This week was yet another leadership council, and as always, it was great and I loved every minute of it. However, getting there was quite the adventure. We headed out at 1:00 on Tuesday, so the plan was to get to Acapulco by around 7:00. But, those plans were crushed by a crowd of angry heathens who chose to express their anger by placing large logs in the middle of the highway and camping out so that nobody could pass. So after 2 hours of waiting, somebody got on our bus and informed us that the blocade would last until 8:00 that night. So they got us off the bus, and we had to walk a couple miles to the other side of the blockade, passed all the angry heathens (who taunted us as we passed. I had to fight the urge so bad to not just go fight all of them.) and we got on another bus that was waiting for us. At the end of this whole fiasco, 3 hours had passed, so we didn't get into Acapulco until 10:00.
Wednesday, we arrived to Cuernavaca without any problems, except for the fact that I was sick of traveling.
Thursday was a special day. Thursday happened to be the 10th of May, which in México, is Mother's day. Hermana Ávila was kinda sad because her mom passed away in August, so this is her first Mother's Day without her mom. But we made sure she felt loved. We surprised her with cake and notes from the missionaries and it was great and she loved it.
Thursday was also a great day because Presidente y Hermana Ávila decided to take us to dinner! They normally take the zone leaders to eat after they finish interviews, but we always finish interviews in Pinotepa really late, and they felt bad that they've never taken us out to eat. So on Thursday after leadership council, they came and picked us up. It was one of those spontaneous adventures that I love and miss so much. We passed another companionship of elders in the street, so we picked them up too, then Hermana Ávila was like, "Hey, let's go to Tepoztlán!" So we went on a roadtrip to this cute little town in the middle of the mountains. The restaurant they wanted to take us to was closed, so we just went and walked around Tepoztlán and contacted people for an hour. It's a beautiful town and we found a family in the zocalo (central plaza) that was so prepared to receive the gospel. We went to Tepoztlán because the Lord needed us to find them.
When we were done playing tourist, we hopped back in Presidente's minivan and headed back to Cuernavaca. By the time we got back, it was already 10:00, but we were still hungry, so we went and ate the best tacos I've eaten in my entire life. It was really funny, because Hermana Ávila kept reassuring us that we weren't breaking the rules, because we were with Presidente, and the rules don't apply to Presidente. But it was such a fun evening, getting to know Presidente y Hermana Ávila on a more personal level. We talked about our families, Hermana Ávila showed us pictures of her mom, we talked about our pre-mission lives and our post-mission plans (because let's be real, Presidente y Hermana Ávila are trunkier than I am. They only have 6 weeks left.) It was a great night, one I'm sure I'll remember forever.
On Saturday, we were back in Pinotepa. Our investigator, Sherlyn, decided that she didn't want to investigate the church anymore. Instead, she decided to be part of it! She got baptized on Saturday afternoon, and I had the privilage to perform the ordinance. She was accompanied by her mom, who is returning to activity in the church, her neices and nephews, and all the young women in the branch. She's a great kid and has so much support. I'm not worried about her one bit.
And to cap off such a great week, I had a great skype call with my family yesterday. It was way too short, but it was great to see their faces and hear their voices.
I hope everyone has a great week! I love all y'all!
-Elder Aldrich
FOTOS
1) We cooked all the meat that Presidente y Hermana Ávila sent us.
2,3,&4) Tepoztlán
5) When you throw a party and nobody shows up.
6) El bautismo de Sherlyn
