I hope you are all having a good day. All is well here in Guadalupe 2. Today is the first day of the new transfer, and after four months with my companion Hermana Leaitaua we had to say goodbye. She headed to Torreon this morning and about three hours ago I met my new companion, Hermana Lopez. She is 27 years old, from Oaxaca (wuh-ha-kah) Mexico, and this is her last transfer. She'll actually be leaving half way through week 6 of this transfer because leaving in week 1 would mean she'd fly home on Christmas, when the airline tickets are a lot more expensive. So I know for sure that we won't be together for very long, but I can already tell I'm going to learn a lot from her. She's very business like, but also very kind, and I'm sure she'll be a good companion. I know that the Lord has put us together because there's something I can learn from her, and that we're here in this area for the benefit of our investigators.
Our investigator Carlos was baptized on Saturday and it was so, so wonderful. He has changed so much. A member of the ward gave a talk a few weeks ago about how he heard many times before his mission that he would see miracles in the mission, but when he arrived, his mission president told him, "You didn't come here to see miracles, you came here to work miracles." For us, Carlos is a miracle. His sister, who we are also teaching, told us she never thought that he would be able to leave the alcoholism that he struggled with for so long. But he has, and his testimony of the Gospel is so strong. He's going to be a good member, I know it.
We have another baptism this week. It's actually the mother of Diana, who was baptized about two weeks ago. Her name is Elvira, and I love her to death. She is such a sweet lady. Diana's husband also returned last week from working in the sierra (he was gone about three weeks) and we began to teach him again. He accepted a baptismal date for December 6th. His name is Roque, and he's actually the nephew of Carlos, who was baptized on Friday, and the son of the sister of Carlos that we're also teaching. Does that make any sense? (: This family is so special. I love being with them, seeing Diana and Roque with their kids and thinking about how they'll be able to go through the temple in a year and become an eternal family. It's worth it to leave my family for a little while to help other people build their own eternal families.
Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week! Thank you for your love and support. This November, I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have to be here in Mexico serving a mission, and for all the love and support from my wonderful family members and friends who I'll be with the next November. My new companion told me today how quickly the time has gone by for her...my goal is to treasure every moment I have in the mission, the wonderful and the hard (but still good).
Les amo mucho a todos!
Hermana Southard
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| Hermana Leiataua and I |
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| The Sisters in our Zone |
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| Hermana Tuitupou and I. We arrived here together and were serving in the same ward. She was transferred to Torreon today and I'm going to miss her a lot. |
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| Carlos' baptismal service. |
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| La familia Mejia. Hermana Mejia is my mom out here in Mexico (: She's amazing. |
