Gratitude

Dear Family,

After writing you all and seeing your beautiful pictures, I finally found a bit of time to write this letter to you guys. What do I write? I want to write so many things. Can happiness really be described in words?

This transfer has been full of so many miracles! The mission has been full of so many miracles! But this transfer has been one of the most miraculous. After everything that happened the first three week- four weeks, the Lord has showered blessings upon our area, making the scripture in DyC 58:2-4 even more real and powerful. We went through having people yell at us, helping out in a funeral, and dengue, to seeing the Lord lift us up and show his hand in our missionary work. We have found so many families that are interested in the gospel! We helped 10 people go to church yesterday! We have seen people change lives! I have seen how the gospel blesses families in amazing ways. 

The miracle that will always be remembered is the miracle of the Duarte Family. I helped Asucena and her two children enter the waters of baptism a few months ago, but Asucena's husband, Remedios, wanted nothing to do with the church. Bit by bit, his heart was softened. The Lord works in miraculous ways and has blessed his life. Sadly, the family had to pass through the hardest moments of their lives, but these hard moments softened Remedios into deciding to be baptized. He is going to be baptized Saturday morning, my last day in glorious Navojoa. He is so ready and so eager to be sealed to his family a year from now. I am so humbled knowing this family and seeing how the gospel as unified them, just as Heavenly Father promises us. 

If there is one thing I have learned these past weeks, it is how to be grateful for all the Lord has done for me this past year and a half. I am 100% certain that angels have been helping me in this work and it has been wonderful helping others come unto Christ. This is the true gospel, this is the one and only church, and I love being a part of this work! My relationship with my Heavenly Father has grown so much and I am so happy to be able to say that I am His daughter!  I have seen miracle after miracle here in Mexico and I know that the Lord is going to continue to provide miracles for me, for my companion, and for everyone I have met here. (Moroni 7:27, 29) This work is not over and will never be over. It is great knowing that the Lord provided me the opportunity to be completely dedicated for this work for 18 months. I plan on keeping on working till the very end. The Lord still has a lot of work for us to do! 

I love you all! 

Hermana Zubeldia

(Omni 1:26, Ether 12:32)

We got caught in the rain. It is so cold here! It's raining!

I love you all!

Dear Family,

This week.... was a week I will always remember.... Haha we had highs and lows. Do I start with the highs or with the lows? :) There are more highs than lows, so i'll start with the one little low...

The low: We both got dengue. Let me just say that no one should ever get dengue. It doesn't exist in Utah, so you are all going to be okay. When we weren't in the hospital, we were in bed. It was pretty hilarious really because we became friends with the nurses and there were a bunch of jokes :) My companion had it worse than I, so I would leave her with a sister and I would work with another sister in our area. I had gone through the whole mission without dengue and... it got me. But we're all good now :D

The highs:

• We had divisiones with Huatabampo and it was awesome being with such great sisters!
• The members helped us out a bunch and kept us stocked with food! We didn't even buy food today because they gave us so much.
• We saw some AMAZING miracles with our friends this week. I'll talk more about this next week.

I learned a huge lesson on gratitude this week. The Lord helped me see all the blessings He has given me throughout my mission. He truly cares for me and my companion as much as He cares for the people we help every day. This week was truly humbling for me because He taught me A LOT and I am so grateful that He is still giving me more time to keep on working as one of His servants. Alma 26:12

Hermana Zubeldia

Emotional Roller Coaster

Dear Family,

This week has been emotionally crazy! We have had our highs and our lows. It has been all over the place. I'll start with the highs of the roller coaster and then I'll get to the lows...

The highs: well, I'm writing my favorite people right now and I have seen some great pictures that have made me smile :D Thank you! Another high is that we spent some time with the other sisters today and went to eat Mexican Chinese food. I ordered a "Mexican Sushi"... and it had bacon. Oh yes.

