"...I vote that Moroni should be president of the United States."

August 18, 2014

Dear people.

Bad news, Izamal is officially the worst area in the mission. We are the area that has gone the longest without baptizing, and we're the ONLY area who has not baptized at all this year.... The assistants told me that yesterday... They had to drive down to Izamal to come to our church service, hold an emergency ward council (which by the way, we  NEVER have.) and he planched [there's that word again] the council. Oh they planched them good. They said : "we don't want to have to take away the missionaries from this area, they are a priviledge!" Then the Bishop got all upset and said, "...um Elders I am in charge of my ward council, not you guys, so I'll tell therm what to do, and also could you give the [mission] president a little message for me, the reason nothing is happening here is because our goals aren't in sync..." and a bunch of other stuff. And of course it was a little more polite, but the interesting juicy dramatic version in my head went something like that. And it was pretty tense. 

And we're STILL left without a ward council, and this is like week 4 now that we haven't had one. It's bad.  And our one progressing investigator stopped progressing because he didn't come to church.  Ugh. Everyone in the ward blames it on the fact that the people in Izamal are just by nature hard-hearted and won't accept the gospel. but I KNOW there are people here who are prepared for the gospel!  It's just been rough trying to find them,. And this week we did pretty well in having members go with us to lessons, but the people just don't want to come to church! ugh. Ok that's a little bit of my missionary anxiety for you, but hey... Igbok. [favorite Samantha saying -  "It's gonna be OK"]

In other news I'm reading right now in Alma 48ish, and I vote that Moroni should be president of the United States. He'd do way better of a job...

There's this girl we're teaching named Lucy and HP and I LOVE her! She might be our best investigator right now. Maybe...

I have pictures! But I'm way out of time so I'll have to send them next week.

Ok love you all bye!

HS

WE POR FREAKING FIN HAVE A PROGRESSING INVESTIGATOR THIS WEEK!!!

SO I heard from three different people now of the fiasco with the horses [while at a family reunion in Zion's horseback riding some people were hurt ] on Wednesday! Sounds crazy but glad everyone is fine! I got your package! Came sooner than I had expected, after like 3 weeks or something. I LOVED the pictures!!!!! Miranda is a freakin babe!!! (woah sorry thats totally something HP would say, she's rubbing off on me) And Also, HP fell in love with that dress you sent, she's wearing it right now haha along with my earrings and my belt. She got tired of her clothes really fast.

 Ok ya'll ready for  big news? WE POR FREAKING FIN HAVE A PROGRESSING INVESTIGATOR THIS WEEK!!! its the first one since being in Izamal... And its not who you'd expect, but we had a really cool experience with him this week.

  "Just our neighbor herding a bunch of goats into his house. It's a regular Thursday occurrence."

 SO on Friday we went to Merida (ugh we ALWAYS have to go to Merida..) for zone conference and the zone leaders planched [ as far as I can tell planchar means to scold, set straight or something close to that] us about crying repentance unto the people, and how we need to invite everyone to repent. Anyway so we got back late that same day, and we decided to go with this one guy that we had visited once like forever ago but he didn't seem to have retained anything that we said the first time, he might have been a little drunk. But we went to visit him and couldn't go into his house 'cause he was alone but we just stood outside and talked about repentance, like we had just been taught. And even though we were just standing by his gate and it was starting to rain, it was a really powerful lesson, and he told us that he really does want to change. So he promised to come to church, and then on Saturday night we texted that guy A (I think I've already talked about him, he ROCKS and is super into helping us) and asked if he could pick up the guy before church and when we got there he was THERE! and he had accepted a fecha [date] so he's officially progressing! We just have to keep up with this one.

Thanks for my package again!

HS

"I'm praying so hard to have progressing investigators..."

Aug 4, 2014

Hi Mom!

Sorry this is gonna be a short letter today cause I'm way short on time but I sent a ton of pictures and they say a picture is worth a thousand words!

 P-day Mexican pizza party

 "I wonder how long this car has been here... But this is like the norm. This ivy stuff grows all over EVERYTHING"

I call this one: "Christopher Colombus searching for a new world. On top of a mayan pyramid."

"HP and I got some flowers from these adorable little twin daughters of one of our investigators. We went to Tahmek this week to see a baptism and she wanted to come with us! And she brought her daughters."

