November 3, 2014

ok... this week was unreal. Like best week of my mission so far. 

I don´t think I have ever worked harder or played harder in my entire life. I completely fell in love with Mexico and its traditions and people and you could not have payed me to come home this week.

Mexico for the win.

Funny how in all of my emails this week almost ALL of you said I hope you survived Day of the Dead haha but let me tell ya, I didn´t just survive it but I lived it and partied it up...

as much as a missionary can party anything up ha

But from the beginning of the week: Halloween in Mexico is super awesome because it literally lasts for a week. Kids go trick or treating every single night for the entire week leading up to the 31st of Octoboer. 

And the funniest thing?? They are all dressed up as Catrinas or Catrinos which are skeletons. So every single night this week when we would be walking around at night there were thousands of little skeletons running around with their parents who also had their faces painted like skeletons and who were wearing the traditional costumes and black veils.

It was so awesome. And remember how I can barely handle how cute these Mexican kids are? Dress them up in little skeleton outfits and I am dyinggg. 

But anyways the night of Halloween we went to our chapel where they were holding a single adult dance and so we helped set up decorations and paint faces and strighten hair and help with costumes and then sadly we had to peace out and head back home. 

In bed by 10:30..... thats the missionary life for ya. Party on. 

Alright so that was Halloween cool cool. But Day of the Dead? Unreal. Like so so unreal. 

First of all, Day of the Dead is a Catholic tradition so none of our members celebrated it but every one else in Puebla sure does. Day of the Dead is on November 1 and 2 and basically its to honor the dead, and greet their presence in your home, and give them food and things that they like. 

On every corner of the street this week were huge bushels of bright orange flowers and what you do is you buy the flowers, pluck the petals off and sprinkle them in a path leading up to your front door in hopes of leading the dead to your house. Then you have a alter with candles and food and beer and anything else the dead person liked. The cemetaries were also filled with tables standing over the grave with food and music and things like that. 

We got invited to a fiesta for Day of the Dead celebration from our investigator Rosario and so of course we went. She also invited her entire family which freaked us out cause we know they dont like us very much but it went super smoothly. Her entire house was decorated, we ate all of the traditional food (i literally gained back triple the weight I lost with the parasite) and the coolest thing? We played dominos and cards and other games from my childhood. And to finish off the night? Traditional singing, dancing, cake and watching the America vs. Mexico futbol game.

Seriously I was in Heaven and I felt like I was at home. We ate, relaxed and just had a great time. I might not be celebrating Thanksgiving this year with all of my family but I celebrated Day of the Dead and it was just as good. 

We had to be in our house superrr early those 3 nights though. Since it is Day of the Dead, people really do call upon Spirits and as we all know, not all spirits are good spirits. We had to be in our house by 8:00 which was good because even as early as 8 people were doing these weird chants in the streets calling upon the dead and all sorts of crazy stuff.

After all of the horror stories I have heard from members and my companion about spirits and day of the dead, I was pretty relieved to be in my little ghetto Mexican house where the Holy Ghost is the only spirit present.

ha.

Anyways this week was a party. party. party. But we also worked our butts off this week. We have a total of 12 investigators and I am in love with every single one of them.

I also got to teach about the first vision 3 times this week (which is my favorite lesson) and its cool because I always see miracles with this lesson.

The miracle of this week?

So we are in the chapel teaching a 19 year old girl Daniella. We were trying to watch the first vision movie but for some stupid reason there were constructions workers working on the plumbing and cleaning out the pipes and there were about 5 different machines going on in different parts of the chapel. 

Well the movie wasn´t going to well. We couldn´t hear anything well and the noise was distracting and I just wanted soooo badly for her to feel the spirit.

And so I prayed. I told God that I didn´t need a big miracle and I didn´t need a sign to know that he was there because I already know that for a fact. But I asked him to help Daniella feel the spirit. And then I asked him to somehow stop the noise.

And do you know what happened? The second Joseph Smith knelt down in that grove to pray, one by one every single one of those machines stopped until it was completely silent when God spoke and presented his son Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith. 

And then after the vision and Joseph runs back to his home every single one of those machines started back up again. 

