"No MANCHES Hermanas." - phrase that the Elders use 24/7

Well this week went by really fast and I forgot to write down random things that I wanted to talk about...oops.

Christmas was awesome and I was so happy to get to talk to my family and see their faces!(: And shoutout to Kaylee and Christian for showing up to see me(: So yeah I was super happy after talking with everyone. We had Christmas Eve dinner with a family in another ward in our stake and it was super good! It tasted almost like the flavor of enchiladas so that kinda made my life because I still haven't even seen a single enchilada here. :(

On Christmas day literally nobody was home so we ordered a pizza for our district in the church and we talked a little bit with the Elders' families since they talked with them on Christmas day instead of Christmas eve. 

Really this whole week was unsuccessful because EVERYONE was gone with their families for the holidays so we didn't have a lot of lessons or anything :( But now it's a new week and people should be coming home.

We're excited because for New Years we're spending it with the same family as Christmas Eve and also maybe the Bishop's family(: Hopefully I don't die from all the cuetes we'll be lighting off. (;

Yeah I don't really have much to talk about but I hope Christmas was amazing for all of you and that you were able to feel all the joy of the holidays. (: I know that Christ lives and that through him we can have eternal life and eternal happiness. I know that He and our Father in Heaven love us more than we could ever imagine and that as long as we have faith and trust in them we are capable of overcoming any and every trial we have in our lives. I am so happy with the Gospel in my life and it makes me so happy to be able to share that with other people here in Mexico. 

Have a great week everyone, I love and miss you all! (:

P.S. - on Saturday we find out who has transfers so I'll update you on that next week!

Hermana Eyring

Speaking with Sierra and her companion Hermana Pasten on Skype.

It was go great getting to talk to our beautiful missionary. Her spanish is really good!

Our little Christmas tree for our house(:

I got to see Hermana Lopez today and I was so happy!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night (:

Feliz (casi) Navidad amigos!

You guys don't even know how much I wish I could be in the US and with all of you this Christmas :( I've actually been having dreams every night for the past week that I'm spending Christmas at home... But oh well! I'm super excited because in 2 days I get to Skype my family and see their faces for the first time in 5 months so that'll be the highlight of all of my mission so far.

Okay well this week not much happened that was super exciting. But one thing that has been occupying all of our "free" time is a thing called Cuetes. They are basically the fireworks that don't explode up in the air all pretty... The "ground" fireworks I guess you could say. Everyone here loves them. All throughout the night you here mini explosions everywhere. The Elders love to throw them at us and it scares the crud out of me haha but it's fun I guess. Also, we bought lighters so we could light them off and Hermana Pasten and I are pretty much burning everything in our house. Whenever we are sitting down in our house to plan or anything we are burning random things with our lighters. So yeah that's been the most exciting thing of our week.

Something cool that happened: Our most recent convert Sandra has been having really bad migraines and stress so the Elders gave her a blessing of health the other night. We told her that it would work according to her faith. The next day we saw her and she came running up to us and said that she felt no pain at all since the blessing and she told all of her family (who aren't members) about it. So that was super cool and a testimony building experience.

Yeah I don't really have much more to say about this week. But I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and don't forget the reason for the season. Jesus Christ was the best gift we could ever receive. Through him we have the opportunity to live forever with our Father in Heaven after this life. We have the opportunity to be free of our sins, pains, and all kinds of suffering.

I hope you all know how much I will be missing you this Christmas. Enjoy it and show as much love as you can(:

I love you all tons. Have a great holiday week!

Hermana Eyring(:

Two of my favorite little girls during our ward Christmas party (:

Me being sad because my district leader and companion were ignoring me.

(Picture taken by my 9 year old best friend.)

“It’s not too often we see a white person on the street looking like a hobo.” - said to Hermana Eyring while she was too sick to stand up while walking back to her home.

Well I don’t really have much to say about this week because I was sick... again. Actually both me and Hermana Pasten were. We had to stay in the house 3 whole days. We had "La Gripa" which is the flu. All week I’ve been practically coughing up a lung and I had a fever and my whole body and head hurt. But now I’m better! Except for the whole coughing thing... Which doesn’t really help with contacting people.

