"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."

Hola hola hola!

Okay,  to start off this email all inspirational-like...

I always heard/saw the quote in my subject line before and I always wondered... "well what do I stand for?" and I never really knew. But I think I'm starting to figure it out being here in the mission. Just a little something to think about this week: What do you stand for?

Okay anwaysss... what happened this week:

* Today is my 8 month mark wooh! 10 more to go. (:

* On Tuesday we had our 3 month zone conference in our 4-zone area. We were seriously there all day and it was awesome! We learned so much and I loved it. Then we had lunch after and got to talk with everyone and take pictures which is always great.

* This week we started doing the Insanity video workouts every day and oh my gosh... I think it's the closest I've felt to death, haha. And I'm pretty sure I pulled every muscle in my leg because I was just limping around everywhere this week. But hey I'm determined to get off mission weight I've gained.

* One night this week we had to buy something in this mini grocery store before we went home and as we were buying, one of the cashier ladies asked my companion, "does she speak english?" I was like yeah. Then she started asking me all about where I'm from and questions about English and pretty sure EVERYONE in the store - cashiers, customers, everyone - were all gathered around asking me questions and telling me to teach them english and it was the strangest moment of my life. But I kinda felt like a celebrity or something so that was cool. (:

* There are a lot of things that happen here that make it really obvious that people don't like "los Mormones." For example on Sunday we walked out of the church and someone had poured a bucket of kitty litter and dog poop all over the exit so that was great... Then as we were walking back from church this guy intentionally tried to hit me with his motorcycle and we had to jump on the sidewalk. Woooh I love people who hate us haha.

* Something I love about being a missionary is that people we just barely meet trust in us so easily. They tell us things nobody else knows and they trust us with all their problems and secrets and it's kinda cool. 

* Luis has his baptism on Friday and we're so excited! All of the 3 missionary companionships in our ward have baptisms that day so it's gonna be a big awesome baptismal service. (:

Scriptures I like from this week:

3 Nephi 9:14 (Book of Mormon)  "Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me."

Romans 5:1-8: 

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

I love you all a ton! Have a great week.

Hermana Eyring

Zone Conference!

Zones Amalucan Oeste and Amalucan Este(:

Found Elder "Carrascito" haha. Feat. Elder Lopez and Elder Longenecker

Ate "gringas" for the first time the other night. 

They were all joking and saying I was eating myself haha.

"Padre, bendice a esos niños que nada más vienen a hacer desastres en la capilla"- Hermano Zeniff

Hi friends...

This was a good week as usual, haha. Just want to start off with a scripture that I love that talks about what being a missionary really is:

3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

So yeah this week it snowed like 30 minutes away from our area and Hermana Perez was so sad because we couldn't go play in it and she has never touched snow in her life. Also it snowed in Tlaxcala so we were upset that we weren't in our old areas for it. 

It also was super gloomy and rainy this week which actually made me really homesick cause it was just like Washington. But then I got over being homesick and was just annoyed with the rain, haha.

I finally learned how to eat a corn tortilla the right way. Apparently I've been doing it wrong my whole mission. There's two sides to a tortilla. One is the "face" and one is the "back" and you have to put your food on the face side otherwise you're just doing it wrong. So one day this week in La Comida they were like "Hermana Eyring... why are you eating your tortilla like that...?" and taught me how, haha... but hey now I know.

So, I'm pretty much a pro at washing clothes by hand now... So that'll come in handy if I ever marry someone from Mexico and move here. (;

I don't know if I ever mentioned this in my other emails but because our mission isn't as safe as they thought, they're going to be lowering the amount of sister missionaries here.nSo this transfer only 2 sisters are coming and after that NONE are coming until December. What?! And so many Hermanas are leaving soon so there's gonna be none of us :( (They are lowering the amount of sister missionaries there from 98 to 50.)

