Transfer! Again!!!

Guess who is getting transferred again?? Yeah can you believe it, my fourth transfer in the 4 months I've been here. Yikes!! But this time I will be training a missionary who I believe is Mexcian, straight out of the CCM. I am beyond scared and oh man I didn't sleep a lot last night. Most of all though I am excited, we will be opening an area and just be liiving the missionary life. I totally thought I was going to stay here in Amecameca but thank the heavens I am leaving. hahah No, but really I learned tons and tons here. I learned that Love truley is the essence of the gospel, I washed so many dishes and did a lot of service in this area to gain their confidence, to show them that I loved them!! Seriously I learned to love people for who they are and saw how through our love the Spirit testified to these people. 

I also learned so much about true conversion, my district lider was so amazing in helping us in that area. This is his last cycle, yikes! But he taught me so much in how to be a successful missonary. Seriously it's amazing how he with all his heart accepts his calling and lives it. I had divisions this week and worked with a sister who only has 7 months left on the misson in my last area, Tecalco. She kept talking about how excited she was to go home, to listen to real music, to hug her fiance.... yeah. It really reminded me how important this time is for me to be truely converted. Missions are amazing when we let The Lord shape us into who he needs us to be. But oh man did I love going back to Tecalco and visiting the people that I had the oppertunity to teach and love. Patricio has the priesthood and passes the sacrament now! He is planning on serving a mission and just doing awesome. So crazy to think not to long ago we were fasting and praying for him to even accept a baptismal date. Love that kid.

This area was mad hard, no joke I have never fasted and prayed and walked as much as I have here. We couldn't find people to teach for like 3 weeks and man was it hard to keep that firm faith that there was people here prepared for us. I just thought that hard work would bring the blessings that we needed. Sometimes in life we are just so focused on getting through trials that we miss oppertunitites that The Lord gives us to learn and that is exactly what happened. As I look back I see so many lessons that The Lord was trying to teach me but I was so blind focusing on the blessings that we needed. We are given so many experiences everyday to learn, I challenge all of you to recognize what The Lord is trying to teach you. Like a corny Young Womans songs says: "We were born to reach eternal life. " We are here to learn heaven. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Hermana Sanchez

I painted this cute girl's nails!

The active valcano 

A ward party where we played some Mexican game! It looks kind of ackward! Lol 

The bridges we cross

Miracles

There can be miracles when we BELIEVE!!

This week was so great. Seriously the ward is starting to unite and helping all the less actives, we have seen so many miracles here. The ward went from never letting us enter their homes and not feeding us to now giving us references. The 5 weeks I have been here the challenge was to find new poeple to teach, but now that the ward is starting to reactivate its self we are receiving tons of references. Now let me tell you these people are golden! I am learning to have patience here in this area. 

Veronica Rodriguez is a less active whom we reactivated and seriously it is amazing to see the change in her. She is a convert of 6 years but 3 years inactive. She is 21 years old and just started reading The Book of Mormon and it is just incredible what that book does to people. She is now activating her husband and has given us 4 references who have dates to be baptized. All because she decided to take our challenge to read a chapter everyday. Also we have an investigator named Rita who we have been visiting for 4 weeks but she finally decided to read The Book of Mormon. When we met with her this week  she just started crying and said that she didnt get anything from that book at first but as she had that desire to change her life, she understood the book more and more. She is preparing to be baptized and is just super excited! I love The Book of Mormon it seriously has tanto poder!! I love sharing my experience when I read it and when my companion shares her testimony as well. The missionaries said that if she had faith in God that he would help her to learn how to read through that book. Sister Sanchez is bomb. I challenge you all to read atleast a chapter everyday! The blessings are worth those 5 mintures! Sometimes we get so caught up in life and we think that if we just complete with what is expected of our callings and that we are just fine. But we need to be converted to The Lords Gospel not his church!!

SHOUTOUT TO MY SISTER MIREYA!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR INTRODUCING OUR FAMILY TO THE GOSPEL. YOU ARE AMAZING. 

Love you all so much!

Hermana Sanchez 

Sick week!

Que Tal?

This week was terrible!! I was so so sick the whole week, but what can you do when you are on the mission except work! haha Seriously it was terrible, I CANNOT CONTROL WHAT PEOPLE FEED ME. There have been so many American missionaries that have gone home from my mission due to illness. I was so discouraged seriously, I was so sick and was so tired. Plus we weren't finding anyone home, and investigators are being so lame right now! I seriously couldn't have made it through this week without the help of the Savior. Missionary work is NOT easy. I learned so much this week. I learned that everytime that when I am too lazy to contact another person on the street, everytime that I just want to sit down and rest for a minute, everytime I put my needs before the people of Amecameca- I need to remember Him. The Savior's experience helps me press on. I learned this week that missionary work requires something our souls. Today we watched a talk by Elder Holland and he said that the atonement will carry us, in moments where I just think am I making any difference in this area, in times when I pray so hard for someone to change and come unto christ but they don't. He told us that there will be many of these times but that we will be shoulder to shoulder with the Savior, with the greatest missionary that ever lived. Missions are hard, life is hard, but as we look to the Savior for comfort and help we can become more like him. 

