P-Day in Cholula

High School Musical jumps!

"A pale man with a bearded face teaching about God" interesting...

 When the Spaniards took over, they made the people build a Catholic Church over their biggest pyramid. It was interesting because on the way to the church, you can see a lot of ancient symbols on the walls. So these cholulans worshipped their God in a secret way. Also we went inside the pyramid. It was so cool but most of the rooms are blocked off. They told us of one room that was super special. It had lots of treasure and maybe even gold plates...

Pyramids

I spy with my little eye

District picture: These Elders are headed home this week

Para mis hermanas: I AM MOANA!

Book of Mormon cycle

Continued...

Welcome to our studio of our video diaries

Generation picture

It's scorching in the middle of the day hence the blue gatorade tongue
but HAPPY YEAR with my Texas gal Hermana Zutz!

Friday Night Tacos!
I tried cow eye!

Rain...again

Pictures Pictures

SO THATS A WRAP! We finished up our change and Hermana Coello and I are sticking together for another one here in Bosques. I'm So So happy. Here are a couple of moments of this past change. 

 

love y'all 

Hermana Herrera 

Baptism of Hermana Rosalia and Sandra.
The Hermano on the left gave us the gold reference!

Splits with our father aka President Nelson. We piled in his van.
Hermana Coello and I forgot what it was like to be in a car with air conditioning.
It was Heavenly!

The Glory!

Trust with all of your heart

First of all this email is due for a mananitas party because happy birthday UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

and happy to this hermana who completed A YEAR, unreal! 

This week went pretty well. We celebrated the 4th with rain, rain and more rain. It's so funny because I'm pretty sure the heavens are wide open here in Bosques, pouring down rain and blessings. The rain makes some great tracking stories. For example, we knocked on this lady's gate and she poked her head out the window. I had to yell for her to hear. She only understood about 3 words, missionaries, teach and Jesus Christ. She shook her head no and said it's raining! Dang, we were really shooting to get into her house. Next time! 

I heard a really awesome quote this week by Elder Christofferson. He said, ¨It is better to be trusted than to be loved.¨ I promise this is not apostasy. When I think about it, Heavenly Father loves all of His children perfectly but He trusts a few to do His work. This is super important in missionary work, because we choose daily if we want to do the Lord's work or our own. 

BUT it also goes the other way around. It's pretty easy to love the Lord, but do we trust in Him? Do we inquire of Him in all things? That's the chiste. 

This email is short and sweet but I want to remind you all that when we trust in the Lord that's when the blessings start falling... in His perfect time. 

Love y'all,

Hermana Herrera 

The WHAT and HOW of missionary work

Hola familia and amigos!

This week was great! Hermana Coello and I are still going strong here in Bosques. For this email, I want to talk about something that I've been thinking about all week..... 

It started in a comida with an Hermana. She asked me what was one of my favorite things here on the mission. That's a tough question... but I feel like one of the things that has impacted me the most is the companionship of the Spirit. Same spirit but it is just different here on the mission. For example, I can not describe the feeling I get when someone enters the waters of baptism. It's just kind of hard to describe... She responded by saying ¨Wow I would love to feel the Spirit like that in my life," but the thing is she can! Everyone can! The Spirit can be a blessing to all of Heavenly Father´s children IF we are worthy of it. 

Hitting my year mark is a tad hard to comprehend. It is so true when they say the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. Reflecting, I'm really grateful for all of my experiences that I have had that I wouldn't have any where else. It is not easy but it is always worth it. One thing that I have learned and would like to share with you all today is a responsibility that I think a lot of missionaries overlook which is training the members how to share the Gospel. I get it, it's tough. Before my mission I didn't know how to share the Gospel either. It is scary to open your mouth sometimes (especially in Spanish). I confirm what Elder Clayton M. Christensen says in his book, "The power of everyday missionaries" (which y'all should read) that is, members know WHAT they're called to do (which is to share the restored gospel to their loved ones) but they don't know HOW to do it. 

Hermana Coello and I have been focusing on and working with the members on HOW to share the Gospel. After all, what good is it to have a years worth of experience if you don't share what you have learned? This Sunday we held a training in 3rd hour. We started off by all standing up and reciting D&C 4. It was so great to hear the ex missionaries still recite it from memory. Then we explained that there are 44 principles in the Gospel and we share with our loved ones according to their needs in a simple 5 minute message. We divided the group into ¨districts¨ and every one had a different person with a specific need. As they all prayed together to receive revelation on the specific ¨person¨ it was amazing how seriously they took it. Then we shared what they would share in these situations. The answers were more than good, THEY WERE INSPIRED OF GOD.(D&C 84:85) 

We really hope that the ward members were able to see that the HOW to share the Gospel is possible and wonderful. Back to the Hermana about wanting the Spirit more, I think many members feel this way. I want to testify that if you share the Gospel YOU WILL FEEL HIS SPIRIT. This is His work, and it's an honor to be a part of it. Don't believe me? Check out D&C 68:6.

