Big News!

April 14: Okay, this email is going to be REEEAALLLY short because,,, *drumroll please* 

I am going to be a trainer!!!! (sorry...still no baptisms.... but we had A LOT of attendance from the less actives on Sunday! Hermana Maraisabel even walked WITH us to church!! And Cesar (investigator, we gave him the BIG Book of Mormon).

We received transfers yesterday and I will be staying in Fresnillo a little bit longer to train a new sister missionary! I am going to travel to Aguascalientes today at 4 (3-hour trip by bus) to receive and welcome her, like Hma Moreno did with me! And her name is Hermana Fa'asa...so I am training an AMERICAN!!! I have no idea what she looks like, but I am SOOOOO excited to meet her!! Hermana Moreno is being transferred to San Luis Potosi to train as well, so we are traveling to Aguascalientes together but I will be returning to Fresnillo/Barrio Alto with a new companion! :) I am pretty stoked, and incredibly nervous. I did NOT sleep at all last night I was so excited! I mean, a BRAND spankin' new missionary in MY HANDS to lead and to train and to love like crazy! I have been praying LIKE CRAZY, I want to give this new sister missionary GOOD MEMORIES! :) I am grateful that my Heavenly Father has put his trust in me and I will not let Him down!!!!

 

My amazing companion, Hermana Fa'asa who I am going to be training! She is from Nevada but was born and raised in Samoa. She moved to the US in 2006! I love her and I am SOOO happy we are companions! :)

I love you all and THANK YOU for your support and love!!! Thank you for your prayers and for all that you keep doing for me! Keep on praying for the investigators! We fasted for Giselle this week because we FINALLY contacted her and visited her, and it was PRETTY dang powerful. We fasted that she might not feel afraid to be baptized and that she will receive a SPECIFIC answer!

Know that I love you and that I am SO proud to be a representative of the Winsor Family, but also to be a representative of Jesus Christ! The mission is SUPER BIEN!!! :)

LES AMO! Dios les bendiga! 

Con Amor,

Hermana Winsor

Ps. Has Elder Jacob Black come home?! And Mom, in about a month I GET TO TALK TO YOU FOR MOTHERS DAY! :)

April 16: Sorry I am not writing much! But Hma Fa'asa needs to write her family so I thought I might as well send pictures! :)

With all the new American sisters in the mission :)

Hermana Fa'asa, Hermana Nakken (being trained by Hermana Moreno), 

yo, Hermana Bingham and Hermana Funk

And look who came to Aguascalientes to become a trainer with me! HERMANA CALDERON!!!! She is being transferred to San Luis Potosi with her companion who she is going to train! :) I miss her!!

Sunday before we received news about transfers, we as a district visited a menos activa in the area, Arboledas and she taught us how to make TAMALES! :)

Eating rat, cow stomach...and General Conference

Hola mi familia y amigos! 

Guess what this is? 

Yep I ate this. This, oh this is RAT!

Yep, I am eating RAT meat! And guess what? It was SO delicious!!! Like how people hunt for rabbit, well, people here hunt for RATS (in fields). It tastes BETTER than chicken and I had 2 plates of rat meat, which they cook with vegetables and rice.

Well, we visited Martin and Miriam on Tuesday and Saturday. Tuesday we SPECIFICALLY talked about baptism and what it truly means, to take upon the name of Christ. And DAD! I used Mosiah 18, because I remembered you teaching me about the proper way to extend the baptismal commitment. I told them, a baptism isn't just a baptism... you literally take on the name of our Savior.. it is an eternal commitment with our loving Heavenly Father. And well, Saturday, we visited them again....and they told us, "Look, we don't want to be baptized. We want to investigate more because we literally know NO one in Barrio Alto and we feel incredibly awkward." I am not going to have a baptism on Saturday... and I definitely felt like crying when I heard them tell us this... it is so sad to watch someone turn away from so SO many blessings and true happiness. But the POSITIVE part of this is, they want to investigate more! We have transfers on April 14th, so I am praying the next missionaries will find them and touch their hearts.

 

Watching Conference IN ENGLISH in the Bishop´s office with Hermana Eliason! 

