Hermana Zimmerman: 13 +

sooooo i have SO much to say today!!!!!!!!!!!! here goes

first of all, i dont know if i have really explained the cabrera family, BUT its the lawyer couple with 2 kids that have been together 14 years but never got married? yea them. so theyve been to church 7 TIMES and theyre not married, nor will they accept a baptismal date, so we're still taking things slower. and YESTERDAY!!!! we had district conference, where all these branches came from 1 or 2 hours away to listen to the mission president, and the mission presidents super awesome to he invtied one of his Friends to come speak, who just so happens to be a member of the 70, then also the Villahermosa temple president and his cute wife spoke, and sister morales, ALL THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE HELLO, and the cabrera family came and sat RIGHT in the middle of it all. p.s. missionaries, always save seats for your investigators so the president doesnt call you out from the pulpit (cough cough saturday night session oops my bad) SO YEA we saved seats and the whole place filled up. and of course EVERYTHING they said was just glorious and perfect for our investigators to hear. also a 17 year old girl esmeralda is getting baptized saturday and shes stoked and she shows up to everything!! SO like is was all focuzed on temples and the family and the imprtance of it all and how much your kids look up to you and watch your every move and KNOW all of your mistakes. so great. soooo perfect. THEN turns out they have Friends that are members from one of the branches that came from an hour away, another sidenote, they know EVERYONE. Camilo Cabrera is basically famous in zapata cuz a few years back his dad was president of zapata, so EVERYONE they know is asking them what they are doing with the mormons. but they are strong in the fact that they KNOW what they are learning is true and going to strengthen their family and even though they make me a Little crazy i absolutely adore them!! theyre like my family. so after Marissa (mom cabrera haha) was done talking to her Friends i was like how awesome! did you invite them to your baptism?? and shes like whos baptism?! and im like yours!!

sidenote:i cant believe the way i sound typing all this im a Little stressed these weeks, bear with me.

ANYWAYS they chatted with the 70 for awhile about how theyre not married and hes like no way!! and laughs. then they talked with the

mission presidents wife and theyre like yea we have been boyfriend/girlfriend for 14 years, its a work in progress, and marissa's job?? shes the judge for allll the civil weddings daily. ITS JUST A WHOLE DEAL. anyways, we are visiting them tomorrow and i think now theyre really ready (after 4 months of teaching them)

OTHER AWESOME STORY,.

SOO Everardo Magana is a Little over 80 years old. he was baptized in september. and he lives in basically the middle of nowhere, the ennnnddd of our área. his neighbors are lizards and iguanas and whatever lives in the river and laguna in front. and he lives in his house with his 58 yr old wife and 4 of their 6 kids. so we started teaching his 20 year old daughter maria, super stoked gona get baptized the 17th (HOPEFULLY cuz she just got hit by a drunk guy on a motorcycle!!!) really messed things up. poor thing. her mom Martha also is planned to be baptized the same day, but this sunday she was taking care of maria. ALSO everard has diabetes and his toe is kind of.. going away so hes super delicate and cant work and the mom Works doublé shifts and its stiull not enough cuz they have meds to pay and rent to worry about and travel fees and a daughter with special needs. AND NOW the guy that owns their house is gona kick them out. ANOTHER issue with the miracel thats tryuing to take place. so he gave them 20 days to get everything out. WHERE are tehy gona live?? well the neighbor gave em a piece of their land to build on so he says their gona buuild their house in 20 days and they recently started. so obvisouly we had to get the preisthood involved (they hardly go out there to visit) SO im like alright show me the lot and theyve got 4 POSTS IN THE GROUND. oh my so awful poor things its just too much. so we get the branch pres involved, and now everyone in the Ward is pitching in to buy at least one or two pieces of lamina (metal sheets) to buiild the house. thats normal for around here. and cement for the floor cuz hes sick and their all sick and they cant live like that!!! so the priesthood men are gona build his house!!!!!!!! ahhhh!!! and i want to help but Everardo is like no its not womens work, he wont let his wife or daughters help at all eiother. so funny. he doesnt have any teeth. and hes like way funny and Smart and actually has got almost all of it togehter in his brain. so awsesome. ANYWAY FIRST TIME IN 13 MONTHS THAT IVE BEEN FORMALLY ASKED TO PERFORM THE BAPTISM ORDINANCE FOR ONE OF MY INVESTIGATORS. darn that wouldve been awesomeMartha asked me to do it. and i was like wow what an honor thank you!! but i cant. so yea they are still stoked just have had a couple setbacks.

ALSO DID I MENTION THAT ALFONSO RECIEVED THE PRIESTHOOD?!?!!? he comes up to us to tell us and hes like next stop... the 70. hahah basically he was in aw of him, his new hero. AND DID I ALSO MENTION THAT MANUEL WAS CALLED TO SERVE AS 2ND COUNSELOR IN THE ELDERS QUORUM PRESIDENCY???? maybe i did, cant rememebr but its just so cool cuz he used to be soo addicted to alcohol and he has changed drastically!!!

ALSO we had an activity for He is the Gift and it was a hit. the relief society set up a choir and we set up a table of different pamphlets and stuff

i cant remember if i already told you this but whatever!

and 13 PEOPLE from our área showed up!! including the cabreras, of course. and there were xmas messages and everything with a lil tree and lights. and at the end we showed the video and it was all way powerful and at the end we gave everyone cookies and hot chocolate. the chapel filled up and it was so awsesome to see all the members get involved and invite all their Friends. we made invitations (us 8 misionaries) and did a musical number and yea. everyone in zapata is going to see this video, its our latest job. we have set it up in all stores selling computers so it keeps replaying, and we show it to poeple in the Street on this sweet lil DVD player. and everyone we see we ask them "hey have you seen the video?! and some say yes your Friends came to my house! or they say no and we ask them where they live and bring it to em! basically so much to do, partly thats why im typing in all caps. but its all soooo incredible and this work is just shooting forward and the Lord really knows how to get his point across to the world, if you havent noticed. its all HIS. and HE will do what he wants when he wants, and the best part is that it will always always be for our benefit. i know the Savior lives!!! i know he not only came to the Earth to complete the Fathers plan, but he came to organize HIS church the way that HE knows it needs to be! so everyone needs to read the bible and listen to the missionaries cuz they can help you and they wont lie to you, i promise. so anyone that reads this and wants their Friends to know, just TELL them. the video is magical!!! and they will feel the spirit whether they want to or not! be proud of you who are and what you believe and know to be true.

hopefully i didnt forget to say anything else! but i love you all!! and im so grateful to be here in zapata bringing people to Christ! the best gift that anyone could give to Him. so be good, be safe. read your scriptures. share the gift. dont be selfish. its too much to keep all to yourself. ITS AWESOME!!!! you can never over-use that word

loooooove

hermana zimmerman!!!! stoked!!!

wow. sorry. sounds like i just left the mtc. BUT IT REALLY IS TRUE.