But for the most important part it was silent. And I was just trying to hold back my tears. Yes, I didn´t see God the Father or his Son like Joseph saw but the answer to my prayer wasn´t any less real than his. 

And Daniella felt something different for the first time in her life.

That is why I love being a missionary. Sometimes I wish I could share what I feel with others or give my spiritual experiences to those that need it more in their lives but I guess that is just one tender mercy that God gives to his missionaries. The blessing of being able to see God actively work his miracles on a daily, minute to minute basis. The blesing of being able to feel the spirit every second throughout the day. And the blessing of laying down to bed at night and knowing without a doubt that there is a God who knows and loves us and that he has a perfect plan for each of us. 

And I felt just that so many times this week. Our investigators are struggling. Some barely have enough food to eat. Others are having problems with their families. But I am lucky enough to help them receive something of greater significance  with plenty of peace, comfort and joy to go around. 

Gahh being a missionary is awesome. I don´t want this transfer to end. My comp is unreal. By far my favorite comp in my mission. Our elders are awesome. We had our own halloween party and it was the craziest thing I have ever seen. I got a flu shot and nothing bad happened. For p-day we played tourist and went on a tourist bus and saw the entire city. I have eaten soooo many good sweets this week. And I am just having fun and enjoying being in Mexico with these people.

Being a missionary is cool. You should all try it. ha.

Hope everyone is doing good. Love and miss you all!

Hermana Wells

Mexico #3

Ok. My last email last week was all funny and happy......but this week was down right hard. and humiliating. and terrible. With some awesome and funny moments mixed in of course. 

First of all, this language is killing me. Killing me. And i know I sound like such a baby when I say that because its only Spanish, but I am sick of not understanding anything. And Im sick of not being able to say anything back. 

This week we had a big zone conference and so all of the new missionaries were put in a big room. It was awesome because I got to see my American sisters again and we all got to speak English. Its funny, I almost forget that I have a personality when I speak English. Im actually not really a lifeless blob. Who knew? And it was sooooo good because neither of them can understand anything or speak anything either so Im not completely stupid either...

Anyways all of the Americans had to leave to get fingerprinted except for me (why is it always me) and so I was the only American among a ton of latinos. And wanna know what happened??? Role playing. And the terrible American Elder that led the activity called on me every time.

Every time.

 And I could not understand what he was saying. And all of those stupid latino girls were laughing and laughing.

Seriously I was ready to punch each of them in their mouths.

So that was exciting. And awful. 

Other than the whole Spanish thing, life is ok. Its been raining allot here and so there have been so many times where because of the wind my comp and I have gotten completely drenched to the point where we are wringing out our clothes before going in for teaching appoitments. Then we sit and shiver during the lesson and because everyone had tin roofs you cant hear a thing. So Im even more useless than normal. Haha its been great. 

Oh well heres a funny story for you. So were walking along and suddenly I feel this huge rock hit my head! And Im all like, oh no, somebody DID NOT just throw a rock at my head.

But turns out nobody threw anything. And it wasnt a rock. It was a freaking huge hail ball. Seriously a little smaller than a golf ball. And then all of the sudden it starts hailing these huge hail chuncks! And all I can think is, these are going to break through my umbrella. 

I soon learned that thats why every car here has cracks in their windows. I thought people just threw rocks at them. Nope. Guess not. 

HAHA ok this is my favorite moment this week. So Mexicans are very honest people. And when we went to a eating appoitment the woman looked at my comp and said, you have pimples! I have a rememdy to clear those right up! And so she starts making this bubbly, acid to put on my comps face. Well if you can imagine, the acid cleared the acne right up!

It also burned off her skin.

The poor thing. She now has scabs. We were laughing the entire way home it was hillarious and all I could think was, of all the days for me not to have one skin blemish, today WAS THE PERFECT DAY not to have anything on my face. Little blessings, i tell ya. 

Teaching my comp English is going....great! She learned the words, pimples, Im going to pee my pants, and puke.........  She tries to use all 3 of those phrases everyday....

