Workin

Ok, so this week was a pretty good week.  We had more lessons than normal, found a lot of people who are married (woohoo!) and had inter-cambios (interchanges?)  with the STLs!   

I got to work in the area of our leaders with Hermana Valdez, and it was super great!  (side-note, she's going to live in Utah when she gets back from the mission, so I can see her!!)  We had some fun working together, and learned a lot.  One of the coolest parts is that in my area we have beeing teaching a couple (Hermano G. and Hermana N.) and the mom of Hno. G is sick, and lives in the area of the STLs, so since I was there I got to go visit her!!! We got to share a message with her daughter who was taking care of her.  

This week I was pretty excited, because we had about 7 people that said for sure that they were going to go to church, and then yesterday... no one.  :/  But that happens sometimes.  Also we have been planning that one of our investigators can be baptized this week Hermana T. but we have a problem with her family... so I am hoping that all will go well because she really is ready and has been listening to the missionaries for I think more than 2 years now.  

The work continues to move forward, as we keep receieving more missionaries and are all trying hard. :)

 

This week I was reading in Mark 8:34-38, and I would like to leave you all with this passage.. 

34 ¶And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me,let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

 35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoevershall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall saveit.

 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world,and lose his own soul?

 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

 38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my wordsin this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Sonof man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Fatherwith the holy angels.

I know that if we put the Lord first, we will be blessed.  Maybe not in the moment exact, but in the end, in the world to come, in some time or other, we will receive our reward.

Love you all, ¡suerte! 

 

Hermana Zimmerman 

 Beautiful Lazaro!

 Otter pops Mexico style :D

 My humble abode

 Lazaro

 Ok, this pic i totally copied from one of my missionary friends... but it was a good idea. :)

 TODAY WE WENT TO MCDONALDS!!! It's not in my area... but I got to enjoy a fudge sundae and churros.. 

2 of the cute YW in my ward!  They were baptized about 6 months ago I think... 

 

Semanas.. de Trabajo.‏

Muy buenas tardes a todos.

Estoy aqui.. haha I'll just get to it..

So this week I feel a little bad for our numbers.. but there is always room to improve.

Last week we had a special training for the leaders in the mission, but because my zone is the furthest from Guadalajara, our President decided that it would be more efficient to have them come to Lazaro, and teach our entire zone.  So it was pretty great, and I really learned a LOT.  We learned how to study more effectively, did a lot of practices- how we need to present and study the BoM, we practiced teaching the Creation, Fall of Adam and Even.. the Apostacy.. and it was all really great.  

We also had 2 sisters stay with us for two days, Hermanas Velluto and Rodriguez who are in Zihuatanejo.  It was really great staying with them, we had a few good chats in our house and went on divisions on thursday to make up more time. :) And I didn't get lost with my 3 weeks here!  haha. 

On Saturday the elders had another baptism, so we went and one of our investigators who has been listening to the missionaries for a really long time went!!  So that was really great, and she is now preparing for her baptism in a few weeks, I really hope all will go well. 

My ward here really is so great.  The people are always so welcoming and willing to work, and this week we have a few plans so that the hermanas can accompany us!  

I don't really have much else to say... but the work is progressing, I am learning more about how to be a better missionary, this ward will increase soon, we are all working hard, and... I'm gaining weight.  haha i need to work on that. 

News, last week or as of 2 weeks our Mission President decided that we can now have district-zone activities!!!!! the other district in my zone lives pretty far away, so we only had a district activity, but it wa pretty fun, and we all ate super well. :)  #LongLiveLazaro

Love,

Hermana Zimmerman

COKE!! In a bag. :)  #Mexico

 -DISTRICT ACTIVITY!!!! First one in 6 months. :)  We decided to all bring food and play volleyball.. you could say it was pretty successfull.  We had pizza, coke, Enchiladas rojos (my favorite here in mexico), quesadillas, moyete (bread with beans and cheese), and cake because it was our zone leaders birthdays today and last week). 