WHO LOVED CONFERENCE?! I did!!!!!! Oh my goodness. It was a miracle that Hma Eliason and I could watch it in English! My prayers were answered that we had the technology to do so! The Spanish version played in the chapel and we watched it in the Bishop's office on the computer. Well, the connection wasn't very good so the English version had A LOT of pauses. And we were getting worried that our companions would be angry with us because after 10 pauses, we were about 30 minutes behind. I finally just looked at Hermana Eliason, "You know what, we need to say a prayer because, we need to concentrate on Conference and not concentrate on our companions." And we got on our knees and prayed! And the feeling after, Heavenly Father was there. There were still pauses, but less! And we became grateful for EVERY single pause because we had to time to write, take in and concentrate on what our Heavenly Father wanted for us to hear.

The opening song in the 1st session made me burst into tears, "The night is dark and I am far from home, lead thou me on." (Lead Kindly Light) Hma Eliason and I looked at each other...and we just cried. We felt our Heavenly Father's love... we were grateful for each of His miracles...AND WE KNEW HE WAS THERE WITH US. And He always there with us! I wrote more than 30 pages of notes...and I listened to EVERY talk...and I am grateful for every talk! And every pause! :) I can't wait to receive the Liahona and read the talks! We also had 5 investigators attend the Sunday morning session! Miguel, Martin, Miriam, ARMANDO and someone else but I can't remember right now. I am hoping they received an answer and that they felt their Heavenly Father's infinite love for His children.

Between the Sunday session, we ate MENUDO (cow stomach) with the Bishop's family! And surprise surprise, IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!! I loved it!! OH! And the choir director for the institute choir on the Saturday afternoon session was the choir director in the MTC! When Hermana Eliason and I saw his face "OH MY GOSH IT'S HIM!!!!" haha! He did a GREAT job with the institute choir, they were basically a future MoTab! haha.

Well, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to watch conference while on my mission. I prayed and started out my notes with a question...and i DID receive an answer. I know every single person that talked was called from God. Every word we heard was from our Heavenly Father. I know it! I mean, my question was answered directly! I encourage each and every one of you to read and STUDY and then read and study AGAIN the talks in the Ensign. I am going to do it! :) I testify that every time you do this, you will learn something new. I promise this. I know our Heavenly Father knows His children, He loves us and He wants to see us again. I am grateful for the pauses He blessed Hma Eliason and I with, because the Spirit really touched our hearts. 

I can't believe that in 7 days, we are having transfers again! And in 23 days, 6 months!!! WHOA. Crazy :)

I love you all! Keep strong and know that we can abandon our Father in Heaven, but He will NEVER abandon us! :)

DIOS LES BENDIGA!! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Winsor

PS. I received Liz Gunnell's letter, Mom's package with pictures and a letter from the Hall's :) GRACIAS!!! :)

   

We had a MultiZone Activity with the zone of Zacatecas! Hma Calderon was transfered to San Luis Potosi, but Hermana Anderson (who I flew to Mexico with) was in Zacatecas! I was SO SO happy to see her!

Fresnillo and Zacatecas sisters :) I don't know why I look incredibly large in this picture...I promise I have lost about 15 pounds.

This is Hermana Fullmer, who has been in the mission for 6 weeks and her area is Zacatecas....and she came running to me, "Hermana Winsor! I am SO happy I found you! I read your blog EVERY day before I left! It made me so excited to go on my mission and I thank you SO much for creating your blog and I thank your mother for posting your emails and pictures!!! I am your biggest fan!!" My heart REJOICED!!! Mom! People actually read the blog!!!!!!!!!! WAY TO GO MOM!!!!! :)

And this is how we travel :) On your stereotypical buses! :)

At Family Home Evening/Farewell Party for their son Luis Abraham with the Lopez Yañez Family! We were specially invited as missionaries. I love every single one of these people. My Father in Heaven had blessed me with a 2nd family here in Fresnillo.

 

Luis Abraham (going to serve in the MExico Cuernavaca Mission!) with his parents.
Aaaand Raul and Paulina in the back....hahaha! I cracked up when I saw this!!!!

