Oct.31- Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Feliz Dia de los Muertos! (part 1)

Happy Day of the Dead, everyone!

It was a very special week, but I am going to start with the fun cultural stuff:) 

So, here in Mexico they celebrate November 1 and 2 for dia de los muertos! The festivities actually start on the 28th and each day is something different. Something very traditional for Mexico is their "pan dulce" (sweet bread). They have LOTS of traditional sweet bread. I have eaten so much of it, and I love it:) Our first counselor in the bishopric sells bread so we went by his house and he gave us some of my favorite kinds:) The one with yellow on it is called ''Piedra" (rock) and is soft on the inside but with a crumbly cookie on the outside! I call it the "Pokemon" bread though because it reminds me of squirtle the pokemon and Hermano Adrian (the 1st counselor) actually started selling it calling it the Pokemon!! I love it, haha. The other bread in my hand is what the call "pan de muerto" (death pan) and it is supposed to have bones on the top of it:) 

They decorated really cute for the Holiday in Cuernavaca, we are here in the city for a meeting we are going to have so I took pics to show you all:) They always put these cute colorful banners down the streets and alleys when there are holidays here in Mexico:) 

These are some scary skeleton women that everyone puts up, they are not scared or think skeletons are creepy here. They are like... just old family members that they love. 

Another cool statue skeleton lady. I dont know why all the skeletons are girls... maybe because they talk about Death being like a person here and they call her ''La Muerte'' and say she is a girl. I dont know why

These are marigolds, I think, and they are literally everywhere in this season because everyone uses them for the gravestones and the alters. 

This is an example of an alter that they make for their deceased loved ones. Pretty much every house has one of these (if they are not members of the church:)) and they put the pictures of their loved ones and the food that person used to eat and other things that are special to them. They believe that their family members come to visit for specific days of this week. I think the 29th is for those who were killed, the 30th is for the forgotton or something, the 1st is for children who passed away, and the 2nd is for those who died of natural causes. Something like that:)  

Members of the church dont put up alters because we dont believe in worshiping or giving offerings to the deceased, but we do remember our loved ones and ancestors in other ways:) It is really fun to learn about the culture here, Mexico is an amazing country!

Feliz Dia de los Muertos! (part 2)​

Like I said, we had a really special week! Our investigator Ricardo got baptized on Friday!!! He is so awesome, it was one of the most special baptisms I have been privileged to witness my whole mission:) In our mission an investigator has to attend church 5 times before they can be baptized, and we invite them to be baptized in the first appointment we have with them. We meet them, explain our purpose as missionaries and the joy of following Jesus Christ and then we invite people to be baptized on a date 5 sundays from now. Lots of the time they accept and we help them with their desire to follow Christ and repent:) But EVERY single baptism I have ever had, we have had to push their initial date back farther because they miss one or two sundays or something else happens. But Ricardo found the truth of the restored gospel and was baptized on exactly the same day we first invited him to! 

He has had such a potent and fast change, it was a miracle watching it all happen! Ricardo has already fasted and he even has a calling! Our branch president asked him to be the teacher of the Self-Sufficiency classes that they give in the church here, and Ricardo already accepted:) 

He shared the day of his baptism with the daughter of our Branch President who turned 8 that day. It was really fun seeing how two people with completely different life circumstances were able to make the same covenant with God and begin their path back to him:) 

This is me and my best friend in the branch, Christian:) He is 4 years old but we are best friends, he even told his older brother (our old ward mission leader) that he love me more than him, haha. 

This is Giovanna, the little girl who also got baptized:) She is very cute and I thought it was sweet of her to not feel bad to share her baptism with Ricardo, I think it will be fun for them in the future, they are next door neighbors:

I love being a missionary, it is truly a joy to serve God and His children. I am learning so much everyday and I hope to be more like Him than I was before:) Thank you for all of your love and support, have a great week!

Love, Hermana Swallow