Martin Carrera - Bienvenidos a El Papa

Dear Fam BAM! Well well well this week was crazy with the Pope and everything. We had to leave our area last Thursday and we didn't get back in the area till Sunday night! But I guess it was crazy and all the roads were closed and a lot of the people here were not happy with his visit because it was so much money for him to be here. But hey its all good. Well before we got kicked out of our area we had a good two and a half days here in Carrera.

Here we are with our nice gifts.

   We have been focusing on all the people we have found in the last couple weeks and getting them into teaching and what not. One of the new couples we are teaching are named Gilberto and Patricia and they are cool. Anyways fumy story this week we were teaching them and there Dad was sitting on the lesson and her Dad is OLD and CATHOLIC! hah anyways he was like oh you are Mormons i am not going to say anything to you guys I will keep my opinion to myself... so the whole lesson he didn't say anything just sat in the corner and listened. And then after we had ended with the prayer he was like OKAY can I just say something.... you Mormons are crazy and he just went off and he was like so I have a present for you girls because I want to help you and he gave us a alcoholics anonymous book and told us to read it and it would CHANGE OUR LIVES FOREVER! haha Our investigators were both just laughing so hard at us and they said, "don't listen to him he is crazy" and he was like NO this is your tarea and you have to read it and show me the parts you highlighted. haha So we have those books now! Everyone is doing good here we are just trying to get more people to accept baptismal dates!

   Well Thursday morning we had to go to CV and we went and were secretaries in the offices for a couple hours till presidente got out of a meeting to tell us what we are suppose to do. Well then we worked in the CV that day and it was fun! We did this thing called teaching center and its from mormon.org where is says they can chat... well when people do chat they are actually talking to hnas from the CV all over the world. So that was cool and I chatted with some interesting people. Then they can also call and my settings were in English and Spanish so I did both and it was so weird to teach on the phone in English.  I mean I was totally talking spanglish. Its hard to use gospel vocabulary in Englias but it was fun. We also gave one tour in the CV and it was fun. Mine I gave yesterday; it was a couple that meet on internet they are both members and their first date was yesterday at the CV and it was valentines day and they were talking about when they were gonna have their sealing and me and the hna were like WHAT .. today is the first time you have meet physically and you are talking about marriage! Crazy

With our home girls; Dias and Cordova

   The rest of the time we did divisones with the hnas in their areas because they either go to their areas in the morning or in the afternoon. It was fun to learn from them and also because they are all latinas so they helped me correct some of my spanish grammar errors! I worked with hnas Rivas from Ecuador, Hna Diez from Hidalgo Mexico, Hna Candido from Brasil and hna Hernadez from Mexico. It was fun and they were all so fun and different and they think me and hna woodard are crazy jaja buts its just because we are happy! While we were in the CV we taught the hnas how to use a dishwasher because none of them knew what it was hahah. We also got to wash our clothes and I was able to take a hot shower for like 30 mins it was CRAZY! Also guess what we saw the cat on our roof the other night that peeded on everything ahhh dang cat. haha But all is well here in Mexico , I hope you are all doing good and everyone is happy. LAUREN FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS! And happy late valentines day! Love you all here are some pics!

love Hermanita Heywood

I'm  doing it wrong!

Our suitcases are filled with our laundry!

Martin Carrera - Hola, Hola, Hola

As for this week... we honestly were just running around like crazy with lots to do! First of all we did divisons twice this week so literally we had no time to rest at night or even a lot of time to do our studies because is was CRAZY! But good... I always learn a lot from the other hermanas in the mish! One day hna woodard had a meeting so me and another hna came back to Carrera to work and I think she was kinda shocked at how ugly it is here because her area is basically the states haha so that was fun to see her reaction. Then the next day we had divisons and woodard went to olivos and I stayed here and again and hna houghton came! WE had fun together she was the one hna i got lost with a couple months ago so we had some laughs from that. The other thing this week was we were just looking alot for nuevos and we have been searching a lot for people so we can teach more and more. Also i have GRIPA! haha its just a cold... but here in Mexico having a cold (GRIPA) is life or death... if you have gripa you might as well stay in the house and not leave for a week so everyone freaks out and tells me i need to go rest and take meds till its goes away.... but its all good I am just poppin pills and the work can still progress so there's that!