Lourdes and her grandson Juan Carlos! :) I love them SO much!

Bahaha I really don't need to explain this.

Our zone after Zone Conference! :)

The huge Book of Mormon we gave Cesar.

 

familia Hernandez Lopez, that made the LETTUCE WATER! 

Food with La familia Miranda, HUGE HUGE Hamburgers! I did not finish this, I ate about halfway
and thought I was going to EXPLODE!!!!!

Another Atheist taught, 5 months down, NO MORE CHICKEN (Mar31)

To start out properly, FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS MELANIE!!!! I hope you and my brother are enjoying New York. And YEP, even I knew about the surprise...and I am in a completely different country! :) Love you Melanie! :)

Well, I taught the District Meeting in English and it went pretty well because I actually taught it in Spanglish. Why? Because i DO NOT REMEMBER ENGLISH. And this is not a joke. When I speak to people, I do not remember words in English and in the end, I just speak in Spanish! I taught, well tried to teach, chapter 8 in Predicad Mi Evangelio. And there is an activity in the end of the chapter that has you think of the END of your mission..

"What do you want to say you have done as a missionary?"

"What do you want to have become?"

"What differences would you want others to notive in you?"

And it REALLY got me a-thinkin'...O want to say that I truly learned to LOVE others, that I truly learned how to serve with LOVE. I want to become a daughter of God who is worthy to be married in the temple and is ready to be a good wife and mother.... I want others to notice that I am more PATIENT, that I smile more, that I love to work and serve, that I am more loving/humble- that I do not seek the attention of other people. I really liked this activity! It made me WANT to become better, it made me more excited for the person I am going to become! I encourage EACH and EVERY ONE of you to do this activity and apply it to your lives. Don't be discouraged if you have a lot of things to change because, well, we ALL need to change. But we can do it through our loving Savior Jesus Christ! :)

I also found this escritura genial (awesome scripture)...

"But REJOICE, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be GLAD also with EXCEEDING JOY." (1 Peter 4:13)

I was a bit sick this week, diarrhea,.. kidney pain...the usual. We called the medic and he asked what I ate...I thought and thought..."Pollo." The last time I was sick, I also ate chicken before. So what is my prescription? I cannot eat chicken for 2 weeks, in case that is what is making me sick. And I beg of you, when I return home from my mission...please do not feed me chicken. hahaha. It is SO common here, it's sickening. hahaha.

Hermana Eliason and I with the SAME skirt...how embarrassing.... hahaha!

Eating with la familia Garcia The pot we are holding is a type of dessert with
bananas, pecans, bread, raisins.... SUPER delicioso :)

We had a MIRACLE. We contacted a menos activa familia, la familia Analis. We were told not even to BOTHER with this family because they would not welcome missionaries, and we had no idea why. WELL, they came to church last Sunday and EVERYONE was surprised! We visited them on Tuesday and they told us, "We don't want to be angry anymore, we want to endure and endure, and make covenants in the temple. We want to come back." And then he told us why they left, I am not going to say what happened but.... I am going to share a scripture...

"Wherefore, I say unto you that ye ought to forgive one another, for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the lord, for there remaineth in him

the greater sin.

I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive ALL men.

And ye ought to say in your hearts- let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds." (D&C 64:9-11)

Please forgive others...we are NOT perfect and we have NO room to judge. And if you are having a hard to forgiving others, please kneel and talk to your Heavenly Father. Do not let the person who offended you control your life.... please rely on your Father in Heaven. If Jesus Christ can forgive those who betrayed him, abused/tortured him and in the end killed him.......you can forgive also.

We worked HARD this week again...45 LESSONS! WOO WOO! It was exhausting and I slept well every single night. haha! On Friday we taught 10 LESSONS. Holy. Cow. I was SO tired. But it was great to report in the end of the week how much work we got done.

