WEEK 61

She's a chef!

"I randomly now like to cook. I made arroz con leche (sweet...rice?) with mangos that we bought at the market. Using our fancy grill that only works on one side. "

WEEK 60

Another picture week:

"We went to 'Centro' (downtown? forgetting english) this past Monday with our sister leaders (one is one of my absolute best friends from the mission/mtc- totally lucky to have her as a leader!) this was a cute little place to eat although we felt a little out of place in the atmosphere with our dresses and gaffets hahah, im going to feel like an alien when i get home. I ate mediocre sushi. We went to cute little artesian boutiques but i'm a poor missionary, will have to explore that stuff later! I bought a new bag because the other day while walking my bag burst at the seams and just plopped on the ground with all my books, it was a good laugh. My comp and I are like sisters :) "

WEEK 59

Here is what we have from Lauren this week...

"The lightest pic we have right now of DAVIDS BAPTISM. He looks sad but he was just a little nervous before haha."
Disclaimer: I did what I could, but Lauren's companion did not fare well in this photo :/ She looks lovely in the photos below though!

The dynamic duo with a previous sister missionary in the ward.

"This is the day of David's confirmation. Not sure why he's lookin angry, we're always joking with him. He's not a fan of pictures I guess."

"This is a family that moved out of the ward sadly (and we moved into their house haha) but we still see them at church. The Mom took care of us like one of her own. I love all of the people that have become my 'family' on the mission!!!"

WEEK 58

Hello all!!! I am so happy to be here on the mission!! I've been really bad at updates this transfer, and were in the last week!! My comp is Hermana Jimenez from Campeche, Mexico. We are good friends and have shared a lot of good laughs together, our favorite phrase is 'oh noooo' when were laughing too hard and it hurts. 

One is the elders that helped us move this week. they found some leg warmers a sister left in our house forever ago, used them  to 'protect their arms.'

We have seen lots of success in this transfer. The most exciting part for me has been teaching David. He was studying in the catholic seminary to be a Father and he left because he felt that some things appeared illogical. He has been disowned by his parents and 8 brothers and sisters for leaving the Catholic church but that hasn't stopped him from going to the ward and receiving the missionary lessons. Whats more, is that in his prayers he is always praying for his family that they'll be ok. He is a great example to us. His baptism is programmed for this Saturday and we couldn't be more proud of him!!! 

this past week ther was a REALLLLY bad rain storm!!! luckily we had just come back from a conference so we were in our house studying when it hit, i dont know what we would have done if we were outisde. it literally looked like a tsunami, the hail was hitting our windows and wind and rain was going inside our house. when we went outside after the storm we saw that this brick wall by our house FELL DOWN (the pic i took is from the inside of our house). the next day as we visited people we found out taht several people here had their houses fall (the ones that are constructed of really weak materials). hopefully another storm like that doesnt hit soon!!! 

We have a couple of other awesome investigators that are progressing a lot. one brings the Book of Mormon with her wherever she goes in her bag, and she is always smiling so big at church, its so cool! 

The mission is passing by really fast and I'm enjoying every minute of it! 

WEEKS 56-57

A couple pics to tide us over until an update next week!

"A pic a lady in the ward finally sent me from Atlixco. These are the kids of the family we lived with!!!! the little one, Diego is 6 years old and is SO intelligent and spiritual!!!! he loves the Book of Mormon we gave him and can explain what all the images are in the beginning (joseph smith, nephi, burying the plates, etc). sometimes when he talked he would just say these super profound things and my companion and i would look at each other, we couldnt help it. an hermana from my old ward emailed me and said that the older one has a baptism date!!!! it was so fun going to church with them (parents didnt go), they have great faith!!!! "

"A blurry foto of me and my comp after the Zone Conference. " 

WEEK 55

No time for an email this week, but we do have a couple pics of Lauren's current companion that she sent...

"My comp is so darling!"

"A companionship for the ages"

WEEK 54

I GOT TRANSFERRED to VALSEQUILLO. Its closer to Puebla, Puebla (the city). Im in an area called Xilotzingo, pronounced she-lot-sing-go. My mission mom served here for 6 months!! i am absolutely in love with the area. the people are wonderful , we share the same sense of humor haha and there is a lot of potential. My companion is Hermana Jimenez from Mexico and she's amazing! More next week!

SAYING GOODBYE TO THE AMAZING PEOPLE I MET IN ATLIXCO!!!!

"Alicia, 92 years old. Fell and broke her arm! :( And wanted to sit up for a picture and we said LAY BACK DOWN hahaha" 

"Tomas, Alicia's son!!!"

"Family we lived with for 6 months! Love them. PS it was pouring rain as we ran around saying bye to people, hence looking like a crazy person!!!"