Semana 7

Semana 7
Taco count for the week: 23 (she was hungry)
Total Taco count for Mexico:  80

I feel like my feet have been dragging all day! We got up at 4 this morning to go see the sea.

No pun intended.

We have two Elders in our district now!

WAHOO!!!

Ya know how Satan how control over the waters??...... yeah that`s totally true. hahaha

Every day we all eat lunch together... All of us get laughing so hard about the most random things! They are all awesome=)

So this week was my first week with my new companion, Hermana Ruiz...

COMPLETELY different than Hermana Ramirez.

She is 27 years old.  The age difference obviously makes things interesting, haha.

We have already had some really great experiences together though=)

We were determined to clean our whole apartment today... Last night she gave me a list of the things I needed to do.

They were the most random things! haha

There was awhile there that I felt like I was in the movie Overboard.

I was even melting the ice in the freezer with my blowdryer!

But the house is CLEAN!!!!

It`s a miracle considering how gigantic it is!...

We had a zone conference this week!!! SO AMAZING!!!!

President scares me sometimes.

It`s crazy how in tune with the spirit he is and how easily he recieves revelation for everyone serving in the mission!

He pulled me aside and told me something... then just walked away!

I literally just stood there in SHOCK!!

EVERY TIME I see him this is what happens.

I would love to share what he told me but I am going to wait a few weeks=)

So yesterday we were getting ready for church and all our windows were open to help the air circulate.

We live right at the intersection of a busy road.

We were each in our own bathroom when I heard tires screeeeech around the corner and then a loud CRASH!!!

We both ran out of our bathrooms to the balcony in the front room.

There was a car laying in the median... upside down!!

Everyone started yelling and ran to go and help the man that was still in the car.

The car was smashed in and the door wouldn´t open.

More people kept running and joining in to help! With everyone there they were able to push the car over on it`s side and then on to all 4 wheels!

They opened the other door and tried to help the man that was inside.

Here´s my favorite part....

I could see that they were saying something and waving there hands around.

Next thing I know everyone backed away from the car and just waited.

Then the car started slowly rolling forward.

He drove out of the median and on to the road then

hung out his now non-existing window and yelled

"ESTOY BIEN! GRACIAS!"

With his head still out the window he continued down the street and I have no idea what happened after that.

Two hours later the police showed up. haha!

This has nothing to do with anything but I just wanted to share=)

Well my time is just about up but I would like to share one of my favorite quotes with you:

"From what might appear to you to be small choices, the Lord will lead

you to the happiness you want.  Through your choices He will be able

to bless countless others."

-Henry B. Eyring

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is TRUE!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Robinson

Semana 6

Semana 6

Taco count for the week:  12

Total taco count:  51

I feel like every single week there are a million things to do and a million things that happen! 

But this week was ESPECIALLY crazy!

I will say this...

It makes things a little bit different when you have a companion that is in her very last week of the mission, and you´re at the very beginning.

We were constantly talking about home and what would be different, it made me miss everything and everyone even MORE than normal.

What a great week it was, though!

I get to brag about my amazing MAMA for a minute:)

 

It´s been hours since I dropped her off at the Bus Terminal.

I already miss her like CRAZY!!!

I didn´t cry when I said goodbye to her.

Okay...

Maybe I did.

I have my new companion now! She is from Puebla and she is 27.  Literally this is all I know about her!! Hahahaha

We haven´t had any time to talk...

But there will be plenty:)

Oh Oh Oh!!

Okay, random moment from my week:

So it has rained a bunch this week... which means... 

MORE HEAT:)

wahooooooo:)

We were walking down the street and stopped to wait to cross the street.

I felt little drops of rain and opened my arms and lifted my face to the sky.

I remember that there wasn´t a cloud in the sky, and I opened my eyes to look to see where the water was coming from.

Sure enough...

Some guy was standing on his roof.

PEEING!!

Awesome.

It´s the little moments like this that make Mexico just THE BEST:)

Life in the mission is AMAZING!  Sometimes I am still baffled that I am able to do the things I am doing!

Lessons, talks, FIRESIDES.

That I am able to somehow (always) finish ALL my food!! 

That I still haven´t gotten sick. Even a little bit.

It´s crazy how much I love Mexico!