Let me tell you about our two golden investigators. So I've already talked about Luis. He is AWESOME and his baptismal date is March 28th. He already completely quit his addiction! And he told us the other day that he has never been so sure about being baptized in a church as he is now and that he knows this is the right path. Our other golden investigator is Jose. He is new from this week. His son died about 5 years ago and his wife left him the same year. He's super sad and whenever he talks about his son he cries. He went to church yesterday and while we were in Relief Society (the class for women in the last hour of church) he was in the Priesthood class (the class for men the last hour of church). We got out late from Relief Society, so while they were waiting some of the members showed Jose the baptismal font and were talking to him, and then Luis even bore his testimony to him!! When we got there we talked to him about baptism and he said he wanted to be baptized so we set a baptismal date for April 17th!! We have only taught him twice and he has only been to church once and he said he already knows that this is the true church and the true path that leads us to God. Then after church we walked Jose out of church and came back in and Luis was talking to all the members and helping this old lady with her wheelchair and helping put people's things in their cars and aww, we felt like proud parents or something watching him haha. Wow we feel so blessed and we are so happy with how things are going. (:

It's amazing to see how the gospel changes people. That is my favorite thing about being on a mission. Getting to see people change their lives. Seeing where people were before and where they are now. The disposition that people have to change once they accept the gospel into their lives is amazing. God really is a God of hope and of miracles and I am so so so thankful to have the truth in my life. I feel like there are so many people who don't even know the purpose of their life and why they are even here on earth. And I feel so lucky to have that knowledge in my life and to share it with other people.

I love and miss you all more than you know and thank you to everyone for being a part of my life. (:

Sierra(:

Piece of advice from a chocolate bar... haha. We buy these 

Carlos V chocolate bars all the time and they always have 

different jokes, advice, weird things, etc. and I love it.

 What pretty much every day this week looked like... 
(View from our front balcony.)

The snow in the mountains! The other days of the week there was 

more snow but you couldn't see it well in pictures.

"Ustedes viven juntos?" "Sí!" "Uhhh tú no vives con nosotros..."

Hoooooola muchachos. This week felt like it went by so slowly yet so fast at the same time... but it was a good week! Today we had nothing to do so we got together as most of our district and made french toast and it was so good... wow I miss American breakfast food.

What happened this week...

* It was Hermana Pérez's birthday on Tuesday so some members invited us over for "family home evening" and when we got there they surprised my comp with cake and pizza. We were pretty happy haha.

* We got sick this week and are so mad. It's just a cold but it is bothering us so much ahhh like seriously one day we were perfectly fine and the next morning we woke up dying coughing...

* So apparently last Monday I hurt my wrist doing who knows what because all this week it had been hurting and wrapped up in a bandage. Then this one member here who is a nurse and bone doctor had me show it to her and she said I had a bone out of place... Cool right... So yeah she did some weird Mexican massage thing and got everything back in place haha so all is well now.

* I realized after writing my email last week that I had never actually said who Luis and Alondra were... Luis is the "bread guy" and Alondra is the girl that we contacted on the street that I talked a little about 2 weeks ago. Sorry for not explaining!

* So we were teaching Luis the other day and found out he has an addiction... So we made a plan to help him quit it and wow he's already progressing so much! He really wants to change his life completely and it's awesome and we're so excited for his baptism in a few weeks!

* On Saturday night we had an activity where we showed a movie and we pretty much contacted like the whole city inviting them but very few people that weren't members showed up so that was disappointing... But it was still fun and we did get a few new people who are interested in the church!

* So I have heard a lot of songs here in Mexico, a lot of them being love songs. I realized that love songs in Spanish are usually so much cuter than the ones in English and I feel like when I get home, for a while, I'll be listening to pure songs in Spanish hahaha.

Well yep that's pretty much what happened this week! We're already in the 4th week of the transfer and we don't want it to end!!

Hope you all are well and don't forget how much I love and miss you! (:

LQM,

Hermana Eyring

Making french toast for the Elders!

My wall in front of my desk so far! Send me more pictures!

Our District Leader carrying our tiny Ward Mission Leader... hahaha.

"Elder como se llama el villano en Phineas y Ferb? Dr.Doofenshmirtz? "Qué? Joseph Smith?"

Well this has been a really good week! We're feeling like March is gonna be a great month.

Things that happened:

* Today we had a district activity and our zone leaders came and it was so much fun. We had a Nerf gun war in the whole chapel (which is 2 stories high) and then played an intense game of basketball. Then we ate pizza and cake to celebrate the birthdays of my companion Hermana Pérez and of one of our zone leaders, Elder Lopez.

