Week 4 here in Veracruz! I cannot believe how fast time flies when you're having fun and this week was definitely a week of fun! Although not without it's ups and downs.
Friday and Saturday I had divisions with Hermana Salazar. It was a blast! Although was sad to leave Hermana Acevedo for a day. Hermana Salazar lives right on the ocean and they have a huge house. It was so fun and was nice to have some different experiences! We exchanged around 3 in the afternoon and Hermana Salazar and I went with Elders to a small town about an hour away in a different area becasue they needed Hermanas for their lesson. We went to a tiny little church that was just in a little building and the ward was having a Relief Society activity. While we waited for the lesson we helped them make quilts which was fun haha The girl never showed up for the lesson so we headed back to Mocambo for a baptismal interview where I almost got eaten by a dog. It's so true what they say about dogs not liking missionaries! haha It was a fun day and then in the morning we went to the beach to exercise. It was SO beautiful! I can't believe how lucky I am to serve here in Veracruz. We visited a lot of different people that day too and had an awesome lesson with a reference of an Hermana who has only been a member for 3 months but has a stronger testimony than people I've known who have been a member all their lives. It's so amazing to see the change and power people can have in the gospel! After divisions we got to watch the YW broadcast. Hermana Jensen and I were worried about watching it in Spanish and we didn't understand anything in the first talk but a member let us use her iPad to watch the rest of it so we were able to really understand and learn from it. I loved the broadcast! And I am so excited for conference this weekend! I remember someone saying that General Conference is better than Christmas for missionaries and it is so true! I am honestly counting down the days to hear from our prophet and receive answers to my questions and my investigators questions. One of my favorite parts of the YW Broadcast was the I Am a Child of God that was sung in many different languages and in different parts of the world. I have gained such a testimony and realized that the church is the same everywhere and that everyone on the earth is a child of God and deserves the chance to be taught and learn that they are a child of God who loves them. I also had my first talk in church this week!...kind of. Me and the Hermanas in our ward actually asked to speak in church because we want to strengthen the ward and get everyone more involved in Missionary work. We ended up talking in the combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting because sacrament went over about thirty minutes (Which is really normal here haha) We are working so hard to strengthen our ward though in missionary work and get everyone more involved. Later we had the baptism of Emanuel! He is 8 years old and His parents are members but aren't very active so me and Hermana Acevedo taught him a few lessons to prepare him for his baptism and it was so cool to be a part of it. I love being a missionary! It is definitely not easy but I am so happy and feel incredibly blessed to be here serving and teaching the gospel! I am absolutely loving Veracruz! Although it gets hotter and hotter each day I am so excited to be here and especially excited about my investigators. It is so amazing to see them progress in the gospel and find joy in it. Hugo was confirmed yesterday in Sacrament meeting and just in one week - from his baptism to his confirmation he has changed so much! He is so much happier and is so excited about the gospel and being a member of the church. He also has so much more confidence and is a lot more optimistic! It has been incredible to see the change it has brought his life and I am so excited for all our other investigators to find that change as well. 2 of our other investigators are Mateo and Dulce his 8 year old daught. Dulce is SO excited about the gospel and wants to be baptized so much! It is so cute to see how excited she gets and how much she knows she wants baptism.This week the ward had a talent show and it was quite the production! The Costa Verde ward has a lot of talent! It was so awesome, they had all sorts of skits, dances, poetry, songs...It was awesome! The Hermanas sang too which was fun and also kind of intimidating singing after their amazing talents haha. I absolutely love the ward here, they truely are a ward family. They all hang out together and have so many activities and things. Leonora and Maria Elena are two amazing ward members. They have been members for less than a year but are amazing ward missionaries and they do so much for us Hermanas in the ward. They are the ward members who cordinate our meals with the members but then they also let us use their washing machine and are always trying to find ways to help us. The ward here is awesome and I'm excited to be serving in it and having the opportunity to strengthen it more!The language is coming! Some days are better than others and some people I can understand more than others but just like how the scripture says "Open your mouth and it shall be filled" I truely have a testimony of that and the gift of tongues. It still can be frustrating at times but when I put my trust in the Lord and rely on the spirit to help me people always understand.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here and serving in Veracruz! It is so amazing! Hermana Terry Sunsets are so beautiful! My companion is so funny, she always takes pictures of my "firsts" She is so proud to be my mission mom. 2 months in the mission! Time is flying by! I cannot believe I have already been here in Veracruz for two weeks! This week was SO hot! I finally got sunburned.