Another high is that we have been working a lot with the young adults in the yard and we have found many of their friends to teach! The young adults are going to have a convention with all the youth in the mission the 16-19th of December and we have a few investigators going, I am so excited for them! All the the young adults were as anxious as we were on Sunday morning, hoping everyone would come. They were also as happy as we were when they came :) I love working with the members! We have a group of 2 returned missionaries and 2 that are waiting for their mission calls, and it has been a blast working with them.

Another high is that we have had some pretty amazing Family Home Evening with the members and with our investigators, especially with Esperanza, Kitzia, and Yavel. We have been helping get everyone ready to enter the temple in December and focusing on the family history of the members and our investigators. It has been so much fun!

Another high is that we went to Obregón on Friday for a meeting and I got to see some of the great friends of the mission! I can't believe that time has been moving by so fast for all of us! We have all changed so much!

And now, our sad low: The brother of a family I helped enter the waters of baptism passed away on Saturday and they are all VERY sad. We didn't find out until Sunday evening and we were with them for a while helping out. The ward leaders were notified and we held a service in the church just before I started writing you guys. It has been pretty crazy. Everyone was saying Catholic prayers in the front room on Sunday... while the Elders and the members of the ward were in the back room with la Familia Duarte, giving priesthood blessings and singing hymns. It was a big contrast, and let me say that the spirit was felt VERY strongly in the back room. 

I love being part of this gospel! We have had so many opportunities to share the gospel and to share the plan of salvation this week. I am so happy knowing that I am sealed to a family that loves me and it comforts me to know that I will see ALL my family members again in the next life. I have never been happier and I hope that we can share this happiness with EVERYONE! Because everyone needs to hear this message of joy :)

I love you all! Please pray for Esperanza! She wants to get baptized but is having trouble getting the permission from her husband. We need to see a miracle and a change of heart! We're going to have a family home evening tonight with them and a member. Your prayers are much appreciated!!!

1 Pedro 1:7

Hermana Zubeldia

My companion and I heading to Obregón at 7 in the morning...
my companion is borrowing all of my clothes because she's tired of hers :)

Here are the great missionaries of Barrio Aeropuerto.
We went to a meeting in Obregón and my companion decided that we
should show pride for our ward by all wearing blue :)

So happy!

Dear family,

I am so happy right now! Time isn't slowing down, which is a bummer, but we are getting so much done in such a short time! I love how much the Lord loves me!

Here are the wonderful sisters in my generation
at the meeting in Obregon.
I can't believe we have been together for so long!
I love these sisters so much!
We were all very different from when we first started...
Also... we're missionary gangsters ;)

On Monday, we headed to Obregón because we had a meeting the next day. We arrived early and... there was time to visit one of the most important people to me: María Jesús! We visited the first person I helped to be baptized, and I almost cried with happiness!! She and her kids were in pjs (it was around 7:30pm) and we both were in shock as we hugged and caught up with how she is doing. She told me that it was the best early Christmas present ever, and I have to agree. I haven't seen her in almost a year! She is planning on receiving her endowments in December and she is currently the Primary President!!!! Wow, this work is worth every hard moment. All the experiences I have had on the mission have been amazing, but Monday night was one of the most memorable. It was a teary farewell when it was finally time for us to leave. We headed over to the secretaria's home and had a wonderful night with 12 other sisters before our meeting on Tuesday.

My two hermanas: Hna Mena. and Hna. García,
at our meeting in Obregón. These two are so great!

Tuesday: We had our meeting with missionaries throughout the mission. The spirit was so strong!!! I love these missionaries so much! Hna. Mena and I gave a training that turned out nicely and we were pretty happy :) This is my 3rd time training in these Obregón meetings and I liked this training much more than the last 2. Wow, I don't know how to describe how great this day was!

Friday: We had our zone conference and the President and his wife came! It was fantastic! I know that our zone is going to have great success this month and all of us are very excited to keep on working. We have put a lot of emphasis in working with the members and are excited to see miracles occur.

Sunday: One of our investigators, Yaveel, came to church in a suit jacket and tie! He was so happy! 

