week 20

Mis Seres Queridos
Another crazzzzy week here in H-Town. I don't think there will ever be a dull moment in the mission. Yesterday was the BEST day because the Patino family had their baptism interviews and it just made me get so excited for their baptism on the 11th, AND we had 9 investigators at church! My companion and I both feel so blessed to have found so many amazing people and families who we are teaching and who are witnessing changes in their lives as they embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole Arzate family was in church for the first time and they really liked it, so hopefully we will be able to see them enter the waters of baptism as well this transfer. I feel so much love for the people we are teaching and am so greatful for the opportunity I have here to be a servant of the Lord in this great work. There is no greater joy to be felt than that which comes when sharing the gospel.
Funny Story: Our ward's gospel principles class is the best class ever, the teacher, Papa Davila (This funny old man, about half the ward is related to him and his son is the Bishop), is an amazing teacher and is super funny, we are always cracking up in class. Last sunday he was teaching about agency and was talking about how we can choose to do what is good or we can choose to disobey God. Then for dramatic effect he said "What would you do if Christ was to come walking in this class right now" and then went over and opened the classroom door, and not 5 seconds later the Bishop comes strolling in the classroom and the whole class just erupted with laughter. For a solid 5 minutes we were all laughing soooooo hard. Oh man, it is making me laugh right now, how embarrassing haha. Church is a different atmosphere in the spanish ward but I love it. It is so much more relaxed and everyone is like a big family.
Strangest thing to happen thus far in my mission: Okay, yesterday was fast sunday and I always get headaches when I fast, I just think I am not used to fasting yet, I honestly didn't really do it for the full 24 hours before my mission. Yesterday once we broke our fast with the Patino family and the Elders in our ward, I got REALLY sick. I don't know what happened but as soon as dinner got in my stomach I went pale and felt really sick to my stomach and my head was pounding. So, Elder Porter and Elder McGary gave me a priesthood blessing of healing and then we left. On the way home we had to stop at a member's home to pick something up and they heard I was sick and ushered me inside to "cure me". Oh man, I was so scared at what they were gonna do to me because earlier that day the same old Mexican Grandma, who may or may not have a beard, worked some voo-doo magic on Elder McGary's sprained ankle. So I went inside and she had me lay on this massage table and take my shoes and my nylons off and started massaging my feet, which was great at first. She said there are certain points in the foot that if you push them it heals certain parts of the body and then told me to relax and breathe deep. Then she pushed on the part of my foot that heals the stomach and it hurt so bad! I yelled pretty loud, thank goodness the Elders were waiting outside or I would have been embarrassed. And to make the story even weirder, this whole time stinkin' Hermana Blanco is sitting in a chair next to me playing the hymns on a recorder haha. She plays the flute so I guess the recorder was the next best thing, but I can't say I really appreciated her playing that thing while the Mexican grandma was voo-dooing my feet. Next, she said she was going to massage my head. I definitely would not call it a massage. She basically just beat my head in with her hands. No joke, she held my head in her hands and shook it up and down. I had to try SO hard no to laugh. After doing various other strange things to my head, and getting massage oil all over my head and face, I was finally "healed" and allowed to leave. She also said to go home and eat a spoonful of olive oil with a drop of lemon and a pinch of baking soda: yeah right, I definitely did not eat that. Surprisingly, I did feel increasingly better, but we still called it a night and we home around 8 so I could go to sleep. I am very grateful that this member of the ward wanted to heal me and make sure I was okay, but next time I think I will just take some Advil and go to sleep.

Espero que ustedes esten muy bien y tengan salud and felicidad y les amo muchisimo,
Hermana Taets