Hugo was baptized yesterday!! It was so amazing to be a part of it! It was honestly so amazing&it was also so cool to see how supportive and loving the ward was. Many people in the ward bore their testimonies and me and Hermana Acevedo sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives. It was such a neat experience and Hugo is so excited to be a member of the church. Now I can't wait for him to get confirmed on sunday! It was so amazing! A fantastic day! We have so many amazing investigators! It is so great watching them grow and learn about the gospel. I get excited every day to go out and meet and teach! One of the best moments this week was meeting Carlos. He is autistic and the cutest little boy with the biggest smile. We were contacting and were actually in front of the church and we saw Carlos and his Father. Carlos kept blowing me kisses and waving at me the whole time and then when I shook his hand he kissed it and pulled me into a hug and kissed my cheek. I was SO taken back haha It scared me to have a boy hug and kiss me. I wish that we could teach them but they live in a different area so some other lucky missionaries get to teach Carlos. The Language is difficult but I am growing so much every day and I have an amazing companion who is so helpful. I'm not afraid to street contact or talk in lessons but it'll definiately take time before I can say everything I want to say how I want to say it. For now I just have to pray that the spirit will teach what I can't due to the language. The people here are so great and understanding though. I am loving every minute! I am so glad to be serving a mission and I had so many fantastic experiences this week that testified to me that I made the right decision by serving and I'm so glad that I did! Hermana Terry Hola! I honestly don´t know where to start! SO much has happened in the past week! We said goodbye to the MTC and headed off to Veracruz! It was kind of sad to leave the MTC and all the fantastic Missionaries and Teachers that are there but I honestly was just so ready and excited to get to Mexico! Although the road to Veracruz was not an easy one. We woke up early on Monday - 3:30 to leave at 4:30 for the airport. When we got there we checked out bags and everything just find but the difficulties started in security. Hermana Jensen, and I as well as the other missionaries made it through just fine but Hermana Ledek never came through - I started to get worried and then an airport employee came over and told us that Hermana Ledek had fainted or passed out just before going through security, I started freaking out! I was so worried about her and we looked over and saw her laying on the ground with a bunch of airport paramedics around. They allowed me to go over and be with her since I was her companion and I knew she was okay but the security and paramedics were really worried about her and sent her to the Hospital. Thus began a crazy day! I went with her to the hospital but in doing so we both missed our flight to Denver. We were in the Hospital for a few hours and then rushed back to the airport to try and make it on a plane going to Houston that would catch us up with our travel group. We endured more troubles there because the travel lady that we talked to booked us for the wrong day so we got put on the top of the waiting list but we weren't able to go. So then we got to wait in the airport to see if we could make it on the 3:00 flight to Houston - but they were four seats overbooked on a tiny plane so 6 people would have had to not show up for us to be able to go to Houston and make it in time for our flight to Veracruz. I was praying SO hard! We called and were told that if we didn't make it on this flight that we would have to go back to the MTC for a few days - which was NOT what we wanted! As we sat and waited to see if we could make it on the flight I prayed specifically that the Airport worker who was taking tickets would be our miracle that we needed and he was. The flight was full except for 1 seat and when we walked up he asked what our story was and we told him about our crazy day and he said "Don't worry - I'll get you both on this flight" I have NO idea what he did - he went on the plane and some other guy came out with him but It was such a testament to me that even though Satan didn't want Hermana Ledek and I to get to Veracruz that Heavenly Father did and that he truly answers our prayers. It turned out to be SUCH a blessing too because on the flight to Houston I sat by a man - Rami who I was able to become friends with and I was able to share my testimony with and I also gave him a Book of Mormon. I am so grateful for that opportunity I had to share the gospel with him and it was the first time that I really FELT like a missionary. Veracruz is AMAZING! It is SO beautiful. I cannot even believe how blessed I am to serve here in such a beautiful place with the most humble and loving people. I honestly cannot believe how loving and caring the people here are. My companion is Hermana Acevedo from Peru and she speaks NO english so it's been quite the adventure trying to understand each other. In just a week though we have made so much progress and I feel like I can understand almost everything she says. And I have grown so much too - I probably have learned more here in one week than I did in nearly all my MTC time haha We are serving in Costa Verde which is right near the coast and it is so beautiful. It's been really hot for me but everyone here is cold so it makes me worried for the hot days to come haha We have the best investigators. We have many with baptismal dates and so many who are progressing with each lesson. The first night we went to Nahum's home who is getting baptized on sunday. It was so amazing! The spirit was so strong and we were able to teach other members of his family who came to church yesterday! I'm also so lucky to have the opportunity to learn humility as well - Me and my companion live in the tiniest apartment and it was filthy when we moved in. I also had my first experience