I love this work, and I rejoice in my Savior for all the experiences and all that I've learned here on the mission. This is the church of Jesus Christ and as we strive to learn and be more like him we will see his hand in our lives. 

Hermana Sanchez

In Amecameca with some like member girl.

Hermana Sanchez and Hermana Sanchez in a VC Taxi with the Virgen Mary in back. 

One of the many Catholic churches in my area. 

Loving the district!

Hey loves!

This week was great, filled with the Spirit and all. Amecameca has a lot of cool things to see, mostly Cathlic churches. lol. We visted one last week and another this week. Plus I love my district, we play soccer and basketball every pday!! I love it we always invite the kids from our ward who are like little Peles. haha This ward is really hard hearted, so we organize a bunch of fun activties for the unity of the ward. It is really heart breaking to only see like 30 people in the chapel knowing that there is around 300 members in this small area. This week we had a Tarde Deportiva where we played soccer, basketball, board games, and other Mexican games. haha A bunch of people came out, which totally surprised me. hah. It reminded me a lot of my ward, man am I grateful for the unity and love that is in my ward!! 10th Ward Power!! 

Also we are teaching Virirdiana and she has the saddest story. She has lived on the street since the age of 12 and just tons and tons of hard trials. When we first started teaching her she would never listen to me. When people find out that I am from the US they totally shun me. Seriously they think that my life has been all fine and dandy but I always share what my wise friend Holly Lambert wrote me when I came out. She told me that the Lord knows exactly what he is doing, that he placed us in the perfect family and the perfect place for our hearts to learn and grow. This is a plan of happiness and if we aren't happy there is something wrong. I love Elder Uckdorfs talk about gratitude, and I can testify that as we live with an attitude of gratitude we can be HAPPY no matter the circumstances. This area is huge and some days we find no one home, all our scheduled appointments fall and we walk and walk and walk. I used to dread those days but as I think of really what a blessing it is to be here, I have really learned to just accept whatever happens and to be happy. This week we got caught in the Teeangees by the rain. The Teeangees is this huge swat meet, tons of people hand made stuff and all that snazzy stuff. They close down huge important roads haha. As we were walking through it just down poured, I have never seen it rain so hard. hhaha 45 minutes of just pouring pouring rain. haha

This week we had an amazing lesson with Virirdiana, she has no work and no food to feed her two children. We went with the bishop to drop off some stuff and it just broke my heart to see the kiddos eating the stems of corn. They are just the cutest kids. She started crying when she saw that we had brought a few things. Her biggest thing is that she has a hard time accepting God because her life hasn't been the easiest. I shared DyC 121: 8-7 with her and just bore testimony that our trials will all be for just a breve momento. I love that scripture, it really helped me a lot when I was starting out my mission. I can't believe I almost have 4 months on the mission!! SO CRAZY. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!! CHOOSE TODAY TO BE HAPPY!!!

Hermana Sanchez 2

(In the ward they know me as Sanchez 2 and my companion as Sanchez 1) LOL

Blessing of our labors!

Hola! 

I have ran out of ideas on how to start my letters! haha I am not going to lie, my area is so hard but we have truley seen the blessings of our labors here in Amecameca. There is so much work to be done and we are just working our little buns off. The time is just flying by, no joke it feels like I just got here and we are on our 3rd week. AH!! We have a new investigador who lives seriously like next to the volcano. This week we were teaching her in her home and the volcano started... well I am not sure how you say it in English...like grumbling or something. lol. And seriously the whole house shook, and ashes where flying out. Our investigator just acted like all was normal. I was totally freaking out inside. I guess it is normal here. haha This investigators name is Viridriana and she is super awesome, super humble. She is a single mom with two kids. She is super poor but always make us take a mango from her tree. She came to church yesterday and we are just really excited for her. Coming to church here is huge because first it is at 8 in the morning and second because it is far, really far. Like 30 minutes walking. haha yeah it is killer, not even the members go to church. haha lol. so bad. Also there is less active lady that came to church, miracle no joke. This ward is super hard, some of them are just letting us enter their homes and just a bunch of stuff like that. We do a lot of service here in this area for the members, so we can earn their confidence. We walk a ton and I eat a lot of mexican bread. I need to learn self control with that. haha All and all everything is great. Obidience is really key to this work, I have really learned that here in Ameca. I have never prayed so much in my life, but we are seeing so many miracles. Plus my companion and I get along super super well. LOVE HER. 