"This is the Ku Velazquez family and they rock. We eat lunch with them every single Saturday and they have the single most delicious food I've had since being here. The little kid Fernando is adorable and the oldest son rocks cause he always goes on visits with us. And he looks like Mexican Edward Cullen." 

Nope- package hasn't come yet, and I really don't think he [her mission president] even knows what day I'm coming home yet so I don't think I can ask. I just know it's in April. Its always ridiculously hot here, but like June and July are rainy seasons, so it depends if you mind getting wet or not. Branson sounds way fun, wish I could have gone!

This transfer just ended yesterday and HP and I are staying here in Izamal. (surprise surprise) I'm praying so hard to have progressing investigators cause since we've been here we've had ZERO... which is horrible. but I think things might be looking up soon.. I do love it here. Ok I'll write more next week, love you all bye!

HS

"I call it a not-so-typical week for any other missionary, but totally normal for a missionary in Izamal.. "

July 28, 2014 

Pool parties and vacations and family reunions??  Well that sounds almost as fun as walking around all day in like 120° weather teaching the gospel. But not quite... haha no just kidding that sounds way fun!

Well me and HP are getting along well here in Izamal (it's a mall!) Haha and I have a super fun slideshow of pictures to send you guys. I call it a not-so-typical week for any other missionary, but totally normal for a missionary in Izamal.. It's fantastic.

 Climbing pyramids for exercise!!

Sam on the top!

"The baby of the gigantic lizard who lives in the side of our house. I tried to get a picture of the big one, but it hardly ever comes out."

This week.... hmmm well the BIGGEST problem is that we STILL have a destroyed chapel and nobody is coming to church...:( actually that's not true, this one lady came yesterday, but she doesn't want to get baptized and we're in the process of finding out what her deal is... nothing extraordinary really happened this week. Well actually yeah, we came to Centro on Friday morning for interviews. And they decided to schedule our interviews at 7:30 am! And that's not so bad, but when you have to take into account walking time (Like 20 minutes from our house to the bus station in Izamal, and then like 20 more minutes from the bus station in Merida to the mission offices) and then showering and getting ready time, and then we have to get to the bus station early so we can have a seat, (the bus to Merida is surprisingly and incredibly full at 5 in the morning...) and then bus ride time (1 hr 30 minutes) yeah that all adds up. SO we had to get up at like 3ish. And we were so tired, and President G [her mission president] commented to us that we looked tired, and we told him our sad tale of misery and woe. And you know what he does? He just looks at us a minute, and he says (quite sarcastically, and in English) "ohh...poor little missionaries.." Yeah, the mission president! He's not very sympathetic when it comes to, well any sort of excuse for not working harder. His answer is pretty much always "suck it up, forget your problems, and get back to work!" That's just how it is here in the mission. But that's fine with me I guess!

 "We went to the house of some investigators and they decided to introduce us to their animals. HP holding a cute little chicken."

 

"My turn with the little chicken. he was so fluffy!"

"And then they bring out the big guns. Its a turkey. They just kinda picked it up and shoved it in my face like "look its a turkey!!! big huh?"

Ok well that's all for this week! I'll send pictures! Love ya'll!

HS

I don't know when it happened, but all of a sudden I know Spanish!

July 21, 2014

. 

So I  don't know if you're purposely being ironic when you ask if I'm "warming up" to Izamal yet or not, but yes I am getting used to it here. The church is still destroyed but we had a family home evening with the whole ward Saturday night in the basketball court (The only part of the chapel that wasn't destroyed) and it was way fun! The ward is super cool. .

Umm well HP is still homesick and she talks about home A LOT which I understand but its kinda hard to focus and its sorta making me homesick too. And I should be a better trainer and focus us more on the work and stuff but we have way too much fun telling stories about home and stuff. Yeah I know everything about all her friends and family and everything. It’s a problem. We're working on it. HP.. hmmm. she's not extraordinarily tall, but she is tallish for a gringa, and so here she's like a giant. Huge contrast to HT who is tiny. Anyway so everyone comments on that like "esta bien grandota su compañera!" [your companion sure is tall!] and she's like.. ok... and courtesy laughs. Which I know ALL ABOUT.  Whenever you don't know what someone is saying (like 95% of the time) you just kinda laugh and smile. Hahah it’s pretty funny and I know exactly how she feels.

 Cool bug zapper racket. we were pretty entertained with this one..