showering with a bucket...It's been a great opportunity to learn to be a little more humble like the people I'm serving here. We have taught and contacted so many - the people here are so receptive. On wednesday we met Roberto and his neighbor Guadalupe - From the start they were both so receptive! Guadalupe is 16 and she has a friend who is LDS so she was really excited to learn more. And Roberto is a cute little old man who is so ready for the gospel. After our first lesson with him he grabbed our hands and said "Do you feel that?" The spirit was so strong and he recognized it but he also was so hesitant. He used to preach for a different religion that we don't need church to be saved so that was really hard for him but he felt the spirit and wanted to feel it more. He came to church and we were SO excited to see him! He stayed for all three meetings and then went to a baptismal service with us after. He still doesn't quite see the importance of it but he accepted to come back with us next week and he is always so excited to meet with us. Next week we should have the baptism of Nahum and Hugo as well as Emanuel who is 8 and part of a part member family. And Silvia as well. I LOVE the people. I LOVE the area! I learn so much spanish everyday and I honestly love the language. I have an AMAZING companion and I am just so excited to be here! I hope everyone has a fantastic week! I'll try and send pictures next week! Hermana Terry Hola! I honestly cannot believe that in only two more days I'm going to be in Veracruz! It definitely doesn't seem real at all! This week has been a serious blur. I honestly don't even remember much of what we did. The first part of the week was so great, the weather was wonderful and we actually had study time outside a couple days! Hermana Ledek and I got pre-Mexico sunburns haha On tuesday and wednesday the Hermanas all had picnics outside for lunch just to be outside and enjoy the warm weather. Sadly the weather didn't last long though, it's been raining the past couple days but it was so great while it lasted! This week wasn't too different than any other week, class, study, investigator lessons. It was weird though because we've been finishing up with all of our investigators and saying goodbye to all our teachers. It's been so nice being in the pilot program - having a bunch of teachers and learning from each of them but we decided this week that it's also a bad thing because saying goodbye to all of them was hard. I honestly have learned so much from all of them and feel so lucky to have gotten the teachers I did. I especially loved the teachers that we taught as investigators, I grew to love their investigators so much and it just made me love them as a person so much more too. It was so hard for my district to say goodbye to Hermano Noltemeyer since he was our homeroom teacher and we had him every day and learned so much from him. This week we did something new, we taught a lesson via Skype to a member living in Spain. That was so interesting because we had to overcome not only the language barrier but the technology, distractions, etc...It was weird teaching a lesson over Skype but was actually really cool! She was great and we actually understood her! haha The funniest part was at the end Hermana Ledek asked her if we could close with a prayer and the computer froze for a second and she didn't hear what we said, but Hermana Ledek and I didn't know what was going on and then we wondered if she just wasn't comfortable praying over Skype - I mean it is kind of a weird concept haha it was so funny though because we eventually worked it out and said a prayer. Wednesday we got to be Hosts for the new missionaries! It was so weird being the oldest at the MTC (at least West campus haha) But was so fun welcoming all the new missionaries to the MTC! Yesterday - Friday we had in field orientation which was so great! We learned a lot of good stuff for the mission field and they worked hard to present it in a way that was exciting and fun. We were moving around every ten minutes and every time we went to a "breakout session" they had the room set up different with different activities - it was a little overwhelming but was great. The best part was definitely this little "play" they put on for us acting out different ways to use members and the ward in missionary work. It's going to be very interesting going to Mexico - I have learned SO much here at the MTC but I know the real learning will come when I get to Mexico. Whenever I think about going to Mexico I honestly get so nervous and I have no clue how I'm going to be able to handle it but I had a teacher tell me this week that it's like standing at the edge of a running river. You don't have to have to courage to get to the end, you just have to have the courage to jump in. So even though I have no clue how I'm going to be able to survive on only a few weeks of spanish I know that Heavenly Father will help me with this, I know that Veracruz is exactly where I need to be and I know that the Spanish will come, or He wouldn't have sent me to a spanish speaking mission. I can't wait to get to Veracruz and share my testimony and bring others unto Christ. I know that it'll be hard but I also know from my experiences here at the MTC that the spirit is the real teacher so as long as I'm in tune with the spirit it'll be okay. Well I hope everyone does well this week, and has a great semana! Next week my email will be a LOT more interesting with Mexico adventures! Hermana Terry Hermana Ledek and I after hosting. My district after In-Field Orientation Hermano Nol Temeyer On the bus with some of the other Hermanas in the Zone
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My name is McKenna Terry and I have been called to the Mexico Veracruz Mission. These are my stories. Hermana McKenna Terry
[email protected] Hermana McKenna Terry
Mexico Veracruz Mission Calle Altamirano #27 Entre 1 de Mayo y Carranza Col. Flores Magon Veracruz, Ver 91700 Mexico Archives
July 2015
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