Hermana Jessica Thompson - Mexico Cuidad Juarez Mission

Happy Almost Halloween!! The work moves on about the same as it does every week.  This week I struggled quite a bit, not gonna lie. I felt really inadequate... again jaja. However, Lord showed His hand in abundance this week. -The other day we got stopped by an American father and his daughter who didn't speak any Spanish but wanted to give us 600 pesos. He said that they always love having the missionaries over but never have the chance, so this was his way of giving us lunch. Then we found 20 pesos on the ground on the way to an appointment.  -One of our converts gave us Milky Ways after our weekly visit with him. He's progressed so much since his baptism and it's amazing to see him become more like the Savior and more happy! -A crying man in sunglasses stopped us and gave us 20 pesos to keep doing the Lord's work. He's not a member. We had no idea who he was. -One of our investigators gave us handmade scar...

A baptism! A baptism! We had a baptism! Well, we had two :) Both Manuel and Alejandro followed through with everything, passed their interviews and were baptized and confirmed!!! The changes we've seen in them have been absolutely mind blowing. It's so amazing to see the changes that the gospel of Christ brings into people's lives. It makes me realize how blessed I am to have known it all my life. As they came out out of the water, I was just filled with the purest joy I think I've ever known. To say the least, it was awesome :) Other than the baptisms that we had this week, the work moves on. We've been doing a lot of the same. Ya know, missionary work haha. This week we had intercambios and another Hermana came to my area and I was the one in charge. That was interesting because I'm still in training! She also just finished training but everything went well and I learned to step out of my comfort zone even more.  Not gonna lie, this w...

Well, minus the snow. It seems that the heat has finally been subdued a little bit and the cold is starting to settle in. But hey, I'm not complaining. It is a nice change. And we have hot water for the first time since I got here so I am in heaven! This week I wanted to talk to you all a little bit about the people we're teaching. Each one has such a unique story and background and I've enjoyed getting to know all of them.  Right now, we have two investigators who are going to be baptized on Saturday! (Well, assuming all goes well.)  When we first contacted Manuel, you could tell he had addictions. Following the Spirit, we were able to begin teaching him. He began to express his sincere desires to change. As we taught the Word of Wisdom, his eyes lit up with a desire to quit drinking and smoking. We set a baptismal date for the 20th of October and told him that in order to be baptized then, he needed to stop. He said firm...

Now that I've kind of gotten used to this mission thing, I wanted to let you all know a little bit about what life is like here on the border. (Well, as a missionary.) Everything is hot. All the time. Sometimes we are blessed with wind and that's the best. We walk around 8 miles a day, through sand, dirt, and garbage. We're in and out of poor rundown homes (definitely no air conditioning) but filled with the warmest, nicest people you'd ever meet. We stop people on the streets every time we see them and invite them to pray. Sometimes, well most of the time, we get to talk to them about their religion and if they've ever prayed to know that it's true. This is really the life and I love it. (Well, minus the part where we shower in freezing cold water.) The streets of Juarez are an interesting site. I've seen lots of trash, but that's typical. One time as we were tracking there was a funeral being held in the stree...

Juarez has been an adventure! It's definitely a change, but again, I've enjoyed every second so far. That doesn't mean it's not hard. Believe me, it is! It's hot and dusty and everyday consists of walking around in it, talking to people I don't know, in a language I don't know. But I love it! I know this work is true because if I was doing this for anything else, a job, school, I would absolutely hate it because of all the challenges it brings. But, I'm the happiest, most content I've been in a very long time and I'm so very grateful. I am in Satelite, in the city of Juarez, and my new companion is Hermana Navarro. She is from Peru, the northern part, and she is awesome! I have been learning a lot about new cultures and learning to appreciate what we have at home. We still haven't figured out why we don't have hot water for showers, but I guess cold showers are nice too. jaja! I already have tan li...