Casandra's Baptism!

Hello!

This week went by so fast! It started out with our District meeting on Tuesday. In District meetings, we get to practice with the other missionaries in our District so we can learn and progress as missionaries. I always get so nervous when we teach other missionaries, but this week I decided that I was just going to listen to the spirit, and go with the flow.

My companion and I got to practice with our District Leader, it was one of the most spiritual lessons I think I have ever taught. All of our eyes were full of tears. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and for his baptism. I am so grateful that he could be baptized so that we could follow his example and receive all the blessings that he has for us. I know that it is so important for us to make this covenant with Our Heavenly Father.

The rest of the week was full of making plans for Casandra's baptism! Woot!  We made all of the invitations and handed them out. Then we made bookmarks, programs, banners, letters and anything else we could think of.

We were a little bit upset because everyone in the Ward said that they wouldn't be able to attend the baptism because it was a difficult time of the day, because of the women's broadcast later that day we had to schedule her baptism for 12 noon. None the less, we went into full planning mode.

We got to the Church at 11:30 am to find the font full of dirt. WHAT? I couldn't believe it was happening again! We saw that it was SO dirty from the mirror over the font.  So, we ran around to the back so we could get in, and the doors were locked... AH, so we run to the institute office and one of the counselors of the mission is there, but of course, he doesn't have keys. So, we come up with a brilliant plan, I would jump over the glass to unlock the doors. WHAT?  But, with help from President Vasquez and my companion, I jumped the glass to unlock the doors in a skirt, no less. Ha, the mission is always an adventure!

We solved the first problem, but then the font wouldn't drain...AH!  We tried to call our bishop but, he wouldn't answer his phone so, we called the Elders and they came running. They started to look outside and move levers and things to try and get the font to drain while we were cleaning it, and then suddenly the font starts filling up with water! We started screaming,  and then had to bail all of the water out with trash cans.

We finished cleaning out the font around 12:05 pm and NO ONE WAS THERE. Not even Casandra. AH. We call her and she says that her grandma was working and wouldn't let her go alone. We decided to wait until someone showed up with a car to go get her. We finished decorating the room and setting everything up at 12:30 and still no one is there. I wanted to cry.

We franticly start calling everyone and then a miracle happened. A brother from the other ward showed up and a YSA, they said that they could go get Casandra. 5 minutes later 20 people walked in the door. We couldn't believe our eyes. :)

We then had a beautiful baptism. After all of the stress, we were so happy that she chose to be baptized. Later that night we got to watch the women's conference, it was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

On Sunday, we get to church and the sister that usually picks up Casandra shows up without her...WHAT? It turns out that her grandma wouldn't let her come because the meat store wasn't open, and Casandra needed to buy the meat for their food. So, we go running with the Young Women's president to look for her, because if she didn't get confirmed she would have to get baptized all over again.

We get to her house and she wasn't there so, we started helping her grandma with the food so she wouldn't be mad that we were going to take Casandra to Church,  and just then Casandra walks in. Her grandma let her go, and she was able to be confirmed, it was the first time I have been late to church my whole mission.

There opposition in all things. We had a strong testimony of that this week. But I am so grateful to know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each and every one of us. He knows that things aren't going to be easy, but if we do what is right we will always to be able to see the blessings in our lives. I am so grateful for every one of the experiences that I have here in the mission field and for the miracles I can see and feel.

I love you all so much and will be praying for you all this week!

Hermana Riedelbach 

The Last Supper!

You'll never believe what happened this week! WE FOUND TWO DEAD MICE IN OUR HOUSE!! WOOOO! Ok, maybe that's not the news you all wanted to hear, but we are so happy! We fed them poison last week and waited and waited and waited. Then on Wednesday we woke up with two dead mice in our living room.  Eeek and yuck!

One of our dead mice.

You should have watched us trying to put them in the trash. It was so funny and so GROSS. I wanted to call someone to help us, but we felt like that would be too embarrassing!

But, for the BETTER news! Hermana Casandra is going to be baptized on Saturday (if she passes her interview tomorrow!). WOOOO! We are so excited! On Friday, we were in her house teaching her and we started teaching her about the Holy Ghost. She said that she felt a lot of peace at church and that she could forget all of her problems when she is there. So we asked her if she would like to have those feelings forever, and she said yes! We then explained what Jesus Christ did here on the earth and that she would need to be baptized to have the Holy Ghost with her at all times. And then she said yes and accepted a baptismal date for Saturday!

She came to church yesterday and was so happy. Then afterwards she told us that she was unsure, and we felt that maybe we should wait a bit longer so we could teach her more. But when we got to her house that night, she sat down next to me and thought really hard. I could tell that she wanted to say something, but I didn't know what. Then she said 'Grandma, I am going to get baptized this Saturday.'

I was so shocked. We taught her part of the first lesson and when we finished we kneeled with her and prayed. I said the first prayer and she said the second. The spirit was so sweet. Her prayer was so tender. I could tell that she was really talking with our Heavenly Father, and more importantly that she wanted really wanted to change and to be better.

We are praying really hard that she will pass her interview tomorrow, and that she can be baptized. She is such a sweet girl, she is only 13 and has already has been through a lot in her life. The whole ward is so excited for her, they are planning to make cakes and sing at her baptism.

Cassandra and I

This past week we also had interviews with the President. They were so good, and I learned a lot. I am so glad that my President is who he is. I have learned so much from him and his family!

He started out and asked 'What is the only thing that Heavenly Father doesn't have?' I started thinking and thinking and I couldn't think of anything. We all sat there for a minute pondering.  It's not our time, our money or our knowledge, then someone raised their hand and said that it's our agency, our will.

