Christmas week in Carmen

I have no idea what to say this week. Strange right? And the picture thing isn't working out so well...

The Mission President came to our area this weekend! On Saturday we all gathered at the stake center and then we got a call saying that the Mission President wasn't coming. Everyone was so upset, so two of the Elders in our zone decided to go pray. When they came back we decided that we all needed to pray together, and they asked me to offer the prayer... hahaha. We prayed and then 15 minutes later we got a call saying the Mission President would be coming and would be there in 3 hours so, we needed to stay there and practice teaching and study. Prayers are answered! We prayed to say thank you, and then got to studying!

I love the Mission Presidents family! They are so great! I was so excited to hear from them. The President gave us a wonderful talk about Repentance. It was amazing. It made me really think about being better and turning my heart towards God. We ate dinner and then hung out with our zone. It was so great! I feel like a part of the zone now. There is an Elder from Sandy that swears he has played basketball with Sawyer. :)

After those talks we had a baptism of Migualito! He doesn't count as our baptism because he is 8 but, we still got to teach him because his family is inactive! His Dad got the preisthood on Sunday, so things are looking up!

On Sunday we had a conference with Elder Walker. It was SOOO good. It was about ward councils and how missionary work HAS to have members to work. It is so true! We need ALL OF YOU to be successful! When the tortilla shop runs out of dough, they can't make any more tortillas! It is the same with referrals, when we run out we can't baptize any more people! We are constantly in need of referrals! Contacting isn't that successful and we aren't allowed to knock on doors anymore! SO, start giving referrals to your local missionaries! Okay, I will get off my soapbox.

This morning the zone leaders organized an activity for all of us! We went to the beach with the Mission Presidents family and played sports. It was so fun! Except...no one wanted the Hermanas on their team... We all sucked at soccer and Volleyball. But I dominated at Frisbee and playing catch with the Elders. I also taught the Mission presidents daughters how to throw an American Football. They are basically pro now. :)  It was way fun! Then we had a BBQ. It was so yummy!

Everyone here is on Vacation...so, our work has been slow. I am so grateful the President came this weekend! It was a beautiful Christmas here in Carmen.

I Love you all so much!

Have a great week!

Hermana Elise Riedelbach

Sunset

Baptism of Migualito

Eating a hot dog for G-Ma, They have hot dog soup down here...I eat it a lot G-Ma would be in heaven!

The roads in town

Hermana Castro and I standing next to the road...crazy, huh?

Zone with Pres. and his wife

Me and Hermana Castro on the Beach

Mexico!

Hola!

I hope I can fit all that I need to in this email but, I only have 30 minutes and then we are putting on a Christmas Concert!

Where to start? AHH! My first Area is Carmen it's an island in the Gulf of Mexico, which means its closer to the equator therefore it's hotter, more humid and my hair is bigger! Seriously it's huge everyone laughs. 

I think this will be easier to do in a pros and a cons list so here you go!

The Mexican Men:

Pros: They love me! They cat call to me ALL day. I don't think I have ever been whistled at this much in my life and that's saying something! They also yell things at me. My personal favorite (I was wearing a red shirt) He yelled Hey there little red riding hood, your big bad wolf is right here!

Cons: They take their clothes off as I walk by and they don't excatly have the skinniest of bodies...

The bugs:

Cons: THEY LOVE ME just like the men. :) I look like I have diseased legs because they won't stop biting me. I have tried every kind of bug spray. Don't worry the elders say that they stop biting you after week 3. The ants love my stuff. I don't know why...This morning they got into my suitcase of clothes..stupid ants. We found 2 cockroaches in our bathroom this week.

Pros: my companion says that the cockroaches we found were the small ones... :) I thought they were HUGE! only two weeks left of bug bite mania.

My Hair:

Pros: I am never lacking in volume like I do in Utah.It makes everyone laugh... :)

Cons: IT"S HUGE!!!!! Like seriously, I don't think it could be any bigger. All of the Mexicans think it's funny. I tried to straighten it for church yesterday and...well...it was huge before we left our house. :(

The singing:

Cons: They can't sing at all it's hysterical

Pros: Mom will fit right in when she comes to pick me up! ;)

The Food:

Pros: It is soo good! The members here feed us everyday for lunch! Seriously the gift of tounges involves food too. I have eaten cow tounge twice! I am so proud of myself!

