Wow o wow!

Dear family,

You guys are all amazing! You all sent some pretty intense emails and it has been fun gasping, laughing, and then letting my companion know how you all are doing. It seems life is going to be pretty crazy these next few months. 

Life is so amazing here in Mexico! The climate change is helping us out a ton. We only sweat 5-6 hours of the day instead of all hours, which is nice. It's still hot, but it's a nice hot :) The members are still second guessing us when we ask them to help us out in the mornings and cancel us if it's hot outside. So all our lessons with members take place after the sun goes down. 

We had a lesson with Lu and Ivan this week that blew my mind! Lu and Ivan are a young couple who are seriously thinking about getting married in the temple (of course, they need to get baptized first, so they are thinking about that a lot as well). We asked them what they liked from reading the introduction of the Book of Mormon, and Lu practically gave us a word by word account! By golly, she memorized it! Their faces were glowing as they said that they have felt a lot of peace in understanding the church. Wow o wow I love being a missionary and being allowed to witness miracles such as these. The Gospel truly blesses lives!

We have also been teaching Esperanza and her family. They are so great! They have also been keeping their commitments to read, pray, and attend church, and are glowing with happiness as well. The members have embraced them wholeheartedly and Esperanza's grand-kids are thrilled with the friends they have made at church. Again, it is so humbling to help these families strengthen the bonds that they already have.

And... Remedios found a remedy!!!! Remedios, the father of a recent member family, is slowly progressing. He was supposed to be baptized last Saturday... he wasn't. A miracle occurred last night when we ran into the 2nd counselor and his wife as they were visiting less actives (we happened to be at the right place and the right time through the guidance of the Holy Ghost), so we invited them to come with us to visit Remedios and the family. Wow o wow, the Lord works in mysterious ways!!!! The 2nd counselor was the exact person Remedios needed to hear! He's going to pray and let us know when he will be ready to be baptized next Sunday.

And... that's the week. We had a Zone Conference, which was fantastic, and I am anxiously waiting for General Conference. There are going to be so many miracles and "¡buenas nuevas!" Wow o Wow am I excited!!!! I don't know how to describe how exciting this next week is going to be.

Love you all!

Hermana Zubeldia

ps. I committed apostasy in my last email to you guys. I said that the verses in DyC were in section 131... that's a total lie.... they are in 121. Sorry! So read DyC 121

pss. Guess what!!!! A sister got sick and had to go home, and Hna. Rojas came to take her place! ¡Mi hijita está aquí en Navojoa! She has changed so much since the first day of her mission a year ago. Missions change lives! I love seeing how happy she is to be here, serving the Lord. This is going to be such a fun transfer with her in the zone!

Our "backyard" we have a washer, which is fantastic :)

Our penthouse apartment, viewed from the bathroom.

Navojoa has been baptized!

Dear family,

Wow o wow, this week was completely crazy. Really, 100% unexpected. But, it was a week full of learning and growth, not to mention a week full of rain (hence the subject of the email).

The week was crazy because I was hardly in the area all week. On Wednesday morning, we surprised the sisters and went to study with them (bring breakfast, of course!) It was great studying all together and it was awesome being with other "soldiers" in the field, preparing to teach our investigators for the day. One of my goals this transfer is to have a lot of unity here in Navojoa. As said in PMG, we are called to invite others to come unto Christ. We are all on the same team and fighting for the same thing, so we must all be one in heart and mind! If you have any "unifying" ideas, let me know!

The next day, we had divisiones with some incredible sisters in Huatabampo. I love divisions! Divisions are the perfect opportunity to learn from others, and I learned so much! The sisters in Huatabampo are amazing examples of showing love to the members, something we have been trying to apply here in our ward.

Then, the next day, before I could officially unpack my bags, we got a call from our leaders saying that we needed to do special divisions with a companionship right then. What? We made the necessary phone calls and I picked up my overnight bag once again to spend time with a sister in another district until further notice. Oh my goodness gracious, I have some crazy stories for after the mission, let me tell you!

I know that this letter doesn't make tons of sense, but it makes sense to me, so all is well. I'm finally back in my area, but I have no idea how our investigators are doing because I didn't see them :/

What did I learn from all of this you might ask? Well, a lot of things! One, I learned about the importance of being true to yourself instead of being someone that you're not. Two, I learned how to demonstrate more love to those around me. Three, I learned that it doesn't matter what people say, but it DOES matter what God says. And four I re-understood the importance of having a missionary name tag. We are representatives of Christ at ALL TIMES, IN ALL THINGS, AND IN ALL PLACES. We musty be worthy to bear His name in order to preach His gospel. I wish I could explain more, but alas, time escapes me!

Also, read DyC 121:34-46. It was amazing studying this this week!

Love you!

Hermana Zubeldia

Hna. Ortiz and I. She is the most amazing companion!
She is super patient and sweet, with has been helping me out so much!

Temple Rededication

Dear family,

This week was amazing! To start out, we got transfers...and I'm staying in Navojoa!!! Hna. Ortiz and I have another transfer together and I am so excited to make some changes in myself, the area, the district, and the zone. 