On Wednesday we had our big multi-zone Christmas conference in Puebla which was super fun. We sang a bunch of Christmas songs, played games, learned a lot, and ate a ton. It was so much fun to see everyone! Me and an Elder in my district made ugly Christmas sweaters that we brought to the conference and in the middle of when we were were all singing we went to change into them. When we came back in everybody was laughing and clapping and our mission president’s wife made us stand up to model them to everyone. It was awesome haha I didn’t think we’d have that much success with them.

The other night we were doing our weekly planning that we missed since we were sick and all of the sudden a bunch of people showed up to our neighbors house (they live above us). They started singing and chanting things about the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Virgin Maria super loudly for like an hour and we were like, “uhhh what in the world?” Then we figured out that it was a holiday that day... Literally Virgin or Guadalupe day... So that was interesting.

The 2nd weirdest thing that happened this week: The other day we tried to contact this lady and we asked her if we could give her a card that talked about the church. She paused for a second, grabbed Hermana Pasten’s face and pulled it towards her and kissed her on the forehead then walked away mumbling something. It was so strange and we were laughing for a straight 5 minutes afterwards

Since we didn’t really leave the house, that’s pretty much all that happened this week haha. I hope you guys are all doing well and are healthy and happy and in the Christmas spirit (: I have been super trunky and missing you all a ton especially since it’s Christmas time. Enjoy it in the US for me :( 

I love you all!

Hermana Eyring

Our ugly Christmas sweaters!

Los Asistentes y Secretarios and Presidente!

District Christmas Tree picture(:

I felt super sick while we were walking back from the bus from Puebla so I was sitting on the sidewalk and they said I'm the first white homeless looking person they've ever seen... hahah.

"He is hot." - A phrase I taught Hermana Pasten in English that she uses all the time.

Hola Amigos!

Well we have been sick all this week with different things. I had a bad cold and cough and now Hermana Pasten has it. Earlier Hermana Pasten was having troubles with her stomach and with breathing so we had to go to the hospital 3 times for different reasons. Then on Saturday night I got super sick and didn’t sleep at all and almost passed out in the bathroom and yeah it was a great night. L But now all is well! My stomach still hurts a bit and Hermana Pasten`s cough is getting worse but, ehh we’ll get over it haha.

Okay things that happened this week:

We were walking in Apizaco (the city) on our way to a meeting at the church and and all the sudden this man stopped us and was trying to talk to us in signs and it took us a while but we realized he was deaf and couldn’t speak but we figured out that he was trying to tell us he wanted us to visit him.  It took forever but he explained where he lived and his phone number and name and everything. Even though he was writing everything, we couldn’t understand his handwriting and he wasn’t making sense with that either. Then he tried to kiss us on the cheeks to say goodbye and we had to reject it and we felt so bad cause we couldn’t explain why he couldn’t kiss us. :( But yeah the whole thing was a super humbling experience and we really want to teach him but he’s in the area of the Elders :(

On Friday morning we were in the area of 2 of the Elders in our district half the day helping their investigators move into a new house. When we got there they told us to organize it how we would our own house and they were trusting us to organize their house for them ahhh haha. It was fun but super tiring!

Pretty much every day this week other American in my district, Elder Steffensen , and I were giving English classes to 2 of the Bishop’s daughters because they are preparing for an exam to be able to get into this English program through BYU. I realized that English is super weird and hard to teach haha.

The words "flip" "fetch" and "freak" are words that pretty much all the missionaries (especially the Latinos) in our mission use and now I’m involuntarily starting to use them too haha. I feel like I sound so weird. We have so many "missino words" and "mission phrases" in our mission.

An elder gave us some CDs of Christmas and Disney songs and we have been listening to the Tarzan soundtrack nonstop and I’m pretty sure “You’ll Be In My Heart” is my new favorite song right now.

The church is starting this new thing for Christmas called “He Is The Gift”. If you haven’t seen it, go to www.christmas.mormon.org and watch the video and share it on Facebook, twitter, or whatever you have. We have been talking a lot about this with people we contact.

Today I went to Walmart and Sam’s Club for the first time since being in Mexico and that was pretty much the highlight of the week for us, haha.