I should probably teach her some more useful words incase the president asks her what she has learned from me. Words like virtue, or family home evening or something like that haha

Anyways, we had a baptism on saturday! Little Mario was baptized in a freezing cold font but it was perfect and his mom balled the whole time. Gahh I love them to death. We also had 3 investigators show up so that was pretty cool.

Ok now for the hard stuff. We learned that one of our 10 year old investigators gets sexually abused every night by his uncle. Not knowing what to do next we told our president which got him worried because in the united states if a minister knows about abuse they are under obligation to tell authorities. So.... Mexico is like that also and so now we are involved in this whole legal issue of abuse. Its horrible.

And the icing on the cake, 

I spent a whole day in a Mexican hospital and lived to tell the tale!

I came down with a huge stomach infection from a parasite on Sunday and after not being able to stop from throwing up (seriously I threw up more times that one day than I have my entire life) the mission doctor told me I needed to go to the hospital. And let me tell you, it was the scariest experince of my entire life. I couldnt understand what they were saying and they kept poking me with needles and sticking IVs in me and I reacted badly to one of the medications and then I developed a fever and I was just praying that God would let me die haha it was misraeble.

And way annoying because I have never been a sick person. Ever. Until I decide to go on a mission where my body then decides to stop functioning. Its frustrating.

I feel better now and the medication through the IV actually really helped but Im on 5 different medications now and I dont know what they are for or why but I keep taking them. Its interesting.

But that was hard. And its hard because honestly with everything that has happened these past 3 weeks, I cant say that my mission is worth it. I know that the first few months are the hardest but if I could come home right this second nothing would stop me from doing so. I want to come home. I dont want to be sick anymore. Gahhhhh this is hard. I swear, missionaries NEVER talk about how hard this is. 

Anyways dont worry about me, Im hanging in there and IT IS GOING TO GET BETTER. I know that. Love you all. Enjoy civilized life for me!

Hermana Wells

Love the market with random pig heads hanging up!

Mario

Some really nice ward member came over with flowers for me before going to the hospital

Mexico #2

Well...after the interesting first week....Im still alive!

So we went in for interviews with the president this week and the first thing he said to me was, you are alive! Haha he heard about all of the interesting things that went down my first week and he and all of the american missionaries laughed and laughed and laughed and told me I had just experienced once of the worst first weeks they have ever heard of. Soo.... i know my first letter from Mexico was not exactly the happiest or most uplifting but now you know for a fact that I was not overreacting- it really was a HARD first week and everyone else thought so too haha. The president also then told me that my area is the most dangerous and ghetto area in the Puebla North mission and afte hearing more about my life when he first met me he said he sent me here because he knew I could handle it.

....Thanks President.....I guess....ha 

So yeah, this week was definitely a million times better than last week. For starters, we got PLUMBING which means no more bucket showers for me. 

Which is too bad because I was really getting the hang of showering out of a bucket. Im serious- it totally is a hidden talent of mine that I did not discover until here in Mexico! ha

We also got rid of all of the bed bugs and spiders that had infested our house so thats a huge plus. 

Along with getting house issues in order, this week was so good because I really focused on changing my attitude. I realized that I was missing so many blessings and miracles because they came from unexpectd places and often I focus on what and how I think things should be and I end up missing the beauty of what is. I love Mexico. I love the dirty streets and dirt roads. I love the fact that I go to bed exhausted everynight because I walk for miles everyday and I love, LOVE these people. I have met the most Christ like, humble people here and I just love them. Right now I am trying to love Spanish, and the drunk men that lunge at me and scare me. Haha it may take awhile but Im working on it.

Anyways this week was freaking crazy. It started off with cinco de mayo and the big parade and let me tell you, this parade was NOT anything like an American parade. We went with one of our investigators and I have seriously never seen so many people in my life try to squeeze onto bleachers. People were screaming and the Mexican police had their guns out and were shouting over loud speaking and yeah..it was crazy.

The funniest part? Ok so the parade was 3.5 hours long (kill me) and they went through the history of Mexico with floats. For some reason they had floats dedicated to specific countries and so I was pumped when the American float came out. It was decorated like the battle of Gettysburg and so they had a huge Abraman Lincoln, a flag, and cannon balls. Well they ended up lighting those cannon balls off and all of a sudden the entire float catches into flames!