I climbed a tree today...Hooray for Pdays!
I got stuck trying to get down :)

Today: We had planned to have an activity with the sisters to play basketball and have lunch together in the church. My companion and I were in charge of bringing Mexican style tortas (better-than-subway-sandwiches), and woke up super early to buy the ingredients and get to the church before 8 to study in the church building. When we got there, we started getting phone calls from the sisters: all of them said that they couldn't come to the activity because they were sick or had plans. What?!?! We had tons of tortas, and everyone decided to bail!!! We called Hna. Franco and Hna. Rojas and explained the situation, and they decided to come to participate a little... but we still had tons of tortas!!! Hna. Mena and I played basketball, I climbed a tree, and we called the Elders to tell them that we had tortas. So, our sister activity turned into the elders activity, with free food provided. But, Hna. Franco, Hna. Rojas, Hna. Mena, and I were able to go to el centro together, so that was fun :)

I love my companion!

And that was my awesome week! I love you all so much! Keep on taking things one at a time. Remember, the Lord helps those who help themselves :) And then, help others: Hebrews 12:12

Love you!

Hermana Zubeldia

We made jello this week. I am such a pro at jello making right now :)

¡Felíz Día de los Muertos!

Hola Familia!!!

Here is my wonderful companion! Hna. Mena!

I am loving this transfer! My companion, Hna. Mena, is absolutely amazing and I am loving every second. She's a short sister from the capital of Mexico and is full of amazing ideas to help our area and our investigators. Not to mention that her attitude towards life is awesome! She is a joy and I am so happy that the Lord let us share this transfer together!!! These transfers, for the whole zone, were completely inspired!!

We've been encouraging the members to start working in the Work of Salvation by helping us in our visits and helping their ancestors through family history work. We want the whole ward to go to the temple in December, especially the new members, and I know the Lord is going to help us in our efforts. We had a Family Home Evening with a family that went awesome!... Until the 10yr old son began crying when he lost a game we were playing to see who would say the closing prayer. He took it hard because he lost the game to say the opening prayer, poor thing :). His older brother was laughing at him pretty hard. Haha I love large families!

Here we are, working in the dust of Navojoa!

We found some amazing people to teach! We went to see Esperanza and she told us that she is going to be baptized (!!!), but we haven't put a date yet. We tried visiting her this weekend, but her family was on their way to the cemetery to celebrate Día de los Muertos. We'll be seeing her on Wednesday (pray for us!). 

Speaking of Día de los Muertos, no one, I repeat, no one was home on Sunday. Everyone went to the cemetery to put candles and flowers on graves. We spent most of the week talking about the spirit world, the plan of salvation, and temples :) It was the first time when NO ONE was outside on a Sunday night, which was pretty crazy. Also, we ate Pan de Muerto (so good!). Aunque los niños chiquitos piensan que el pan de muerto lleva personas muertas, no es cierto... ya pregunté ;) [translate]

I'm sorry if my email is all over the place! We are right about to leave to go to Obregón for a meeting tomorrow. Hna. Mena and I are going to give a training, so my mind is elsewhere, but I love you guys tons! Wish us luck for tomorrow!

Here are some amazing scriptures I came across this week: Luke 9:24, DyC 14:7, 1 Samuel 15:22, DyC 108:7

Hermana Zubeldia

Here are the wonderful sisters in my zone before they left to their next areas.
I love these sisters so much!
The sister on the far left, Hna. Rojas, was my second companion in the field.

My companion and I were having fun taking pictures in the church. Have a great day!

Can life get better?

Dear family,

Oh my goodness gracious!!!! I love this place with all my heart!!! I don't even have words! I've been thinking a lot about "ministering angels" and have come to the conclusion that they are also very happy (thousands of youth decide to be ministering angels for 18-24months). So it's okay to be a ministering angel forever, right? I'll just stay here and preach the gospel forever :)

Well, the last week of the transfer flew by incredibly fast. From trying to find new people to teach, to teaching the people we already have, and from trying to say goodbye to all the members before Hna.  Ortíz finished her mission here to start another mission in her homeland, the week went by quickly and crazy. We got a surprise farewell party set up for Hna. Ortíz, so that was fun (I am loving these surprise parties! I think I've done 4 or 5 now here on the mission). We shed a tear, hugged a bunch, and now she's long gone :´(

But, on the bright side, my new companion is amazing!!! The Lord has blessed me to be with Hna. Mena, a short chilanga that is full of energy, spirit, and fun. I am more than excited!!! Also, two sisters in our zone are going to train!!! Hooray!!! I am so happy for them, the lucky girls! Also, Hna. Franco, my hermanita from the MTC, is here in our zone! This transfer is gong to be absolutely amazing!