  Love all the pics, Chris looks like he had fun in the mini mish! Did he go with all 3 of those elders or what? 

As for our people here in Carrera all is well! I will start off with Louis and Carmen they are the Christians that want to baptize us... we told them to read the BOM and then call us... well they called us for another cita.. we tried to make it at the church... they said no... so we had to meet in the park. Anyways so we get there and we were like so what did you read... did you pray about it... and yeah. This is what they said. "Well we didn't read because we didn't know where to start... would it be better in the start middle or finish". ( When they said this... we were not having it because like any human does you start a book at the beginning) so then they were telling us how they wanted to talk to us because we have a light in our eyes but that light can come from Satan and that they needed to help us. Also the answer they got of the book of Mormon was a couple scripture references of false profetas and so and so... so it was obvious they didn't read. Then he was telling us how he read the bible of Satan and the word Mormon was in the book and we were like well ya know Satan is the father of all lies and if you really believe this book is of God then why did you want to meet with us. So basically they really just wanted to baptize two Mormon girls in some random Christian church and we told then we would ask God if it is something we should do and we left them with our testimony of the book of Mormon and yeah that's really all we could do... because their hearts were not open to learning or receiving an answer. They were like well its fine if you don't want to be converted into our church at least we planted the seeds in you... lol  Everyone else is good! WE have been getting alot of references for people that live in the sketchy parts of the area so we have been asking the jovenes to come with us because we cant go alone! Lots to do here and the pope is coming this weekend so we have to leave again.... we don't know when or where we are going but we just know its gonna be CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But that is mas o menos todo!!!!! I hope you all have a good week love you all lots and thanks for the pics madre y katie!

con amor,

Hermanita Heywood

Martin Carrerra - Guero y Gato

Alright family you will not believe what has gone down this week! I honestly do not know where to start so I will start with this.... today I hit 10 months on the mish... craziness! I don't like how fast time is going by! 

In the metro waiting for divisions.

      We had divisons on Wednesday and I went to Balbuena (its the same stake as Mocetzuma) and so it was fun to be close and to see some faces I already know!  Then I was pumped because we got a call from the Zone leaders and said that all of the of us needed to go to the stake center to get trash cans to fill up with water because they were going to shut off the water in the colonia... anyways so we went and it just so happens you have to walk through Mocetzuma to get to the stake center so I got to walk through my old territory and I went and said hi real quick to familia Galicia in their store and it was all fun! I was with hna Chavez so that was fun... we always have a good time! But while i was gone for a day on divisones a lot went down here in a Carrera.........

    First of all we have these two newish investigators that contacted us outside of our door one day and said they wanted to learn more... so our second cita with them was this past week and it turns out they are christian missionaries trying to convert us... the audacity! haha I guess they made hna Woodard do a weird christian prayer at the end of the cita and the cita was in the park so hahah yeah that was funny! 

 And then Javier (Micheal McClean) tried to break up with us! He came and tried to give back his book of Mormon and tell us he couldn't do it anymore but we put one more cita with him in the CV and prayed un buen! Well it turns out the next day we go to the CV and one of the CV hermanas taught him so good and so dang he was like "Okay I cant stop learning", and it was awesome! And the thing is is that is baptismal date was set for this past Sunday so we said "Javier you are ready" and he was like "no hnas" and we were like "yes" and then what do you know... we set a cita for his interview with our district leader and he passed and he got BAPTIZED! Miracle, right? 

Javier's baptism!

Practicing for the slam dunk!