The most important thing that we can do here on the Earth is serve Him with all of our hearts, minds and strength. I know that we can all do better and be better. We can all choose to serve him with all that we have.

A chicharrones!

I hope you all have a great week and look for the opportunities to serve our Heavenly Father. I love you all!

Hermana Riedelbach 

¡¡¡¡VIVA MÉXICO!!!

Today is Mexican independence day! (What happened to Cinco de Mayo?) haha, we dressed up in Red, White and Green (I felt like Christmas) It got me so excited for Christmas, not to mention that all of the stores here already have Christmas stuff up! WOOT!

Ok, back on topic...This week was so good! We were able to find 7 new investigators and three of them accepted to be baptized. We have an appointment with them on Sunday so, I'm excited to see what happens!! They were a referral from our bishop. They actually asked to meet with us...WHAT? But they don't actually live in our area...so, we are going to talk to the President this week to see what he says!

Yesterday we had a day full of food. I am not even kidding you, I have no idea how it all fit. We ate our main meal at 2ish (we both ate seconds..it was delish) and then we went to an appointment. While we were on our way and investigator called and invited us to her birthday party. She wanted to invite us to eat cake. Of course, we said yes! But, during our appointment our investigators fed us Horchata and cookies. I drank two big glasses of Horchata and then we left to go to eat cake.

When we pulled up to the house we realized that it was a full on party, there was music playing and a lot of people there. We didn't know what to do, so we ran down the street to stall. Then we got a phone call from them and they told us they were waiting for us. So, we went back and they gave each of us a plate full of meat (three different kinds), and a bowl full of spaghetti. I wanted to cry. Then they brought out a bunch of soda and chicharrones. (google that one) wanted to be nice so I kept eating, then they brought out a cake, WHAT? I don't know how people do it. Finally, my companion said that she couldn't do it anymore and asked for a  Tupperware container. hahahah!

After the party, we went running to another appointment with Casandra (remember her?) She is so great! She has so many good questions which keep us on our toes. She came to church yesterday which was so good! She loved it and wanted to stay longer. She has plans to go to mutual this week! We tried to challenge her to baptism, but she had so many questions that we never got around to it. When we arrived at her house her grandma told us that she had dinner for us....AHHH. I wanted to die. But luckily, we were at her house until 8:50 pm and we have to be home by 9 pm so, we asked if we could take it to go, she said that was fine, and we went running.

We started getting worried because it was late, and we left our money at home so we couldn't pay for a taxi. As we were walking I said to my companion, 'The next taxi that honks at us I am going to ask if we can pay with food.' She just laughed at me. But the next taxi that honked, and rolled down his window  I Said, 'we don't have any money...but we have food!'  he asked us where were going, we told him, and he said get in! He was so nice and didn't accept our food either! Free taxi! woot woot!

Tonight we have two dinner appointments! Wish us luck! :)

A BIG Happy Birthday Shout Out! to Grandma Riedelbach and Andrea this week and Bebe, Cydnee and Carter next week!  I love and miss you all and hope you all have great birthdays!

I hope you all eat as much as I do this week! I love you all!

Hermana Riedelbach

This picture is a little strange but at least you'll understand my excitement for Christmas! 

What a CRAZY week!

I feel so bad that I didn't get to write last week. We spent half of Sunday, all of Monday and all of Tuesday in the offices. We got to help receive the new missionaries, teach them about their health, and help out where we were needed (my translating skills stink...I can't remember the right words for anything.). It was really a great experience. I remember my first day here and I can't believe it's already been 10 months since I left. The time has flown by!

We didn't end up having a baptism this past weekend, Hermana Maribel had some problems, but we are still working hard. This week we found 6 new investigators! We are really excited for one of them! Her name is Casandra. She is the granddaughter of an old investigator.

We went to visit/meet Casandra's grandma with a member and she was there. The grandma had a bad experience with the missionaries in the past and doesn't really want anything to do with it, but said 'Here, take her to church tomorrow!' We were so excited yesterday when we walked into church and she was there! She said she liked church! We have an appointment with her tomorrow and hope that it will go well! 

Yesterday we went and visited an inactive member who lives below us. He actually used to be the bishop...Everyone has told us that he hates the missionaries and won't talk to them, or let his wife feed us, but last night we decided to talk to him and see what would happen. It was so great! He is so nice and told us that he would help us with our mouse problem. He sent us home with a homemade trap and told us he would cut some wood for our door. or let his wife feed us, but last night we decided to talk to him and see what would happen. It was so great! He is so nice and told us that he would help us with our mouse problem. He sent us home with a homemade trap and told us he would cut some wood for our door.

The mouse that we have is so very smart. He took all of the food from the trap and it didn't shut. I think we have given up on catching that thing.

In our mission we have a rule or standard that we need to contact two people and put a return appointment with them every day. Yesterday we weren't having any luck, we even got into a singing battle with a woman who was singing our hymns wrong. We were so upset. I contacted like 10 people and NOTHING. Then we turned a corner and contacted the first two people we saw and they accepted! I couldn't believe it.

This month is the July of the USA. Everything is decked out in Red, White and Green, including me! (See the photo below.) hahahah. One night after we organized half of the offices we found decorations for the 15th of September and we decorated with Sister Morales and her daughters. It was so fun!

Today for P-day we built a fort with all the of the tables and sheets that we own. Then we ate, watched a movie and slept in it. Pictures to come!

I love you all! I hope you all have a good week!

Hermana Elise Riedelbach