Adios, Tizimin Dos....

.......y hola Cancun!

Yep, I´m going to be transfered to a ward in Cancun! It´s called Kulcucan. I can only hope that I´m spelling it right, haha! It´s going to be way exciting because it´s basically the complete opposite of Tizimin. It´s a small farming community here, and Kulcucan is the big city. I´m excited to have a change and start working in a new area! I know that the people there need the gospel and that this message can bless their lives. My new companion is Hermana Christianson from West Jordan, Utah.

But this week was a little sad because we basically just visited the members to say goodbye. We had some great relationships with great families here, and I´m going to miss them!! We always promise them that one day we´re gonna come back and visit and they never believe us. If anyone ever wants to visit Yucatan someday, hit me up because I have places to stay! 

Random foods that I ate this week: Corn popsicles (saborines de elote) and Tripa! (Intestines!!) Yes, I finally tried the tacos de tripa! And I have to say, I´m a fan! It basically tastes just like normal beef, but it´s muy suave. We said goodbye to Alejandro and Karla, some of our investigadors that are amazing and just need to get married before they can be baptized. They have a taqueria and they sent me off with tripa because I always made a big fuss about eating it. But it´s super good!

We did some more extreme weeding with a family that we just adore---our convert Mariana and her familia. It was so fun to just spend time serving them and talking about their plans. They want to build a gorgeous house on this property that they have. We sat around in a circle on the ground just eating chips and drinking soda because that´s what you do after hours of weeding. Super fun, and a great family. 

We had a conference in Vallodolid with Presidente. He always bestows us with mucho wisdom, and I learned so much about the importance to just trust in the spirit! We have a member of the Godhead with us constantly!! I´m working on listening and acting better. I know that he can protect us, give us comfort, and lead us to do good works. Doctrine and Covenants 11:15-16 is an amazing verse that really helped me this week. 

Super cool miracle is that my companion is going to be going to Barrio 1 and the elders there are going to be coming to Barrio 2. They´re just doing a flip flop to switch things up a little bit in the wards. But the elders found a family of 12 that accepted to hear the missionaries. We felt bad because we don´t have any new families to teach here...and we were finally able to contact this family of 10!! It´s so interesting how the Lord works. Some missionaries plant seeds, others teach, and others baptize. I´m not going to be here to see how it plays out, but I hope that both families in time can be baptized!!

Other random things that you learn on your mission include how to repair toilets! Definitely a new skill for me. Now it works a little bit better....we still have to use a bucket to flush sometimes, but it´s an improvement, right? Haha!

I can´t believe that I´ve finished my training, that I´m moving on to a different area and a new companion. I´m gonna miss my companion Hermana Medrano so much! She was literally like my Mom here!! I know that the things I´ve learned here are preparation for the rest of my mission and the rest of my life! This time isn´t mine, it´s the Lord's, and if I give my best effort he will make up the difference. When I first came on the plane it took me about half an hour to work up the courage to talk to the person next to me about the gospel. Now I can start up a conversation with anyone and testify. I know that ability is enhanced when I have the spirit. This is the work of El Rescate!! The Rescue!  I encourage you all to look for some small way to share the gospel, to testify, or to help the missonaries in your ward. I know you´ll be blessed for your efforts. :)

As promised here are a bunch of photos! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Schwartz​

Captions for photos:

1. Extreme Weeding

2. Orejitas and the sister training leaders!

3. I´m dramatic, she´s stubborn. But we both like snickers!

4. Just a little fun with machetes

5. Mariana and her family! (Sandra, Jorge, Alexa y Alexis)

6. cool shadows

7. The piñatas that we made for an Elder that finished his mission. I forgot to tell this story in my big email.....we started to make a pinata by hand and it turned out pretty creepy. So we bought one of a little cartoon girl, chopped of the pigtails, and redecorated it to look like a missionary. Then we brought it to the district meeting and smashed it!!! It was so fun, and poor Elder Walch got whacked by Elder Ocampo because he was holding the pinata. They caught it on video and the Elders are still laughing about it! Also, the pinatas here are intense! The material is super hard and the Elders went crazy trying to destroy the pobre misionerito. 

8. Hermana Lucy and her family (members)

9. Zona Tizimin!

10. The Family Ayala (they are incredible! This family leads everything! Relief Sociey, primary, young womens, priesthood, everything!!)

11. Tacos de Tripa!! Yum!

12. Skirts that Hermana Eva made for us. (Tears! Adios hermana eva!)

I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

Hola everyone!!¡¿Como estan?