    Of course something has to go wrong because the church is not as smooth here in Mexico as it is in the states and when we show up Sunday for his baptism there was no water in the font! haha So what happened is that we called the elders we share the building with the night before and told them to start the water when they got there to church (because their time is at 8 am) but they call us at like 10:30 (the baptism was suppose to happen at 11) and tell us they decided to clean the font and it just started filling up! The thing with the font is that it takes 3 hrs to fill up! So we got there and found every bucket we could and started filling the font with every bucket of water possible! We were using the water spout from the janitors closet thing... from the well... from the hose... EVERYTHING! And then at about 11:40 we started the baptism! Shout out to the 6 elders that helped us fill up the font,  Javier was baptized by a youth in our ward named Gustavo!Another thing was the stake presidente showed up to our services that day for sacrament and for once the ward actually started on time (our services start at 12) so we ended the baptism with a prayer and we ran into sacrament and got in there for the last verse of the sacrament song and it was all good! He was confirmed after we partook of the sacrament and now Javier is a baptized man with the gift of the holy ghost! #HOLA 

  Also you would not believe what else happened this week.... So you all know how I just LOVE cats right? Well it just so happens that on Thursday night one got into our house... how who knows but it was in there and marked its territory! The funny thing was we woke up at like 3 in the morning because something was crying and I was like hna woodard there is something crying in our bathroom and she was like hna nothing is in our house and so we both went back to bed! Two white girls living in Mexico City hear something in there house crying at 3 in the morning and do nothing! You might ask why we didn't do anything well its because we were EXHAUSTED and we didn't want to move so we both feel right back to sleep. Well when we woke up that morning we were in for a surprise! The fetching Gato sprayed EVERYTHING... garments, bags, q-tips... EVERYTHING! So we got permisson from presidente to go use the washing and drying machines in the CV because it is free and we had so much stuff to wash and we can't wash garments in a lavandería so we went! WE washed everything and now it smells a lot better! haha but a dang cat got into our house..... we were thinking maybe it got in through one of the windows that was open but we don't understand how it got into our cement house that is tall and there is nothing for a cat to get down to ground level from the roof but yes it was a fun week! 

A real dryer!  It's been months!

   So in summary for all of those who think I write too much... our Christian investigators are trying to baptize us, a cat sprayed on all of our stuff in the house, and Fransico Javier Casteneda Hernadez got baptized! 

  Also today we went to a mercado because we both wanted sweatshirts that are less expensive and hna woodard wanted a mexican dress! We went with hna chavez and Fuque and hno de la Peña from Balbuena drove us so that was fun he drove us past cool stuff in the mish i had never seen! It was fun and we are tired and we are pumped to work and find more people this week! 

CV Sisters....you need to clean your lint traps!

Waiting for our dryer to finish!

 All is well here in Martin Carrera and we are happy, exhausted and working hard! I love you all and oh Chris the mini-mish, that is sick! You should bring your fake comp a present because that is the best to get free stuff from members... you guys can change ties or something that seems to be the thing with elders and take him some of moms cookies or something! Have fun livin the mish life for a weekend and hey take pics and send them to me!!!!!!!!!! Also Mom I am proud of you, you are a champ for taking ice skating class and the trick to spinning is to spot on object while you spin and whip your head around to try to spot the object at all times! Well that's what it is like in dance anyways idk about ice skating!  I gotta go but love you all and have a good week and keep on being happy living the gospel... la verdad its the only way to truly be happy! Love you all adios!

 Hermanita Heywood

He is coming...in one week!

Our District

View of a cool church from our outing in the city.

Martin Carrerra - Hola Hola

Halo mamita y familia! 

Ah Hna Rodriguez...you are killing us!

   Pues este semana fue interesante... estábamos enfermas... de la comida... ahhh México! It was a good week apart from being sick. haha funny story our favorite sister in the ward (we skyped at her house on Christmas)' she was asking us on Sunday what we don't like or can't eat. She already knows that I don't eat green salsa because it gives me gastritis but then she asked hna woodard what she doesn't like. She told her hotdogs haha because she has texture problems and they sick her out... anyways we get to her house on Thursday for comida and what do you know she invented something new. It was just cut up hot dogs, green chilies, and creama nada mas. And we both just looked at each other and we were like.... is this a challenge to show our true love to this women... because she is a funny one... so we ate it like champs and then that night and the next couple days we couldn't really leave our beds it was that bad for us... hahaha she told us if we got sick from it she would make us food to make us better but we didn't tell her but it is all good because now we are all better but yeah that was a big part of the week!! I recovered faster than Woodard and she had to go to the mish doc! haha but we are good and healthy now! 