Cons: They feed us Carter sized meals EVERYDAY!!! I don't eat breakfast or dinner because I know I am going to eat so much at lunch.

Funny story about food, one day we went to eat at the sweetest ladies house and in my bowl of soup there was a huge chunk of yucky looking meat,  I just couldn't get myself to eat it so, when the lady turned her back I asked Hermana Castro if she wanted my meat and she said sure! so, I hurried and picked it up and went to put it in her soup and the lady turned around again. AHHH! The meat was in mid air...not one of my finer moments in life. Later the lady asked Sister Castro if I didn't like the food and Sister Castro told here I didn't eat meat....AHAHAHA. so fuuny!

The Members:

Pros: Elder Brewer told me that we have the best ward in the whole mission. They feed us good food every day sometimes twice a day! They love having an american sister here. They get so excited to come up to me and talk English. It's so funny! They also drive us places which is so nice because it is sooo hot here.

Cons: There aren't any...

The Bathroom:

Cons: We can't flush toilet paper down the toilet...and there is no running hot water...

Pros: Showering is always adventurous and our bathroom always smells like a bathroom!

Being white in a brown town:

Pros: I get honked at a lot

Cons: YOU WOULD THINK I WAS A CIRCUS CLOWN. people can't believe there is white girl here so they have to stare just to make sure...

My companion:

She is so great! Her name is Hermana Castro she is from Mexico but speaks English! QUE BENDICIONE! When we saw each other we both knew that we would get to be together! She is a super missionary she contacts everyone we see! She really knows what she is doing!

Our Investigators!

WE HAVE A BAPTISIM! They are all super  and I love them.  They are all super close to baptism. The little kids tell me I speak like a caveman...hahaha, but they love to help me/correct me all the time! I love it!

This is for sure the hardest thing I have ever done but, I love it so much! I will talk more about everything next week when I have more time. If you emailed me and you didn't get a response this week you will get one next week!

Con amor,

Hermana Riedelbach

Taco Bell Aint Got Nothing on Mexico!

HOLA!!

I am in Mexico! WHAT! Oh my goodness. I can't believe it. This keyboard is different so...my typing may be really poor. I am safe, our flights went very well! When we landed we had to go through customs and I got randomly selected to be searched. :(  They took EVERYTHING out of my bags... I couldn't get it to all fit again...hahaha. Then after that ordeal I walked through the gates and saw a huge welcoming party with a sign and all! What a blessing! Our Mission President and his family are so nice. They took us to get tacos last night, yummy, and they kicked all of the Elders out of their apartment so we could stay there. I think we broke everything in their apartment...oops. My hair is HUGE! This humidity is crazy! It's been raining nonstop since we got here. But it's so good. We are about to get our trainers and start the real work! When we got here the Mission President looked at all of our stuff and said "you know, you only needed to pack for 18 months not your whole life!" We have so much stuff! It's hysterical. Today a white Elder walked in and said "Oh my goodness, I  haven't seen a white woman in soooo long." The Mission President's son had never seen a white girl before, you would think we were a circus act on the street. EVERYONE STARES. I love it though!

Can't wait to talk to you on Christmas! 

Love you all!

Hermana Riedelbach

La Iglesia es verdadera!!!

What a week! So much has happened. I don't even know where to begin.

Let's start with the biggest news! VEGAS!!!

Yesterday we woke up at 4:00am and flew to Las Vegas to make a personal appearance at the Mexican Consulate. It was the longest day ever. But I have a lot of good news from it! When we landed a service missionary picked us up and took us to Del Taco for breakfast....WHAT? Haha, but it was so yummy. We then went over to the institute building at UNLV and ate. The service missionary then proceeded to talk to us for THREE hours about nothing important. It was SOOO boring. Then we piled in the van and headed over to the Consulate.

We went up to the window stuck out our pointer fingers and then smiled for a picture. 10 minutes later we had our visas in our passports. WHAT? We went through all of that for 15 minutes of sitting? Yes, yes we did. The service missionary took us to the airport and dropped us off.. Our flight didn't leave for FOUR HOURS. We basically sat all day. We ate dinner and then sat and talked. A bunch of members stopped and talked to us and wished us luck. I love all those peoples. They are so awesome! As I am sure you are all aware, a wonderful Mormon mom that worked at the airport took our pictures and sent them home. She's great!

Here comes the good part!

