Dear everyone,

Today I have three months in the mission! Literally, how freaking exciting

is this?! Although this also means that I only have 15 months left, which

is not nearly enough time. But still, really exciting.

Does anyone actually read this?

Well, life here in Mexico has been good. We had our first baptism Saturday,

which was exciting! It's hard to baptize here in the north, but we're

hoping we can baptize another family at the end of this month. Boy, are

they awesome. The kids in this family are definitely the strongest. They

know what's up. They have a testimony and they make their parents read the

Book of Mormon, pray together, and go to church every Sunday. Like wow.

Honestly, I can't think of that much to say. The work here goes on, and I

learn more and more about people and about myself every day. Some days are

long, some days are short. I love the people here so much. Our ward is

flippin sweet. Also I've picked up a lot of English slang from the Latin

missionaries. They love English slang. It's hilarious; don't judge. Did I

mention that all Native missionaries in my mission are required to learn

English? It's actually really helping my Spanish, trying to teach my

compañion English. I have to explain principles about English in Spanish,

explain the differences and similarities, and practice with her. My Spanish

really took a turn this week. I'm not fluent, obviously, but I can express

myself relatively well without pausing or thinking too much, and most of

the time I can understand people. I can understand my companion about 95%

of the time.

We had cambios this last week (I don't actually know what that word is in

English), which was sort of sad. Our District Leader went to Agua Prieta,

which is a sketchy border town, and we all miss him terribly. It's like

taking our dad away and putting in a step dad who doesn't know anything

about anyone who no one likes. Just kidding. I sort of like Elder Priest.

Our zone also split this cambio, which was kind of sad. It was giant

before, and one of our zone leaders was this Iraqi war vet. Feel jealous,

because he was literally one of the coolest people I have ever met. But he

finished his mission, and our zone split. Now we're in a new zone, with 4

districts. Each district has a set of Elders, one of them being the

district leader, the other his trainee, and then 2 companionships of

sisters. Literally, sisters run this town. The only Elders we have are

District and Zone leaders, and their newbee trainees. :P It's pretty

awesome.

Well, I haven't much time, but here is my spiritual thought of the week (or

2 weeks): I was thinking a lot about how the basic Plan of Salvation is

literally expressed in everything we have. First, the scriptures. Nephi

leaves his Father to go on a journey where he learns about faith and

keeping the commandments and enduring to the end. He knows he can't return

without completing what he was sent to do, so he does it, and returns

triumphant. There's obviously a lot more here, but Plan of Salvation,

anyone? And this pattern is in practically every story, fable, movie, book,

etc. since the dawn of time. It's even been mapped out in a pattern called

The Hero's Journey. (Look it up I'm not lying). But all it is is one big

Plan of Salvation. It's embedded into every essence of our civilization,

because these things speak to our heart. We know we left our Father for a

long, dificult journey, but we also know we can overcome it and return

triumphant. Okay. I'm out of time. There's my spiritual thought. Look for

patterns of the Plan of Salvation in your life. :D

Love,

Hermana Day