“The 7 week Challenge to Change”

With Hermana Spencer when she was in the hospital.

With Hermana Cockerham and Hermana Spencer during intercombios.

Some pictures from last week at the Christmas party and me and Raul! He is pretty great and is getting baptized next week!

Hermana Hoggan and me.

Hermano Hipolito and his Son Martin.  It was really hard to say goodbye to him! He’s a good and prepared one!

A cool skirt a member had.

I gave in and got my hair cut by a 17 year old member, but all is well!

I got home and put my hair down and let’s just say that it was VERY unevenly cut, so I just went ahead and fixed it myself....

With Hermana Imelda!

With Hermano Hipolito for our last lesson together!

The family Lopez!

Obispo Poot and his wife.

Saying bye to Hermana Hoggan!

My new daughter Hermana Cabrera!  She’s from the Dominican Republic; she’s pretty great!

Our generation of missionaries that came with us to the mission.

Hello family! 

So, we had changes and I got pushed out of Garcia Gineres and I’m in a new area of Almendros. I am training a Sister from the Dominican Republic and she is really nice! She has a different accent and it’s a little hard to understand her sometimes, but it will just push me more to learn better Spanish! I’m excited to end with someone who doesn’t know English so I can teach her and also so I can learn more Spanish! Hermana Hoggan is still in Garcia Gineres and is training there as well. We were really sad about not ending the mission together and all that, but all will be fine. I think this will really help me not get trunky and keep working hard!

So last week we had a good one. We had the Christmas party and we really enjoyed our last week together. We knew one of us was leaving because President told us one of us would be leaving. On Sunday we were able to go to my old stake house in Pacabtun for the dedication of a temple in Mexico and it was so great because I got to see almost everyone from Pacabtun! They all didn’t recognize me; it was really funny actually! Ha-ha.  They all kept saying how skinny I was and how I needed to eat more and that the people in my other area weren’t feeding me enough! Ha-ha, it was really funny. I was a good 25ish lbs. heavier when I was there, so I probably looked really different to them. 

Also on another note I cut my hair and it was real bad, ha-ha! I am a changed person though, because it looked/looks really bad, but I don’t even care! Ha-ha, I remember how I freaked out when I cut my hair at home, here it’s like nothing and I even had to cut a huge chunk off when I came home! Annie, I will need some of your help when I get home! Ha-ha! It was a good experience! 

So over these next 7 weeks I decided to start something called “The 7 week Challenge to Change”. No it is not a weight loss program. I want to see how much change I can do in 7 weeks. To other people and to myself. I am in a new area with everything new around me and I want to make the best of it. I am going to take attributes of Christ and study one every week. The Faith, Charity and Love, Knowledge, Patience, Hope, Humility, Virtue, Obedience, and Diligence. There are 9, but I’m just going to combine them. Anyway, I know I always invite you guys to do things, but you probably never do them, because you never tell me about it. So I really, really want you guys to do this with me! Just for 7 weeks of your whole life. It’s nothing! You can choose which ones you want to work on and study. But I want to hear how it went in your week when you were able to read a little bit about it and then apply it in your week! Just give it a try and see how it goes! I hope that you all try it and see the CHANGE in your week and in your life as you apply all of them into your life. I know that you will feel Christ more in your life and feel happier and feel a greater love. I love you all and hope that you have a great week! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Velasquez

Sharing "A SAVIOR IS BORN"

https://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HP_SU_11-29-2015_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_

