Enduring to the End. And a Little Bit More. Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico

​I would have written sooner but I was SUPER hungry so we stopped and ate some burritos. Now I'm full and happy and ready to write.

Saturday I had a pretty awesome experience due to having Alicia's baptism that day. 😁 She decided to get baptized in the morning (In cold water. Her choice.) When she came out in her white dress, BAM, I imagined her in the temple. A while ago we had a 70 come to our mission and talk about a talk called "Starting with the end in mind." Which means that when you start to teach people the gospel, you should teach them with the final goal in mind; the temple. I remember that I had a mid-mission crisis because I realized that the people I was teaching probably weren't progressing towards that, and I was sad because I knew it was going to be hard to find someone that would accept the gospel wholeheartedly and want to go to the temple. UNTIL we found Alicia. She accepted everything in a heartbeat. And after her baptism I asked her how she felt and she said:

"I have been to a lot of churches and I can say that I believe... no, not believe, I testify that this is the true church." 

She's as eloquent as she is amazing. 

Anyway, I love her a lot and I can't wait until she can go to the temple. 

This week has been pretty normal. The first part of the week we were running to and fro, trying to get all the missionaries where they should be, we had 3 sister missionaries that were ending their missions staying at our house (a lot of tears), and then all of the sudden we turned into a trio. Hermana Cano is pretty awesome, so it's not that bad. She's just a little traumatized right now because Hna. Roberts and I walk SUPER fast (habit) and we leave her lagging behind a lot. We're trying to slow down, I promise. 

Nobody got bit by a dog this week, thank goodness. We did get greeted by a well-meaning women who said "Hello my beautiful virgins!" 

My clothes are starting to show the wear of having them for a year and Hermana Roberts has restorted to sewing up her shoes. We also attended a baptism were a lady gave a talk about how potty training is like enduring to the end. She got very emotional and it was weirdly inspiring. 

It was a pretty normal week. 

I love you all! I hope you are all enjoying the ice cream there in the states. It's not very good here, but their burritos make up for it. 

-Hermana Murset

Pictures:

Alicia!!!!! She's so angelic looking. Hermana Roberts and I don't usually look that put together, but we made an extra effort. 

Alicia again!!! She taught us how to make donuts. 

"I Am Not Available As a Missionary at 2 in the Morning." Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico

Hermana Roberts and I are so in tune with each other that we even teach together while we sleep. I've known for a while that Hermana Roberts talks in her sleep, but I've always just ignored it. Until last night. 

I was sleeping pretty well, dreaming a good dream, when all of the sudden I hear (in spanish)

"We would like to share a message with you about how you can draw yourself closer to God and teach the gospel in your home."

And I thought "Oh yeah, we should probably start the lesson." So in my mind I got out my hymnbook. Then Hermana Roberts flipped over in her bed and said

 "Do you want to participate, Hermana Murset?"

 And I was thinking "Well yeah but why am I so tired? I better check the clock."

So I checked the clock and saw that it was 2 in the morning.

"Wow." I thought "Why are we at a lesson so early?"

Hermana Roberts asked me again,

"Would you like to participate?"

I said "No. I am not available as a missionary at 2 in the morning." 

I was completely serious. I had no idea that I was asleep.

Hermana Roberts had already woken up and had realized what was going on and thought that I was being sassy and making fun of her for talking in her sleep. So she threw back at me, 

"Missionary work is a full time job." 

Then I woke up completely and we died of laughter. 

#missionarylife

Hermana Roberts also got bit by a dog. Don't worry, she's not hurt, just proud that she now fits into the missionary stereotype. 

Alicia is going to be baptized this week! She is super excited. We are excited as well. We're going to her house today and she's going to teach us how to make donuts. 

Today is the day of transfers! Hermana Roberts and I are going to stay together, but we are going to be in a trio with an Hermana named Hermana Cano. We'll see how that goes! We're excited. 

I really don't have anything to say. I'm good. The gospel is true. 

I love you all!

-Hermana Murset

Pictures:

La familia Mora! This cute couple live next to us. They are members and they feed us well. We were at the Mexico City Temple rededication. It was pretty cool. I am aware that my legs look extremely tan. 