On Saturday, we taught Armaldo (we contacted him on Tuesday), who does NOT believe in God but is willing to listen to us! Normal Aubri would be terrified to teach an Atheist, but Missionary Aubri was STOKED! hahaha! I told him how I studied Astrology and science before my mission and I told him, "Armaldo, God is the ULTIMATE Scientist! He has created EVERYTHING so we can adapt, grow, experience and ENJOY our lives." It was a pretty awesome experience teaching with him. And then he looked at our scriptures, "You use 2 bibles?" We laughed and said no and talked a bit about the Book of Mormon after and he said, "Where can I buy it?" We laughed harder, "You will pay nothing...we will give you one." His is SO interested in the Restoration, and I am SO excited.

Can you believe I have been out here for 5 months?! The time is FLYING by!

We had a pretty cool experience on Sunday. We have an investigator, se llama Cesar.He is SUPER old, but incredibly kind to us! We gave him a book of mormon before, but he gave it back to us the next time we visited him because the letters were too small. I asked him if we could come back and give him a bigger book of mormon. He smiled and happily agreed!

Well, on Sunday a member gave us a HUGE book of mormon to give to him. We went to his house and I hid (well, I TRIED to hide it....it was HUGE!) it behind my back, "Cesar! Tenemos un regalo!" and his reply was, "El libro?" My heart rejoiced to hear his desire to read! I smiled and gave him the book, he smiled big, "Dios les bendiga siempre!" And then he sat down and told us this, "I am going to read this until I die." The Spirit raced into the room and touched my heart as we watched him open it and start to read the first page. Wow. We talked about the Book of Mormon with him and asked him if he would read and pray about it, he happily said yes!

As we were leaving, I looked back and saw Cesar sit down with the book and start reading! OH the Spirit was MEGA strong. This is the type of desire we should have to read the Book of Mormon. It IS the word of God, it is an instruction book of HAPPINESS. It will guide us to every answer of every doubt and/or question we may have. I have been SO blessed to have read and studied the Book Of Mormon. Every night I ask my Father in Heaven if it is true and EVERY time I receive the answer, "Yes. It is true, these are my words....you know it is true." I do not have a DOUBT in my mind that it is true. I love the Book of Mormon, I KNOW it is the word of God, and I know it is another testament of Jesus Christ.

Please read it, please pray and please use your faith that you WILL receive an answer specifically from your loving Father in Heaven. I know Joseph Smith used this exact faith to ask God which church was true. And through his diligence and faith, we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the world TODAY. 

I love you family. I will send more pictures next week, but the Ciber I am in is struggling with Internet connection and sending pictures......patience Aubri, patience. 

I love you all! Please take care of yourselves and take care of others around you!

DIOS LES BENDIGA!

Con Amor,
Hermana AubriAnna Winsor

Catholic Monk and Lettuce Juice (Mar24)

Buenas tardes! :)

I have passed week 20! And I am comin' up on my 5th month on my mission! WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!

We had a district meeting on Tuesday (well, we have one every Tuesday...duh) and Elder Rios shared the scripture in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10:

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when

he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."

I LOOOVE this so much, I can barely stand it! We cannot live in this life alone....I cannot succeed on my mission alone. I can understand why marriage is a commandment and companionship in missionary work is a revelation from God! He loves us SO much, He never wants us to be alone - and we never will be!

So if you remember last week, I made 2 goals playing soccer with the Elder´s in my zone. Well, Elder Rios said if I can make 3 goals WITHOUT help....he will buy me tacos. TACOS. This is MAJOR...I need tacos, and I need to practice my soccer skills. haha!

On Sunday we ate with la familia Hernandez and Hermano Hernandez made us his very special "agua de lechuga"...yeah, Lettuce.... But here is the thing, it was SO good! I had about 4 cups of it..and Mom!!! It is super healthy! (yay me!) It has bananas, lettuce, carrots, guayaba and oranges!! I can officially add to my list of "Weird Things I have Eaten on My Mission", Lettuce juice.