This week, in terms of my dear friends, well, it's going to get better, that I know for sure. Esperanza, Kitzia, and Yaveel almost entered the waters of baptism on Saturday, but they are going to wait a couple more weeks. I still am holding onto the promise the Lord provides in DyC 103:12. All is going to be okay, we just need more patience and more faith. We've been on the lookout for more chosen people (los escogidos!) and I know that we will find them.

I was reading the Liahona for this month and found something that caught my attention. Elder Hales said, "Eternal perspective informs our daily decisions and our actions. It steadies our minds and souls. When persuasive but eternally flawed opinions swirl about us, we are steadfast and immovable." This really caught my attention, because it is so true. We have an eternal perspective as members of the church. Everything we do is connected to the eternities. Isn't that amazing? I'm so happy that we figured this out sooner, and not later. Thank you family for raising me in the gospel!!!

I love you all so much! I hope you have an amazing week and that many miracles are seen! Happy Halloween

Hermana Zubeldia

A sister from my ward in Mochis sent me this today :)
This is me eating lunch on a Sunday

Oh Chiltepín!

Dear Family,

I'm sorry to hear that some of you are sick. That's never any fun :/ If it makes you feel any better, almost all the sisters in the zone are sick, including my companion. I'm not sick yet... let's see how long my luck lasts. I'm always with my companion.... so what she has, I get, and vice versa. I ate chile this week and they say that chile helps people so that they don't get sick (I'm going to see if this myth is true).

But really, I ate some crazy hot chile this week! I ate chiltepines!!! Oh my goodness gracious it has been almost a year since I ate my last chiltepín, and it wasn't even that hot. We were trying to see who could eat the most spice, so we ate a pickled chiltepín. It wasn't too bad, so I thought my mind could muster another round of heat. So... I ate a dried chiltepín... and my body caught fire! I was laughing and crying at the same time because my mouth and stomach were killing me! Just thinking about the experience makes my stomach feel on fire. Haha wow, it was a feeling I will never forget! I can't believe that, before my mission, I wouldn't eat chili. Now, I'm putting some of the craziest chiles in my mouth, just to see what will happen. The mission sure does crazy things to you :)

We've been working really hard and I know that the Lord is waiting to see how patient we can be in order to receive some serious help. Santiago, our 20year old investigator, went to visit his family in Hermosillo and will be gone for 2 weeks. He lives next to a chapel in Hermosillo, so we're praying that he continues going on Sundays :) He's a good kid, I have faith in him. Also, Esperanza, Kitzia, and Yaveel are doing fantastic! They invited family members to go to church yesterday and it was wonderful seeing that their family members enjoyed their Sabbath in the chapel. They're already missionaries! They just need to get baptized. The Lord is doing his work much better than we are and He knows when their time will be right. I just hope He lets us know when the right time is right as well. Maybe this Saturday?

Again, I love the mission!!! My companion is amazing and super fantastic. It's sad to think that our time as companions is coming to an end because this is the last week of the transfer :/. She has been such a blessing to me these past 3 months. We are going to work as hard and harder than we worked last week. I want this last week to be the best, who knows what is going to happen next transfer! Miracles ARE going to happen in this dusty town of Navojoa. There is so much work to do!

DyC 80:3-5

Also, I invite you all to not listen to "wordly music" this week and to just listen to church music. What we listen to affects every part of our lives :) So listen to MoTab and EFY. I love you guys! Let me know if you notice a difference :D

Hermana Zubeldia