Hermana Kelsey Schwartz -- Mexico Cancun Mission: One Month Down, Seventeen to Go!

Hola everyone!! Buenos tardes!

It was a fantastic week at the CCM! Last time you all heard from me my district was struggling just a tad, but things are looking up! My companion is "mucho mejor" (much better!) and our entire district has just grown a lot closer. H. Salazar and I taught our best lesson since coming here, and I think we´re really starting to work well together! I´m really just super happy being here learning how to serve the Lord. Some pretty exciting things happened this week, including our One Month Fiesta! Has it really been that long?? We´re really just trying to buckle down and work hard, because we are quickly approaching the end of our time here!!

For gym time we got a giant group together to play kickball and that was fun. I haven´t played kickball since like, 6th grade so that brought back fond memories. We also played basketball and Hermana Duke dominated me! She´s taller than me so I was not used to people actually being able to block my shots! Haha, I love my tall friend.

This week was crazy because the girls in our casa were in a war. Hermana Vave consumed 10 bueno bars in one day, so the other Hermanas hosted an intervention! Vave retaliated by stealing a few clothes, and everything escalated very quickly after that! It was all very good natured and no permanent harm was done. But it was absolutely hilarious! I might have gotten involved...a little bit, haha. We ended up calling a truce so that we could all celebrate our Month mark together without fear of losing personal items.

One of the coolest experiences was teaching TRC. That´s when real people come into the CCM and we get to practice teaching a lesson. A little abuelita came in with tears in her eyes, telling us that she was just praying to God. She brought the spirit into that room like a wave! We talked to her and found out that some of her family members weren´t members, and I felt like we should share D&C 31, which talks about how our families will be blessed by our faith. Her eyes welled up with tears, and it was so amazing to see how much the scriptures can help real people.

We also got to visit Sister Lyons this week, who is an absolute ANGEL! She´s the wife of our Mission President´s counselor, and is waiting for a kidney transplant. We visited her casa and sang a couple hymns for her, and she told us in Spanish that she loves living here at the CCM because she lives among angels. Such a sweet spirit in that room, too!

Continuing with the theme of kind people here, we got to do a service project in the kitchens and help set up the comedor for dinner. It was fun because we got to see where they keep the hordes of Nutella and peanut butter to feed all of us missionaries. But the best part was when Andres, the worker who was helping us, told us that he would do anything he could to help us! AND someone folded all of my laundry today! People are so nice that it blows my mind!!! Seeing so many examples of charity and spiritual strength has been amazing.

It was really funny/awkward this week because I had a mini breakdown during a language assessment. It´s not what you think....I wasn´t upset because the language was hard or anything, it was LITERALLY because the computer hated me. I have an honest desire to learn Spanish and the computers were stopping me!!! I went to FIVE different computers and none of them would record my voice! So I just ended up repeating "Hola! Soy Hermana Schwartz, soy de Salt Lake City.,..." over and over and over again trying to get it to work. Nothing I did made a difference! It was just a mildly stressful moment that kinda pushed me over the edge, so I ended up crying and laughing because the whole situation was so dumb. And then, finally, in the last ten minutes of class, it worked! It was good to get my feelings out though and just laugh at myself. I promise I´m totally fine, it was just a random moment, haha.

Our district did a musical number this week! I played violin, H. Cragen played piano, and our district sang! It was really quite lovely and I felt the spirit so strong.

Tuesday was amazing because we had a devotional with Elder Cornish from the Seventy! He spoke in General Conference last October, so look up his talk if you don´t remember who he is. He taught the importance of History in Conversion. At first I was like, "huh? how do those relate?" But they totally do!! History gives us the strength to know conversion is possible, by looking back and seeing the examples of our family, of people in the scriptures, and others who had strength in moments of
trial. So cool! He also taught that the commandments are a list of things that make us happy, and sins are a list of things that make us sad. Choose the happy list! It´s that simple!

Anyway, I honestly can´t believe it´s already been one month here. Looking back, I can see so much change. When I entered the MTC, all I felt confident saying in Spanish was "Hola," and "Chips and salsa baby!" Now I can communicate (mas o menos!) with people and learn about their families and missions and hobbies! It´s amazing! And on the plane, the members of my district were strangers and now we feel like family. So much has changed and I know it is blessing my life so much to be here.

I had a really cool dream the other night that I was speaking Spanish and teaching a family. If I end up meeting them in real life I might freak out, because....revelation! But if anything, it gave me comfort knowing that it really is possible for me to teach and share my testimony. I´m so excited to get out into the field!! It´s crunch time, and I want to
work hard so I can be worthy of the spirit.

Scriptures that helped me this week were 2 Nephi 2 and 4! I never really liked reading 2 Nephi before, because Isaiah was in there and that stuff is intimidating! But there is seriously so much powerful doctrine and eloquent verses. I led a Book of Mormon discussion on Chapter 2 and I´m excited to keep studying it!

I love you all mucho! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Schwartz

Pictures! Okay, I got a bunch this week!