavenly Father is protecting me and I know that with obedience and diligence nothing will happen. On top of that if something does happen, I have a family full of narcos (drug dealers) that will protect me!
Conference was amazing!! I especially enjoyed preparing our investigators for the conference because we talked a lot about Prophets and Apostles. I have gained such a strong testimony that we have a living prophet who talks face to face with God, Apostles that lead and guides us here on the Earth, and two opportunities every year to hear their messages. I know that their messages like Elder Holland said, "Come from Terrestrial messengers but are celestial messages." I love telling people how they were going to learn the will of God in the Conference and feel peace that can only come from God. It is beyond amazing how blessed we are to be members of this Church. I thoroughly enjoyed and learned tons in this past Conference and cannot wait to read the Ensign!
Ok, so it is about time I told you the grandiose news! After conference, one of the investigators we took to Conference pulled Elder Diaz and I aside to tell us something. When we were out of earshot of the other people, she looked us in the eyes and said "I want to be baptized. It is about time I change. I don't know if my family will make the same decision but I want to be the example that the other can follow." I don't know about you but after I heard this I almost started shouting and jumping up and down. Barely containing myself, I expressed my excitement for her and that there was nothing else I would rather do than help her fulfill this desire. She is the grandma of a family of 7 that we are teaching. All of them are progressing pretty well but have tons of doubts creating a wall of challenge. However, this attitude that Lourdes, the grandma, has will work miracles on the family!!!
Basically, things are going amazing! We have three families that will be baptized in the next two weeks. This means tons of work but man am I ready to face the challenges and bring these wonderful souls to my Father in Heaven. I am so blessed to be here and now with Elder Diaz. Although he is my son and I am daily trying to teach him I have learned TONS from him. He almost everyday makes my bed and quite often shines my shoes. On top of that he is always animated and driven to work hard and even harder. I learned from him this last week how to de-stress when things are out of our control and stressing won't do anything- take a step back and eating a torta full of egg, milanesa, and queso oxaca is the key!! ;)
I love all of you and hope you have a wonderful week!,
Elder Janis