On Wednesday, we got a call from Presidente Munive wanting to have an interview via Skype. I was super excited because interviews with him always help me out, and I have never had an interview with him over Skype. But, he decided to change his mind and invited my companion and I to a "district leader meeting" the next day in Obregón, where our interview would take place afterwards. The district leader meeting was so amazing! I learned so much and it got me so excited to follow up on my personal commitments and the commitments of my investigators. The spirit was so strong! We also discussed the importance of being examples in every moment. This is so true. I have seen the power of being an example in these recent transfers. When we aren't being an example and a true disciple of Christ, it is absolutely necessary to repent and to change. 

Afterwards, I got to have an interview with Presidente Munive. He put a twist on things and gave the interview in English! Finishing up around 2pm, Hna. Ortiz and I were ready to make the hour trip to Navojoa and buy something quick to eat so that we could keep on working when we got back, but Presidente Munive and his wife surprised the two of us and took us to eat tacos before taking us to the bus station. I love Pres. Munive and his wife so much!

On Saturday, we taught the greatest lesson in the world about Adam and Eve. We have been working with Esperanza and her family, and we have been trying to make the lessons dynamic to help the little ones understand. Oh my goodness gracious, the funniest comments were made by Esperanza and her husband as they analyzed 2 Nefi 2. Esperanza said that it made sense that they had to eat the fruit and leave their innocent state. She said that God probably felt embarrassed about explaining the cycle of life with them because they were "innocent like little babies", so He waited until their eyes were opened. Haha not quite... but she was happy to understand the world-wide confusion about Adam and Eve.

Saturday afternoon, my companion was cutting chiles serranos to help out with lunch, when she had an allergic reaction and the chiles burned her hands!!! This only happens in Mexico!!! She tried tomato, toothpaste, ice, milk... and nothing would get the burning sensation to leave. She was completely desperate and, 5 hours later (her hands were still burning!!) We took her to the doctors. We were at a ward activity and everyone was worrying over her hands. The investigators that were there were also asking about her hands when we visited them the next day. Poor girl! She has decided to never eat nor touch chile again (this isn't going to last long).

We went to Obregón yesterday to see the Rededication of the Temple in Mexico City. It was so amazing! The most amazing part was being there with 3 of our friends who have decided to accept the gospel. It was also great seeing Pres. Eyring and Elder Holland. General Conference is almost here!

I found an amazing verse in my personal studies today! Alma 37:37 and also D&C 138:1-11. It is so important to study the scriptures in order to receive revelation!

Love you!

Hermana Zubeldia

Let me stay!

Dear family,

We heading into our last week of the transfer and I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us here in Navojoa. I know that it's the Lord's will, so I am excited no matter what happens, but I hope and pray that His will is to let me stay in Navojoa with Hna. Ortíz. We'll see what happens!

I love all these missionaries!
Here we are in el Concilio in Obregón.

This week was great and crazy. We headed over to Obregón for a meeting and it was full of the spirit! I woke up that morning with the flu, so I didn't say too much, but I loved hearing the comments of everyone else. We focused on the importance of the Sabbath and truly making it a special day for EVERYONE, including the missionaries. We also focused on how we can plan and use our time better as missionaries. 2% of our mission life is to plan the other 98%. When we use that 2% constructively, the other 98% works out as the Lord wants it to. This is the Lord's time and it is so precious!!! Also, another great part of the day long meeting was that our zone, with the merciful help of the Lord, had a ton of success!!! Never, in the history of the mission Ciudad Obregón, has Zone Navojoa had the success we had in the month of August. The zone is happy and pumped to continue working and seeing miracles in September. We are all so excited!!

I was sick with the flu throughout the week, but we continued working all the same. I was mostly better by our zone conference on Friday, so it's all good. There's too much to do here to take a break, and I'm all better now, so we'll continue working hard this week :)

We saw some major miracles this through our English classes. I'm finally getting the hang of teaching English, ¡por fín! People LOVE  free English classes! We contacted a young couple who wanted nothing to do with the church, so we invited them to our English classes. Lu e Ivan came to learn English!!! They loved the classes, and we gave them a tour with one of Ivan's friends, who happened to be a member. We were able to visit them later that week and they excited to learn more and accept the possibility of being baptized! Then, they came to church on Sunday, dresses spiffy and ready to learn (they even got their baby boy in a church shirt!) I have been loving seeing how the Lord works in mysterious ways. Angels have been preparing the hearts of the people in our area, and it has been so amazing seeing them discover that they are ready to come unto Christ.

The México City temple re-dedication is this Sunday!!! We're going to go to Ciudad Obregón again to participate. It is so great being part of the true church and being able to attend a spiritual event such as this!  

Also, for the second time in my mission, I dyed my companion's hair. Who would have thought that I would do this as a missionary?! Haha the difference this time is that Hna. Ortíz bought the right box and it turned out the way she wanted it to.

Missionary work is amazing! The Holy Ghost has been helping so many wonderful people!!! I don't even have words to describe how fantastic this all is!

I love you all!

Hermana Zubeldia

My companion and I after the water activity during the concilio in Obregón. We got so wet!!