Baptisms, Sleeping on the Floor and Giant Spiders

What a great week it has been! This week flew by.  I cannot believe it's already Monday again, it is crazy how fast the time goes.  I also cannot believe it is December already, it doesn't seem real.  As I turned over another page of the calendar this morning it felt as if it was only a dream.  I am still in denial that it is December though, it's way to hot and humid outside to be December.  Maybe when the snow comes I will believe it (snow doesn't exist here.):)

This past week was Thanksgiving huh? I honestly forgot about it.  Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here.  However, there is a family here who is from the United States.  They are members in the ward and invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner with them along with the other missionaries. Because the other sister missionary in the area and I are Americans we felt right at home celebrating the traditional Thanksgiving with turkey, rolls, jello, sweet potato pie...the whole deal.  It was so good. They were so sweet to invite us over.  My companion didn't understand what all the celebration was all about.  I told her it had something to do with the pilgrims and Indians and we always eat a lot of food.  She was still left with quite a bit of confusion..

This past week Hermana Canul and I spent a night sleeping on the floor.  A couple weeks ago we made an agreement that we were going to contact more people.  The goal is that we can contact (or talk to people and invite them to church) at least 20 per day.  In order to make sure we did so we made an agreement that at the end of each day if we didn't have at least 20 contacts when we came home we would spend the night on the floor.  The plan worked great and was great motivation for us each day to make sure we reached our goal.  However, one day last week we returned to the house exhausted after a long day of work when we realized we hadn't completed our 20 contacts that day.  As exhausted as we were and as much as we wanted to spend the night in our beds we remembered that we had made an agreement and that with every action there is a consequence.  So we got a towel and laid it down on the cement floor and that is where we spent the night.

After a long night with little sleep it is safe to say that we learned our lesson!  We now have a renewed motivation to fulfill our goal because we have felt the effects of the consequence!

There was another night this past week where I walked out back to wash some clothes when lo and behold I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen about 5 feet in front of me on the wall behind our house.  As I stood looking in fear I called for my companion to come see.  I then ran for my camera to take a picture of this spider that was literally bigger than my hand!

As I went back in the house to put the camera away and figure out how I was going to kill it I came back outside to look at it and it had disappeared!  Long story short I spent another night with little sleep in fear of the giant spider I was sure would be waiting for me in my bed as I went to sleep!

This week I had the opportunity to see 3 of Heavenly Father's children enter into the waters of baptism.  Lupita, Noel and Victor were baptized on Saturday.  It was such a special day.  I felt like a proud parent watching my children grow up!

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and to be even a small part of these peoples lives who we teach.  We became so close with them that they feel like family.  We cry with them we learn with them and we help them as they overcome obstacles and prepare to make covenants with our Father in Heaven.  As much as I love my family at home I honestly feel as though it will be harder to leave these people than it was to leave home.  Being a missionary has been such a blessing in my life and I never want it to end.  A year and a half spent serving the Lord is such a short but beautiful time.  But the good news is I still have over a year left:)  It is not enough, but it will have to do.  I sure love you guys!  Have a great week:)

Love, Hermana Peine