week 15

so theres a lot of ugly stuff going on around here. the whole police force is on strike right now cuz they want higher pay and safer weapons or something i dont know. so theres not many people in the streets cuz its not safe at all. and eeevvverrryyonne tells us we should be careful and we are crazy to be walking around alone. but we havent seen nor experienced anything bad happen. and we arent too scared either! even though people are getting robbed and assaulted and the stake relief society president was kidnapped and held for ransom last month. they recently let her go though and didnt do anything too bad to her. but thats villa at the moment!

but dont worry mom! im fine! we are being smart about everything and we know we are always protected. seriously dont worry. haha even though it sounds sketchy nothing bad will happen. and if it does then we´ll take it cuz we know nothing is going to happen that we cant handle. so enough of that.

this week we visited a less active kid. he lives with his mom but hes 29 and hes divorced and hes always out with his friends and stuff. but we finally caught him at home and he started talking to us saying yea yea ive been inactive since 2005. but actually i was planning on going to church this sunday. so we looked at each other like oh sure, what a coincidence of course he´ll be there. but then he actually showed up!! so that was a slap in the face with our disbelief. 

another thing, remember manuel with one foot? so the day after he came to church with us that sunday he loooved it. he loved everything about it and the bishop said perfect things and it was great but then he says yea it was all beautiful and so great and i felt so different and peaceful in your church! but yea im never gona get baptized. he believes everything we tell him and believes the book of mormon is true and all this, but he doesnt believe in joseph smith cuz he was white and young. so we showed him pictures of all the other ollldd first prophets of this dispensation with their beards and they look old and he says yea i believe in them, i believe they were prophets, its this jose smith i dont like. soooo thats the kind of stuff we try to explain to people! it can be something so simple. if you believe in Jesus Christ, you believe in the book of Mormon because it has His words and teachings. and if you believe in the book of Mormon, you believe in joseph smith because he translated all of it. and if you believe that, then you believe the church is true. and in the end youre happier in all that you do because you have that personal knowledge. and all people have to do is ask God is what we say is true, and Hes going to respond. and if you want an answer, youll always be looking for it and youll find it. but by the way we keep visiting him occasionally and hes understanding more and more and he agreed to go to conference with us. and he really wanted us to say hi to our parents for him. he loves us like children and always makes us food or something when we go over. and he says our parents must be pretty great people and he wishes he could meet you. so good work guys;)

so i am literally serving right now in the place where Lehi and his family first came to live. these people are descendants of the people in the book of mormon. right here where i am right now. we ask people if they knew that Jesus Christ visited the americas as well and we have the book with all the records of what happened?! 

basically we have everything we need right now to be happy. just have to accept and take advantage of all of it. watch general conference. youll find answers to any question and you find the peace you look for every single day. i cant even wait to watch it!! its going to be incredible. love you all. please be happy all the time. bye!

. 

 my favorite little chubby 8 year old. his name is alexis and hes SO FUNNY my favorite little thing omg. his mom makes the best tamales

 activity with the relief society! our awesome investigator pamela was there

week 14

let me tell you one thing, its literally 100 times easier to be a better person and make good decisions when you regularly read the book of mormon. whether youre a member of the church or not, that book can literally change youre whole outlook on so many things, if not everything. the missionaries and people in the church can tell us so many wonderful things about life and about Christ, but we can never learn as much as we can when we are READING actual words of God and experiences of prophets of God. we are able to gain our own testimony of things that so many people feel so strongly about. i know the book is true. theres no way i can deny because i have seen it change people as it has changed me. and nobody can deny what they are capable of feeling when they read it. i could go on and on, but it wont matter because its my own experience. i can only invite people to try it for themselves. obviously then its a million times stronger. im just the messenger, i cant give people my testimony, just help them have theirs. 

the other night we passed by this lil skinny dude that has a bit of an ego and a huge truck and he was drinking a bit all happy and giddy and he started talking to us and he was saying yea youre mormons right? my wifes a mormon! then he yells up to the second floor of the building behind him to get his wives attention and hes yellin at her and he says "hey! come down here! its the elders! the elders are here!" i didnt have the heart to correct him hahah but anyway. we asked if he ever went to church and that he can change and stuff and he says nah i dont believe all that stuff. and he asks us how old we are and i say 19 and he says youre still a little girl, what can you tell me about changing my life; im 35, my lifes already decided! and hna romero says "well dont you have faith? you can do anything you want to" and he says "whats faith, faith doesnt exist." even though he had previously told us he believes in God and Christ and the Virgin Mary, so hermana romero says "well have you seen them? do you realize that faith is believing things without seeing them?" and he goes "wow. no i honestly didnt know." and he was speechless. thats just one small thing that happens almost every day. people here are SO confused, and so used to tradition and dont realize that they can think and feel and gain a testimony for themselves throught their OWN efforts. 

