Valle del Sol

Dear all, 

This week quite possibly has been the best week of my mission so far. So yes, my companion and I both were transferred out of our area. We left the house sparkly clean and ready for the next sisters (or elders) that were to come. Our bishop was nice enough to take us to the transfer meeting in Puebla (the city. Puebla City is the capital of Puebla State). There, it was announced that the areas Atexcac and its neighbor, Ixtacíhuatl, would be combined. I was a little sad to hear that, but it’s really for the best because Atexcac is SUPER small.

My new companion is Hermana Villa, from Hermosillo, Sonora (it's right underneath Arizona). I am happy to be with her, we met in my first area, Atlixco, and after that we were in the same zone in Nealtican. And now we are companions in the ward Valle del Sol in the Valsequillo stake in the city of Puebla! My area is just about 100 times the size of Atexcac, and there is SO much work to be done here!

For those of you who hadn't already figured it out, Valle del Sol means Valley of the Sun. And boy, is it bright here! To start off, we had super great results in not even one week of work. I just want to tell you about Adrian and his mom, Margarita. They are golden investigators! They were a reference from the North mission, (that's another thing. Basically across the street from our house begins the Puebla North mission. Sometimes we end up out of mission boundaries when we take the bus...) but have accepted the change very well. They are so easy to teach because they understand everything we tell them. They are both reading the Book of Mormon and this Sunday was their third church attendance! They came to the dedication of our new church building last night and were both really impressed. Adrian tells us that he has found that he is happier than he ever has been, but he can't find out why. Sometimes he just has an urge to read the Book of Mormon, and he feels really great in the church and with all the teachings. His mom feels the same.

Last night after the dedication, we had a little chat and invited Margarita to be baptized. She accepted, without a doubt. She was baptized four years ago with the Christian Church, but she would like to be baptized again with us. Before we could even challenge her to a date, she said that she would like to be baptized on a day very special for her, her birthday. I was a little disappointed because who knows when her birthday is, but then she said "December 30th!" So we have a baptismal date for December 30th. Adrian is a little bit harder. He's stubborn and a little egoistic; he's having a hard time with the commitment. But he told us that he knows that it's imminent, but he doesn't want to put a date. When he's ready he'll let us know. I am hoping it's sometime soon. Observing them while teaching, I know that they know that it's true and that they feel the Spirit.

I am so grateful for these two wonderful people! Another interesting thing is that last night after the lesson, they went with us to drop us off at our house because it was late. We grabbed a bus, and after a few minutes, we realized it was the wrong bus! Margarita talked the bus driver into changing his route, and off we went towards home! The driver was a little angry, but even though it wasn't his normal route, he had a ton of passengers! Now you see? Help the missionaries, the Lord will bless you. One of the passengers was a clown. Yes, a clown. I have a chronic fear of clowns and tried to ignore him, but since I am white he singled me out of the crowd and I had to answer some questions in front of the busload of people. It wasn't too traumatic, but I'll let you all know what the psychologist diagnoses me with.

So that was fun.

There are so many other grand and fantastic things that I want to tell you all about, but I will save some other people's stories for next week.

Share the Gift with everyone this Christmas by helping them know the Restored Gospel! The greatest of all the gifts of God is eternal life, which can only be obtained by sacred priesthood ordinances in the holy temple and by our strict obedience to God and His commandments. It's not easy, but it's worth it.

If I don't get a chance to tell you next week, ¡Feliz Navidad!

Hermana Cheever

This is a girl in Atexcac that we were teaching.
She sells apples covered in a candy tamarindo.
She taught us how to make them.
She's wonderful,
I will miss teaching her and I hope that she progresses
with the other sister missionaries who will be working there.
Her name is Esperanza.

This is la familia Lozano.
They are all less active and
we worked really hard with them in Atexcac.
One Sunday they all came to church and
my companion told me it was the first time
in over a year that they had attended.
Some people just need love. Do your part.
The blurry girl behind me is Maleny,
our investigator with a baptismal date.