I was basically sitting there like uhh...... did they just set fire  Abe Lincolns head on purpose??.....

Buttt by the way people started reacting I soon realized that it was totally an accident. They couldnt get enough water in time to put the fire out so it completely burned to the ground.

God bless America.

Also during the parade a man got bucked off a horse and died. Like I said, Mexico is crazy.

This week we also woke up to an earthquake. I have now been through 2 earthquakes and have lived. I am pretty much invincible to them now. hahah sike. Knock on wood, knock on wood.

Ok remember how in my last email I talked about how in Mexico all of the really mean dogs walk on the roofs? Well I wasnt kidding. So many times this week I pretty much had a heart attack by walking under a roof only to have a huge dog lunge at my face. So far they have all stayed on the roofs but I just know that the time will come when one actually decides to take that leap off and attack my face. Well anyways all of the dogs on the streets are super nice and laid back. Well most of them that is.

So Gonzales and I are walking past this house and I see 3 weiner dogs sitting there. And so I start to tell her about how my family once had a weiner dog and so for some stupid reason I get the idea that I am going to go over and pet them.

Im such an idiot. I know.

The second I get near them all three of them start attacking and lunging at us and so my companion takes off screaming and sprinting and all I can think is, shoot if I dont outrun her these weiner dogs are going to kill me and that would be a embarrasing cause of death that would be printed in the newspaper.

And so all of Mexico witnessed two missionaries screaming and running for their lives from 3 weiner dogs that WOULD NOT give up.

It was terrifying. And one of the funniest thigns that has ever happened to me. Seriously I was dying it was so funny. 

We also had alot of encounters with drunk men (as always) and I know my last letter freak some of you out but I want to let you know about the miracles that have happened this past week.

Miracle #1- So we had a late teaching appoitment and we were walking home in the dark which we try not to do. There were no taxis or buses in that part and so our only option was to walk really fast and pray really hard. Well we got to this one road we were trying to cross and all of a sudden we see this huge group of about 7 drunk men and they were coming straight for us and to be honest we were scared and I was not feeling good about the situation at all. And so I told my companion to keep her eyes open and I was going to say a prayer outloud in ENGLISH because I did not want to have to think really hard about saying one is spanish. The men were really close and were calling out to us when I ended my prayer and seriously seconds after I ended my prayer a car pulled up. It was a recent convert we didnt know. She pulled over and said, you guys are missionaries arent you? Do you need help? YES. She pulled up just in time those men approached us and got us out of there and home.

Miracle #2- Ok so in Mexico people have these metal doors that lock from the outside and can only be opened from the inside. The metal doors then lead to a hallways which leads to the front foor. Anyways, we were contacting people and ended up on a street with not many people. We had tried to visit a member and knocked on their gate but they wernt home and so we were standing outside their house talking about what to do next. Without warning a man came up and started talking to us and the next thing I know, he grabs me and wont let me go. Ok, I have never been that scared in my entire life. But the second he grabbed me there was a gust of wind and the members metal gate opened. I ended up being able to pull away and my companion and I ran through the metal door and slammed it behind us. We were completely safe. After, we stood there in complete shock because there was no one there on the other side to unlock the gate but it had opened for us exactly when we needed it to.

I know for a fact that God is mindful of his missionaries and I know more specifically that he is looking out for a Hermana Wells and a Hermana Gonzales. There are angels protecting us and I feel and see that protection on a daily basis. God is so so mindful.

Anyways so those two experiences were pretty amazing. Along with miraculous experiences with drunk men we have also had some hillarious ones. 

I got proposed to this week! He went to Jared! ha....not. For some reason I always thought my first proposal would be....less creepy..... haha but dont worry I shot that one down real quick.

We also were stalked by a man wearing a , I LOVE SATAN shirt. hahahaha it was hillarious. Bless his soul.

Being a missionary is pretty cool, in fact I kinda like this missionary thing. Being a missionary is seriously like being a pro stalker. We have little books with every detal of peoples lives written down and let me tell you, we can find ANYONE that we want. Investigators cant hide from us. Whenever we go searching for an investigator that seems to like to play the game, wheres Waldo, I always sing, one way or another Im gonna find ya, im gonna getcha getcha getcha

haha but really. I do. My comp loves it....i think. 

