Hannah's Sassy Massy Mission: Week 2 for Hermana Webber!!

Hola, everyone!!!

It has been such a magical week. I have learned and grown so much here. I can speak Spanish. Did you hear that?? I can speak SPANISH!!! It´s still coming along, but Hermana Riggs and I sit with the Latina missionaries at almost every meal and practice with them. I am so proud of us, but I know our progress didn´t come from nowhere. No, it came with hard work, trust in God, and The Holy Ghost. After everything this week, I have no doubt in my mind that this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is TRUE.

Last Tuesday, Hermana Riggs and I decided to start reading The Book of Mormon together. There´s a catch, though, because we are reading it in Spanish. We can understand it. I am amazed by this and I know it´s because Heavenly Father is guiding us through it. We open our English scriptures and put them off to the side. We read each verse all the way through, then go back and interpret it. After just two weeks here, can you believe it? I give all the credit to God.

We began teaching investigators just two days after we arrived here (I totally forgot to mention this in my first email to you all) and our first investigator was Luis Enrique. He was so amazing and we were given the gift of tongues as we committed him to baptism this month. The funny thing is, however, that this week on Thursday, we discovered that Luis is not a real investigator! He is actually our teacher! We only thought he was real until he came into our classroom and told us how we can improve in our lessons! It was really funny, but I think it´s so smart that they do that, ya know, the student becomes the teacher thing. I LOVE the teachers here. They are absolutely wonderful. Our morning teacher is Hermano Juarez ("Luis") and our afternoon teacher is Hermano Medina, who I wrote about last week. Hermana Riggs and I LOVE to tease our teachers. They always call us "loca" and "divertida," or in other words they tell us we are the funniest missionaries in the world. Just saying.

One teacher, in particular, who I adore is Hermano Cayetano. This guy is beyond amazing. He is only paid here to work for 5 hours each day, but he usually ends up staying 8 hours or more, just to help other students with the language or what not. He is my FAVORITE and he has helped Hermana Riggs and I so much. He tells us how to say funny words, which I won´t mention, but he keeps things so interesting and I love him.

My zone is GREAT! I seriously love everyone in it, even though I have only known them for two weeks. In our zone, District A just left to their missions yesterday. It was SO sad to say goodbye to them! We had fast and testimony meeting on Sunday and they all got up to bear their testimonies (I bore mine too!). After the testimonies, they had prepared a special musical number for us, "Abide With Me, ´Tis Eventide." I could feel the Spirit so strongly as they sang, and I felt so much love for everyone in the room.

After the meeting, our zone president, Presidente Rodriguez, gave us all a dessert. It´s a special Mexican treat called, "Pan de Muerto" or "Bread of the dead." I took some pictures for you all to see. It was so yummy!

Our zone is super goofy. We pulled a prank on some of the elders in District C and we all played volleyball together yesterday. I had so much fun! Last night, when we were studying language, this one missionary, Elder Orr, saw this huge ant on the ground and all the guys were saying, "I will give you 50 pesos if you eat it!" and they all chipped in a bunch of money and he actually ate it! Boys are so dumb. They will do anything, but I love them.

We went to the Mexico City temple this morning, as well as the Visitors´Center. The temple is GORGEOUS. It´s very geometrical. Unfortunately it´s currently closed, so we could not go inside, but we got to walk around the grounds and take pictures. We stopped at this store where I bought some goodies for the family (I love you guys and miss you so much). There were these two, little Mexican girls in there watching Frozen in Spanish and "Let It Go" came on and they were just BELTING it! It was probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen. I love the Latino people so much.

Speaking of the Latinos, last Tuesday, Elder Don Clarke of the 70 (yes, the man I met at the airport last week!) spoke at a devotional. He said and did something I will never, never forget.

During his talk, Elder Clarke asked all the Latin American missionaries to stand up. They are pretty outnumbered, and most of them are from Mexico, but they all stood and he said these words to the American missionaries, "You have been called to serve among THE DESCENDANTS OF LEHI. You will come to love the Latin American people. They will blossom as roses as you teach them. If you are given a native speaking companion out in the field, help them learn English as they help you with Spanish. If these wonderful people can learn English, they will earn 5x more than average when they return to their countries and begin working. These are the descendants of Lehi. They are so special," and he had them sit. In that moment, I had SO much love for these people. I can´t even explain it. Hermana Riggs and I have made so many friends with the Mexican sisters. These people are one of a kind. I love everything about them and I can´t express how grateful I am that I will be given the opportunity to serve them.

I hope you all are doing well. Remember to trust in God, and to STUDY THE WORDS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON. This book is a "rare and special gift" that is too often taken for granted. Please don´t take it for granted. As I have read about Lehi and his seed, my love for his descendants in this day has grown immensely. It will grow for you all as well.

I love you all! God speed.

Always, Hermana Webber