Semana 21 - Bugs as roommates & baptism in the river

Friends and Family,

I hope all is well at home.  I realize I left out like a million things in my last letter due to lack of time.  So I’ll unload all the stuff I forgot to say about last week first and then get to the week that just passed.  Okay, new companion, new room, (not a house) though technically a house, new area that is HUGE.  Highlights: rains a lot and one day when it started to pour, we hid out under the sun shade of a Cerveceria (Beer store).  We contacted the worker and sang a hymn and midway through a truck full of people pulled up and started piling out and unloading stuff, but really fast because it was raining.  There was one man directing everything but he did it with a turtle in one of his hands, for reasons I will probably never know.  We left and braved the rain very soon after this. 

Another highlight traveling in a combi (mini bus) to visit a member and finding out she has a garden of weird fruits, some of which I mentioned last time.  She also grows mini pineapples.  Another highlight we got to make empanadas with a member and they were amazing.  We actually eat a lot less stereotypical Mexican food than you’d think and a lot more of rice and chicken dishes.  So they were really exciting to eat and make. 

This week  a LOT of different stuff happened.  First off, I think I mentioned that our area is HUGE.  Sometimes we have to travel and take a lot of combis.  On Tuesday we traveled to Bonanza to visit Hermana Lulu, who was actually baptized this past Saturday.  Yay!  We ate Pozoli, a soup of corn and meat, usually from pork.  It’s very typical of Chiapas, which is the state of Mexico that I live in.  When we got back that night we found out that our cuarto (room) no longer belonged to us but rather a horde of large, LARGE, red ants.  It’s not a joke when people say that the bugs in Central and South America are BIG, it’s true.  Bugs are everywhere here.  We currently have quite a few crickets living in our walls too, and they very graciously serenade us all night, every night.  Sometimes the salamanders (they live in the curtains) join in too so it’s like a full on symphony.  We’re blessed, I know!  :o) 

On Thursday we traveled to Bonanza again. When we returned though, we got stopped by the Migration Police. Hermana Arellano says they’ve never asked her for her green card even though her combis have been stopped plenty of times.  For me however, it’s EVERYTIME.  They don’t even try to pretend like they’re random selections like the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) does, they just zoom in on me and demand my papers. It’s very fun this time though because I forgot my green card in my cuarto (room) in Mapa and apparently my brain because I know better.  My companion didn’t have hers because they never ask her for it but they asked me who I was with and I told them who my companion was and so they asked for her card too.  Of course, even the thought of two young girls—missionaries running loose in Mexico without their papers is too much to handle, so we got to accompany the officers to their office about 30 minutes away.  When they got there we were chastised a lot but we obviously weren’t the dangerous illegals they supposed us to be so once they (easily) found us in the system we were all good. I think my favorite part of all this was that when they told us to get out the combi, the other passengers were like, “No, they’re sisters who teach the word of God,” and the officer was like “Yeah, but they didn’t bring their papers,” and some other passengers were like “Nooooo, the sisters preach the gospel and are good people.”  We didn’t actually know any of these other people cramped into the van with us but apparently they knew us. 

On Friday we went to Sesecapa to visit a member, the one I think I mentioned who grows cool fruit.  I tried 2 more new fruits I can’t keep up with all the names but it’s kind of become a bit of a game.  On Saturday, was the baptism of Hermana Lulu! The baptismal font is actually outside at this church because it’s actually a big house they turned into a church, but the water that came out of the faucet was pretty brown (like I can’t see through it brown) so we moved the baptism to the river.  This water is also brown but it looks a lot prettier and it’s moving so that makes it better. 

Sunday, Lulu was confirmed so she’s officially a member!  All of her family members are already members, so her kids were all super excited for her to join them.  After we taught 2^nd hour Gospel Principles, President Toledo, the Branch President, surprised us with the generous gift of also teaching in Relief Society for the 3^rd hour.  Missionary work totally prepares you for this kind of stuff, but is also kind of stressful to not have plans and gotta be ready to teach at any moment though.  President Toledo literally passed us the The Liahona (Ensign-New Era-Friend) magazine and went to teach Primary.  We couldn’t teach primary this week because there were some little kids and as missionaries we can’t man handle the children. It all worked out though.  After church we went to the area called Jubileo to eat and proselyte.  It was kind of jungley which was cool.  I tried a fruit that is all bumpy and green but inside is very pink and mushy.  I also learned how to cast a net to catch fish.  I didn’t catch anything because it was just in their backyard.  We came home and I killed a family of crickets who were trying out to join the symphony.  We have a pretty strict zero tolerance policy here.  All the bugs like to come out and play during the day and then at night when we come home we spend a good amount of time killing them all.  I saw one of them run into a crack in the wall, which is usually game over until they venture out again but my desire to actually be able to sleep won and we pulled that sucker out of the wall with tweezers.  We get a little bit desperate here, obviously.  That’s basically everything that’s happened this week in my life.  Missions are very weird and sometimes really hard, but sometimes really fun and sometimes stink but other times are really awesome!   I hope everyone has a great week!  

Con mucho amor, Hermana Dangl

 Lulu's baptismal day! 

 Hermana Arrellano - Lulu - Hermana Dangl 

 Lulu getting baptized in the river. 

 Iguana 

 New companion - Hermana Arrellano

 Combi (mini bus - public transportation)