 I don't know when it happened, but all of a sudden I know Spanish!  It’s weird to be listening to someone who like mumbles or talks really fast and totally understand what they're saying when before it literally sounded like gibberish. And if you think about about it and listen, you shouldn't be able to understand what they're saying, but then my Mexican superspanishpowers kick in and I'm like YES I get it!!!! Actually there's something to be said about that, my Spanish progression took a huge leap FIRST when HG left me and I was left in charge (Sorta) of my first area, and then another huge leap when I had to train, and again when I had to train someone who knows no Spanish. And now there is very little that I don't understand.  I really think it has to do with this "Who the Lord calls, he qualifies" thing.  Literally, every time that I noticed a difference in what I understood of Spanish, it was when I was put in a leadership position.  So that’s kinda cool.

Ok so another thing about HP. We have this one investigator who always says that HP looks like the virgin Maria.. she's always like "you have the face of a little virgincita!" and she's like "hahaha *courtesy laugh* yeahh..." but she's thinking thats super weird, what exactly is the face of a virgin?

Oh hey! Yesterday we were eating in the house of this guy A- he's this super old guy who is strangely super in shape and looks older than his mother who is an old investigator of ours... but he's awesome and we love him ‘cause he always wants to go with us on visits, and he walks around with us with his sunglasses and his Sunday shirt and fancy jeans, and he has like this saunter. It’s cool. So much swagger. In this old skinny Mexican guy. ANYWHO so nobody in his family is a member, and it just so happened that when we went to eat, his WHOLE huge family was there visiting, and a lot of them are deaf. I went to shake the hand and kiss this one lady (I think she's A’s niece) and I'm like "Buenas tardes!" and she points to her ear and shakes her head so I know she can't hear. Then as we're eating I notice her in the other room with this guy and this little girl all signing and I couldn't understand what they were saying cause 1- I forgot almost all my sign language and 2- Mexican sign language is way different than English. But then later she came into the room to sign to this other lady something, and I kinda picked out a little bit, so I asked her if she was talking about someone falling out of a tree and she was like "Yeah! How'd you know?" and I explained that I knew ASL, but it had been a long time. But then I started trying to sign, and I started remembering some signs! I started signing to the lady how I took ASL in school and she totally understood!  And then she told me that her son was coming later and he studies ASL so he knows the English sign language!  He came right as we were about to leave with his cousin who is half deaf, and his dad who is all deaf.  So anyway they all freak out and tell him to try to sign to me, and so we're there in the middle of like 70 people all watching us trying to sign to each other. It was really cool cause keep in mind, there is not just one, but 2 language barriers between us right now. And we're like kinda understanding  each other!!! But mine was really broken and he was signing really fast. But still! He was telling us about how they live in Cancun but are staying here in a hotel and I think he either wanted my phone number or to know if I had like a video phone skype thing, and I just showed him our crappy brick phone and he was like oh ok. Then he wanted to take a picture so we got a picture of me with all this family who is deaf. It was wayy cool but kinda frustrating that I couldn't remember more!

Deaf kids!!! Oh my gosh coolest experience ever!!!! 

In other news, we went on visits with this girl V in our ward, and she has a car so her mom was like, "Oh you guys can take the car cause V knows how to drive" so we're like sweet ok! And we're just making small talk and HP asks V how old she is, and all casually she tells us she's 13.......... And HP thinks it’s a joke, cause she looks like she maybe could be 16 or something, but she’s like no I'm serious! Her uncle is there with us too and he says  yeah its true she’s 13! And she is driving this car that we are in. So I'm cool ‘cause things are just different here, so I say Oh what is the driving age here?  And they're like "16" and we're like ummmm......?  But her uncle says  “ But V is a really good driver don't worry!  She's been driving for like 2 years now!”  And we're like what??? But actually it’s not that surprising cause we see these kids that look like they're 12 driving motorcycles around all the time, but it was just weird. And they say nothing matters here cause it’s a pueblecito [small town] and if we were in Merida it would be a problem but here no.  Like if the police pulled her over nothing would happen.  So hey Miranda come on over here and Dad can teach you how to drive!  It'll be super great.

