Fresnillo Zacatecas

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Oh my lanta I LOVE Fresnillo!! Everyone here is so amazing and even though the members don´t work much with us this area has so much potential and Hermana Rivera and I worked hard this week! We have a TON and I mean a TON of menos activos en our barrio (less active in our ward) and so we have so much work to do but 3 came to church again yesterday! We were so happy!! The Lord is blessing us despite our weaknesses and I´m so grateful for it.
 

Seriously Hermana Rivera is the most amazing missionary ever! She has been such a fantastic companion for me and I know that Heavenly Father knew that I needed her in this time of the mission. I´m going to be sad to leave her when we have cambios (transfers). 

 

So our area is huge and we have a city called Plateros (means "Silversmiths" - Fresnillo has one of the largest silver mines in the world) in our area but it is completely separated from the rest of our area. Sabado we thought it would be a great idea to walk all the way there to contact people and visit some menos activos (less active members) that live there. It was just a great day! It took us an hour to walk there and then when we got there we realized that everyone in this pueblito (town) is SUPER CATHOLIC! We started contacting people and realized that we weren´t going to have much success pero echamos las ganas (but missed the win?)and we kept going. It was actually super fun to talk to all the people! We discovered that they have their own santo (saint) in this town. The Santo Nino. I don´t know how the nino (child) became a santo pero (saint, but) everybody there worships him and literally every part of the town had a picture or statue of the Santo Nino. (See Fresnillo page for story of Plateros and the Santo Nino.) I love it. Zacatecas is known as la tierra de tradiciones (land of traditions) and it is definitely true but I know we are here for a reason and there is someone that we need to find :)

 

Also as we walked to Plateros we counted 41 people who shouted güera (it pretty much means white girl) at me. It was super funny and it kept us distracted from how much our legs and feet hurt. Also the other day a guy passed us on his bike and literally turned around to look at me 10 times and then made a U-turn to pass us by again. I mean I know I´m super white but come on! I love it here. Everyone is so funny but I feel like a zoo as we walk down the street. Everyday we have at least one group of guys shouting at us telling us to come and read them the bible. Most of the time we just ignore them.

 

Monday and Tuesday were the Mexican Independence Days and unfortunately we had to enter our house at 8. But we had a good time! Hermana Rivera and I bought moustaches and we made pancakes in the shape of the mexican flag ( Really it just looked like a square) and the republica de Mexico ( But it looked more like south america) We are very talented when it comes to pancake making but they tasted SUPER good! Dad you would be proud of me :) 

 

This week we saw two of the great wonders of Mexico. One was a guy driving a tractor down the main road pulling a trailer FULL of chile! It was so much chile and we never thought that we would see anything more amazing than that but the next day we passed by a semi truck full of Jalapeño. Only in Mexico can you see things like this. Oh AMO A MEXICO! (I LOVE MEXICO!)

 

MY NEPHEW IS SO CUTE!!! I just want to hold him so tight and kiss him until his head falls off! Just kidding, but seriously he is adorable. I don´t know how our family makes such cute kids!! I feel like by the time I have my kids Heavenly Father is going to run out of all the cute babies for our family and send me ugly ones! Just kidding I know that´s not how it works, but still I´m pretty worried :P

 

Mom you´re going to love this next part. Maybe you shouldn´t read it. The newspapers this week said that Fresnillo Zacatecas is the most dangerous place in all of Mexico. That got me pretty excited not going to lie! But unfortunately I don´t feel like I´m in any danger at all! I think the newspapers lied but it´s still excited to say that I´m in the most dangerous part of Mexico! Mom, just don´t pay attention to that last paragraph. It´s not true (maybe) and Heavenly Father is protecting me :)

 

I love you all and I´m so glad I have this opportunity to realize how important this gospel is and how much our Heavenly Father loves us. Miss your dear  sweet faces and my next package request is that I want you to send me Emmett!! I think he´ll travel well  :)

 

Love,

Hermana Huff

Emergency Transfers!

Well Martes (Tuesday) we got a call at 10 at night and the zone leaders told us that we had cambios especiales (special transfers) and that I was going to Fresnillo Zacatecas! How lucky for me! I was super excited cuz I have been wanting to go to Zacatecas my whole mission but I was also super sad to leave Hermana Morinigo!  

 

So after moping around for a little bit I started to pack cuz we had to be in the central at 7:30 the next morning so I could take a bus all the way to Fresnillo at 8. We got to bed at 1am and woke up at 5:30 the next morning. Needless to say I was a little tired and didn´t want to move, but I like being obedient so we got to the central 10 minutes early and waited for everyone to get there. The zone leaders didn´t get there until 8am so I missed the bus, and everyone was so confused what was going to happen because my zone leaders said I was going to be traveling with another Hermana. But she was going to San Luis and then other zone leaders got there and said I was supposed to travel alone. So finally we got it all figured out (or so we thought) and I bought a ticket for the next bus and I was going to be riding to Fresnillo sola (alone.)

 

Turns out Hermana Rivera had bought a ticket to come to Aguascalientes to drop her companion off and to pick me up and it was too late to change my ticket, so I ended up buying a ticket for nothing and had to wait in the central until she got there. I was waiting for her until 12. I was pretty upset that I woke up so early to just sit and wait, but I enjoyed myself as I talked to everyone. Hermana Rivera got to Aguas and we went right away to buy our tickets and then got right on the bus. I felt so bad for her cuz her whole day was spent on a bus, but we had a long ride to get to know each other.

 

They told me that I was going to be Companions with Hermana Rivera who is from Puerto Rico and that she was pretty serious. I was kind of worried that I wouldn´t get along with her very well if she was serious, but then I actually met her and she is the complete opposite of serious. We laugh so much and I seriously love her to pieces. She has really helped me and we have only been together 4 days. I can´t believe how alike we are!

 

I know Heavenly Father knows me so well and He gave me her because I need what she has right now. I need her support and her encouraging words. The experiences that she has had have helped me more than I can even imagine. She has 6 months in the mission but has had a super different experience than most missionaries because she had to go back home because of visa problems and ended up serving in Puerto Rico for 3 months and then was able to come back here to finish out her mission.

 

She is seriously so incredible and she´s the friend, companion, hermana that I needed in this moment.The first thing she asked me was if I was obedient and I told her that I tried my absolute hardest to be exactly obedient and she was like oh thank goodness! She tells me every night that I am an answer to her prayers and that I´m her dream companion. But in reality she has helped me more than I can put into words.

 

I LOVE FRESNILLO! Even though it is freezing already and I have to wear a jacket every day this place is amazing! It´s a little more ghetto than Aguas but I wanted experiences right? The people are super humble and super kind! The thing that shocked me the most was that we have about 15 active members in our barrio and about 500 members total. We have to work super hard with the menos activos (active members) in this area but I know we can do it. Everyone always says Fresnillo is the most discouraging place in the mission, but I see it as a challege that just needs love and a positive attitude. I´m hoping to stay here with Hermana Rivera for the rest of my mission. 

 

I´m almost out of time! The hour goes by so fast! But I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Huff

 

PS - Check out the Fresnillo page to learn more about where Sarah lives.