Love you all,

Hermana Herrera 

hmmm How can I descirbe my week?

On Thursday we got a call from the assistants to open the church doors for our interviews with President. We got there early the next morning and then the assistant dropped us a big one. ¨Hey Hermanas did yall know that you have splits to go with President today?¨ ¨NO, Elder what?¨ He looks back at his companion ¨Oh right we didn't tell them. Well you guys have splits with him all day: plan well and have fun.¨ 

It was a tad chaotic, BUT IT WAS GREAT. Crazy great! I actually felt like it was a huge blessing. I could fill this email with all the things I learned, but I think you guys would get hungry or something and stop reading it.  Something that I would like to focus on is one of our requirements here in the mission. We have the assignment to read the Book of Mormon twice a year. They usually have a key code where we have to highlight specific topics. Right now we are focusing on the blessings the descendants of Lehi are entitled to. It's super amazing to see how the Lord is so ready to make covenants with His people. But we must be ready to do our part. We need to be making an effort to receive those needed blessings.  President Nelson always says "MAKE DECISIONS THAT WILL HELP YOU SPIRITUALLY GROW." 

Our investigators Rosalia and Sandra Hernandez made the important decision to be baptized this past week. I love it because their baptism reflects the spiritual progression that is healing them on the inside. Although they have different situations, they are going through the same healing process.  

Both of them needed to learn about their self worth.  Low self esteem is when someone feels that they aren't good enough in an aspect or many aspects of their lives and they let other people's opinions speak louder than the one of their Heavenly Father.

There are 2 different definitions of "perfect". Perfect according to the world is someone who NEVER EVER makes a mistake.  Perfect in Christ is someone who uses the process of sanctification to be purified and worthy to live in God's presence. What is the process of sanctification? Look up Alma 11:37 and 2 Nephi 31:17.

Right now I want to focus on one thing that I've been working on understanding and that, my friends, is God's grace. It's just as wonderful as it is necessary. Grace is thanks to the Atonement of Christ and it is the mercy that will help make us one day whole. If we accept it, it doesn't pay for some but for all of our mistakes (notice that mistakes are necessary to be perfect in Christ). 

I would like you guys to read Ether 12:27 and focus on the middle part, ¨my grace is sufficient.¨ What does that mean to you? For me specifically, it means that to receive/accept grace is to show effort through 

1. exercising my faith 

2. repenting daily 

3. doing all that I can to follow the commandments of God 

My message for the week is that a way to be healed, the only way to be healed, is through the sanctification process. I have seen it work.  I have seen it with Rosalia and Sandra. I also have seen it in myself, when I needed it the most.

We must recognize and accept the help that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ gives us through the gospel. I promise the results are not only real but fulfilling and filled with joy! 

Hermana Herrera 

Members gearing up and remember the Alamo

Hollaaa familia y amigos, 

What can I say? This week was for the books. First off, we had a visit from Elder Pino a seventy here in Puebla. His talks were so good and I think that was just what Puebla needed at this time! The members are "gearing up" to work with their missionaries! 

Quick story: so in our zone conference we were all able to shake hands with Elder Pino and his wife. When it was my turn, I shared where I was from and how much time I've been on the mission ( which by the way is 11 MONTHS). Anyways, he shared that he just went to San Antonio to speak there. Then he explained that they passed by some famous building and took a lot of pictures but couldn't remember what it was called. I took a wild guess and said the Alamo? and yes it was the Alamo. My President turned to me and said, "Wow thank goodness you remembered the Alamo!"  That's right representin the great republic of Texas. 

On a more spiritual note, I wish I could share all the goodness that Elder Pino said but I hope a few thoughts will be sufficient. 

I think the most powerful thing that he said was a word repeated 3 times... you missionaries need to TEACH TEACH TEACH and it's so true. How else can we fulfill the prophecy of God to all of His children? If you think about it, teaching sounds a lot easier than it really is. THANK GOODNESS that we have a perfect example of a perfect teacher JESUS CHRIST. 

For me personally, it can be sometimes a little intimidating to teach people. Many people have past experiences, opinions or ways of living that can be a little hard to understand. Judgment is not of the Spirit and certainly not the way to help others feel Christ's love for them. So I have learned that I need to depend on my Savior to respond in a way that He would. As we study the life of Christ, we can always see that He reacted differently to every situation so there isn't really a way to specifically react to a situation or person. What's more important is have charity (the pure love of Christ).This is the key. Check out 2 Nephi 33:7-9 

I know that this just doesn't apply only to teaching, I think this is the way we should communicate with our fellowman in general. 

Some really good things are starting up, we have 3 baptisms coming up on Thursday. Every story is unique and powerful in their own way therefore I think I'm going to feature every one in the next few weeks. 

I love you all and this is the part where I say adios for another week! 

Hermana Herrera 

Zone conference with Elder Pino