* So remember the new investigator we had, Luis? (The bread guy from a week of 2 ago.) He's gonna get baptized!!!! We set his baptismal date for March 28th and we're super excited about it and so is he. Yesterday he brought his 9 year old niece to church and she loved it and wants us to teach her too so we're hoping things will go well with her also. Remember Alondra that I talked about (I think) last week? She said she wants to be baptized too! We still haven't set a baptismal date because she hasn't been able to come to church and her mom is a little strict but we're hoping this week we'll be able to set one!

* Something I'm pretty sure I forgot to say before... But remember my investigator Marta, from my first area (Loma Florida), that always said she wanted to be baptized but "in God's time"? She got baptized!! Like 2 and a half weeks after I left the area. She emailed me and told me thank you for being her inspiration and I'm so happy for her and love her so much!

Scriptures I like from this week in my studies:

- Matthew 15:11 "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."

-Matthew 16:24"...whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

Well that's it for this week. I love and miss you all tons and hope this month treats you well!

Love,

Hermana Eyring

The only pictures we took this week were from today, sorry!

After our Nerf gun war and cake eating.

What happened to my finger/nail after playing basketball today...

"Pleace and luv Hermanas" *holding up peace signs* - Stake Patriarch

Hola amigos! I'm writing a little late today because President gave our district the whole P-day off because there was an activity in Puebla where all the missionaries in our 4-zone area got to watch the movie "Meet the Mormons." So yeah we just got back and are just now writing. So I don't have much time to write aka sorry if I'm not able to get to everyone!

Things from this week:

* Today is my 7 month mark in the mission woooh!

* The other day it rained when there were no clouds and it was the weirdest thing ever and yeah just thought I'd share...

* On Thursday we had a special conference with ALL the sister missionaries in the mission and it was awesome! I got to see so many people. We talked about health and safety and it was actually really fun.

* This week we've been seeing a lot of little miracles:

1. We went to visit a 19 year old girl that we contacted on the street and she actually invited us in (they usually don't). She was really interested and had already read a little bit of the Book of Mormon a while back and she wanted to go to church on Sunday but her mom didn't let her, but we're hoping we'll have a lot of progress with her!

2. The other week there were 2 "jovenes" that we talked to in the street that gave us free pan dulce and they said they were going to go to church the other week. But they didn't go... and we kinda forgot about them cause tons of people do that when they aren't actually interested. But then on Saturday we were walking and all the sudden this guy crossed the street and ran over to us and was like "hey remember me? The bread guy?" and we were like ohhh of course! Then he explained why he couldn't go to church the other week but that he really wanted to this week. So on Sunday he actually went to church! He even wore a tie and everything. And he brought a friend and they stayed all 3 hours and said they felt really good there and want to listen to us and we're super excited to start teaching them!

3. We were walking through the park in the main part of the city and all the sudden this little girl ran up to us and said, "excuse me, my mom says she wants a pamphlet" and we were like wow okay so we followed the little girl over to her mom and her mom told us that she is a member but inactive and she really wants to start living the gospel again but doesn't know how. She said she was super happy when she saw us and so we gave her a "Book of Mormon" because she had lost hers and we exchanged numbers, so hopefully we're going to start giving her the lessons so she can remember everything she's forgotten.

4. The other night we were locked out of our house because the keys weren't working for some reason and we were outside for like 30 minutes trying to get it open. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail because it's kinda personal for me but basically I had a really unique experience with specific prayer and in the exact moment we needed it we were able to open the door and get in our house.

Yeah basically that's all that happened this week! The weeks are going by suuuper fast but I'm loving all of it! Have a super awesome week everyone(:

With love,

Hermana Eyring

Favorite selfie together (:

We had a little bit of fun (:

I'm in love with the sunsets here!

All my missionary agendas I've decorated (there's 2 I didn't decorate)

"Hola buenas tardes!" "Nope?" "okay..." - 10 second conversation we have everyday with tons of people

Once again this week went by super fast. To start off I have some good news......

Me and Hermana Pérez DON'T have transfers... wooooh! We're super excited to have another transfer together as companions. (:

Okay things that happened this week:

We had another special zone conference this week on Thursday and it was really good! We talked about how to work with members better and resolved a lot of questions about gospel doctrine and how to explain it better to investigators which was really helpful. President is awesome and it was cool to get to know my new multi-zone group.

