Week 37 - November 3, 2014 - Halloween

On Saturday the 1st, Day of the Dead, which is the day kids dress up to trick or treat instead of the 31st, the neighborhood was full of kids dressed up as just about everything, with their parents, some dressed up and some not.

 

One of my favorite things about the week was this:

A car passed by an a little grinning sparkly pumpkin popped her head out of the window and shouted at us, I like your costumes! We laughed and laughed at that one - and said it's a good thing we put in effort putting on our costumes this morning.

 

We ran into them again coming back up the same street, now out of the car. It turns out that the family is LDS and the little pumpkin told us again that she liked our costumes. We asked her if she was going to wear the same costume when she was big, and she said yes. She also told us very proudly that her mouth was painted. (she was very excited to have makeup on.. I think she was probably 5). I have to say, this is my favorite costume I've ever worn.

 

I know now a little bit more about where I am. It's a set of three or four neighborhoods, and while it's not QUITE as green as where I was, we have a river with GIANT trees that we cross whenever we go to San Jose Terán. We share the ward with another set of missionaries, Elders, and our bishop is also the mission doctor. The members spoil us - yesterday we ate brownies with vanilla icecream after enchiladas with mole and quesadillas.

 

Remember who you are - a child of the being who created EVERYTHING. You have unlimited potential, and you have all the tools you need to do everything He asks of you. When we do that, He has promised us innumerable blessings.

 

Love,

Hermana Juliana

 

Week 36 - October 27, 2014 - Lots of news.

New companion, new area, new city... Which is actually a CITY. It's kind of startling. Here we go new place. My area is Terran, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, and I really don't know anything about it. I started my mission six hours from the mission home and have been there for seven months, so I really have no idea what there is here. 

This week was a bit odd - we had a few really excellent lessons, a few really strange lessons, got rained on a lot, Ana got baptized, a few people hid from us (while it was raining - it was pretty funny. We knocked on the door, they opened it, and the next thing we knew after walking away for a minute the door was closed and the lights were off). 

I was thoroughly amused by a comparison Hermana Peine made last night when they told us the transfers. She, being from a small city in Utah, popped her bubble in a big way moving to Utah. She called my transfer from Cacahoatan to Tuxtla 'moving from Leeds to Mexico'. I'll let you know in a week how right she is. 

So, there you go family and friends. I'm in Tuxtla, ready for an adventure. One of my favorite quotes is there's no comfort in a growing zone and no growing in a comfort zone. Seems about right to me. 

Love,

Hermana Juliana

1. Cacahoatán relief Society! 

2 :( bye Hermana Peine!

Week 35 - October 20, 2014 - No Ants

Happy Monday!

The ants have not come back, for the most part. There are a few of the giant ones who are adventurous enough to come all the way in, but I stepped on one this morning so take that ants, they won't be back. (Either that or they'll come try to take revenge. I'm not sure which).

This is week 6 of my 5th transfer in Cacahoatan. In normal person time, that's 7.5 months in this beautiful place. I won't know until next week if they're going to let me stay. I think that life would be so much easier if we didn't love people and put down roots - then we would be able to just pick up and go without having to hurt. But life wouldn't be nearly as rich. With an eternal perspective, goodbyes don't hurt so much. 

But I get ahead of myself. This week I am in Cacahoatan still and we have a ton to do. Our friend Ana is getting baptized on Saturday, and we have a full planner ahead of us. We ran into lots of people this week who haven't been to church in years (yes Mom, we apologized), and taught a couple of them as well. We were sad Saturday night because one of them had told us that she wouldn't be in Cacahoatan the next day and wouldn't be able to come to church. But then she walked in on Sunday morning!! A little bit late, but it was absolutely the best feeling. That's why we put down roots, so we can shout for joy when good things happen in our friends lives.

Funny story of the week: a 3 years old boy who's mom we are teaching had a race car onsey that he wanted to put on. He came out with the arms on inside out, mom corrected it and sent him back to go put it on correctly. He was very creative - he got it backwards, inside out and upside down before finally being able to happily zip it all the way up. THEN, dressed, he proceeded to pull all of the the clothes out of the dresser. So we then we helped him look for the socks' friends and determining if each peice was his or his sister's. 

Oh, we also had exchanges this week. Hermana Zuñiga and I had a great time in Tapachula. It rained just enough for the city to not be a furnace, we saw day old puppies, ate with a sister who collects frog figurines, and had several awesome lessons. 