Love all you!!!! I hate all your summber pics. It is really hot here and then pours in the evenings. haha

Hermana Sanchez 

Amecameca

Hola from Amecameca!!!

This week went by really fast and I know it was because we really really really hard. There is so much work to do here, no joke. Tons and tons of less actives and tons of poeple in this small pueblo. My area is huge now so I am back to walking a ton but I really love it. We have like 3 pueblos. I am a lot closer to the volcanos. It is cold here. Our ward mission leader said he would take us to hike one. So excited for that. It is really sad to see only a few people attending church, really sad. The members are barely starting to feed us because the missionaries before us... well yeah... ruined that for us. And some people still won't let us enter their home. I went from a celebrity in Tecalco to nothing here. haha. The food here is really good, something really funny is that the people here know I am American and so they feed us spagetti. Lol. They say it is really odd that I look so much like a white girl but my parents are Mexican. So rude, because I totally feel like I blend in. haha

 My companion is super awesome!! Guess what her name is? HERMANA SANCHEZ. hahahahahahah the only other Hermana Sanchez, yup we get a lot of jokes about it. But she wears the name well. lol. We get along so so so well. She is 12 years older than me but there is such an attitude of hard work and obediance in our companionship. She is a convert of 6 years and is just super humble and I love that! She had the craziest storie, her parents kicked her out of her home when she was 16 and lived on the streets and everything. She found the missionaries when she was 26 and she couldn't even read. The missionaries testified to her that if she read the Book of Mormon that the Lord would bless her to read. And here she is reading and all. Yeah LOVE HER. 

It was really really hard the first few days because well.....Tecalco was so hard to leave. My investigator Patricio has his baptismal interview and ready to be baptized this Saturday. So sad I can't be there, but so happy for him. He went to EFY today!! Hermana Hill told me that when he heard that I got transferred he said that he wasn't going to get baptized until I came back. Such a terd. haha But I know that everything happens for a reason and I just need to put all my faith in my Father in Heaven because he knows what he is doing. I read the talk that President Monson gave, I think last year, about    It really helped me a lot. Also a lot of leaning on the Lord this week. I saw a lot of miracles and they almost always come from reading the Book of Mormon. Hay tanto poder en ese libro!! I love to see people and hear how much peace that book brings to their lives. Read The Book of Mormon and apply it!!!! It will bring such a special spirit to your lives!!! So grateful to be a missionary. 

Love to all!!!

Hermana Sanchez 

Transfer

CAMBIOS!!!

I found out today that I am getting transferred to Ameca, so sad to leave my area. No joke, I love this area with all my heart and I learned so so so much this transfer. My district leader is an amazing Elder and his faith and testimony really united us as a district. I am so saddd!!!!! But I hope to see San Mateo Tecalco otra ves! I learned so much about the atonement and have really seen true conversion as we teach testifying that Christ suffered for these people. I love being a missionary. Our investigators are all doing awesome at progressing to their baptism dates and we are just praying that they can be baptized!!! 

Patricio is an amazing kid, this week we got to teach his mom who was also in town. He wanted us to teach about how the gospel blesses families. And The Spirit was so strong as this young kid testified the love he has felt being away from home and living with an LDS family. Heavenly Father truly does bless our families as we center our families on Christ and live the gospel principles. Patricio shared with us that he is scared to tell his dad about being baptized and that is the thing that is holding him back. I was so prompted by The Spirit to share how I had waited years to ask my dad again if I could be baptized because I felt like I knew what his answer would be through all those years. How I wish I could go back and have that perfect faith in Christ to ask my dad and that being a member of this church is so so so so worth it! I am going to miss that kid. He is so funny. I

Geovany is another one of our investigators who is muy potente!! He recieved a Book of Mormon on the street from a missionary and contacted us after. He is another testimony that The Lord prepares his people. He loves going to church!!!!! He loves learning and loves being apart of the mormon community!!!!! He has like 45 years of age and loves  learning about the Gospel. He was so ready for us!!! Also we are teaching his neighbor, Tatiana. She is unemployed and has a son who is 12 years old. Fernando loves soccer and is super cute and funny reminds me a lot of my little bro Johnny. This kid works at a beer factory because his mom can't find work. Seeing people in these circumstances makes me beyond grateful for all that I have. I love the talk Elder Ucktdorf gave in General Conference about the attitude of grattitude. He talks about how he we should be grateful for the rain not just the rainbow that comes after. I love that!!!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone has a great week!!! I love this gospel, The Gospel of Jesus Chirst and I am so grateful to be apart of his great work!!! 

Hermana Sanchez

I visited this temple en Teotiwacan. I didn't spell that right. haha But I learned so much about the history of the Book of Mormon and the convenios que hacemos en sus Templos.!!! Que padre no?