Otra Vez Paca `Paca

 

We had some good fun with the wall paintings here! Captain America and Despicable Me (again for my companion)

David is one of our really, really great ward missionaries.

Hermana Xshoilt: she feeds us healthy food when we visit. It's nice.

We had a big zone lunch at the home of our stake mission leader.

The second week I was here with Hermana Manzano walking down the street, I remember saying to her “I am going to be in this area for a long time”. Here I am in Pacabtun otra vez! I am really excited to be with my companion again, but not going to lie; I was hoping for a new area this transfer, but we can’t always get what we want, we are given what is right! I know in this transfer that a lot of things are going to be different with our work here with each other and mostly with the ward. That’s where it’s been the most difficult, but the ward is already changing. It’s a long time to be in one area, but it’s for a reason and I know that we both need to be here again. 

In these past weeks we've found some great families and are starting to teach them. We have two main ones that are families complete. One of them that we found last week has 8 children, but only 4 of them live there. They are super receptive to everything and really love the lessons. They have a baptism date for February, and I’m really hoping we can keep them on track progressing, because they are all so great! The one thing is they have a daughter that is on a mission right now that is a Jehovah’s Witness and she comes home in February! We asked if they were in the same religion as their daughter, and they just said “well, they don’t celebrate Christmas or any other holiday, and we like those holidays so no, we aren’t Jehovah’s Witness”. And we were like “alright then, welcome to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints!” 

So a funny for you all: The life in Mexico with two Americans being together...1: We were eating at a members house and she said that she made this special food for us and it´s not as hot as she normally makes it because she knows we can’t handle too spicy of food. So we were okay with that. We both started eating this soup and our faces got so red! I felt like I was going to die. She was out of the room and we were both trying to fight back the burning tears from our eyes. She came back in and sat at the table and just started talking about her cats, and we were just there trying to get through this food as best as we could. We got done, left, and had to sit down for about 10 minutes because we felt like death itself. It was a good experience that I never want to go back to. 2: We were walking down the street and this lady was walking in front of us kind of slow so we asked if she needed help with her bags. She said no thanks. And my very loving companion asked what she thought was "do you have a lot of weight in that bag? It sure looks like you have a lot of weight in that bag. Are you sure you don’t need help?” She looked at us weird and walked off with a bit of a frantic pace. When she walked off my companion was like “ohhh, oops”. She actually said this to her “do you have a lot of money in your bag? It sure looks like you’ve got a lot of money in your bag! Are you sure you don’t need help?" We just laughed super hard about that mistranslation for a while, ha-ha.

I really am so grateful for my companion and that we always don’t know how to say everything’s perfectly, because we´re not perfect. We´re still learning and we are learning with the spirit with us. It’s been a hard start to the mission here, but I know I have the chance to let the trials of an area let me falter or work harder. Really only two options here. But with diligence and faith everything is possible. There is a reason for everything in our lives. We are not perfect but we are living in a perfect plan that we can continue to strive to be like our brother, and his perfect attributes. We had a really sad thing happen in the mission on Friday. One of the missionaries here passed away. I don’t know what happened or anything, but it was really sad and a good eye opener. We don’t know how much time we have in this world. We don’t know what’s going to happen next in our plan, but we can make the time count. We can always gain new knowledge and have love for our family and others in this world. The only thing we can bring with us to the next life is our knowledge, so keep it growing. Always love your families, and never waste time doing things that really don’t matter like wasting away time with computers, phones, and TV. What do you want to remember when looking back on life? Your time lying around wasting away doing nothing, or spending time with loved ones, talking with new people, gaining new knowledge? The choice is really ours. Time is precious. Always use it well. I love you all oh so much and hope you always remember these small things that can really change your eternity. I hope you have a great week filled with happiness and fun! 

Con Muchísimas Amor,

Hermana Velasquez