Parker May in Mexico City

This week had some interesting stories. We met a lady who is less active and we have been trying to get here to come back to church. She said she works at a taco shop so if we ever wanted some free tacos she could hook us up. We thought we go though with that offer, so one day for lunch we started walking towards this taco shop she worked at. We didn't know where it was so we asked this guy on the street if he knew how to get there. He gave us directions and then he asked who we were, and what we were about. He was asking some really good questions and it really seemed like he was genuinely interested in our message. After a few minutes of talking, that started to change. He claimed that he personally was God himself, and that he made us come talk to him. He told us how the world was going to end and that he was going to send angels to whoop our "bums". He didn't speak Spanish, but all I had with me was a Spanish pass-along card to give him. I gave it to him and it helped us end the conversation and we went on our way. Pretty weird. And we never did find that taco shop.

On thursday, all of our appointments fell through and we weren't having any luck finding people. We got a call from some of the other elders in our district and they said they were at Plaza Fiesta (the mexican mall) for lunch and asked if wanted to join. We were right nearby so we said yes. We had lunch and it was fun and everything, but then the other elders wanted us to give them a spanish Book of Mormon because they wanted to try giving it away. We did a quick little exchange and my companion and I each went with one of the other elders to help them give a Book of Mormon away in Spanish. They actually did pretty well and it helped me feel better about my Spanish.

At church, the Elder's quorum president, brother Soriano, brought one of his non-member friends with him. His name is Luis. That was pretty exciting. I sat next time him during gospel Principles to try to get to know him better. Sister Bernal was teaching and I don't think she knew that Luis was a non-member and had never been to church before, so she called on Luis to answer a question. She said "What does it mean to you to know that you have a Heavenly Father?" I thought he was going to be all shy and uncertain about it since it was his first experience at church. But he stood up and asked if he could stand in front of everybody and share his answer. He told his that he was an orphan and has never known his parents. To have a Heavenly Father, who has a body like ours, meant that for him, He was loved. That he had an example in his life of who he wanted to become. I always thought that being a missionary meant that we teach non-members and invite them to come to Christ. Which is true. But I think it was the other way around yesterday. I really learned a lot from Luis about how special it is for each of us to have a loving Father in Heaven. It took a non-member to help me realize just how important and amazing it is. Since then I have been really trying to say more meaningful prayers, and show gratitude for all that I have. We have an appointment with the Sorianos today and he is planning on bringing Luis with him, so hopefully we can start teaching him. I hope we can all remember how amazing it is to have a Father in Heaven who understand us and knows what we are going through.

Elder May