I also like being a missionary because I have completely fallen in love with these people. Right now we are teaching a recent convert, Guadulupe Estrella to read. She is 75 years old. Last time we taught her the alphabet and sounds. It is actually helping me with my spanish also! Haha. She seriously looks like a lamanite out of the BOM because she wears her long hair in 2 braids and she wears leather. She also gives us moldy fruit to take home. Gah, i love her. 

We are also working with the Juarez family who were just baptized. We are getting them ready to attend the temple to be sealed and they are by far my most favorite people in all of Mexico. They are also the poorest. Their house is smaller than my living room and they have dirt floors. When we teach them they let us sit on buckets and they all sit on the floor. They have so little but they are grateful for so much. Last time we taught them about the law of tithing. That is when we found out that the father doesnt have a job and they barely have enough to eat. But do you nkow what? They accepted it without any questions and I was dumbfounded. After the lesson the father said the closing prayer and thanked God for all of his many blessings and I just sat there thinking, every American needs to experience this. What more in life do we need then family and the Gospel? Nothing. 

The last family I am going to talk about is Maria and Mario. Maria was a prostitute and so she has 10 children from 10 different fathers. One of those children, Mario, found the gospel and wants to be baptized. We have been working with the family every single day and I have never seen such a drastic change in people. Mario (age 10) is going to be baptized this Saturday and we are helping Maria become worthy for baptism.

 I have never seen the atonement work such miracles in someones life before. I walk around all day and all I see are unhappy depressed people. But the people that have the gospel or are being exposed to it are different people. I am learning that the miracle of the atonement is not that it can help us through our difficulties but that it transforms us. Maria is changing. I can see it every day. The Juarez family has hope when others dont. Its amazing and I am so so grateful that Gd is granting me the chance to see him perfom his miracles among his children through the power of the atonement.

Haha ok heres a funny story for ya. So on Sunday we had 4 of our investigators at church- 2 of which have baptism dates. Anyways there is a special class for them after sacrament meeting. Anyways during this class the teacher decided to teach about the MIllenium. And like she went into DEPTH about the millenium. All about satans army and how we live happily but then he releases them all and freak I dont think I would have understood it even if it were in English! Our poor investigators. One of them kept leaning over to me and saying what is going on?!

I hear ya sister, I have no clue. 

I pretty much just sat there in horror and thought, well we might as well talk about where Kolob is.

Our poor investigators. 

Anyways thats about it. Lifes good. Spanish sucks. My companion is starting to understand how I feel because the president implemented a program and so I am teaching her English. It frustrates her so much and she hates it and I like, ok now you know how I feel ALL THE TIME! Haha seriously though Spanish is hard. And somtimes I worry that Im not progressing fast enough but I am seriously working my butt off and so I just have to tell myself to chill out and have patience. We will see if it works haha.

Best part of my week:

So I cant communicate with people the way I would like to yet and its been really bothering me because I want them to know how much I really do love and care for them and so this week I decided that if I couldnt talk to them, I could serve them. This week I was praying really hard about how I could serve and one morning I woke up and immediately thought about the Juarez family. Then I realized that they came dressed to church in rags every week because they didnt have anything else to wear. I asked my comp if I could give the mom and daughter some of my skirts and so on Saturday I went over to their house and gave them my favorite and best skirts and let me tell you, when I saw them walk into church that Sunday with those skirts, it was priceless. They wore those skirts better than I ever did and so it was meant to be.

Did I bore you all enough with this long letter? You wont hear from me for another 7 days so its all good. Love you all! 

Hermana Wells

P.S. I heard that Coldplay came out with a new album. Someone please listen to it and tell me how it is. PLease please pleaseeeeeeeee

Had to take a picture of the number someone gave me...

You know how couples take pictures after they have been engaged well i couldn't let the tradition die! this is a pic of us after the guy proposed.