Sunsets here in Lazaro are really the best! 

 My Companion and Hermana Rodrigez

 In front of the church here in Lazaro

 this is how you kill a chicken..

So there's a flea market in my area every monday... so it's pretty great. :)

 

MILAGRO!!!!‏ (translation - Miracle)

Ok, so this week was pretty great, and I really feel SO blessed.  :)

SO, story time.  First off, we share the ward with our zone leaders, and they have been teaching Hermano E who had a baptismal date with his friend Hermano JM.  Well, Hermano JM lives in our area, but the elders had been teaching him.. BUT last friday we received a phone call, and the elders told us that JM said he wanted to be taught in his own house because it was a lot easier.  SOO.. that was just over a week ago, and then we had to teacher EVERYTHING to him in one week, well before friday so that he could be interviewed for his baptism on Saturday.  I'm honestly not quite sure how we did it, because he is also a man we needed some hermanas to accompany us for every lesson.  BUT we had a family who are members who offered their house for about 3 of the lessons.. and were great.  So, he was baptized this past saturday with his friend.  :)  The best part of all, was how prepared he was to receive the Gospel.  For every commitment, he accepted, and said he wanted to do more.  We taught almost all of the commandments in one lesson, so we wrote down all of the commandments with a scripture and the commitment, and with all of the reading assignments (so basically every day) he read everything!  And understood everything. We ran into a hiccup on tuesday.. but everything turned out fine, and we did it!   The coolest part is how he also got introduced to the Gospel.. 

One day he was working in an old building, and he reached behind a desk, or wall or something and found the Book of Mormon.  He asked the lady of the house if he could take it and she said of course (that was about 5 months ago).  So he started to read it, and had a friend who he worked with who was a member, who invited him to hear more about the Gospel.  Then, this past week during one of our lessons we were talking about some of the names of the kids of the family (because they are a little different), and JM asked what was the name of one of their sons.  It turns out that the Book of Mormon that he found belonged to one of their sons!  3 years ago, before he left on his mission, this family lived in these apartments, and the night before he left to go on his mission he left his BoM in the house, and they just kind of forgot about it.  So about 2.5 years later Hermano JM found this BoM and we taught him in the house of where the book came from!!   Oh wow. I know that God really does prepare a way for people to find the Gospel.  

In my study this week I have been reading a lot about the missionary work in D&C (I'm trying to read a chapter in the BoM, D&C, NT, and AT every day), and one day this week I was reading in D&C 31  I really loved this whole chapter.. soo...

 

1 Thomas, (Hermana Zimmerman, my daughter) (or any missionary)  my son, blessed are you because of your faith in my work.

 2 Behold, you have had many afflictions because of your family; nevertheless, I will bless you and your family, yea, your little ones; and the day cometh that they will believe and know the truth and be one with you in my church.

 3 Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.

 4 You shall declare the things which have been revealed to my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun. You shall begin to preach from this time forth, yea, to reap in the field which is white already to be burned.

 5 Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Wherefore, your family shall live.

 6 Behold, verily I say unto you, go from them only for a little time, and declare my word, and I will prepare a place for them.

 7 Yea, I will open the hearts of the people, and they will receive you. And I will establish a church by your hand;

 8 And you shall strengthen them and prepare them against the time when they shall be gathered.

 9 Be patient in afflictions, revile not against those that revile. Govern your house in meekness, and be steadfast.

 10 Behold, I say unto you that you shall be a physician unto the church, but not unto the world, for they will not receive you.

 11 Go your way whithersoever I will, and it shall be given you by the Comforter what you shall do and whither you shall go.

 12 Pray always, lest you enter into temptation and lose your reward.

 13 Be faithful unto the end, and lo, I am with you. These words are not of man nor of men, but of me, even Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, by the will of the Father. Amen.