Hello family! Hope you are all doing good and are happy and healthy! I also hope you were all able to show that video that I sent you for FHE last week with your family, and if you didn't, well you've still got today.
This week was another busy one full of intercombios and parties!  So this week we had a lot of meetings. We had one on Tuesday, helping us get excited for Christmas and to start sharing these videos with everyone.  It was really good and a lot of fun to see everyone. That day we went on intercombios and had a fun time sharing these videos with others. While I was on intercombios with Hermana Spencer we had to go to the hospital to get her checked out with some stomach pains so during this intercombio we just were in the hospital all day and it was really cold. There were a lot of other Americans there that day so I was able to talk to some of them and that was super weird and really hard to speak gospel things to them in English. Hermana Spencer was all good and safe after that night so she’s doing lots better.
 On Thursday we went to a pueblo called Uman and we went to this really big choir concert. It was an activity for all of the different churches to get up and sing Christmas songs for others in the town, kind of to promote your church. So we went as a zone and sang. I had to lead all the songs, and NEVER in my life have I ever led a choir and I was really nervous but all worked out well. While we were singing a worker guy came up to fix a mic that was in front of Hermana Hoggan and then all of a sudden the guy tripped over the cord and the mic stand came crashing down and it was just really funny, but all was well and we kept singing. We were able to talk with a couple of people afterwards and it was an all-around cool experience. 
I have a really cool experience that happened with Hermana Hoggan and me on Sunday. We were in the church greeting everyone, but still none of our investigators were there yet and it was going to start in 10 minutes. We went over by the door to see people and we saw that it was raining really, really hard. We called one of our investigators and he said that he was going to wait till it stopped raining. So then we were just talking and Hermana Hoggan just started saying “Heavenly father we want your children to come to church and if you want them to come you’ll make it stop raining.” Then I said something like “we know you have the power to do it, but if it’s your will that they come, just make it stop raining.” We weren’t praying we were just talking out loud like a conversation to each other. I kid you not, less than 30 seconds later the clouds parted and it stopped down pouring. It’s like he just turned off the light switch. After that we ran out and went running to our investigator’s house and brought him to church. Then two others came as well; it was great! I know God answers prayers. He KNOWS the needs that we have and he wants to help us. Even if it’s for a little rain, he has the power to do anything. This was just a confirming experience that God is all powerful! And really does listen to us! 
Yesterday was our Christmas Party with the mission and it was really, really fun!  We went to my old church building in Pacabtun for it and I was able to see one member that’s less active that lives right next to the church, so that was nice to see her and help her a little. During the party we listened to this really pretty choir and each zone sang and it was really fun. We then ate these tacos that were really good, but Hermana Hoggan and I were one of the first to eat and we bit into our food and our mouths were on fire! There was this green chili on it and it was sooo hot and we had already drunken all of our juice so we grabbed some other sisters’ and started downing it. It was just a little embarrassing but well, you’d think we knew better by now. They had a talent show and then all of the people that are going home this week all gave their testimonios and they were all very good and it made me all very sad, but they were very inspiring. 
I had the best week and our investigators are doing great and progressing really well. We have this one named Raul and he is just a hoot! He is hyper active or something, but after teaching him for a good two months or so he accepted a baptism date! He has been going to church for a long time, just didn’t want to commit. But he feels really ready so he is getting baptised the day after Christmas. He is so great and is always sooo happy! I’ll have to send you a video of him next week. He kind of looks and acts like doc from Back to the Future. He just has darker hair. But this guy and people like him just make me love this work so much! Well that’s all for now! I love you all and hope you have a great week! 
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Velasquez

Happy Thanksgiving with Apple Pie & Hamburgers!

Happy Thanksgiving with some homemade APPLE PIE!

I showed them how to do the top crust and they loved it! (Thanks for making me learn... I mean teaching me how to make pie, mom!)

We had a day of training for all of the training leaders, with this special breakfast!

Merry Christmas with President and Hermana Garcia!

Planting a garden in old pots, pans and yogurt tubs!

We were given some corn and Coke!  But we can't drink Coke, so we gave it away and ate our corn!

Hello Family. So this week went by real fast. Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoyed yourselves in the snow with your turkey, and apple pie! We ate hamburgers. I really have come to find that I eat SO many more hamburgers here than I ever have in my whole life in the United States. I really don’t like hamburgers anymore. 

This Tuesday we had a meeting at the mission home with all of the leaders and it was really good! I learned a lot. We also had a nice breakfast and we ate bacon and I haven’t eaten that in about 16 months, and it was so good! We learned a lot about the Book of Mormon and how it truly is the most important book for us here and how it is the most correct book and how we should always read it to get a full knowledge and to feel the spirit truly every day. I really do love that book a lot. Reading it all in Spanish really has helped me focus even more on what I was reading and I have learned so much from the prophets. I hope all of you are trying to keep up on reading in it as much as you can. I know before my mission I really didn’t understand the true importance of reading in it every day until I really was reading with a good purpose and really wanted to learn something new. I know we say we don’t have time to read every day, but let’s be real here; we watch TV almost every day for at least 5 minutes or more and I think we could use 5 of those minutes to read a little in the Book of Mormon. You will see and feel a difference in your day when you sacrifice a little of your time for the savior to do so! 

We also caught one of our investigators again talking with the testigos and it was a little frustrating, but the next day we talked with him about it and he explained how his son is talking with him, but he just doesn’t feel the same when he is talking with them. He said he just doesn’t agree with them or how they think of God and Jesus. He said that he KNOWS what we are teaching him is right and that he can just feel it in his heart. He also said that he told his boss that he will not be working Sundays anymore so that he can go to church! It was really cool to see that change in him too! Hipolito is just great and progressing so well. I love seeing the change in people, and how they change when they accept the light of Christ to enter into their lives. I love this church so much and I love sharing this gospel with others. I know it’s true and my testimony has grown and grown every week that I am here. I want to challenge you all to try something this month and REALLY DO IT! Every day I want you all to try and find a way to serve someone. It doesn’t mean to give them money or things like that, but just little things to stop and take time to talk with someone or help someone with a little thing. Just think what would Christ do and DO IT! I know this will make your Christmas season so much enjoyable! I love you all so much and really hope that you all try it out and apply it. I love you and hope you have a great December! 

Les quiero mucho! 

Hermana Velasquez! 

Here is a video that you all can use for family home evening to prepare your children for the Christmas season that is now here. Invite them to do nice things for others this month and to remember Christ! 

https://youtu.be/Ly7c9scxB9I   ENJOY!