This week has been really challenging! We had a lot of miracles,
but some not so great things too. So, Sunday
we went to only two hours of church because Elder Castro received special
permission to go to his past area for a baptism of a family that he taught. We traveled
about seven hours by bus and almost didn’t make it back to Tecamac because we
could find a bus. But luckily, we were able to find one and it took a while to
get back because of the traffic.
We had Alfredo’s baptism this week. His baptism was
originally scheduled for November 10th. But when we were teaching him this week,
he told us he was going to be in Pachuca on the 10th and wasn’t sure if he
would make it back for his Baptism on time. So, he decided he really wanted to
have it this past Friday. Well, President
Kimball was in our District Meeting this past week (because he sometimes does
that), so we asked him if it would be ok to move the Baptism up and he said it
was ok. So, we did. We got Alfredo baptized and it was great. He is so happy! He
was ready to be baptized and he asked Elder Castro to perform the ordinance. We
hope to get his Uncle Noe baptized soon too. His Mom cried during the baptism
and came up to us after to set up and appointment for us to come teacher her. So
that was awesome!
But some interesting things happened that day at the baptism.
First, we went to the Church and turned on the boiler and the water for the baptismal
font because it takes quite a while to fill. We made sure everything was ready
to go and then we went to print the programs that Elder Castro worked on forever.
Well, they did not print very good at all and we didn’t have time to fix them! So,
the baptism had no programs which we felt really bad about. We headed back to
the Church and when we got there all the windows were fogged up. We were
grateful to know that at least there would be warm water for the baptism until
I walked up to the door and opened it. There was a stream of water that came
out! We were beside ourselves at this point and wondered what else could go
wrong. But luckily it was not our fault that the church flooded. Someone put
duct tape over the overflow drain that’s at waist level and so it couldn’t
drain and just kept filling up. We called our District and a member family,
(the Jordan’s) to come help us because we only had a couple hours till the
baptism. Thankfully, the church floors are all tile and we just had to push the
water out. We were all soaked by the time we were done. But needless to say, it
was a miracle because the Church was completely dry in less than an hour in a
half.
Another thing that happened that was kind of cool, is that
when we went to the baptism in Elder Castro’s previous area, there was a new
Sister Missionary there that has only been there for two weeks. We asked her
where she was from and she said Puno, Peru. Come to find out, she knew my
brother Taylor when he was serving in her Ward for a while. It’s such a small
world.
Also, this past week as many of you know, it was “Day of the
Dead” in Mexico and I didn’t get many pictures because honestly it really wasn’t
that grand here in Tecamac like it is in other areas of Mexico like Pueblo
where my Companion is from. While having
lunch in our Ward friend’s house this past week (the Jordan’s) I did take a
picture of there ofrendas which is more of a traditional thing to remember their
ancestors during this time of year and is really not a church thing. It is just a tradition so it is no big deal
that members of the Church do it. But
anyway, that was Day of the Dead here. I
did see kids trick or treating on November 1st and I was like yea you’re
a day late but whatever!
Finally, an update on our rat problem! So, a Ward member
offered to let us borrow their cat for a few days to hopefully get the problem
cleared up. President said it was
alright for a few days so well hopefully that will finally get rid of them!
I really love being a Missionary and serving the people of
Mexico.