the Lord is pushing me and hermana romero reaaaalll far right now. we have great investigators and we know we teach with the spirit and then they change their minds or realize they dont have a desire. or they find "answers" in the wrong pllaces. really pushing our faith. we have had over 11 baptismal dates, and so far every one has fallen. but we are still working hard as we can. the baptisms dont matter as much as the people do. they can get baptized for our sake but what good does it do them if they havent gained a testimony and really dont care about the opportunities they can recieve. 

im still so happy, and i have come to realize so many wonderful things that i cant even explain because the spirit works within each of us to our own understanding. everything is so personal and incredible. i love this church. its the only true church on the face of the earth. and it will never change. i see miracles every day, i know if the spirit is with us our efforts are never in vain. 

love love love every person that is reading this letter! dont give up on yourselves even when you make mistakes. its a good thing.

con carino 

hermana zimmerman

some of my favorite youth!! literally some of my best friends theyre incredible. left to right is Daniela, Brenda, me, hna romero, Yasmin, Lehi, Fanny, Iris.

week 13

well this week was long and a bit stressful! tomorrow is transfer day and we had to wait til today to find out what would happen. everyone was betting that id leave or have to train an american! but neither happened and all 4 of us are staying here again. its hermana romeros bday tomorrow so ive been telling everyone in the ward and that we are teaching that its her birthday so theyll all give us cake. super clever i know. we have a ton of new investigators to teach and a lot of work to do and we are motivated and ever changing and growing. so many spiritual experiences every day i wish i could tell you every single one! but everythings great! love you! stay strong in all you do! read your scriptures and let the spirit talk to you!  love you lovelies!!!! 

me and hermana romero!! the greatest companion and mexican version of me!

All the sisters in my zone

Zone

week 12

i have no time but just so you all know its still blazing hot and im absolutely in love with the sky here. its incredible and i nearly trip all the time just trying to look at it!! God sent me to the right place. trees and clouds and beautiful people!!

i read something in the Liahona that describes basically everything you need to know in life (shortly)

"What we get during our life is inconsequential, but what we become in life makes all the difference."

so take that and run with it. theres no time to waste, only time to improve.

i got a cute valentines day package from the stoker family! theyre so awesome i was so happy! and there was chocolate, so of course it was perfect. today our whole zone and the president went to this gorgeous museum called "La Venta" its an outdoor museum/animal park and i was in HEAVEN. it was incredible with soo many trees and it was a gorgeous day and its literally in the jungle and we were there all day, so fun. love everyone! sorry dont have much to say! no time to say hello goodbye!;)

Week 11

Its all good here in Villa! all of the baptisms in the mission are super low right now. i wont even tell you how low. but here we are working as much as we can as hard as we can making changes all the time! transfers are coming up again in a couple weeks.

i want to tell everone about all the people we are teaching, but the experiences i get to share with these people are so personal and so incredible that i dont even know how to explain it simply. when we are in lessons, time stops. the only thing that matters in the whole world is the person that has invited us into their home and decided to listen to what a couple of 19 year old girls have to say in 102 degree weather. its pretty powerful. we are literally endowed with a little piece of God's power to explain to His children what is in store for them in their lives.

but im happy and i wouldnt rather be anywhere else. theres 83000 of us missionaries right now all over the world, and something like 12000 with mission calls that are waiting to leave. everythings just growing. and none of the people that work so hard get paid!! its crazy to think about!! now why would any church spend so much time and money to help other people that sometimes just turn us down without thinking twice? because we understand. we are blessed. ridiculously blessed. there is no personal problem in the world that cant be fixed by helping another person. when you focus on others, you literally find yourself and find happiness. simple as that. so stop thinking so much! everyone!

love you all. cant wait for conference! even though i have to watch it in spanish! ni modo. hasta luego!

hermana z

A PICTURE OF MY CUTE ZONE!!!! I love them all!!!!! <and us with president valenzuela tambien! the 2nd counselor in the mexico area presidency