Be Brave, Work Hard!

Hey everyone!

Well, another week has flown by. It´s been a little rough because we still haven´t found anyone to teach. But we´ve definitely seen little miracles! Yesterday we decided to go out and search for just half an our more. We went to go visit a member that lives on our street, but we read the house number wrong and ended up knocking on some random persons door. Maria answered and was just like, "Come in, do you want some water?" (Which is literally the nicest thing a person can say here! Haha, it´s way too hot!" She belongs to a different religion, but her mom passed away recently and she is looking for peace. We didn´t have enough time to teach her a ton, but we talked about the plan of salvation and I know that the Lord will help us to help this sweet sister. We left her house and my sweet companion was like, "That just doesn´t happen!!" It does happen, and it did happen. Misisons are the best. :) 

We also talked to a taxi driver that is just so prepared to hear the gospel! Not in our area, but we sent of the reference and it´s so cool to see how the gospel answers the questions that so many people need answers to. 

The sister training leaders did intercambios with us to help us out a little and it was such a blessing! It really sparked up my animo and helped me think of diferent ways we can work hard. We have to be creative and take the iniciative if we want to see change. 

Oh, it was super crazy because for one night and one day we didn´t have power!! It was an adventure. What happened was some construction workers on our street cut our power to do some work, and didn´t tell us. We freaked out because I thought I forgot to pay the light bill. So we took all the food out of the fridge, packed up our stuff and stayed the night with the other Hermanas, becuase it´s like, impossible to sleep without a fan. It was super crazy but when we came back to the house to check things out, the construction guy told us what had happened and put our electricity back. It was a super random experience, but man, I am so grateful for electricity now! It was so good that everything worked out. Just another little testimony builder. 

We bought a piñata in the street for Sister Martinez´s birthday, but it turns out the piñata seller guy made it THAT DAY. So it was super wet and mushy by the time we smashed it. It was a chicken and we named it Lalo. Pobrecito was dying, but we filled him with candy and it was really fun. 

The Womens Broadcast was the highlight of my week! We watched it in Spanish and it filled me up with so much joy. I loved the talk about what kind of women we need to be. Kind, articulate, outspoken. The Lord needs us to give all of our courage and all of our talent, and be exceptional women if we are going to win this fight. A lot of stuff is going on in the world, from natural disasters to poverty. These are the last days. But I know our Heavenly Father has a purpose for all of this and that it is preparing us for the Second coming of his Son! He loves us and he will not let anything happen that we can´t overcome with faith. 

We celebrated Mexican Independence day in the ward with a small Noche Mexicana, and the dancers were incredible. They literally did the Mexican hat dance, complete with sombrero and everything. We were singing along like real Mexicanas. 

I´m learning a lot and I love being here. It´s amazing to see the little miracles and the hand of God in this work. He lives and he loves us. 

Aaaaannd I finally have pictures! Sorry that they´re from like 3 weeks back. I hope you all enjoy them, especially the little music video we made. 

Have a wonderful week!! Be brave and work hard. 

Love, 

Hermana Schwartz

I'm a Proud Mom

Heyy everybody! Como les van?

Okay, I´m super bummed because I have soooo many photos I want to send but I forgot my cable! Boooo. Next week. I promise. 

But I have a DAUGHTER and she is darling! (I´m training again!) Her name is Hermana Merrick and she´s from the good old northwest, from Oregon. She completed her first week in the field with a lot of courage, with many new bugbites, sweet tanlines, and tons of walking! She´s super awesome and she already knows a ton of Español, so that´s very helpful. She has a twin sister about to start serving in Ciudad Mexico, and they´re gonna chat up a storm in spanish when they get back. :)

Our new area is beautiful! We´re in Jardines, Chetumal. I loooove Chetumal! It´s like a mix of my first two areas. The ocean is super close, but we haven´t caught glimpse of it yet. Fun fact, our area also includes the Belize border. There are flowers in almost all of the streets, and it has a giant mall for whatever random things we need. There´s a Mcdonalds, Office max, the works. It´s very calm and everyone is really friendly. Maybe a little two friendly...one random guy started catcalling us. But that´s normal here, I guess. 

We basically just worked hard this week to get to know the members and the area. We had a Family Home Evening with the Familia Pastor and they are just fantastic! They gave us cake, are going to fix our air conditioning so it actually works, and the mom is going to sew my skirts that are too big. We were walking a little bit lost and like angels they appeared to give us a ride. They´re too good. Their son speaks english really well, and so he helps us with spanish and vice versa. Hermana Bella is another member that is just too good for words. She gave us lunch and just helped us out a bunch. The bishop is incredible, también. I´m so excited to work with the members and I know that this ward has so much potential! 

We taught the whole first lesson in the street. In the end, the guy didn´t want anything with the church, but it was such great practice for Hermana Merrick! Her first taste of what it´s like to teach and answer real questions, with real spanish speakers. I´m grateful for all the random little opportunities we have to share the gospel, even when we don´t see the immediate results. 

We ate my favorite food, Pozole, not once, not twice, but THREE times this week. It´s delicious and the Lord has truly blessed me that literally everyone made us pozole. It´s a traditional dish to celebrate Mexican Independence day, so that might have had something to do with it, haha. We didn´t even realize that it was a holiday here until the next day. That´s how peaceful Chetumal is. 