My zone! I'm the one next to the blonde and behind the blond. 

I Have Really Exciting News (September 7, 2015) Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico

So apparently they put Clorox in their water here and that's why we can't drink from the tap. 

That is my super exciting news for this week. 

I also found out that I can get even MORE tan. The sun is stronger here and my skin just loves to soak it up. 

I'm going to be super honest and say that nothing really exciting or off the wall happened this week. I mean, the norm; drunk people talking to us, getting chased by dogs, eating tortillas, having a man ask me if I pluck my eyebrows, etc. 

We had a Leadership Counsel were all the zone leaders and us sister training leaders get together and we act like we know everything. Presidente Rodriguez gave us an awesome training about finding people and after the Counsel I was so excited that I went crazy like Paul from the New Testament and contacted 15+ people on my own. 

We also had an activity where the assistants hid a ton of chocolate golden coins around the outside of the chapel and we had to go find them in a certain amount of time. We all went wild and the next thing you know a bunch of 19 and 20 year old young men and women are running wild in their Sunday best looking for chocolate coins. We were a sight to see! Hermana Roberts and I didn't win, in spite of us running super fast and yelling at the elders in English to distract them and confuse them. 

We're a great team. 

I hope everything is going super well in the States! I sure do miss chedder cheese...

Anyway, I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

-Hermana Murset

Pictures:

I am just super wise sometimes.

Hermana Valerio and I united once again!!

Pica? (August 31, 2015) Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico

I remember the first time that I wanted a bag of Cheetos. I was looking through the bags of Cheetos, trying to find what I wanted. But bag after bag, "Cheetos with Chili" "Cheetos with Habañero" "Cheetos with every spicy thing you can imagine." I remember throwing up my hands, turning to my trainer and saying in English "WHAT IS WITH EVERYONE AND CHILI." And she just stared at me because I said it in English. I was frustrated.

But I ate a jalapeño yesterday so I guess I'm over it. 

This past week was pretty good. We went to the Desert Museum to celebrate my companion's birthday. That's why I wrote on Wednesday. It was pretty fun, full of stuff about deserts. I think I was more excited at the end when I found out that they had a zoo-like thing that included GRIZZLY BEARS. Oh, and when I went to the gift shop. I bought a t shirt. It's a weakness. 

This Sunday was pretty comical. We brought 4 people to church, and when we showed up, there was five people in the chapel and it was already to start. Then people started trickling in and we started to sing the hymn, accompanied on the piano by a sister that plays the hymns like we're at a ragtime dance. Then the bishop got up to give a talk and started getting after everyone in his very loud voice "WHY ARE YOU ALL COMING LATE TO CHURCH."  Then another ragtime hymn. Then we went off to Gospel Principles and learning about gospel stuff, taught using primarily scribbles on the chalk board. We were pretty excited to move onto Relief Society because usually we have a normal experience there, but then they started to plan our missionary activity and it turned into a wild event with people yelling "WHO'S GOT THE NAPKINS?" "I'VE GOT THE NAPKINS." "DORIS STOP TALKING." 

But our investigators seemed to have a great time. 

This week was really just me realizing how many weird experiences I have everyday. I'm having a good time though. 

I don't have much to write today, everything is going well. I've still got some crazy tan lines, so nothing is new. 

I love you all!

--Hermana Murset

Pictures:

Everywhere the sun touches is my area. Oh, and there's a live ram.

I'll just let that picture explain itself. 

Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill (August 26, 2015) Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico

So our area has a lot of steep hills. 'Nuff said. 

This week was GREAT. I know I didn't write on Monday, don't worry I didn't die. Well almost, skipping P day does that to you. We switched our P day to Wednesday so we could go to the huge Desert Museum that they have here. But that hasn't happened yet, so I won't talk about that. 

Last week I went on splits with my MTC companion, Hermana Valerio! It was awesome. She's in a really remote area so I actually ended up staying with her for about two days being sister training leader-ish. It was pretty fun. She's doing awesome, which I was glad to see. 