    Other things this week.... well we have been focusing a lot on young womens in the ward because there is one that goes. So we went on a lot of visits with the new young womens presidente to menos activos to help that out a little bit more! And it was good there so much work to do here but we are happy and Javier should be getting baptized this week... he is stressed out about tithing but we are trying to help him see the blessings from it... he just gets stressed about money like everyone does! Also Carlos should be getting baptized next week so yay!!! Right now we are just looking for part member families to help them all get active and baptized and to have the temple as a goal in their lives! 

Fatima's sister likes to talk to us from the bathroom window.  

We love tamales and mangos are back in season - So happy!

Sounds like everything is going good at home! I loved all your notes from Bednar,it sounds like it was an amazing meeting! Also that is cool the aps are in the 4th ward... is it because the mish offices are close to the chapel... are they in the singles ward too? Also traveling aps what is that? hahha that doesn't exist in Mexico.  This week we are starting divisions because hna Woodard is the coordinator of half of the hnas in the field so we will be doing lots of entercambios! I am pumped I am going on divisions this week with my granddaughter in the mish so that will be fun! But yeah not much else. I loved Taylor's morp date pics hahah Hillary Clinton is a good one and the limo just topped it off! I hope you all have a good week and Katie I loved your pics of your trip!!! well love ya all have a good week!!! Here are some pics from this week!

Dana

Look at the crazy street names.

Zone activity today; volleyball and tamales!

Martin Carrerra - Hey

Well trasfers have come and gone and me and hna woodard are still together... we were surprised because she has 6 months here in the area but we are so pumped! We actually had interviews this week with presidente and we told him if we could stay together we would make him a cake! Looks like the bribery worked out and all is good! 

Every Tuesday we can never sleep all the way through the night because people show up to set up a Farmer's Market at  4:30 am!

This last Wednesday, we went up to the roof to take a pic ... under those red tarps is maddness! 

   To start off we did a ton of apt searching this week.  We would go to apt buildings knock on doors and ask where the land owner lived and yeah its a tiring frustrating process and of course we didn't find anything... but we went and talked to our landlady and asked her if there was anyway we could stay and only pay one deposit and then just pay for all the things the elders broke the first time and she gave in so now we are not moving YAY!

Javier!

OH MY GOSH! on my mish bucket list is to baptize a nun and GUESS WHAT a preacher and a nun literally just came and sat next to me in the internet cafe and oh my gosh prayers answered, I will teach her! So excuse me if this is short.

Anyway back to what happened this week! So Javier (Micheal McLean's doppleganger) is doing really well. WE took him to the CV this week and it went really well and he is preparing to be baptized the 31st of this month! He once again was sleeping outside before church started so we took a pic with him haha and I will send it to you guys! HE is one of the funniest people ever that man. He was waiting for us to get to the CV and he had been to the casa abierta and so he thought to meet him at the temple entrance (not the CV entrance) and so he was waiting there and a wedding walked out so he gave the bride and groom a big hug to congratulate them jaja!

  This week also Carlos finally got to church... he didn't have any more family deaths... first time in like 3 weeks! He is preparing for the 7th of Feb and he is doing really well... he loves the Book of Mormon!

Also funny story so there is an old investigator named Dylan that is like 17 and we decided to see if he would like to learn again... hna woodard taught him back when it was the casa abierta... anyway we went to his house and his mom is really cool and she told us to come in and Dylan wasn't there but he was on his way home so we were just there is in house chilln' with his family talking to them for a second and then he walked in and it was quite funny his reaction... haha I don't know if he wanted us to be there but his mom made him schedule another cita and so we are stopping by today! 

With our main girl Fatima, we teach in her room where it is quiet!