We board the plane and an LDS Sister and Brother sit behind us. They start talking to us about missions and stuff when 2 Hispanic couples come and sit behind us. The members are like talk to them! Soooo, Hermana Lowe and I start chatting with them they were so nice. They were helping us with our Spanish. And then.... they ask us what we are doing and why we are going to Mexico! WOOT! So I start telling them that we are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that we are going to preach our gospel to people in Mexico. Then Hermana Lowe looks at me and we start reciting our purpose in Spanish. It was so powerful. They all clapped for us! QUE BENDICIONE! Then I ask them if they know any Mormons? That's who we are. They said they knew some missionaries but they didn't talk with them because they were Catholic. :( bummer. Then they said it was nice to meet us so, they basically ended the conversation. I knew they needed to hear our message but, I didn't know how to keep talking to them. So we turned around and started memorizing the first vision in Spanish.

I knew we both felt that they needed to hear more...so when they brought the drinks around we started talking to them again. I look at Hermana Lowe and she is holding her paperback El Libro de Mormon and she looks at me, and then turns to the people behind us and says "I have a lot of these books...would you like one"? and the lady says yes!!!!! The members faces lit up and they starting smiling at us!! She then asks me what it is and I explain that it's another testament of Jesucristo. Hermana Weaver jumps in and says that it goes hand in hand with the Santa Biblia. And then I get the biggest impression that I need to bear my testimony of it. I didn't even pause. I just started saying I know that book is true and that Jose Smith was a prophet and then Hermana Lowe turns around and grabs her Restoration Pamphlet and opens to the first vision. After I finish bearing my testimony but before Hermana Lowe hands the pamphlet over to them, the members start telling the lady that it's the best book they will ever read. I got tears in my eyes and the lady we were teaching started wiping tears out of her eyes. We showed them the pamphlet and then turned around after giving them our emails.

Hermana Lowe heard the wife say to her husband that they needed to read that book. The Lady then told us that she will always remember us as the ones who gave her that book! I have never felt the spirit that strong in my life. It was so good. We started crying walking out of the airport. The church is true!

WE PLACED OUR FIRST EL LIBRO DE MORMON!!!!

Before the flight began I switched Hermana Weaver seats so I could study with Hermana Lowe. I know that was for a higher reason. I was really freaking out about leaving for Mexico on Monday. My Spanish isn't very good and I was lacking a bunch of faith in myself. There was a reason for that plane ride and when it happened, my Spanish was just falling out of my mouth, I didn't have to think about it or anything, it just came! It was such a confidence booster! We were talking about it after and Hermana Weaver said she felt that I needed to sit there just for that reason!

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Yesterday happened because of Him and His love and concern for us! I am so thankful for that!

I love you all and so does Our Father in Heaven!

Have a great WEEK!

Hermana Elise Riedelbach

P.S. The next time I email y'all I will be in MEXICO!!! So, that also means this is the last week for mail!! (:

Busy, Busy

This week has been so busy! Thanksgiving was so good! We got to listen to Elder Nelson speak to us, what a blessing! Then we got to participate in a service project! It was so cool! 

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/missionaries-serve-those-in-need-with-350-000-meals here's the link to the news article! It felt so good to be a part of such a wonderful project to benefit so many here in Utah! The church is so great and does so many things for people everywhere. We were able to listen to the director of the humanitarian aid for the Church as well. There are so many things the church does! SO COOL!

All this snow is CRAZY! It's so cold! I am counting the days until I can be in sunny, warm Mexico!

My Spanish is getting better! I am starting to kind of put together coherent sentences. Not a lot happens here at  the MTC after the first week, we just study all day every day! I love hearing from you all! I hope all is well! I haven't been so great at writing letters lately, but I will get some out this week!

We haven't heard anything about our visa's yet...which is not necessarily good or bad. I know that all missionaries going to Mexico have to make a consulate appearance which means hopefully we will be going to Vegas or SLC tomorrow or Friday. Pray that we go soon! If not we might get reassigned. :(  I will let you know when it happens!

Tell Erik Feliz Cumpliaños (spelling?)! I hope he had a great day!

I love you all and miss you tons!

Hermana Riedelbach

We wear pink on Wednesdays

Cute Elders carrying the packages we received ;)

Working on my Spanish!

Ha ha!

So proud!

Dressed in red!  HA!

Freezing in the snow!!