Hermana Cabrera

A few fun facts about companion number 6.

Cabra means Goat, so our ward mission leader calls her Hna. Goatera

Birthday is October 16
22 years old

Just hit the six month mark of her mission

Born in D.F.  but lives in Oaxaca

Her mom is an English teacher so she knows how to speak quite a bit.

When I say or do something that she thinks is a little outrageous she says, 'Sista please'

Converted to the gospel when she was 17

After she joined the church, she then converted her whole family

Loves to make memes

Laughs at everything

Thanks to me, her new favorite English phrase is, ´why I otta!´

Really easy to scare

When something doesn´t please her she says, 'Not Happy' in a cute little Mexican accent.

Her hair is super short and curly and she always pulls it back because otherwise she 'looks like a sheep' ... her words, not mine.

I´m teaching her the art of the 'your mom' jokes

She is hilarious in a geeky way, which means we get along great.  In her words, we are a 'forever alone' couple (in other words, we are both so awkward that we will never be able to get married after the mission and we´ll have to return and serve as companions again).  We are always laughing as we walk to and from lessons and have to calm ourselves down as we prepare to knock on the door.  I´m her first companion since her training and she often says that I´m her step mom... awwwww.  She´s also really klutzy.  Always falling down or tripping which is really bad because our area is all hills.  So we´ve developed the habit that every time we go down a crooked staircase or rocky dirt hill, I stick out my arm for her to hold on to and keep balance with.  I feel like a youth helping her grandma, but it´s team work.  Not to mention that every time we walk up a steep hill she has to grab on to my backpack to keep up with me.

I have really enjoyed my time with her.  This transfer has flown by.  We´ve had to struggle a bit in our area but we´ve also seen some great miracles together.  With her and Hna. Pacheco, I now have two tour guides for when I go visit Oaxaca.

"This is Halloween"

In my book, Halloween is the best time of the year.  The air is crisp and refreshing.  Candy surrounds you in every store, and you have the excuse of dressing up as nasty as you'd like and people will actually complement you instead of telling you to take a bath.  Each year it gives me great pleasure, and the wonderful thing about Tijuana is that it has such an american influence that everybody here celebrates it.  ...well, not everybody, but close enough.  Our neighbors decked out their house with all the trimmings (music from "Nightmare before Christmas included).  It was awesome, but at the same time... very difficult to sleep with.  All this past week Hna. Cabrera and I have been singing, "This is Halloween, this is Halloween.... I am Jack!  The Pumpkin King..."

Sadly, as a representative of Jesus Christ I couldn't go all out on a costume this year like I usually do.  Contacting in the streets would not be as effective with a painted face, ratted up hair, and blood-splattered clothes.  So my companion and I did the classic missionary costume and switched our name-tags.  In the morning, during our studies, we put on fake mustaches.  And our District meeting was livened up a bit with candy and costumes. Actual Halloween night, due to the locals tendency to drink alcoholic beverages in large quantities, all the missionaries of Tijuana had to be in their houses at 6pm.... which gave me plenty of time to eat the giant bag of chocolate candy that I bought the P-day before...

As for actual mission work.  Agua Caliente was not very kind to me when I first got here.  They didn't have any potential baptismal dates, ninguna de los investigadores estaban progresando, and we had many hours just walking around hoping to find someone to contact because no one was home.  But about two weeks ago a miracle happened.  We met Miguel and his family.  It's a long story that I will have to write another day but to put things short, Miguel needed us.  He has had a lot of problems in his life but now wants to make a change.  Said that we came like angels sent to save him and his family.  Now he, his wife and two oldest daughters have baptism dates.  A whole family!!!  I am so excited for them.  We have seen grand changes in just these two weeks of teaching them.  With the gospel, their lives are becoming better each day.