Here Valentine's Day is called "Día de Amor y Amistad" which is Day of Love and Friendship. We should call it that in the US because then maybe I wouldn't feel so pathetic about never having a Valentine. (; But on V day, to contact people, we passed out heart candy suckers and it was super successful!

Our mission president has asked us that we ask the Bishops in our area to give us blessings to be able to work the best we can in our wards, so on Sunday we did that and it was so cool! First of all, out of the 6 blessings I've gotten on my mission, it was the first one in Spanish. Everything he said for both me and Hermana Pérez was perfect and it really strengthened our testimonies of the power of the priesthood.

I like being in this area but it is definitely hard. The people here do nottt like us and do not want us here. We'll be walking and say "buenas tardes" to people and they just ignore us or avoid us like we have some contagious disease. It's so hard to love the people here who reject and mock us but the other day I was reading in Matthew in the Bible and in chapter 5 verses 43-44 it says: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." It is a commandment to love others, even though it's hard. But when we show our love for others, we are showing our love for God.

I also realized this week that one of the reasons why we have trials and why this life is so hard is so that we can have hope and look forward to a better life to come. So that we work hard to progress so we can gain that eternal happiness that we look forward to after this life. Sometimes people turn away from God when they have problems or trials; but he allows us to have trials so that we can grow and learn from them and be better and more like Jesus Christ. God never gives us trials that he knows we can't handle and he will always be there to help us, guide us, and love us. This church is true!!!

**POR FAVOR** friends, send me pictures of us together. I'm putting pictures on my wall and I want to be able to see all your faces on it(: Please try to send them as soon as you can! Thank you(:

I love and miss you all as always, and hope you all have a happy week(:

Love always,

Hermana Eyring

Heart suckers and puppies... What more could you want on Valentine's Day?

I think it fits well right?

With our Ward Mission Leader, Hermano Zeniff. 

AKA one of the strangest but funniest people ever.

"Ok Hermana Eyring, supongamos que nunca tiene éxito con nadie en su vida de amor"

Hola seres queridos!

Well this week went by so fast that I really don't have much to talk about. Also we didn't really take any pictures so I don't have any to send this week, sorry. :(

The week started out rough but ended up good!

We have been feeling super discouraged lately so we went to the mission offices on Thursday and had interviews with our mission president to get advice and to help us feel better. He told us some really good points and gave us blessings of strength. He compared us to Alma in Alma 8 in the Book of Mormon. He compared Serdan (where I live) to Ammonihah and that the moment we were talking to him was like when the angel appears to Alma and tells him to go back to Ammonihah and not give up. The comparison was super cool and we went back and read the whole chapter afterwards and loved it! He also told us that happiness comes from inside. If we depend on the world or other people or circumstances to be happy, we'll never be happy for long. We have to decide what our attitude is going to be and if we are going to be discouraged or not. Our mission president is seriously the best and it makes us so sad that he's leaving in 4.5 months :(

On Friday night we got our legs electrocuted.... haha. We were at the house of 2 of our investigators and they were talking about this new machine they bought and wanted us to try it out. So they massaged our feet (which felt amazing) and put them on this machine that uses electricity to hit nerve points in your foot or something and apparently it's supposed to help your body in some way. But yeah, my legs and feet were like seizing and I could feel the electricity going up my legs and it was so weird and yeah I want to do it again... haha.

Here if you're sick with anything their solution is to give injections... but they give you the needle and everything and you have to do it at home. My companion's knees have been acting up so their solution was to give her shots in her butt and it was the funniest thing and I'm so glad we don't do that in the US.

I just started reading the book "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister and wow... I love it so much. I'm only on the 6th chapter out of like 27 and I've already learned so much about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It really is amazing and something I wish everyone would appreciate. It is and He is literally our salvation and I am so thankful that someone loved me enough to suffer and die for me so that I could have eternal happiness.

Well this is the last week of the transfer so next Monday I'll be updating you on if me or my companion have transfers! We're really hoping we stay together for another transfer but we'll see what happens!

I love and miss you all tons and hope you are all doing well(:

Love,

Hermana Eyring

Pictures of our home in Serdan. It's the nicest apartment I've lived in so far. 

This is where we study and hang out. The door that you can see goes
out back where we can wash and hang our clothes.

Our kitchen. Through the door at the end of the room is a balcony 

where we see out onto the street. We're on the 2nd story.