Well, first of all, we finally got our refrigerator. That was a happy day.

This week has been another week of weird and great experiences. I am pretty sure the about half of the people I meet, whether they are members or not, have never seen the color green. A lot of times when people meet me they will mention something about my green eyes and they just stare at them for a while and it kinda freaks me out. We met with a less active lady named Yolanda the other day and that was a fun time. She asked us what we believed about God and we told her that we know God exists because of all of the blessings we have. We have this beautiful earth and all of the animals as well. There are so many things that couldn't have "just happened", and proves that there is somebody watching over us. Her reply was a big "No. You are both wrong". I wasn't expecting such a bold response and didn't really know what to say. I was about to start talking again but then her brother came into the room. He had to have been on some sort of drugs or something. When he saw me, he looked at my eyes and told me, in english, that I deserve a "good marriage woman" because my eyes are green. Then Yolanda told him to be careful what he says to me because Donald Trump was my uncle and he got all scared and left. Super weird. The rest of the meeting just went kind of down hill from there.

This week was a little less exciting as far as investigators go. We have been struggling to keep investigators for more than one or two lessons. Finding people isn't an issue because here in Mexico City there are more people than I have ever seen. We found a new investigator named Bemmy. Bemmy was taking the discussions with some other Elders a while ago when he lived in a different part of Mexico. He found us in the street and asked us to come by on Wednesday of this week. that was a pretty cool experience and I have faith that he will have the desire to progress in learning about the gospel. He also has a pet monkey.

We have also been working with a part member family named the Valasquez family. They are all super great and have a sincere desire to learn and progress in the gospel. They have a piano in their house but nobody knows how to play it, so every now and then they ask me to play a song for them. Well, in our last meeting, after we had finished they asked me if I would play something for them. I had already played all of the songs I had memorized for them so I didn't really know what to do. I ended up playing a little version of "I am a Child of God". After I was done, the mom, Paulina (she is a less active member), told me that I must have been inspired to play that song for them because that was always her favorite one when she was coming to church, and that it really helped her to hear that song that day.

 That was a really neat experience for me to be an instrument in helping Paulina feel the Spirit. It was a simple testimony to me that truly, we are all children of God. He has sent all of us here to this earth to learn and grow, in hopes that we can return to live with him again afterwards. He has given us so many blessings to help us through this life and often times we take these blessings for granted. Being here in Mexico has definitely helped me recognize God's hand in my life. and helped me recognize the things that really matter most. I hope we can all remember where we came from, and what our potential is. I know God lives and loves each and every one of us.

Have a great week!  -- Elder May

Hola everybody, it has been another exciting week here in the Ciudad de Mexico.

I will give you all an update on my apartment, and way of living. We have upgraded from the one cup, and one spoon for each of us. We now have some bowls and plates and even a pan to cook some eggs. We are still working on getting a refrigerator though. Our water heater went out, so we were taking cold showers every day and that was a little rough. Then we found this metal stick thing that we can plug in to the wall, and set it in a bucket of water and it warms the water up. We have been using those buckets to bathe ourselves now instead of the shower and I actually like it more than the shower.

We went on exchanges within our district on Friday and that was a good experience. I went with Elder Jones, who is still being trained. He is probably the whitest guy I know and neither of us speak very great Spanish. It was a fun time. There is a word that all of the American missionaries get called, which is "Güero". It isn't offensive or anything, it is just how they refer to us. During this exchange was the most American that I have felt since I arrived in Mexico. We found a Burger King and had lunch together there before we split up into our exchanges and that was one of the happiest days of my mission. You don't realize how much you miss some good fast food until its gone.

We had a list of investigators and less actives to go see, but none of them were home. It was pretty frustrating because we would walk like a mile just to knock on their door and have nobody answer. We decided to forget the list and say a prayer. Elder Jones said the prayer and he prayed that we would find a new family of investigators. After the prayer we both just started walking and expected to find our answer as we did our best to talk with people. Well, we passed a house and I really felt a strong feeling to knock on the door. So I did. Some guy answered and we started talking to him a little bit about families. At first he seemed really interested but then as the conversation went on, I found out that all he really wanted some tortillas. I had to tell him about 3 times that we weren't selling tortillas. He got upset and didn't want to talk anymore. So that wasn't our answer. We kept trying for the rest of the night and ended up finding 2 new families that both have a lot of potential. the other companionship also found a familiy that they said was really solid and they were super excited about.

In our prayer, we only prayed to find ONE family... But Heavenly Father blessed both companionships and together we found 3. It was a really strong testimony to me that prayer really works. Often times we will pray for things but then don't do anything about it. I know that as we work and expect to find answers to our prayers, that they will come. They may not come as fast as you want, or in the way you hope, but when we pray in faith, we can be assured that whatever answer we recieve is the right one.

I love you and I am grateful that I have had yet another week here in Mexico City. I love it here and I love being a missionary. Thank you all for your examples and emails. Have a great week!

Elder May

Hola everybody. I hope everything is going well. This week has been another great week. Every day I have a new story I could tell, but I don't have enough time to write all of my experiences, whether they are spiritual or weird.

On Wednesday, a member asked us if we could do some service for her and weed her yard. We gladly said we would. I quickly learned that weeding in Mexico is different than it is in the U.S. (At least at her house). We came to her house and she gave us our gardening tools. She gave my companion a machete and gave me an axe. It made sense to have those as our gardening tools because her weeds were basically trees. When we finished she made us some enchiladas that were super good. However, while we were enjoying our enchiladas, her neighbor ran into the house and told us that her mom (who is also one of our investigators) had just passed out and wouldn't wake up. Well, we all ran over there and tried to wake her up but nothing was working. they decided to take her to the hospital, but didn't want to call an ambulance so they had Elder Cruz and I carry her to the car and put her in the back seat. It was super weird, and probably not the safest option but oh well. The next day she was fine and we had another lesson with her like nothing happened. She then informed us that she would be moving to Cancun the next day, and that we wouldn't see her again. It was kind of sad because she was our strongest investigator. Those two days were just a weird experience with her.

Saturday I experienced hoe Mexicans celebrate birthdays. It was my 19th birthday and the members treated me well. We had lunch with a family in the ward and they had a bike tres leches cake for me and sang all of these different birthday songs and even smashed me face in the cake. It was really fun. We then celebrated with gigantic sparklers. Later that night, Elder Cruz and I celebrated by grilling some burgers and having french fries to remind me of home. We burnt the burgers so that made it feel that much more like home too.

On tuesday we had a pretty neat experience. We had a lesson with one of our investigators named Edgar. Edgar is not a very solid investigator, and doesn't really take the lessons seriously so sometimes it is hard to feel the spirit. Well, in the middle of our lesson, his brother, named Jaime, came in. He sat down and participated with us. He told us that he really felt something in our lesson and wants to know how he can feel it more. We explained that he was feeling the spirit and that we can have the gift of the holy ghost with us constantly after we are baptized. It was a really good lesson, and we are meeting with him again tonight, so I hope we can have another good experience with him. I was able to bear testimony of how the holy ghost has impacted my life. I am so grateful to have a member of the godhead with me constantly. In John 14:27 it says "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" I know that with the holy ghost, we can feel Godly peace that the world can never bring. There are so many people in the world that are searching for rest, and for peace, but don't know where to find it. I am so grateful I have been called to serve as a missionary to help people find this peace in their lives.

Until next week...


--
Elder May

Tres Leches birthday cake (before)

Tres Leches birthday cake (after)

Birthday sparklers

Grillin some burgers