Life is lovely, the church is true, and I love being a missionary. Don't forget to read your scriptures :) 

Love,

Hermana Juliana

The picture: Turns out talking on the phone and carrying eggs is fine, until you try to walk through the door :( We decided it was like the middle school physics experiments, and all but one egg failed.

Week 34 - October 13, 2014 - The Battle with the Ants

This week we were invaded by ants. Big ants the length of my thumb nail, ants the size of a hyper active grain of sand, and medium size ants. They were swarming all over the wall next to Hermana Peine's desk. We moved the table out back so we wouldn't fumigate ourselves while studying (see attached, though DEFINITELY not posed picture ;) ) and then went at it with the bug spray interrupting their newly created but well traveled highways on our wall. When we came back in after planning we discovered that it had been raining ants. Instead of a wallpaper we had a carpet of them. (yay for brooms!) 

But here's what I learned: if you attack ants, they attack back. After the first round of bugspray several of them ended up on my feet and they quite angrily started biting my toes ''Take that giant human! (chomp) and that! (crunch). The little things don't bark but their bites sting, for sure. Here's the thing though: I'm much bigger than them. And I have a can of bug venom. They never had a chance. 

Doctrine and Covenants3:1 Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men. Basically, if we choose our Father in Heaven, we choose the winning team. The Adversary has hundreds and hundreds of ants that bite, but we have prayer, the scriptures, and living prophets to guide us, all of which beat up those pesky ants without a problem. 

On non-ant related things, this week was an excellent week. We got to spend some time with a sister, Nelda, who was one of the first members of the church in this part of Mexico. She no longer sees or hears very well, and she uses a walker, but her conviction of the truth of the Gospel isn't shaken. We invited her to a baptism and she was so happy to be invited and asked us to tell her every time there was a church activity. 

We also had a lesson with a gentleman I remember talking to almost at the beginning of my mission. I was kind of skeptical going in, to be perfectly honest. It turned out to be one of my favorite lessons of the week. He was interested in learning, very polite, although with zero interest of changing belief systems. But the whole point: INVITE, was really driven home to me in that lesson. 

The most important parts of my week are small things - lessons, asking for and being super excited upon receiving references from members, a testimony that was particularly touched me, conversing with Sister Vicky about her mission years ago, finding out that there are free weddings (for so many people we teach the 1000 pesos is a huge impediment) and things that maybe aren't that interesting to write home. But the people are so much more important than the ants. 

Love,

Hermana Juliana

P.S. we ate the whole bag of animal crackers, it was from last Monday's grocery trip. 

Week 33 - October 6, 2014 - The Stove has Seen it All

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there was a stove. It was a humble little two burner stove, but he was happy helping the humans make their breakfast. He wondered, however, how long he would have to stand the ever-growing layer of grease, egg and pancake batter that was weighing him down.

 

You see, being a stove, he couldn't simply walk to the tank and rinse himself off. He felt helpless, and sad, as day in and day out his human friends didn't seem to notice his dilemma.

 

FINALLY, after months of waiting, he saw the sponge and the cleaner sit down next to him. The sponge turned brown, rinsed off, and turned brown again over and over and over again, but eventually he turned from grease color to shiny black once again. The humble little stove wanted to shout for joy. He never could have done it alone.

 

Poor little stove. It took a lot of scrubbing, and now he's being used and getting dirty again. Fortunately, we don ́t have to wait months and months to clean of the stove surface. We don't have to wait to make goals and plans to change our lives. We, unlike the stove, can choose when to pick ourselves up and wash ourselves off, but like the stove we can't do it completely alone.

 

If I know nothing else (which isn't true because I actually know lots of things) I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. When I no longer can, he makes up the difference.

 

This week was long, and more tiring than usual. I thoroughly enjoyed it - we got caught in a crazy rainstorm and all of our 'we're 100% certain they'll be there' appointments fell through at the same time. We decided to try carrying our groceries the eighteen blocks back from the supermarket, also in the rain, spent a day in Santo Domingo (my new favorite place) and of course, got to watch General Conference. And it was still tiring. For the first time in a while we had several days in a row where no one was home or didn't want us to come in.

 

But back to the stove. Unlike him, we get to choose. Our attitude, our time use, our priorities. And once we decide and give it our all, usually we fall short. But He makes it so we don't fall down. So enjoy it!

 

Enjoy the moments when the people you talk to in the street look at you really confused before walking away. Enjoy learning from your companion that you bend and straighten both pinkies simultaneously while holding a cookie and talking on the phone (I clearly learned my lesson from Spongebod - pinky out! even though air is not good Patrick, air is not good, doesn't quite apply).