So cool story.  Remember how I told you that our house is super tiny? Well yeah also there is something living in our wall. We'll be studying or planning or something and we'll hear this scratching on the wall, that like goes all along the wall and into our bathroom. And it’s LOUD!  And at first we thought it was maybe our neighbors cause they have kids I think and they're right up close next to our house so maybe it was them. But then one day we're leaving the house and HP flips out and is like "LOOK!!" and there’s this HUGE iguana crawling into this hole in the side of our house. Sooo now we know what the scratching is. And I'm just waiting for the day that this fat lizard breaks through the wall and starts crawling around our room.  That'll be an exciting day.

Adorable little kid Fernando of this family that we eat with every Saturday. The Ku family. They rock and their food is to DIE FOR. He's modeling some broken hipster glasses that I found that morning.

So the sister training leaders came to work with us on Friday and that was fun 'cause we got a lot of really good feedback and tips on how we can do better and I feel like I learned a lot! But holy cow they intimidate me. Hermana T is the señor comp and she's like the oldest hermana in the mission or something and she's crazy strict and I was so afraid I was going to do something wrong and she was going to scold me. And she only did once in the whole day so that was successful. But Mexicans are crazy!!  The whole day Hermana C (the other on, I've probably talked about her before cause she was in my last zone) had her hair down, and tights and Hma T had this long dress on, and her bangs all down on her forehead, and they were both like fine… not even sweating.  And HP and I are sitting here sweating buckets, shortest sleeves allowable and hair all piled up on the top of our head, and  needing to carry around sweat rags the whole day. (pretty much all the missionaries have to carry around sweat rags except for the Mexican hermanas who are used to the heat. I always told myself that I wouldn't sink to that level cause that’s gross but I finally broke down and bought one...)  But whatever. 

Ok that’s all the time I have for today!  I wrote a lot!  Send me pictures!  Ok that's all- love you bye!!!

HS

we met this Mayan hippie who uses stones to heal people!

July 14, 2014

So things have been going better here in Izamal!!

Izamal. EVERYTHING is yellow. It's sorta creepy.

We are meeting tons of new people, mostly by just talking to everyone and their dog who will listen to us.

Challenges of the week, HP got sick for like 3 days, and one day she couldn't get out of her hammock so we went to the doctor who was super nice and didn't even charge us (though we didn't even realize that until like 3 days later...) and then she got better. Last night at 9:30, the power went out and we were like shoot no AC and no fans we're going to die!!!  And we did… but just for the first half of the night. At like 12:00 all the lights came back on and woke us up and we were all half asleep like "yaayyy..." and then went back to bed. EVERY single Monday since the change [her transfer to Izamal] we've had this 8 principios [principles] meeting and have had to get up at 3am to catch the bus to Merida on time. So we're a little tired.

Ok here’s stuff about the investigators. We're teaching this little girl named Sahara (but it’s just pronounced Sara, don't know why the extra ha was necessary..) and she is only eleven but she is AWESOME!  She totally gets everything we teach her, and has questions, and does the additional study part in the back of the pamphlets that we invited her to do and writes it all down and studies her Book of Mormon! The problem is her mom.... her mom is a member but she’s inactive. She bursted in the room yesterday while we were teaching Sahara, and was like are "are you guys talking about the Book of Mormon, or the Bible?" and at that precise moment we were reading something in the Bible so I tell her the Bible. and then she says "good, cause that’s better than the Book of Mormon" (She says as she pulls a beer out of the fridge by the way) and I was like what the heck? Why don't you like the Book of Mormon?? and she says I just don't. I used to be a part of your church but I don't like that religion anymore. But I still like your teachings. Ummm okkk cool yeah that IS our religion. but whatever. We're working on it. hmm who else.. OH! we met this Mayan hippie who uses stones to heal people! Mom you would love him, he's like the coolest person ever. 

