This week we had El Dia de Los Muertos and it was really cool to go into the cemetery because the cemeteries here are above ground.  They don’t dig very deep. They have the graves covered in cement and they paint them and it is actually really pretty.  I always wanted to go into the cemetery but we couldn’t until this day.  There were so many people there and we took fotos with them and we are going to bring them their fotos.  It was a way to get references and we got a ton. 

The cemetery was full of people. It was pretty interesting because they make it a market there too. There are venders all along the passages and they are all bustling about. A day that you would think should be more reverent but instead it is a day to sell. So it’s cool.  There are so many flowers and everyone goes and makes huge flower arrangements at the site of the grave. They bring chairs and chat and light candles and sing and it is all pretty different than what we have in the U.S.A. 

                                                                  

This week we also did a lot of service...

One guy was in front of his house making cement and filling in a dip in the calle (street), so we stopped to talk to him and then we decided to help him make the cement and fill in the hole too. 

Another time was a little more crazy. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

    

We were at the end of our day when we still had some time left before we could go home and make dinner and we were both hungry, so we decided to stop at a little store and ask for crackers. We got there and the little old woman who is always so cute and friendly gave us the crackers at a discount because we are her "Sisters in Christ" and we asked her how she was and she explained that she had opened up one of the rooms in her house that had been closed for a year and she had found it completely lived in and ruined by a rat. She found the rat a day later, dead, so she needed to clean the whole room out and clean EVERYTHING that was in the room which was filthy. We told her that we could help her and started taking things out and putting them to one side. I had never seen so much rat poo in all my life and I hope I never see it again. I was a little disgusted, but I kept going. She is such a cute little old woman. Tiny.  She needed help so we were there. 

At that point I did not have hunger and I just wanted to clean the place up and go. So we kept taking stuff out.  It was like a hoarders nest and we got to a chest of drawers. Hermana Argumedo took one drawer out and I pulled out another. I knew deep down inside of me what would happen, but I wasn’t prepared for it. It was the bottom drawer, so my face was a little bit close to the ground when I was taking it out, when a big furry rat jumped out of the drawer and ran across my feet! I screamed. It was so disgusting. It ran across my feet and left fresh poo too. I was so shocked and Hermana Argumedo ran back into the room and the little old woman was laughing because I am a "gringa americana." At that point I was even less hungry and just wanted to throw-up.  In the end we were all laughing but it was so gross. If a rat ever jumps out at your face you will have the same reaction. Haha so gross. But the next day we went back to help her more because there was a lot to do and she is old.  She made us lunch though which was nice of her. 

                                      

But, the lesson from this story is that we all need to take half of what we have in our possession and give it away. We do not want 600 table cloths that we never use anyway because a rat will find them and live in them and we will have to clean them all after. 

That night I was in the bathroom and I heard a plunk and I looked over and there was a scorpion. They don’t phase me anymore. I would rather have alacranes (scorpions), than rats. 

Today we had the p-day de hermanas and it was really fun to hang out with Hermana Jara again.  She is an awesome Hermana Lider.  I am so glad that she trained me and that I got to be her companion. 

Don’t forget to write in your journals. I have been really bad about that so these emails are my journal for now. It is sad, I know.  But you guys can write in your journals your inspirations and stories and then when we talk at Christmas you can remember what you have to tell me. Record your inspiration and you will recognize it more when it comes and you will see that the spirit is a bigger part of your life than you thought.  It is such a blessing to be a member of the church and to have the gift of the spirit to guide us and bless us. I can’t imagine my life without the gospel and without the knowledge that I have. 

Something else I learned this week is that we really don’t need a perfect knowledge- one of our investigators wants to know certainly, wants a vision if you will, that the church is true.  I realized that Heavenly Father really doesn’t care about our knowledge. He doesn’t care if we have a degree in neuro-science and he doesn’t think any less of someone who hasn’t been given an education, as long as we have faith and put our confidence in him.  The first principle of the gospel is faith, not knowledge. We are children to him and we know nothing in comparison to him. What we need is to trust that he does have all power, all knowledge, and all understanding. When we can do this, everything else makes sense. We will do what we need to do to follow him because we are small and in the dark, but when we take his hand, he will lead us and guide us and walk beside us. and he will teach us all that we must do, but we have to be willing to do it. This is faith.  God asks for our hearts not our heads.  When we have faith, we have the key to all the blessings that god has for us.  Faith comes first and after that, we will see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I love you all and I hope that everything is going well at home. You are all in my prayers and I hope that all is well. I want more pictures too. 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Ashton