Ivana Baptism!

Que Pachuca por Tuluca!!

Haha that is probably the most "Chilango" phrase you can find. How are my fam and friends doing?! Wasn't conference incredible_ I love the excitement of all the modern revelation. It truly is amazing to see God work through modern day prophets. Also I may or may not be a little bit salty that for the saturday afternoon session there was a missionary choir with half of Mountain View and half of my best friends in it! Im so jealous haha. But what a cool thing that they had the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful conference.

This saturday, before conference started, we had a baptism for the hermana Ivana! Ivana is quite the character. She is nine years old and is the hardest person I{ve ever had to teach. I've taught some pretty down to earth muchachos about 8 or 9 years old but Ivana has given us a hard time. She doesnt use words unless she tells her mom to get something for her, she is incapable of making eye contact, she lays down during lessons, she spends the lesson licking and scratching her arm, and the last lesson she was picking her nose with scissors too. Yeah... haha it has been a little difficult. We all have our different weaknesses and habits I guess haha. The good news is that she really likes primary and she has her little testimony that the church is true. We reviewed all the fundamentals each day this week to help her prepare for the baptism, which means we spent about an hour on combis every day in order to travel to Paseos del Valle which is where they live.

I cant remember if I already explained what combis are but they are basically the main form of transport in this area of Mexico. Theyre basically huge vans with like 10 seats in a circle and they all have certain routes that are shown by the little papers in the windshields. Even though they are awkward and theyre about as smooth as the rollercoaster ride at lagoon, they are great for contacting and theyre actually pretty reliable too because there are so many! You can just stand by a main street at any time and in about 2 mins max there will be a combi pass by with the route you need. The only problem is, our area is so big which means we have used a lot of combis, which means we are broke haha. Its at least 10 pesos each person on the combis which adds up really quick with our budget. We{ve definitely had to use a little bit of personal money in this area, but we get by and do our best, and we use our bikes as much as we can.

Ivana's baptism was definitely something special. We couldn{t get the boiler to work because the guy who knows how to fix it hasnt been showing up, so the water was pretty cold haha. Ivana didnt want to decide which of us should baptize her. So my kid and I decided itd be cool for him to baptize his first person. So Elder Molina did the ordinance, but of course Ivana{s foot popped out of the water, so he had to do it again. The problem is Ivana was freaking out. She wanted to get out of the font so fast because it was a little cold. She finally calmed down and walked back to Elder Molina. He did the ordinance again and HER FOOT POPPED OUT AGAIN. This time it was bad, Ivana had had enough. Long story short, she was able to do it a third time which then counted. But wow. It was a little rough. I felt bad for my comp, he did nothing wrong. Maybe Ivana hasnt ever gone submerged in water before_ I dont know. Karen last week was completely find with the same exact conditions.

Even though ordinance was a little bit rough. The spirit was still amongst us during this powerful ordinance. Ivana's mom was emotional because she could feel the truth of the church. I was amazed how she was able to focus on the sanctity of the ordinance instead of how uncomfortable it was for her daughter to be baptized three times. The members that were there were really supportive and it all turned out to be ok. Ivana{s parents are set to be baptized around December or January. The only reason they have to wait is for a previous divorcement to be finalized. They are super active in the church though, and the baptism of their daughter will be yet another reason to stay faithful and active. We will be visiting the Ramirez family very often.

One other highlight of the week was when we decided we were going to bike to Nextualpan to find a reference that has a lot of potential. What we didnt realize was that Nextlualpan extended unbelievably far, almost to Zumpango which is out in the boonies. So when we got to Nextlualpan, we asked where the specific colonia was and they just said it was forever in [that[ direction. Long story short, we were biking for over an hour to find this place, it wasnt the safest conditions, and our allergies were getting wrecked. Id already had a super hard time with allergies throughout the week but we biked through fields and fields with dirt, pollen and everything else that makes my allergies bad. My nose was a faucet and I could barely see because my eyes were so watery haha. But despite the difficulty of the trip, we were able to find some cool new places, and we were able to find the reference and put him on a baptisimal date! We also learned our lesson that from now on, we are going to only take combis when going to Nextlualpan haha. You can imagine how hard this was for my comp especially with what I told you guys last week about his bike skills. He described the trip as [endless, horrible, painful.... but worth it[ I love how even though he got completely wrecked and he couldnt feel his legs, he was able to look at the good the came from it haha. I reassured him that he had done something harder than 99% of the other missionaries in the mission that day. We took a little 5 min brake in Tonanitla, one of my favorite little towns by Ojo de Agua, and then we got right back to work.

Things are going just grand here in Ojo. I love how we get to meet a different hermana every day with lunch, They are all soooo nice and have the most amazing stories! They are all our [Mama galletas[ which means our cookie moms. Haha its a term here which means the ladies that will just do anything for you. I love all of them with my whole heart. Fernando and Erica are set to be baptized this saturday! They could very well be the best converts I ever have on my mission. WOW. Every lesson is incredible with them. In between lessons, they read full books within the book of mormon, all the little pamphlets we give them, and they write down all of their questions that they have for us! They say they are willing to do anything to become members of the church. They have told their friends when they offer them beer that they have find a book that has changed their lives and then they respectfully say no. We are running out of material and homework to give them! Haha its a good problem to have, thats for sure. They have testimonies and faith that just blow me away, and I have no doubt they are going to be amazing contributions to the kingdom of God. Now we{re looking with the temple in sight for them! It was so funny because during our past lesson, they were asking us about how the actual ordinance of the baptism works. We taught them exactly how the immersion works and everything, and Erica said she was nervous about drowning and that we wouldnt be able to pull her back out of the water hahahahaha. Fernando and Erica are a little bit bigger people so I guess we{ll start working out with more intensity this week before the baptism to prepare. Hahaha no it will be nice and easy especially with the font high with water. We're so excited for Fernando and Erica.

I was writing like a mad man during conference. Such great insight from all of the speakers! And what an amazing change the two hour church block is! More time for gospel study for all the families around the world is going to be so impactful. This change reassured the fact to me that the church organization is not the ends means by itself. The church is not the gospel. Elder Uchdorf said that the church offers a place to practice living the way Jesus lived, and teaching the things Jesus taught. And I might add that the church is also the path in which we can participate in all the covenants as a part of the covenant path. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is so much bigger than just the three hour church block! We are all striving to become new creatures where old things are passed away. And we can help other people in their process to become the divine beings God intended them and us to be. We can together "Belive, love and do" as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. What great messages from conference! Its necesssary to follow to prophets council and review all of this great material often until the next conference.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to assist in the work of the gathering of Israel that was mentioned several times in conference. These are the last days, and we need to truly apply the gospel into our lives, and serve God and the people around us for (How knoweth a man his master who he does not serve?). Serve him, love him, and try your best to be like him. I love you all so much and hope you have the best week!

Cuidense mucho eh?

Elder Millard 

Still has the touch...