Then we had stake conference and our golden investigator, Alicia, came. She also brought her daughter, Lety. Lety is 32 and has Downs-syndrome. We talked to our mission president and he told us that Lety doesn't need to be baptized because she is innocent. That was something pretty cool to tell Alicia. That put a huge smile on her face. After the conference we took her to meet President Rodriguez and he asked her when she was getting baptized and she excitedly said "September 12th!" When we went to go visit her afterwards we asked her what she had liked about the conference and she said "That everybody knows that this church is true." 

She's great.

Then yesterday we went to go teach a lesson to a lady named Elizabeth. Her story is the perfect example of when members and missionaries work together. Hna Julieta (the member) was going to give us lunch, but then she couldn't do it so she slyly asked her neighbor, Elizabeth, to do it. So we met her and she was super nice, we shared a little message and she invited us to come back. My companion and another sister went (I was on splits) and taught about prayer. 

So yesterday when we went to teach her, she told us an amazing story about an experience that she had had about prayer. She had gotten in a huge fight with her son to the point that we walked out of the house with the intention of never coming back. She was so sad and didn't know what to do, but then she thought about us and that we had taught her to pray. So she said a little prayer and promised that if God would send her son back, then she would keep listening to us. Within two seconds of saying her prayer, her son walked in the door. 

This is what happened when I invited her to get baptized:

"Hermana, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being bapt-"

"YES."

Now that's what I'm talking about.

I feel extremely blessed in my mission. I know that I still have 8 months left, but I can feel the time slipping through my fingers. But every single day I can feel my testimony growing stronger. I now understand the WHY of things. And I'm certainly glad I came because who knows where I would be if I hadn't come. 

I love you all and I hope that you are doing well! Sorry if I never have any time to write to respond, but I promise I am thinking of you.

-Hermana Murset

Pictures:

Me looking all happy and fresh in the morning.

What happens to me when we get home.

Forgotten English I Have (August 16, 2015) Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico

So I gave a talk in church for the first time on my mission yesterday. I started out by saying "Good morning brothers and sisters. Today I'm going to give my talk in English, because it's way easier for me that way." HA. You should have seen their faces. Some thinking "I should have paid attention in English class!" or "This missionary is crazy." I ended up giving it in Spanish, much to their relief. I don't know if they appreciated my joke.

WE FOUND A GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR. She's awesome. Her name is Alicia. She had a ton of doubts about baptism and why there are so many churches. So we taught her about the Restoration little by little and when we taught about the First Vision, it was like everything clicked for her. We asked her if her questions had been answered, and she said yes with a huge smile on her face. In her prayer she said "Thank you for sending the missionaries. I had a lot of doubts before, but now I don't." She's awesome and I love her. She has a baptism date for September 12th. I'll tell you more about her when I have more time. Just know that she's awesome and that all of you have to meet her one day.

So we started doing slits this week. We have a ton of sisters in Saltillo so we have to do them twice a week. It was surprisingly not that stressful, but it really wore me out. And I got to go to my old area! Zaragoza 2! You would think that after all my complaining about it I would be loath to go back, but I got to see the Esparza Rodriguez family and we had a movie moment when Hermana Martha saw me, recognized me, and yelled "HERMANAAAA" and then started crying as she hugged me. I love them. As for splits, it's interesting working with the sisters. Seeing how they work and how we can help them. Some of them take counsel well, some of them don't, but it's alright. We do what we can. 

Being with an American companion is different. We had a life crisis yesterday when we realized that we don't know how women greet each other in the US. Here we kiss each other on the cheek. In the US do we just shake hands? Wave from a distance? Hug? Do a ceremonial dance? I DON'T KNOW. We've also discovered that when we speak English we speak like Yoda. "It's tight, my skirt." "It's here she lives."  

This week went by really fast. And I don't know if you know this, but I'm now going downward on the number of months I have. GAH. 

I love you all and I hope you enjoy your air conditioner.

-Hermana Murset

Pictures:

 Us being all Sister Training Leaderish with Hermana Cano and Hermana Mex.

LA FAMILIA ESPARZA RODRIGUEZ. With a new addition to the family.