Well that’s pretty much all that happened this week! On Wednesday we have our big Multizone Christmas activity with President Christensen in Puebla and we’re really excited! I hope you all have a great week and are enjoying the Christmas season. I wish I could be home for Christmas but this is the next best thing. (:

Les extraño mucho,

Hermana Eyring

The other day we helped one of our investigators warm up these puppies that were just born 2 hours earlier outside in the freezing cold and almost had hypothermia. Their mom was sick in the vet so we had to pretty much nurse them back to health,

Christmas hats that we got for our whole district and ward mission leader(:

You can't really tell because it's so tiny but today we stopped by a 

pet store and I got to hold a baby turtle. (:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hoooooola. Okay first off I’m sorry because I didn’t reply to anyone last week. I only replied to 3 people (not even all of my family) because we had to go to the hospital. I’m going to try to get to everyone today but I have a lot of emails built up.

Okay, well this week was good! I was better on Tuesday in time to go to the Transfers meeting an hour and half away in Puebla. But now I have a bad cold.

So about my new companion! Her name is Hermana Pasten and I love her so much. She’s from Chile and we get along really well and have lots of fun together. She is about to reach her year mark of the mission in 3 days! And this is her first time being in the state of Tlaxcala. She’s always been in Puebla, like in the city. I’m also her first American companion! The other day she told me that when she found out her new companion was American she was super scared because people had told her things about the American hermanas that weren’t so great. She said I’m very different than what she heard and that she’s really happy so that’s good that I broke the stereotype I guess haha. But yeah we’re loving our time together, she’s awesome!

I also love my new district. We all get along really well and love being together. It hasn’t even been a week and we already have matching bracelets, matching Santa hats, and trompos that we bought together.

-So about those Trompo toys I was talking about? I gave in and got one... Well actually an Elder in my district bought one for both me and Hermana Pasten. We’re addicted and we can’t stop playing with them.

On Friday we had a multi-zone conference with the Area Seventy of Mexico ,Elder Toris, his wife and President and Sister Christensen. It was really good and we learned a lot! I got to see a lot of friends so as always that was great.

An update on my health: When we went to the hospital the doctor said I’m okay and he thinks me being sick was from so much grease and spiciness in the food that eventually built up and my body couldn’t take it anymore. Also all the stress and nervousness I had with transfers and the fact that before I threw up I was playing soccer with the Elders in the hot sun. But yeah I got better really quickly. We told the doctor some other symptoms I’ve been having with my stomach and chest and stuff and he said that I have some problem with gastro something and that I need to see a specialist, but ehh who knows.

In this week I will be 1/4 done with my mission... What?! The time has flown by crazy fast and before I know it, it’s going to be Christmas!

We didn’t do anything for Thanksgiving :( In fact, I actually didn’t even remember on Thursday that it was thanksgiving until that night. But in the Thanksgiving spirit here are some of the things I’m thankful for:

* My family

* Being a missionary, especially in the Mexico Puebla North Mission.

* The life that I have grown up with. My house, my schools, Maple Valley, etc.

* BYU

* The people that haven´t forgotten about me. (;

* The United States

* Having the truth and direction of the gospel in my life.

* All of my friends and the people who have touched my life.

* Health

* and many, many more things.

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving and were able to feel the spirit of gratitude and also I hope you all were able to eat a ton to make up for what I didn’t get to eat…haha.

Que tengan una semana maravillosa!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Eyring

PS… I have lots of photos to send this week but I’m not sure if the computer will let me send them so I’m sorry if you don’t get them :(

Shopping with Hermana Pasten! 

We helped our newest convert Sandra decorate her tree this week(:

Today we took a little stroll in Apizaco Central and yeah we almost broke this swingset hahaha

"Hermana Eyring you can’t understand me? I’m speaking in ENGLISH!"

