Team

We live in cities you'll never see on screen
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things
Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams
And you know, we're on each other's team ~Lorde

This week has been one of the hardest weeks of my entire life!
I have been sick non-stop with different things, and so our leaders are not happy because we haven´t been able to work a whole ton. Cuz ya know, I choose and want to be sick! LOL.

Then, we have had some problems with some members in the ward. Oh, joy!  And I have had to play senior comp and make most of the decisions. Nice.

There was one day I was SOOO close to calling the president and going home, but my ex-comp and her new comp read me this: "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." Alma 26:27

I had come across this scripture in my first week here when I was feeling homesick, but in this moment it hit me even harder.

This week has been a real struggle, but right now I see that it was necessary. My companion is a bit negative, and worries about dumb things all the time so I have had to learn this week to stay happy and positive, and talk uplifting. I have also had the chance to serve her quite a bit, which has made a us a better companionship. It´s amazing how with just a little service charity can really show it´s self and things smooth themselves out. With the members, I have had to learn grace, to have humility and patience, and the a miracle came of it. By addressing a problem with grace one of our problems was fixed and one sister even apologized for the way she had treated us in the past. WOW!

I keep thinking about how my past life has prepared me to meet the challenges of my mission and all I can say is that I love my Heavenly Father and I KNOW that he has a plan for us, sometimes what he asks of us is painful, but as it talks about in D&C 121...or 122 I can´t remember which exactly, Christ has suffered a million times more than we can ever imagine so if he could go through the atonement because of his love for us we can at least go  through little in comparison trials to show our love and gratitude.

We also had the opportunity to go to the temple visitors center with some of our investigators this week. One of them brought their little sister who is six, she is a doll, but has a TON of energy! I just talked to her and explained pictures and stuff so that her brother could listen, and he was like wow how do you have the patience to deal with her. I laughed and just said I have a lot of experience. Gracias, Abigail LOL!

Today I found out that am the last sister to come to this mission until November or more. CRAZY!

The most beautiful part of this week has been reading the Book of Mormon, OK, more like stuffing my face with it! I read from Alma 14 to 47 just last night! I hope to finish reading by the end of the week. I want to be able to finish my Personal Progress before I leave this area so I have to be quick, LOL. But the thing is that when my day has been rough and sad I just read and I feel so peaceful and like yeah I can do this.

I have also been likening the scriptures to myself, there are tons of examples of good missionaries in The Book of Mormon, and so throughout my day I ask myself, "What would Alma do in this situation? or Ammon, or better still Christ," and it has made a huge impact on my attitude and how I serve others.

The weather here is been LOCO! All last week and today has been quite chilly and it has rained a ton! When it rains here it's like a river falling from the sky. Thanks Grandma D for my rain-boots, they are a blessing! The good thing is that I ADORE the rain! Random fact- the word adore comes from the latin meaning well at least in Spanish to worship. LOL. Yeah.

Random fact of the day- I WANT A REAL AMERICAN HAMBURGER!!!! and BACON! LOL

I was walking with my companion the other day and found out she loves Adele and Lorde, so she asked me to sing a bit, and I remembered the lyrics to the above song -- this part is about here, my mission, in Mexico, it ain't pretty, but we have a purpose, and we have to all work as a team to acomplish the works of God.

I don't have any stories about conversion or investigators right now as the work is hard and slow, but I hope to have some in the near future. Well have an amazing blessed week! Love yall! Hermana Shingleton XOXOX

My district and some investigators at the Mexico City Temple.