Mexico #1

ok. Where do I even start

first of all i am writing on a mexican keyboard so i dont know how to do punctuation. no im not stupid i just dont have time to figure it out haha

anyways. This week was the hardest, most frustrating, most miserable, most facinating week in my entire life.

no joke.

For starters I am in La Paz Mexico, in the Machille branch.

It is ghetto. and so so poor. the streets are covered in filth. drunk men lay everywhere and there are about as many dogs as people roaming around.

There is little work here as most of the men sit on the side walk and stare off into space. 

my house is even more ghetto if you can imagine haha. our neighbors strung bird cages all around it so we have a million birds, and there are rabbits and cats and dogs that roam around. Its kinda funny' the dogs on the street are actually really nice! But its the dogs on the roof that you have to watch out for., Not even kidding, there are dogs on roofs. At night I fall asleep to (not reindeer) but dogs running and jumping around on our roof.

Its pretty interesting. Thank goodness for earplugs

We walk everywhere. you should see the blisters on my feet! Haha the other day a blister poped open and some really gross water got in it and so I poured hand sanitizer on it. Yeah not a good idea. But hey, its healing up nicely now

We buy all of our water in big tubs. Yesterday was fast Sunday and we forgot to buy a tub of water the day before so I went without any water all of yesterday. I thought I was going to die.

The food here is ok...... the people make this thick brown soup and everytime I have to eat it I seriously am afraid that it is going to come back up. So far I havent been sick! I dont know if its the digestive pills mom gave me or if its by teh grace and mercy of god but i havent been sick

Its dangerous here. Im having a hard time seeing why god would send a white girl here. everytime something sketchy happens we have to call our district leader.

I am not going to give you any details but lets just say that our district leader already hates me. we have had to call him so many times.

Im tired of feeling scared all the time. Im tired of being stared at. Im tired of feeling like a burden to my companion. She worries so much about my safety.

I havent had a shower in 3 days because we havent had running water for a while. the last shower i had was out of a bucket. 

i cant speak a lick of spanish nor understand it. It is so frustrating.

The members here are great and are so  nice to me. Dont worry im in good hands. 

I love the kids here. they are way cuter than american kids.

i know i just dissed my future children. sorry not sorry.

whenever we pass kids they run up to us and kiss us on our cheecks. they are so so cute.

We got bed bugs the other day in our house. Right now our house is being fumegated and we had to bag up all of our clothes and hand wash them all. Im exhausted. And i have bed bug bites all over my legs and face. They pop open a few minutes after you get them and ooze everywhere. Its digusting. 

anyways sorry this letter is so short. we have no time because of a little sketchy situation that happened a few minutes ago and it took up all of our writing time.

hopefully you will hear more from me later. 

Seriously this is so hard and I am so homesick. The only reason I have not demanded to go home is i know that it can only get better from here. It seriously cant get any worse.

I keep telling myself to forget myself and get lost in the work. But i cant work because I cannot communicate to these people. Its terrible.

I can handle bed bugs and not showering and dirt roads, but its hard being totally alone. Oh and im sick of talking to myself all the time.

Mission President and his wife

My one light bulb in my room!

ferocious dog on the roof

A really nice girl gave me her coat because it was raining really hard.

Dog looks like a mop

Unofficial first Mexico letter!

Ok so I'm in MEXICO now! After mechanical issues with the plane, and many delays we arrived in Puebla around midnight last night. I was soooo exhausted but our mission presidents are SO AWESOME and they let us all sleep in a little bit. Anyways first impressions of Meixco:

Its hot and humid like Hawaii. I slept with no blankets last night and ALL the windows open

It smells like smoke all the time because of the active volcano

You cannot flush toilet paper down the toilets. theres a bin next to the toilet where you put the paper

you have to light the burner for hot water every morning

I get my comp tonight

I don't understand any spanish

theres dirt roads

this is a 3rd world country to the max

We live in cement houses that look like garages

theres 215 missionaries in Puebla. There are only 15 AMERICAN GIRLS INCLUDING US

I'm slightly terrified but I am stoked out of my mind to be here

Anyways more to come next week. Sure do love you all!

Mom- I've started taking all of my digestive pills so I should hopefully be good

PRAY FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO I DON'T DIE! HAHA