So this guy’s name is Israel and we met him one day when his friend was riding him on his tricicleta thing, and he rode up behind us and was shouting "Seeestersss.... Seestersss" and that’s normal cause people always try to say stuff in English to us. And when he came up to us we started talking and he was like "you speak Spanish??" and then we started talking and he introduced himself as one of the "original Mayans" whatever that means. He travels around the world teaching people how to do ancient Mayan rituals or something. So we set up a date to meet him in the plaza, and that day came and he didn't show up. BUT we ran into him AGAIN in the plaza in front of the Catholic convent, he has a little table where he sells stones and handmade, very Mayan looking jewelry, and he tells us to sit down and he puts his lighter up to this magical Mayan stone and tells me to put it on the back of my neck so I do, and then he was like "now all the bad energy is being released from your body." And he was talking about chakras, and energy, and all the stuff that mom loves! It was way cool. Anyways and he said  “I'm sorry I missed you guys I promise I really want to hear the word of God!!”  So we set up another day to see him and he wrote it on his pants so he wouldn't forget. Then THAT day came and it was raining, so we showed up late, afraid that he wouldn't be there, but he took cover under this little taco stand, and was eating tacos when we walked into the plaza, and he was like "SEESTERS!" so we went over and talked to him. Pretty much the funniest guy ever. He was like teach me let’s go! But it was raining so we really didn't have any place to go, and the least uncomfortable, biggest dry place close by was... Yeah that gigantic catholic church. And he was like OK let’s go! And I was super hesitant cause the place is full of monks and tourists and this day there was like some rally there and there was a ton of people in the streets marching and chanting "PAZ Y BIEN!!" and hugging and stuff. It was way weird... But anyways he was like "don't worry just follow my lead!" and we walk up and he's like "yeah and this is the convent, built in the year.. " pretending to be giving us a tour. But then he goes all crazy and is like yes look at me I'm Mayan! Take a picture! ‘cause all the crazy people started shouting and the tourists were taking pictures. And we were cracking up, and scared to death to enter the huge catholic church! But we did. And we taught him there. And we set a baptismal date there. IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. with a Mayan hippie. 

Also I held a snake that day. I'll send a picture. 

Anyways this guy Israel is way funny. I'll definitely have to tell you more stories about him later.

Ok that’s all the time I have for today!  Love you all!  See you in 9 months!

HS

...out of nowhere, something falls like on my head and starts crawling to my ear.

7 July 2014

Ok well Izamal....

This area is PURE JUNGLE!! 

Its kinda rough not gonna lie. Ok well not really, I'm just comparing it to my last area Ticul which was like the best area ever. But its good. It's big and we walk a ton. I think I already told you guys that though. So we don't have a church, its all destroyed, I don't know HOW we're going to baptize people without a font, but I'm not super worried about that cause first we have to find people to baptize. The elders who were here before us, left a ton of people for us to visit, but EVERY time we go to find one of them, the address is wrong or they`re not home or something, so we've been doing A LOT of street contacting and walking around, but teaching very few lessons. There's this one lady Maria  who could be pretty potente [prepared] but she needs to go to church.. Her "husband" is a recent convert and that's always like super good motivation for someone to get baptized, but the problem is one, the church thing, and two, they may or may not have gotten divorced and are still living together. Why? well I wish I knew..

PAUSE. Ok guess what just happened to me like 2 seconds ago like right just now.  I'm sitting here writing to you guys in this little ciber, and out of nowhere, something falls like on my head and starts crawling to my ear. So I naturally flip out and try to shake it off. And it turns out it's an IGUANA. It just jumps on to my screen like nothing had happened, crawls around for a second, then jumps on the wall and runs off. Only here. 

Speaking of iguanas, Today I saw a picture of my old zone leaders skinning an iguana, preparing to eat it.... My old zone leaders were so much cooler in Ticul than here!!! They're good here, and honestly much more focused and serious, but they're so strict and boring... 

Last night, our district leader Elder R calls and he's like, hey you guys have to come to Merida tomorrow at 7:30 for a meeting and if you want breakfast, show up at this hotel at 7. sketchy... But so we go (By the way we have to wake up at 3:15 in the morning to get to Merida on time!!) but we go, and turns out president paid for all the missinoaries to have this super nice breakfast in this super nice hotel and with a bunch of other zones including Ticul! So I got to catch up with everyone.

 OH MY GOSH!!! NEWS FROM HERMANA T IN TICUL!!!!! Moises, remember my convert, the kid who had drug issues and his mom came looking for help and he totally changed his life around and got baptized? Yeah ok he is taking classes to prepare to receive the priesthood, and he's going to baptize his sister!!!! AND he's preparing the sacrament!!! Oh my gosh I cannot describe the feelings of pride I have. It's so exciting. I literally almost started crying. So we spent forever today in Merida, and just got back and have kinda been robbed of our p day, but whatever. One of these days we'll go climb the pyramids or do something cool in this area.

Yes I love my little house, and I will always be sleeping in my hammock, but I love it. 

Ok I love you all! Write to you next week! Bye!

HS