Also this week's miracle: Fatima who is a recent convert that hasn't gone to church basically since she was baptized went ... we were so happy! We did have to make her cake to get her there but it worked and YW was really good with her... she was participating .... probs because it was just us and her and Aris, the pres... but it was a good lesson for her!  That was mas o menos everything that went down this week it was a good week and we are excited to keep on working hard here and see all our work pay off!  Tomorrow is a big missionary broadcast for all the world so that will be fun to watch and also we heard the Pope is coming in like 3 weeks so we will have to leave our area again because the basilica is too close and it will be crazy and dangerous here! haha  It sounds like all is good there and Parker and Lauren, you are having a little boy.  I am so excited to come home to all these sobrinos mios! I want to hear your name ideas!!!!!!!   I will send pics in a sec love you all!!!!!

hermanita heywood

My District.

On the roof with a shot of my "pueblo"; everything you see behind me is my area.

 This elder was having a serious contest (yes I know the things we do to be entertained as missionary's) but he wouldn't crack and everyone was talking selfies with him.

Competitive Elder has some mad "serious" skills.

Walking home from church with the jovenes.

We got snow on the volcano and it was actually a clear enough day to see it.

Our view walking home from church.

Martin Carrerra - What's Good?

Querida fam bam!

     Crazy another week has gone by...WARNING THIS KEY BOARD IS KINDA BAD SORRY IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME:)

So this week was good and hard and everything in between! For starters this week I had to eat like 12-14 hot dogs, not sure because hna Woodard has  a texture problem and couldn't eat them in our comida apt.  She slowly, slyly put all of her cut up hot dogs on my plate because she can't eat boiled hot dogs... just picture my plate covered in cut up boiled hot dogs it was funny but yeah that is what we eat here in Martin Carrera, because its a little bit more poor here but I love it! 

      This week was good but sad because EVERYONE is dying! Our investigator family members and it is so sad but perfect time to teach them the plan of salvation! Also we found out we have to move from our casita because we have to sign a new contract and our landlady wants a double depósit and yeah we have to move so we wont worry about the roaches as much! Also this week we had el plan del area de mexico so it was the 70´s for Mexico that did a broadcast from the temple square in mex (yeah we have the biggest temple grounds in all of latin america or that is what they tell us) and the broadcast was just so great because every tech problem that can happen happened and it was just funny because that is just how we roll in Mexico and I love it. Also this week we just got a new ward missionary Hna VALDEZ.  She is this little 65 year old women with bright red hair that is one of my favorite people here in Carrera and we just love her coming to citas with us because she basically tells people that they are living in sin and things like that and it is so funny! 

Michael McClean = Javier, Javier = Michael McClean

Also breaking news:  I have found Micheal McClean's doppelganger...no lie I will try to send a pic next week!  He is our investigator, Javier or as everyone calls him guerro (white boy) and I just love him because he is Micheal Mcclean and I couldn't get that out of my mind the first time I met him. He has been listening to the hnas for like 2 months or something but when I got here we couldn't find him.  Suddenly we found him and he is gonna get baptized this month! He is a taxi driver and he drives in the night shift so sometimes the capillas are hard for him to get to! But he called us at like 6 on Sunday and said, "hnas I am parked outside of the church, I am going to sleep in my car so when it is time for church come and wake me up.... so we did it con mucho gusto!  Imagine this; Micheal Mcclean sleeping in a car...you knock on the window as hard as you can and he wakes up right away with the BIGGEST SMILE ON HIS FACE! We were laughing so hard and we were happy he got to church! 

That miracle family from last week disappeared and we are sad but WE WILL NOT GIVE UP AND WE WILL FIND THEM!!! Also Fatimamy, our favYW in the ward got back from her vacation at her dads in Puebla and is like an angel now and we are so happy because she hasn't been to church since Oct.! Also we have a new investigator named Gustavo he does taekwando (or how ever you spell it) and he is quite possibly is the most intense man and I am going to ask pres if we can get permission for him to come teach our district taekwando! haha 

 Speaking of mission pres yeah we will get a new one... we went to the offices today and the Anthonys (the sr couple in the mish) they were telling us more about him and they showed us his facebook and apparently two of his younger kids like high school age will be coming with them in July... he is from Chile and his wife is Finnish or something like that but that is cool we will have a white guy and he is brilliantly smart!!!!! 

