8+++

i loooove life and i looove the Gospel. so much is happening all around us, and we are constantly find people that want to learn more about who we are and what we do and why we are happy doing it. 

okay i have to tell you about the most golden investigators, Alfonso and Imelda. they are married and have a month old baby and he has always watched different mormon friends of his and the way they act and he has been dying to learn more. he told us from the beginning that he wants to be baptized, but his wife was a bit apprehensive. but they are SO nice and she has always been catholic, but she always is reading the book of mormon and it fascinates her and she always can apply it to our life today. they came to church and they said they loved feeling like a part of a huge family and they want to bless their baby girl this coming sunday! their baptism is august 16. we arent allowed to hold babies as missionaries, but he always is trying to get us to hold her! and obviously he wants to. hes always playing with her tiny face and the other day as we were leaving he fakingly trips and basically throw the baby into hermana espinoza saying "oh no i tripped! grab her quick" hahaha i died laughing hes sooo funny and he has questions about every detail. he was super worried cuz in the 3rd hour on sunday the priesthood was talking about the holy ghost and how it can come to us and testify to us, but soon it leaves. and he was saying how he doesnt want that to happen, asking us what he could do so that it would never leave. baptism of course! and the next day we went with an incredible couple from the ward to talk about the holy ghost, repentance, and baptism, and when we were explaining the role of the holy ghost Imelda{s eyes welled up with tears and she said well its beautiful and ive never heard it explained like that before. and when we newly invited them to be baptized she said "yo si!" before we could even finish the question. every time we explain anything she always says wow that makes so much sense. 

sorry i just love them, they come to church and have the greatest questions and come to everything we invite them to. 

then last week we found 5 people that want us to come back and help them. one lady that was just standing in front of her house and we said hi and kept walking but i immediately repented and reversed my steps and started a conversation and she opened up her gate and let us in and we talked a bit and her husband is from spain, coolest guy with the coolest accent and coolest moustache and then she let us in and fed us dinner and we taught them about the restoration and we are going back this week to help them out. 

and honestly so many more people and so many stories. also, invite any and all of your friends to church that might be interested. its not up to us to decide if someone is ready to make a change in their life or be happy. we are just the servants here. 

well im happy! and we survived our first week as just americanas and we are doin good. sometimes its tough cuz i really dont like making all the decisions haha but yea God knows better. 

love you!

hermana zimmerman

8++

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3TI4bYerU

first, watch this incredible video. i love it SO much and i could watch it over and over.

SECOND, some big news in the mexico villahermosa mission

hermana espinoza and i are the first pair of American sisters in the mission. and im the senior companion. and its going to be a HUGE change. usually we have a native speaker with us so that if theres a language issue, we are good to go. but now, the President and Heavenly Father trust me a lot to be the dependable one. hna E. has almost 4 months in mexico, i have almost 8. and shes incredible and we just had 2 baptisms this saturday that were crazy spiritual.

javier. hes 22 and his whole family was baptized a little over a year ago, except him. he didnt believe in God and he didnt even listen to the missionaries. every elder has tried to teach him, but they have no pátience for his questions or his attitude. but hermana garcia and her companion 6 months ago got him listening. and he had an incredible experience and decided he wants to be baptized AND serve a mission. and he didnt want ANYONE to know about his baptism, because he didnt want everyone in the ward to be like oh yea i knew that would happen or oh im glad i told him this or that. he just had us invite his mom dad and little brother, but he only let us tell them that it was a special baptism. so just the few of us were there in the room with the font, then we passed out the program with his name on it. and his mom was speechless. they are all sealed in the temple except for Javier. AND IT HAPPENED. he wouldnt even let anyone in the ward baptize him, he asked one of the elders to do it. but im so happy for him, and he knows sooo much about the gospel its a miracle.

abigail. shes 23 and was here visiting her aunt from chiapas for a little over a month and she wanted to be baptized, but we only had a week and a half to teach her EVERYTHING and president morales said it was okay, cuz its better that she goes back with the spirit than to go back and not know if she has a chance to get in touch with the elders quickly. so we visited her everyday and she read pamphlets and the book of mormon and we had to visit her twice one of the days. long story short, she was so happy, and it really made things a whole lot easier to have her aunt helping her understand things along the way. and shes so strong and understands so much already. 

NO TIME, we were traveling with hermana garcia and elders all day to get her super far away to her new area!! but its good. changes must happen if we are to progress in this world continually.

love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hermana zimmerman

8 +

What city are you in now?

-I am in the Zapata branch in Zapata! there are 9 missionaries in the branch, and one of the companionships is elders and they arent at church on sunday bc their area is far away and they started another little building where people can take the sacrament and get learning about the church a bit more. so, its called EMILIANO ZAPATA. thats where i am

How did you travel there?

-We traveled by bus!! and it was freezing the whole time!! and they played the new star trek the whole time with chris pine and hes super attractive so it was a bit distracting ya know, but seriously, the coldest ive been in 8 months!!! 2 and a half hour bus ride from villahermosa

Do you still have the same mailing address?

-Yes, the mailing address will always be the same. all letters and packages get sent to the mission office in villahermosa, and from there they send them to us monthly.

If they closed your mission, then what mission are you in now?

-They did not close my mission, just my area. its like our ward at home. theres 4 missionaries in the redhill ward, each companionship has an area. its like if the area (boundaries of the ward) were dangerous so they took the missionaries and sent them to a ward in anaheim or placentia. different stake, different spot, same mission. my mission covers all of this state, its just called villahermosa cuz thats the center of everything. the biggest city in this state. so its kinda all new to be here bc my whole mission ive been in the city area, and now im in the country.

Mayan Ruins!!

Happy Birthday to me!

This is the view of my backyard.

8 months

MOM!!!!!!!!!! so i got your packages!!! thank goodness they got here on friday because that same day the president had to close our area because its too dang dangerous , so he had to shut it down. took out all the missionaries and sent us off in different places. now im 2 and a half hours away in the zapata branch!!! its too new and small to be a ward yet. and its basically the lapoint utah of mexico. i feel like im in utah. its just land and land and more land. and now im in a trio with hna ezpinoza (amercian) and hna garcia (from tijuana). and me and the other hermanas in our huose were all sad cuz i was living with hna weaver and we wanted to all celebrate together, so we just decided to do it all wuick and they threw up the streamers and hna moser made the cake in mugs in the microwave and hna ayala lit the candles and i love all the things you sent me theyre perfect and it was just really perfect that it came in at the right time!!!! i love you so much!!! sister alvarado sent me a cute awesome package as well! love her!!

                                my companions!!! hna espinoza is white and hna garcia is mexican

hna espinoza reminds me of aspen. the way she walks and talks and her facial expresions. and her hair. its so crazy i cant get over it. pleasse somehow tell aspen i love her and miss her. i have been thinking about her ever since i got here!!!! tell her happy bday for me!!!