Semana 13 - Tranfers this week! Staying in Tonala!

I mentioned in the last letter that I traveled to Tapachula on my Pday.  That night we slept at the casa (home) of the Capacitadoras (trainers) for that area and then Tuesday morning we traveled to Tuxtla, which is a 5 hour bus ride.  Tuxtla is currently a bit sketchy because there are a lot of people on strike, so a ton of people are just kind of gathered and then a parking lot distance away there’s a few hundred law enforcement in their riot gear and everything.  Some roads are closed because of this.  Tuxtla actually has some stores like Walmart, and stoplights and laws. In Tonala, the game is “How many people can we fit in this taxi?” and no one wears seat belts ever, a lot of taxi backseats don’t even have them.  In Tuxtla, we had to convince the taxi driver to let us put 4 people in the backseat and he wouldn’t let us even put 2 in the front seat.  Apparently because Tuxtla is a big city, there are actually rules. 

Anyway so when we got to the mission home we got permission to go to San Cristobal, another one of Hermana Juarez’s areas for the afternoon.  San Cristobal is in the mountains so the drive up was gorgeous.  We were looking down on clouds and the city and it was actually a bit cold.  It was amazing!  Did I mention it’s COLD?  San Cristobal is a bit of tourist spot because it’s super interesting and they sell basically everything cool that there is to buy in Mexico.  Also, there are a ton of indigenous people living there who speak Tzotzil, a Mayan dialect.  My companion, for the past 6 weeks, who has been my trainer, is absolutely amazing.  She’s like my mom, friend, teacher, and sister all in one.  She has a degree in nutrition and nails from Michoacan, Mexico.  She just had her 24^th birthday on Monday. Wahoo!  Anyway while visiting this awesome city I found out that she speaks Tzotzil which is so cool and so hard to learn and is the result of her serving in San Cristobal.  We did a lot of touristy shopping and all in all had a fun day. 

On Wednesday I had my first hot shower in 6 weeks and it was possibly the best part of my day.  Then the worst part of the day was when I had to say goodbye to Hermana Juarez.  I was a crying mess as we were driving in the taxi to the bus station.  The Capacitadoras (trainers) Hermana Conde & Ruvalcaba, have been my companions for the week.  Hermana Juarez left a little before the transfer ended because she had a test she had to take for school.  So we arrived at Arriaga and proselyted there for the day and at night went to Tonala. 

Thursday morning we had a zone meeting and the plans were that I would proselyte with a member that evening and for part of the next day because the capacitadoras had a meeting in a different zone.  However, all plans hit the fan when I got chikungunya.  Basically during the meeting for the first 2 hours I was freezing cold plus my stomach had been hurting really badly all morning.  So then we had a break and then 2 hours after the break is when things really started to go downhill.  I was still freezing but my skin was burning up, stomach hurting, and my whole body just overall felt terrible. My ankles, back, and hips hurt and I felt pretty weak.  After the meeting I started crying and got a blessing but I still felt terrible, so an Elder took my temperature and it was up to 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 F) so things, if even possible, got even worse.  It was raining outside and there wasn’t a hospital in Tonala so we were just supposed to go to a consultant and then you can buy meds next door at the Pharmacy.  It was raining so all the taxis were full, so a member gave me a ride.  The dad was driving and the mom was putting rags out the window so they’d be wet while her daughter put the said rags on my face and body. The district leaders, zone leaders, and capacitadoras waited at the church for a taxi.  We got to the consultant place and there was a line and it was still raining and I was still crying and everyone was still dabbing me with wet rain water rags and at this point my fever was at 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) so the freak out is super real.  Finally I go in to the consultant with Hermana Ruvalcaba, who has super good English and she explained everything to me and when she said I had chikungunya and that it was a mosquito borne illness my level of surprise was nonexistent because who didn’t see this coming? I did.  I totally saw this coming, so they prescribed me some pretty good medicine and 3 days of rest minimum. 

So now I’m in Arriaga and basically all I did for 3 days was drink juice and eat bread and sleep, and of course swat mosquitoes.  I’m way better now and even the day after, Friday, I was feeling better.  I guess if you don’t rest though it can come back and often it comes back in 6 months.  I’ve had a lot of free time though so I’ve been trying to get through the Bible, since basically everyone we teach is Catholic.  The rest of my week has been very boring and restful.  Though I have to mention . . . transfers are in! I’m staying in Tonala and my new trainer is Hermana Limon!  I haven’t met her yet so all the details I have to give is her name.  I will write more about her next week.  This has been a hard week but I am grateful for your prayers, helpful members and missionaries, and medicine.  Con mucho amor, Hermana Dangl  

On the drive up to San Cristobal.