Also I have decided when I get married my wedding cake will be flan!!!!! ALSO mom can you pay tithing for me from the money I got from Christmas! Gracias you are the best ... Next week we have transfers so I will email Tuesday I think because there is a special broadcast next Wed... also tell Dave Bednar hi for me! That is way cool he is coming and Mom keep it up´with ice skating you can teach me when I get home because I am trying to expand my talents!!!!!!!!!   Love you all have a good week!!!!!!!

Ah no pics, I just got a virus on this computer.... :)

love Dana

Martin Carrera - We found the Lamonitas

HEY HEY HEY! 

   Well this week was good and hard and everything in-between! Honestly I hate vacations because everyone leaves and goes to their pueblos and there was nobody here this week but that is okay we kept on working hard! First of all funny story: while we were walking around in the area looking for a couple of our people we heard drumming and we were like what is that... then suddenly we see lamanite men dancing and singing in their costumes so we watched them for a second and then the one came up to us because he lives in Chicago and is just here on vacation visiting people and he said their dancing is a way for him to find his inner spirit!  It was cool and he and his family want to learn more about the church but they live over by the temple and of course we asked if we could get a pic with them. 

  Also this week while I was taking a shower suddenly all the power went out and we thought maybe it was just the neighborhood because the power and the water shuts off sometimes.  That night we came home and there was still no electricity so we went and talked to our landlady and she said that it was just us and we had not paid for our lights that month which we did; so we didn't know what happened... so we were in darkness for a couple days and then yesterday when we came home they were on again... MILAGRO! 

Also another funny story, I ' know if I told you but last week I burned off my arm hair and a big amount of my eyelashes lighting the oven.... hahah as if I already don't have enough eyelashes well now I have less! But hna woodard was laughing so hard and I was freaking out because like a ball of fire came from the oven when I lit it... gosh dang! 

 And guess what I hit my  month mark... for those of you that don't understand what I mean... that is the half way mark for sisters so I am officially half way done with the mish and I burnt a skirt so yay! 

my skirt :) well actually it was a skirt from a dead hna that i have worn a couple times....

Burning skirt

As for new years there was so many drunk people out and fire works and guns shots and singing and all that good stuff so we didn't sleep all that well but at 12:30 when I had finally gotten into a deep sleep I wake up and it sounds like BOMBS are going off outside our house and then I look over to hna woodford and she is up and we both start laughing and we tried to get to sleep again... but yeah the fireworks here don't really have lights they are just kind like bandits but louder and bigger and it is the worst when the children throw them right next to you in the street we just walk away laughing and plugging our ears! 

Hna Woodford was so tired one day; she just laid down.

But honestly this week was hard to work because nobody was home and we were a little disappointed but kept on working and then MIRACLES HAPPENED!!! Right after we started our fast on Saturday we instantly started finding people we have been looking for all week and honestly I can't tell you how cool it was and then.... okay first I must tell the back story.... this last week a lady named Ivonne came up to us in the street and asked if we were Mormons and how she could find out more about the church. She said that her husbands micro (sketchy mexi bus) route drives next to the temple every week and so they wanted to learn more.  She didn't know her house street or anything so she said they would try to go to church on Sunday. And that is what people always tell us so we were like ahh dang we couldn't get an appt.... but then Sunday right after we got to church she called us and was like hnas I am lost how do we get there and our chapel is really far from our area and you have to take taxi or bus to get there and she was walking and we can't really say the names of the streets for where the church is because they are in like Indian like lamanite language... but just then a member drove by in a taxi (at this point we had left the capilla and we were running around trying to find her) and the members explains the directions to her and we wait on the corner and here she comes with her whole family #blessing she has three little girls and her husband and yeah we have a family and they LOVED CHURCH! So we were very happy because after a long hard week we saw the lords hand in the work and yeah it was a good week... we are going to visit Ivonne and Santos (her husbands name) Thursday so pray for us!!!! 

So I am happy and everything is good!!!!!!!! Chris tell Senorita Ohl hola para mi y diga le que ya ahora yo sè españo pero todavìa yo tengo l!!!!  

After our soccer game and before a huge rain storm.

 LOVE YOU ALL MUCHÎSIMO!!!!

hermanaita heywood