We got to visit a family that lives in a Pueblo outside of Chetumal. The whole ward went and did a family night with the less actives in Santa Elena, and it was great to see so much unity. We´re gonna start working and finding lots of investigators. 

This week the Lord reaffirmed my testimony that the scriptures contain answers. I was wondering how I could improve as a trainer, as a missionary, and have more patience with my companion. I opened up the Bible to a story that perfectly answered my questions. The Lord knows us, he hears our prayers, and he can answer our questions! I´m getting excited for general conference in a couple weeks, I know prayers will be answered! 

I love you all! Thanks for all you do, you guys are amazing. I promise next week I´ll write more individually and send lots of pictures! Have a wonderful week!!!

Love,
Hermana Schwartz

(Photos added after she sent them on 9/25/2017)

Chetumal, Here I Come!

Hi everyone!

We`ve got cambios on Monday and I`m headed to Chetumal! I`m really excited because I`m going to be training a new missionary! On Monday I get to meet my ¨hija¨, and then we travel six hours by bus to the furthest south point of the mission. We´re also going to be opening an area, so there`s lots to learn and it`ll definitely be interesting! 

This week we got to go to Peter Piper Pizza with Presidente! (Try saying that five times fast, haha!) It was super fun and we got to celebrate the baptisms we had this month as a Zone. I ate so much pizza, but one elder totally beat me. He at 17 slices!! And pasta! It was ridiculous. We also got to say goodbye to an Elder and celebrate a birthday. Lot`s of fun as a zone! 

Ohhh, also this week was crazy because we saw a ton of random exotic animals! One guy was just chilling outside his house with an EAGLE. We stopped to talk to him and give him a pass along card, and he let us hold it! He works in the hotels and so his eagle needs to get used to being social. It was so cool! I can`t send the photo this week because the computer isn`t working, but we took pics!! 

And then we went with an Hermana in the ward who has a pet monkey named Max. He`s adorable and I promise i`ll send pictures next week. We didn`t get to hold him because he bites when he`s nervous, but he was so cute!! 

We did a spa night, with facials. And we got invited to this sweet kid in the wards birthday party. He only invited the elders and us, because he loves the missionaries. Moises is the best! We ate his favorite food, bombasos, and cake. 

I promise we`re working hard and teaching people too! It`s not all just crazy animals and fiestas. During our intercambios, all of our appointments fell through. But we learned the importance to keep searching and trust that the Lord will put people in our path. We found 5 new people that day! 

I guess this week I`ve learned that God really does prepare us for the things he has in store. This cambio has been awesome and I`m so grateful for the time I had in our little Trio! I`m so excited meet my new companion! There are miracles waiting in Chetumal. 

If anyone is considering going on a mission, just know that it is definitely not easy but it is absolutely worth it. The people are so good and the blessings are so real. 

Thanks for everything, hope it`s good week!

Hasta luego, 

hermana Schwartz

(Photos added after she sent them on 9/25/2017)

We can´t go to the beach, but the beach came to us!

Hola everyone! Como están?

This is gonna be a little short for this week, but I´m doing great and working hard! This is the last week of the transfer, if you can believe it! 

We got absolutely soaking wet this week thanks to a couple of GIANT tropical storms that blew our way. We were just casually walking and the sky suddenly turned black and started to pour! We felt super cool because we helped a guy push his car out of a river (aka the flooded streets) The plastic shoes I bought before I left are definitely coming in handy. We were joking that the beach came to us, because there were tiny little waves in the water and we were basically swimming, haha! With the humidty it was a little stressful because all of my scriptures got wet and I feel like they will never ever dry, but I guess I´ve just joined all of the other missionaries here that have wrinkled scripture pages. The good news is that it has been super cool! I actually used a sweater! 

This friday we had our Mission Activity where we did a mini CCM and taught the members how to share the gospel with their friends. Not very many people went because of the rain, but it was super fun! We also said goodbye to a joven from the barrio that´s leaving on his mission. It got everyone in the spirit of missionary work. 

The other day we went and contacted in the other area, Kohunlich, to help them find more people to teach. The companionship that took out the most references got free pizza! So today we went out for pizza with the Sister Training Leaders. Super fun. 

We were named the "Converzona" for the month! Or the Zone that had the most baptisms in the month of August. It´s so exciting and we´re hoping to do it again in September! The baptisms are more than just numbers, but a little competion never hurts to motivate us. :)

Today we found a lizard in our washing machine (first of all, it is such a blessing that we have a WASHING MACHINE. We washed everything in one load and it was freeeeee!) Anyway, we found a lizard and I was the only one of us three that was brave enough to get it out. It was just a little guy, but you can see in the picture that it looks like his tail got cut off and was re-growing. Creepy, huh?

I´ve been reading Jesus the Christ together with the Bible this week and it´s super interesting! With the rain, my biggest thought has been how Christ walked on the water and calmed the storms. Peter is like all of us, we start out with faith and sometimes we fall. I testify that our Savior is there with his hand outstretched to save us in the moment that we falter. He loves and and can calm the storms! I love the hymn, Paz, Calmense. Don´t remember what it´s called in English, but it´s been in my head lately. 

I hope you all have a great week! Tell me all about your adventures this Saturday and stay tuned to see if we have transfers! Love you all mucho!

Hermana Schwartz 

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