Monday, April 3, 2017

The Story of a Gringa in Tizimín

Hola!!! I am official in the field, and man is it hot! My first area is Tizimín, a small city in the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula, and my trainer is the amazing Hermana Medrano! She´s from Monterrey, Mexico, and has truly been so patient with my Spanish. She´s super nice, is an incredible teacher, and knows enough English that we can usually communicate.
Okay, I have SO much to say about this week and so little time! It all started last Monday with a three hour plane ride to Cancun. I talked with a man from Chicago and in Spanish and gave him a pass along card. Scariest experience of my life, but it really opened my eyes and showed me that this is the work I´m going to be doing! Gotta open my mouth and pray that Spanish comes out! After the plane ride, we had a wonderful welcome by the other missionaries and the President and his wife singing Called to Serve at the top of their lungs. It made me so happy! Then we got our trainers, some information, and took two very long bus rides and a taxi to Tizimín. 

Our casa is owned by a member in the ward, Hermana Eva. It´s pretty nice! We each have a hammock, some tables, a stove, a washing machine (ish) and a clothesline. She has a cat and a dog, and they are quite adorable. So far we have killed one cucaracha and I killed a spider that turned out to be a black widow. So yeah, that was exciting. I still get heebie jeebies everytime I use the bathroom. But yeah, it´s all good! We don´t have hot water but honestly it´s so hot here, I prefer cold! It´s super refreshing. :) 

One of the most exciting experiences is that I left my hammock and my new backpack with all my Training Materials in THE TAXI the first night. Sounds just like me, right mom? Haha. Luckily, Hermana Eva had an extra hammock and my Hna Medrano let´s me use her books. 

Sleeping in a hammock is the FUNNEST THING EVER. I´m never going back to a bed. I feel like I´m on some kind of safari sleeping in the jungle. (Which is partly true!) I love it. The secret is to lie diagonally so you have more space. 

Speaking Spanish here is totallllyyy different than the CCM. I thought I knew a lot in the CCM, and I am being humbled hardcore! The people here speak muy rapido, and they have this crazy accent that´s got a little bit of Mayan influence. I can understand usually about 50% of what they´re saying, sometimes a lot more if they don´t talk as fast. And the hardest part is that the CCM really only teaches you gospel Spanish. My companion is truly so patient with me because I don´t know the words for normal, everyday things like broom or mop or wallet. But ask me about the Expiacion any day! Haha. 

It´s very exciting here and there are tons of animals everywhere. Perros, gatos, horses, a few iguanas, tons of chickens, turkeys, and the occasional rabbit. (No coatis, though.) For every meal we have, we either drink Horchata or Jamaica (which is this purple juice made from flowers, quite tasty!) And sometimes this barley drink that tastes like cookie water. I ate my first habañero pepper, my first authentic Mexican tamale, AND my first mango. The mangos here are like heaven on earth! Way better than any in the states. 

I also ate some onions, but I was freaked out while eating them because my companion told me they were cebollos and I thought she said cerebro (brain!) I was terrified that I was eating brains, but it was just onions. Whew! I´ve had a whole bunch of language mixups like that. Good times. 

This mission stuff is so exhausting and would be super discouraging, but it´s super amazing. The coolest feeling is teaching people!!! I usually just sit there and mimic facial expressions and say "si," but I can usually contribute something to the lessons. We have a few investigators here and they are so awesome! The biggest problems we run into is that most people aren´t married and need to be before they are baptized, or they are super catholic and don´t feel the need for the restored gospel. If anyone has any thoughts on why the gospel is important in your life or advice on how to teach Catholics, PLEASE TELL ME! We need to take different approaches to show them the blessings of being baptized! 

A lot of the people in this area speak Maya, and I´m learning a few words! Balam is Jaguar, and there´s a family whose last name is Balam. Isn´t that sweet?! All of the houses are a little broken down, with chipped paint and lots of stuff in the yard. They´re very humble people that always will let you in to talk. The area is mostly small houses, with a downtown area in the middle and some long stretches with just trees. 

Anyway, I´m so grateful to be here. We´ve already seen miracles. My companion is new in the area too, so it´s kinda hard because we basically know nothing about who lives where, and people are realllly bad at giving directions here. They´ll say, "oh, it´s four blocks down, all the way to the right, take a left, and it´s the white casa." And we´re just like....okay, thanks? And not all of the streets have numbers! So we´re just slowly learning together how to conquer this area! They haven´t had new converts here for a long time. But I know that I was put here, with Hermana Medrano, because we can make a difference! We´re just trying to rely on the Lord and have faith that he will lead us to people who are prepared. 

One time, it was super hot and we were out of agua. We looked up and jokingly pleaded for rain so we could fill our water bottles. And guess what?? It started to rain, and that is NOT normal for Tizimin this time of year! Miracles do happen, prayers are answered, and the Lord wants to be part of your life. 

I loved conference, especially the talks on missionary work! Definitely going to be using Joaquin Costas talk on listening to the missionaries! 

I don´t have much more time, but I love you all so much! I¨m so grateful to be here in this crazy area and will tell you more about it next week! Oh, PS I am most definitely the only white girl in the entire city. It rocks because everyone looks at me and I get to say "Hola!" 

Have a great week! Read your scriptures every night, because I promise it makes all the difference in the world!

Hasta Luego,
Hermana Schwartz

I´m really scared because the computer didn´t let me see which photos I´m sending...hopefully these are good ones! And it´s super slow, so I´m sorry there are only two. Next week I´ll choose in advance!


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