Hola, hola. Okay I just want to start out this email saying I’m really sick and my head hurts so this may not be the best email and I might not get back to everyone because I may or may not throw up in the middle of writing. To explain a little bit: we had a double zone activity today (which was super fun) and we played soccer and a little bit of volleyball and just chilled. I was totally fine and all the sudden my stomach started feeling really sick and yeah in the middle of when we were taking our big group photo I had to run to the bathroom and I threw up a ton. It was super embarrassing because everyone knew about it, but por lo menos I got a blessing from some of the Elders because I was feeling really bad. When we finally got home I took an hour and a half nap but I’m still feeling really bad, which sucks because Transfers are tomorrow and we have to go all the way to Puebla (like 1.5 hours away) for the Transfers Meeting. So hopefully I feel better by then.

Okay updates to my week:

On Saturday we had our big Hawaii activity and there were over 150 people there in our little chapel and there were more investigators than members so that’s good. It was definitely a success and we had tons of fun. The missionaries and the ward council were in the church from 1pm-9pm on Saturday to set up, have the activity, and clean up.

Our zone leaders were at our activity and during the activity they found out the transfers so they just told us in person after the activity. The results are:

1. I’m not training (there are only like 4 Hermanas coming in and they apparently are almost all American so obviously I wouldn’t train an American. But I think Hermana Sellers is training and going to be the only American trainer for this group, go her!

2. Hermana Lopez has transfers:( I was happy because I get to stay in my area but super sad because we really wanted to stay together for Christmas. And now I’m really nervous to get a new companion and be in charge of knowing the area and everything well.

3. Half of our district has transfers and half is staying which is sad for all of us.

4.The only other 4 Hermanas in our zone are closing their area and elders are coming in, so me and my new companion are going to be the only Hermanas in the whole zone… ayayay.

Story of the week (which I’m sadly going to have to cut a little short): On Tuesday night we were about to leave with one of our recent converts to the weekly ward missionary activity and these 2 drunk like 20 year olds came in. One was bleeding really badly from his head because he got in a fight or something so we had to help them. The more drunk friend kept trying to invite us to go drink and go to a party with him and he kept trying to tell me in English that I was beautiful and ayayay. He was super drunk and he tried to kiss me and yeah super awkward. Then when they finally left we went to get in the combi and while we were waiting for it to leave the same 2 guys got on with us... ugh. And they kept talking to us again but it was actually really funny because one of them (the not as drunk one) speaks a little bit of English and the one who was super drunk kept asking his friend how to say things in English so he could talk to me. I kept telling him "it’s okay, I can understand you I speak spanish too" (saying it in Spanish) and this happened like 5 times and every time he was like "WOW you speak spanish!?" Even though the whole time I had been talking to him in Spanish. Super funny but super annoying at the same time, haha. We were so relieved to finally get out of the combi.

On Friday night we had the baptism of Sandra, which went super well and we sang a special musical number for her with other missionaries .(Come Thou Fount but translated into Spanish). She felt very good after her baptism and we were really happy!

Also on Friday night after the baptism the Elders in one of the other wards in our building had a talent show activity and they did their act at the end and it was the best thing ever. Background info: There are these things called Trompos (look up the videos haha) and it’s seriously the most difficult thing ever. (I’ve tried it like 1000 times and have only actually done it 5 times.) All the elders in the mission are obsessed with it. So for their talent the 4 of them did all these tricks with Trompos and dances and flips and yeah they were awesome. But before their act, the young women of the ward did a hip hop dance and one of the songs was Wiggle by Jason Derulo and oh my gosh, I have never laughed so hard. The elders were like freaking out and super red and covering their ears and eyes and oh my gosh me and Hermana Lopez almost died. And now the American elders keep singing the song.

3 very important things I learned this week:

* The words to the Macarena song.

* How to cut tape with my teeth effectively. (It practically took a whole army to teach me.)

* Never leave packages full of snacks alone with a room full of Elders because they WILL ransack it.

Well yep there’s my week for ya! We barely taught any lessons because we had so much to do but hey it was still a good week! Hope you all are doing well and once again I’m sorry if I don’t reply to a lot of you this week. Pray for my health so I can be better by transfers tomorrow, por favor. (:

Les amo,

Hermana Eyring

After the Hawaii Activity!

We had a little bit of fun with Hawaii decorating supplies.

Our last Correlación Misional with this district and our ward mission leader :( 

And 2 of the elders didn't even show up haha.