How amazing the people are and everything!:):)

Everyone here calls me Hermana Robín

they always looks at my name and say

"OH, like Batman and Robin!!"

One of our recent converts named their dog after me......

I´m still not sure if that´s a compliment or not.  Hahaha

I have thought a lot this week about how God prepares us.  Looking back on my life and little moments that I never even thought twice about, I have realized that these were the moments that I was being prepared.

As I have focused on this I have seen it in action with the people that we are teaching:)

We had a lesson that was seriously straight from 

"The District"

I walked away from the lesson totally mind blown!!!

¿¿como...... COMO??

It´s because we have been prepared!

God knows us! We are his children.  Even we don´t realize it He is mindful of us.

So much love to all of you!! and THANK YOU so much for all the support!!

Con Amor

Hermana Robín:)

Semana 4 y 5

Editor's Note:  Paige was in Culiacan last week on her Prep Day so this post covers both weeks.  

Taco count for week 4 = 5

Taco count for week 5 = 5

Total tacos consumed thus far = 39

Now, on to Paige's letter!:

I have two weeks to write about!!

So much has happened...

BUT FIRST!!!! I have to share the adventures of the day!!!

Today is the last Monday that Hermana Ramirez and I have together  :(

So we celebrated by waking up at 4:00am (wahooo) 

& ran all over Mazatlan seeing everything that she wanted to see:)

We went with some members from the ward and hiked to a lighthouse:)

Then to the AQUARIUM!!!!

My favorite:)

Sealed with a kiss

This pic is for my grandma

I feel like this past week has been completely backwards and upside down.

My companion is the Sister Training Leader so every week I go with other sisters.  This week it happened twice.  Plus the day that I went to Culiacan.

Lot´s of time separated.

My personal favorite was Thursday.

How long have I been here?...

Just over a month.

The day H. Ramirez went to Esquinapa I was solo.

More or less.

I had one of the young women with me all day.  It made things pretty interesting.

There was a man in the street that was holding a machete.

I honestly didn´t think anything of it!

So, I started to walk towards him to introduce myself, the church, all that good stuff:)

My companion for the day just STOOD there!

"No, No we can´t"

We got passed all the awkward moments and sat down to have a lesson.

He pulled a mattress around the corner and offered for us to sit.

OOOOOHHHHHHH.....

It was then that I understood why this girl I was with did´t want to go talk to the crazy homeless man that was holding a machete! 

He also doesn´t know how to read.

Makes things interesting:)

She explained to me after how she was so scared to talk to him at the beginning.  But that he was such a nice person and has so much faith and has been looking for a way to improve his life.  But feels like no one cares.  Then we came along and started talking to him.  He said we were the answer to his prayers.

I can´t even put into words how it feels when someone says that.

This sister is preparing for a mission herself and it was so cute to watch her get all giddy about everything:)

Saturday... not the best day.

We have an investigator that has been doing SO well!!! Seeing her testimony grow and how she has changed so many things in her life, she went to EFY with the other youth in the ward and bore her testimony at the beginning of this month.  She is AMAZING!!!!!

Her baptism date is this Saturday.

We went to her house on Saturday and her parents don´t want her to be baptized and says that she has to wait until she is 18 years old.  The worst part was watching how it affected her.

We went to visit a less active member after, and he explained to us how he felt he was pressured into being baptized.

Talked about a dagger to the heart.

He said he didn´t know if this was something that he really wanted.

We went to go visit two other investigators and they have been going to church for months have felt the spirit so many times!! Love the gospel but refuse to be baptized.

By the time we got home both of were just beaten down!!

We are both determined and excited to make this week much better since it's 

Hermana Ramirez´s last week in the mission.

Getting a new companion is going to be interesting...

I still need to write President and want to talk to family so I must go...

But I want to thank you all for the love and prayers!

The church is true:)

Con Amor, 

Hermana Robinson

Semana 3

SEMANA 3: Taco count for the week - 15

Total for time in Mexico - 29

You know that phrase...

¨Days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days…¨

SOO true!!!

What a great week though!! :)

I am in Mazatlan and I haven´t even sent any pictures of the sea! 

Well... here they are!

We went and walked the coast today:) It was so peaceful to just listen to the waves and smell the fresh sea water!

Mazatlan is gorgeous. Sometimes not. Let´s be honest.