There´s a bunch of upside down question marks and such because they´re fun to use, haha. :)

Well, this week was very exciting! We have cambios next week (transfers!) so I get to write on Saturday and not next Monday. I don´t know where I´m heading yet, but there will most definitely be a cambio because there´s a huge possibility that Presidente is going to close our area Tizimin. It´s all a little uncertain right now, but we´re ready to go forward with faith. I´ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord!

I´ve got some good stories for this week. First of all, we started of the week with EXTREME WEEDING with machetes and chainsaws! We went to helpe Hermano Jacinto clean up his yard, and it´s perfectly normal here to weed with a giant machete in one hand and and a weird tool called a coa in the other. It´s very effective if you know what you´re doing, but if not (cough, cough, meee) it´s a little trickier and very likely to get blisters. But it was super fun and awesome to watch this 60 year old man casually pull out a chainsaw and chop up tree stumps like it´s nothing. 

But, the sad news is Jacinto didn´t show up to his own baptism and we had to drop him. It´s the second time he´s done this so it´s pretty clear that he isn´t going to progress. We were a little sad, but we know that it´s all in the hands of the Lord and that everyone has their free agency. We celebrated our "no baptism" with lots and lots of pan! (Bread)

The pan here is suupper rico and only costs a couple pesos. I tried a little bit of each kind and it was a feast. 

It was super cool this week to hear the testimony of Alejandro. He´s got so much vision and optimism, even though he doesn´t have work and his family is struggling. We invited him to the class on autosufficiencia. It´s a super neat program that helps people get back on their feet. 

We had intercambios this week, and the sister training leaders came to work in our area. It was awesome because I got to lead in the lessons, navigate the streets, and do everything! 

Due to technically difficulties I can´t send photos this week, lo siento!!

Remember to have courage in trials, trust in the Lord, and go forward with faith! Revelation is real, the Spirit can guide our steps, and the scriptures are priceless. 

Have a wonderful week!

Mucho amor, 

Hermana Schwartz

Guppies, Haircuts, and Testimonies

Hola hola, Buenas Tardes!

I hope that this letter finds you very well, my dear family, friends, and acquaintances.

This week was awesome because we made a Muro de MILAGROS (Miracle Wall) and we´ve been writing down the little tender mercies. Man, I knew they existed but it´s so much more powerful to have them written down! We can just see all of the little ways that God is helping in this work. We also write down inside jokes and random thoughts and it´s just super fun. I really encourage any of you that are feeling down to write down the little blessings! I guarantee that you will find them and that you will feel better afterwards.

We taught a lesson this week and it went really well, Spanish-wise, until I shared james 1:5. I memorized it in Spanish and was super excited to use it in the lesson, but I accidentaly said "se ARROZ dada" instead of "le sera dada" and my companion cracked up afterwards. Arroz is rice and apparantly I was hungry during the lesson, haha!

One of the coolest experiences was that we got to visit Hermano Lucio in his terreno. He´s this amazing viejito that is one of the first converts to the church here in Tizimin. He´s our adopted abuelito, and his stories are soooo fun to listen too! You  can just feel the goodness in him after a lifetime of following the Savior. We went to have a service project and help him weed his property, but we just sat and talked and afterwards he gave us MANGOS! (We´re obsessed!)

More updates with Amber, last week she wanted her patriarchal blessing and this week she shared her testimony in Testimony meeting! I almost cried I was so happy! She´s scared to talk in front of people so to see her go up of her own free will and share her conversion story was amazing.

We taught a crazy family with EIGHT perros, (demasiado perros!) And 20 million guppies. They just have a ton of fishtanks in their backyard, and they gave us some little fish that we´re technically not allowed to have. Mateo, Marco, Bob, y Kevin are currently residing in our casa against mission rules. Shhhh.....

I have a promise that next week I´m going to eat cow intestines and I´m downright terrified. Please pray for me, haha!

I got a haircut today and it´s super short! It was time because the crazy humidity was making it muy dificil to manage my long hair. The sweet hermana in the ward who cut our hair only charged us 20 pesos....that´s a $1 haircut!

I know that this church is true. It´s true in Utah, it´s true in Mexico. It´s true for every person in every corner of the earth. God literally hears and answers our prayers, in his own time. I was having a rough day beating myself up and I found an article in the Liahona that literally answered every single doubt I had. Personal revelation is real, people! Our Heavenly Father knows your struggles and is just waiting for us to turn to Him.

Have a wonderful and spiritually uplifting week!

Mucho amor from Tizimin,

Hermana Schwartz
PS--my shirt says "No Boyfriend, no problems." Hehe, very fitting for the mission. ;)