 

Enjoy eating quesadillas, mocking your companion for putting ketchup on them and discovering it's not actually terrible. Enjoy seeing kittens play fighting in a sister's house. Enjoy getting to write your name in concrete on someone's front walk (seriously, who lets missionaries do that? Our ward is the best) And enjoy the people around you.

 

I sound about as cliche as missionary emails get, but I love being here. I love waking up every morning with the most glorious cause of all time and eternity to work for. I love what I learn every day about me, my Father in Heaven and about his perfect plan.

 

Here's my general conference quote: remember which way you face. And here's me quoting me: remember you're not a stove. So get up and do some good.

 

Love,

Hermana Juliana

 

Week 32 - September 29, 2014 - Children like them...

It's creeping closer and closer to the end of the year, and it's weirding me out. December is going to take us all by surprise.

 

We had a lovely week this week - Mary was baptized (Yay!), we had a huge long meeting with the mission President, and it's still raining pretty much every day.

 

Awkward experience of the week - I asked a young woman we were teaching what is what she wants for her daughter (the three year old was sitting on her dad's lap, who was sitting next to her) AND it turns out they were cousins. Oops. When you're trying to get to know people and don't know how they're related, those kinds of things happen. I did get a different one right though! Someone we knew and her friend came to say hi to us in the street and I successfully guessed that they were cousins. Although, every day someone asks Hermana Peine and I if we're twins... I think it's because we're exactly the same height. Who knows.

 

We ate this really awesome candy this week for Hermana Molina's birthday. It comes as an extended leaf of sugar between two pieces of plastic. You take off the top one and fold down the sugar leaf until it's lollipop size. Hermana Diznarda kept saying 'a los niños les gusta' and considering that we were thoroughly amused by them and they were yummy that implies that we're children.

 

On Wednesday, the power kept going out sporadically because of a thunderstorm. The first time, I pulled out the cell phone to turn on it's flashlight (mom, it's the same kind of flashlight as the one on the little phone I was so proud of). The same little girl who's parentage I mistook was worried about the dark, so the second time they went out she pried the phone out of my hands and started walking around the house with it, and would promptly give it back when the lights came back on. She's pretty darn smart, she always asks us about balloons because the first time we met her we gave her one.

 

I'm really grateful for everything that I get to be a part of on a daily basis - being a missionary is incredible. I love all the little things, like being given a second pack of cookies, talking to half a van about prophets, the clear view of Takana we get walking to church on Sundays, and I know life doesn't need to be one giant exciting moment after another to be an adventure. Those small things like crazy weird looking bugs and splitting an alambre are things that count. See Alma 37:6 - it's the small moments that make it possible to move forward diligently and face the moments that aren't as pleasant. On my planner I have a picture of upper Punch Bowl Falls (courtesy of Dad) and on it I wrote, all things denote there is a God. Alma 30:44. Looking it up is your homework.

 

Love,

Hermana Juliana

 

(for those who might be wondering, the bird won the staring contest)

 

Week 31 - September 22, 2014

This week, we visited two cities that are in our area but are far away. For those who are google inclined (mom...) they're Santo Domingo and Union Juarez. I had been to Union Juarez before, but Santo Domingo was new to me, even though it's closer. There's a family that lives who's daughter is just amazing. She remembers going to church eight years ago and decided that she wanted to come back, and she brought her sister and a friend. Her sister is determined to keep coming as well, and wants to be baptized in October!

 

Something that I love about this place - people are super friendly. Our day in Union Juarez we took a sack lunch (we're super American - it was ham sandwiches with crackers and apples). There wasn't really any place to sit, so we chose a sidewalk and asked the lady sitting outside of her house if she would lend a piece of it for a while. When we started pulling out our food she immediately told us to come inside to eat.

 

We had a zone activity this week - all of the missionaries from the stake have been preparing as a choir. It was kind of worrisome when at 10 to five there was no one there, but people showed up, and it ended up being lovely. It's always fun to see members from other places at activities - for example, someone who just moved into our ward from Tuxtla knew pretty much all of the Sister missionaries because they had been in his ward.

 

Also with the activity, we made a lovely poster. It was a group effort. Hermana Oliver drew the temple and Hermana Peine and I did the background. It turned out rather nice, didn't it?

 

Something I learned this week: we get to choose our priorities. And we always have someone to turn to to ask if our efforts have been enough. Not our neighbors, or even our companion - our Heavenly Father.

 

Have a lovely week,

Hermana Juliana