We visited Dolores this week and her brother, Pablo, had just returned from his Catholic Monk Mission in FRANCE. He had been there for more than 3 years! We were kind of nervous before we met him, "Will he argue with us? Will he contradict?" But surprisingly, he was SUPER nice! We taught him and Dolores about the Holy Ghost! And he listened and bore his testimony AND gave the closing prayer! It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but he did have a THICK French accent with his Spanish. I told him how hard it is for me to remember English, and he said, "Wait until you return to the United States...it is going to be even harder." hahaha. It's true! But, it was really awesome getting to know him...very kind, very humble. And YEP. WE TAUGHT A CATHOLIC MONK! 

La familia Logoria delivered to our house HUGE hamburgers and Crunch Bars for lunch!!! Amu-ika

We visited Hma Mari (menos activa) and when we walked into her house, it was obvious that she had smoked VERY recently. We taught about her baptism and asked her, why she REALLY wanted to be baptized... what were her feelings. She told us that she couldn't describe the feeling, it was "tan bonita." I asked her why she really wanted to follow her Savior into the waters of baptism, she said, "I wanted to change, and I knew this feeling that I had, I wanted that feeling forever...but I don't have it now." I testified, "You can have this feeling AGAIN! Forever! There is no need to feel like you failed, get up and dust yourself off.... you can feel that feeling again!" Then I paused, "Hermana Mari, before we started visiting you, how many times did you smoke?" "A pack a day." "And from the last time we visited you until now, how many times did you smoke?" "Three times, one cigarette a day."

From smoking a PACK A DAY, she only smoked 3 times...one cigarette each time. WOW. I KNOW when we have the desire to change, we can! We need to use our faith and trust in the Atonement. Many people may say, "She still smoked." Well, that's obvious - but she is smoking LESS. The Atonement is working through her, she is recognizing bad influences around her and taking them out of her life so she can resist the urge to smoke. She is a living example of the FAITH and the HOPE. Please keep her in your prayers...I know she can stop smoking! She is doing all she can to return to church and she is doing ALL she can to see her family again!

Once again, Martin and Miriam did NOT go to church...therefore the baptismal date has changed AGAIN. On Wednesday, we taught them about "following the prophet" and the mom was there. It was SO awkward and incredibly uncomfortable. We asked questions, 3 words were spoken...no one wanted to talk. I was sitting next to the mom and her back faced me the WHOLE time. I can tell you now, the Spirit was NOT there. Satan is working INCREDIBLY hard with them, and they are losing their desire to be baptized because the dates keep changing. Please PLEASE pray for them more!

Tomorrow we have ANOTHER district meeting.....and it's going to be in English. Remember how I am the ONLY American in my district? Yeah. This means tomorrow, I am going to be teaching in English. EVERYTHING in English. I am MORE nervous than before when I taught in Spanish. We will see how this goes tomorrow!

We had a pretty cool experience Saturday. We received a reference and we went to go contact! We found the place but they told us no one with that name lived there. Aw crap. Ok, as we stood outside wondering what to do, a man passed us...and he kept looking back at us...and again, and again. I thought it was normal because I am INCREDIBLY white. But my companion thought it was super suspicious.

We left and as we were walking, the SAME man tries to pass us but then asks me, "Cual es su iglesia?" "La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Ultimos Dias...los mormonas." "Ah! Tienen un templo en la ciudad de mexico, es TAN bonito!" We then got talking more and we asked if we could talk more in his house. He told us he is rarely there but he wanted to attend our church! We gave him the time and direction, and we said goodbye! His name was Luis, and he never came....but that's not the point! It was an example of someone whose heart is SUPER prepared for this Gospel!

On Sunday for Sacrament meeting, I PLAYED THE PIANO!!! "Paz Calmanse" "En un lejano cerro fue" y "Conmigo quédate Señor". It felt SO good and many MANY of the members were surprised and asked if I could play the piano next Sunday! I accepted! Wish me luck! :)

Well, another week done...haven't been sick in DOS MESES!!! I know I can do this mission....it is possible! I am SO happy to be a member of the TRUE church of Jesus Christ. 

I love you all family :) DIOS LES BENDIGA! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Winsor

On the border of Danger and Safety.....aka, Colonia Zapata and Colonia Fresnillo....

We visited a park in Fresnillo and there were these HUGE and super steep slides...

Me breaking my rump

Realizing my spine is broken

But we are happy!!!