But I love it here :)

I forgot sunscreen today.  So for the three hours we spent walking around... I´m feelin’ a little burned.  Just a little. ha

Being next to the water made me miss Lake Powell :(

There are a lot of things that I miss...

There are two things that I LOVE!!!

Sunsets and Storms.

I get plenty of both here! Every single night the sunset just takes my breath away!

Last night we had a HUGE storm!!

Down pour of rain.

Thunder.

Lightning.

The whole works!!!

We saw a tree get struck by lightning... SO cool!!!

We could actually smell the electricity in the air.

My head hurt after a while because it felt like looking into a strobe light!

The thunder was super LOUD.

Another random story...

It´s about bugs, aaaaaand blood.

Fair warning:

One of the members has a dog... My companion has some weird bond with it. We finished eating and went to go play with her.

Her back was covered in clumps of mud. Nothing unusual for a dog in Mexico.

H. Ramirez kneeled down and starting petting her.

We soon realized that those clumps of dirt on her back were ticks.

THEN... because H. Ramirez felt so bad for her she sat there and picked them off of her!!

The SMALLEST ones were probably about the size of a tic tac.

They just got bigger from there!

I just stood there holding a bag for her to put them in.

Occasionally one would explode and blood would squirt everywhere. 

Her hands were covered in blood once she was done.....

Ugh.

I don´t how she did it!!

My mom sent me a flea collar and this ointment stuff to use on my bed.

Well…..Sorry mom.

I gave it to little Monina.  J

I wouldn´t really consider myself a SHY person.

But HERE........

I couldn´t be MORE shy!!

It´s hard to walk up to a stranger and ask them about their beliefs...

Who God is to them...

If they believe in Jesus Christ...

I have been working on this a lot this week!

Sometimes it’s GREAT!!!

Other times....... crashes, and burns.

I am adjusting to a completely different life.

It can be sucky at times.

But I´ve never been happier :)

Last week after I finished writing we had Family Home Evening with one of the members.

She is older and since school is out right now her 14 year old grandson is staying with her.  He gets to spend a month at her house every year during the summer!

We gave the lesson... answered questions that they had... Then played a game.

Great night!

We started talking to the grandson a little about what he believed.

He told us both his parents were SUPER religious!!

He liked the church and liked going, but he explained he has always felt like there is...

 “something missing.”

He wondered why there were so many different churches and how he could know for himself which one is true.

UHHHH.... Sound familiar?!

We started the lesson of the restoration.

He was so focused on EVERY single word we were saying!

Right before we told him the first vision, we stopped.

We had him close his eyes.

We gave the first vision.

Then, once he opened his eyes we asked him to describe to us what he saw...

While he was talking I had chills the whole time, the spirit was SOOO strong!!

After he finished describing everything.... I opened my book to the picture of Joseph Smith in the grove.

He FREAKED out!!!! hahahaha

“THAT´S WHAT I SAW!! THAT´S WHAT I SAW!!”

The next night he came with his grandma to accompany us on a lesson.  

He was testifying.  

He said he couldn´t say for sure that everything was true... but he could feel the truthfulness in his heart!

Every time we saw him after he was reading from his Book of Mormon, or a pamphlet.  He was asking us for more things that he could read!

We met with him again.

Set a baptism date.

He was SOO excited!!!

We went over there on Saturday....

He wasn´t there.

The grandma explained to us that his mother had found out that he had been talking to us and he was reading from the Book of Mormon.  She came and got him and took him home.

On the table we could see his pamphlets and Book of Mormon with all his notes and a piece of paper of all the questions he had while he was reading.

Every day I wake up I have no idea what to expect.

It´s almost crazy to me how I can go from the highest high to the lowest low in a single moment.

I know it´s because I feel the truthfulness of this gospel.  I am seeing people feel God´s love for the first time in their lives.  I love these people, and I know this work is important.

I thank you all for the LOVE, SUPPORT, and most of all the PRAYERS:)

Con Amor,

Hermana Robinson

Editor’s Note (aka what Mom wants to add).  We finally have an address for Hermana Robinson!  It is:
Rio Choix 888
Col. Rosales
80230 Culiacan, Sinaloa
MEXICO

Here are a few more pictures of Paige.  Not sure the significance of the frog.  But you’ve got to admit…he IS cute.

Rough translation:  “Daddy if you believe that I can then if I can!”