Good bye to Mexico City, Pittsburgh here I come!

Hola otra vez, 

Casi a tiempo para salir la CCM. Almost time to leave the CCM. FINALMENTE: Last night the Hermanas and I had a party with our martinelli´s that Terry got from her boyf and oreos from mom(: The best. It will be sad saying goodbye, we´ve all gotten so tight, but I guess I´ll have a lot of those on my mission haha. The CCM is so great, I am so lucky I got to be here, and not in Provo. On a random note, I am also very glad I didn´t have any serious injury, haha. A new Hermana that came was sent to the Mexico City hospital to get her appendix out. After the surgery they realized she just had the flu, yeah woops. Poor girl, her parents are not happy to say the least haha.

Ps Shout-out to Madie Osbourne for sending the letter to me with Elder Smith from the Provo MTC!

I said goodbye to my friend Gabriel in the comedor (cafeteria) today. he is the sweetest guy ever. We always have the best chats during meals. He lives here in Mexico City with he and his wife and one son, who he showed me pictures of yesterday. (Picture included.) Today he brought me a paper he had written his testimony on, folded up with my name on it. It was so sweet. He said, in broken English, "Sister Sars, (He struggles saying my name,) you my friend. You my friend. I like the way you are, because this, you be success mission." 

The picture I included is of him showing me his family. 

And our teachers, ahh. They´re the best. Every single teacher here is so amazing. Hermano Zemudio is hilarious. The only reason he speaks English is "because he wants an American wife." Hahah. Hermano Gomez.... he is awesome. His spirituality is inspiring. He knows exactly how to get into your heart as a missionary, and is so strong when he testifies of something. I hope I am the kind of missionary he was. He served in the Salt Lake City Utah mission. 

This week we watched a devotional by Elder Holland and Elder Eyring about "Missionary work and the atonement." 

Here is a poem about missionary work written by an Elder.

"He´s Been There Before"

[The alarm bell rings at 6:30, I stumble to my feet

I grab my companions bedding and pull off the sheets

A groan fills the room, is it already time to arise?

It seems like just a second ago, I was able to shut my eyes

The morning activities follow- study, prayer, and such

When it´s time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven´t accomplished much

"We have a super day planned," 

My comp says with a grin

I lowly utter a faithless breath,

"Yeah, if anyone lets us in."

With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the streets prepared to

Face another day of humidity and heat

It´s 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through

My champion and I are riding home not accomplishing what we thought to do

We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot

Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate "air box"

We go up to our apartment, the day is now complete

The only thing to show for our work is a case of blistery feet

It´s past 10:30 pm, my companion is fast asleep,

Silence engulfs me all around and I begin to weep

In the midst of sadness, I kneel down to pray

I need to talk to father, but I´m not sure what to say

"Oh, Father," I begin, "What happened to us today?

I thought we´s teach somebody, but everyone was away

My hand, my aching hands- worn, hurt and beat;

If our area was any smaller, we´d have knocked every street" 

"Why on missions are the days so much alike?

The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike

Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me

I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it´s very hard to see"

"Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn´t your protection enough? 

People always laugh at me, and call me stupid stuff

Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack

I want to give them Books of Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back"

"And what about my family: they don´t have much to say

I´m sick of not hearing from home day after day after day

Oh Father, Why am I here just wasting time? 

Sometimes I want to go home, I´´m sorry but that´s on my mind"

"My companion, Heavenly father, what are you giving me? 

The way he rides his bicycle, I don´think he can see

Now you have it, I can´t go on, I don´t know what to do

That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I have for you"

My prayer now finished, I stand up, then jump right into bed

I need my rest for tomorrow, we have another long day ahead

Sleep starts to overtake me, I seem to drift away

Then it seems a vision takes me to another time in another day

I´m standing alone on the hill. The view is very nice

A man walks towards me  and says "My name is Jesus Christ"

Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to His feet

"Arise," He states, "Follow me to the shade. You and I need to speak"

My attention towards my Savior, total and complete

He says, "Your mission is similar to what happened to me

I understand how you feel, I know what you´re going through

In fact, it would be fair to say I felt the same as you"

"I even know how you felt when no one listened to you

At times I felt not quite sure what else I could do

I know you don´t like to ride a bicycle, for a car would be sweet

Just remember the donkey I rode was not equipped with 21 speeds"

"I understand you don´t like sweating, in fact it´s something that you hate

I remember when I sweat blood from ev´ry pore, oh the agony was great.

I see you don´t like your companion- you´d rather have someone else-

I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth"

"It´s hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you

I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews

So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack

I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back"

"Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day

I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way

It´s hard not to hear from home when your family´s not there to see

I lost communication on the cross and cried "Father, why hast thou forsaken me?"

"We have a lot in common, but there´s a difference between us you see

I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me"

He embraced me with His arms and His light filled me with His love

With tears in my eyes I watched as He went back to the Father above

I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head

I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed

My companion let out a groan, "6:30 already, no way"

I sat up and said, "Come on, I´ll even carry your scriptures today"

No matter what we go through,

When we feel we can´t take more

Just stop and think about Jesus Christ,

He´s been there before]

That´s all for this week, same time next week I´ll be in Pittsburgh!(: I am one very happy missionary. I can´t wait to be back in the states. It´s been six weeks filled with rice, beans, valentina sauce (hot sauce,) and enough nutella for a life-time. That stuff goes straight to my face. Literally. Lol. 

I´ll be flying out Monday, I leave solo for the airport at 3:00 am. Here I come Pittsburgh!

This week I am so grateful for the pure and simple truths that are this gospel. Now it´s time to share it. 

¡Adios for the last time from Mexico!

Hermana Sears