Anyway, I just felt a lot of peace and comfort when I read this chapter.  I know that this is the work of Salvation.  That there are people prepared to hear the message of the Restored Gospel, we just have to 'dig a little deeper' ;)  and really work hard, and the Lord will bless us.  

Love you all! ¡Exito!  

Hermana Zimmerman

p.s. today we went to go eat with an investigator so for a bit we were talking about our church, and the husband came out and said 'oh you're mormons??? the Mormons don't believe in anything, don't believe in God, or in Jesus Christ'  So we explained about the real name of the church 'the Church of Jesus Christ...'  and we left a Book of Momon with them.  :)  The ideas some people have.. haha

 

 Baptism of Hermano JM and Hermano E (of the elders) and practically the whole ward. :)

 Other photo from the baptism.

 My attempt at making a tortilla... as you can tell it didn't quite turn out so well.. but hey, I still have 11 months to learn. ;)

 Why not play with your food?

A cute little girl gave us these flowers... :) 

Buenas tardes! :)

Buenas tardes!  :)

So this past week in my new area has been pretty different from Morelia.  Few differences are-

1-Lots of people aren't married.

2-The streets are new or something, and the people don't know what street they live on, and because the houses don't have numbers.

3-Fish.

4-Heat and Humidity.

Ok, so this past week we have been working to find more people to teach, and all the stuff that missionaries do, and it turns out the these 4 things are very true down here in Lazaro.  BUT, the ward here is great, and the members are so nice, and are some really great sisters who are willing to accompany us, and all.  

This past weekend was Stake Conference!  Haha my 3rd one here in the mission, and our stake center is actually pretty small.  But we had one of the Seventy come (Elder Hugo Montoya) and we had another counselor of our mission president come as well.  The conference was really great, they talked a lot about the family, how we focus a lot in other things in our lives, instead of the things that are the most important.  Elder Montoya also shared an experience that he had with one of his sons that served a mission.  They went back to one of his areas, that was a pretty little city.  After they had visited everyone is was almost night time, but his son wanted to go visit one more of his converts, a woman who lived about 15 or 20 minutes outside of the city, and was a little house by itself. The dad had said asked why his son had come all the way out there to teach someone..  When they finally got there it was already dark, but they knocked on the door and there she was.  At first she didn't recognize the Elder (not in his shirt and tie) but he said 'I'm Elder so-and-so', and she exclaimed, 'Oh, my son!'  and they had a very sweet, tenderhearted chat.  With the sister just saying over and over again that the elder had changed her life, and how grateful she was that he had brought her the Gospel.  Before they left the woman gave them a jar of fresh fruit (this part I don't remember too well.. haha) but said that she had bought it fresh that morning, and wanted the elder to have it. 

That story just goes to show, that we really do have an impact on the lives of the people here.  And that the people really do remember the missionaries.  

Also, I had to play the piano in Stake Conference... haha it did not go as well as it should have, but I was asked basically the day or 2 before, and had only time to practice before it started... 

This past friday we also receieved a call from the elders in our ward, giving us a reference.  They have an investigator who will be baptized this Saturday, and his friend was also listening to them, but he lives in our area, so he wanted us to teach him.  So we now have one week to teach him everything before this Saturday...... I hope all goes well :)  Wish us luck!  

Oh, and we really don't eat fish a lot, it was just one time this week. 

Besides all that, the work is coming along, this area is very beautiful I love it, and I am excited to work some miracles here. Also, I completed 7 months yesterday, so that was pretty weird. 

Love you all! 

Hermana Zimmerman 

 'Poisson!'  jk, enspañol 'Pescado!'

 Kind of blurry.. but a pic from one of my areas.  :)  PALM TREES!

 Just a part of the ward, I'm pretty sure this is in the area of the Elders.. 

 After our Zone Meeting we had to stop by Walmart to grab some food to eat with the Hermanas from Zihuatanejo! (disclaimer-walmart isn't in my area).

Smoking Kills..