Hermana Dangl - Missionary in Mexico: Semana 26

Hello Friends and Family,

Another week has come and gone. Time in the mission field is different from the time back home. I can’t believe it’s already Monday again but when I read back in my journal from this week, it seems like everything happened like a year ago. Anyway, last Monday like most Monday’s it started to pour just as we started preparing to leave to teach. It very rarely rains when we are inside the cuarto (our room). If it’s going to rain, it’s going to rain when we’re outside trying to proselyte. This particular Monday was very, very rainy and we were walking through actual rivers in the streets to go to appointments that kept falling through on us. My favorite is when kids answer the door and say that their parents aren’t home so we ask them to ask their parents what time would be better. The kids always run off to go ask their parents (who supposedly aren’t home) what time we can visit. On Monday this happened and I sent the little girl off to ask and she returned and told me, “No, they say they’re not home.” Little kids are the best.

On Tuesday, we went to Bonanza and I fell asleep in a hammock. That night we taught my favorite family that we’re teaching and they accepted the baptismal invitation. When we left the appointment we couldn’t stop smiling, this is what missionary work is all about. Sometimes it kind of sucks and you have to walk a lot and in the rain and other times you feel like your heart is going to explode from happiness. Like I said before, the mission is very weird. On Wednesday we took a bus to Tonala for a District meeting. Due to transfers, I’m now the only American in my district (and only 2 in the zone), when before there were 5 of us. After the meeting we went to a Doctor because Hermana Arellano has been sick. We stayed home most of Thursday so Hermana Arellano could rest and it was very hot.

On Friday we visited Sesecapa and ate Talapia fish, I included a picture. On Saturday my district leader called us at 6:35 am to wake us up. Somehow he knew that this specific morning I was taking advantage of Hermana Arellano being sick and that I was following the handbook rule that says you should wake up at the same time as your companion. Thus, I was still sleeping at 6:35 and our wake up time is 6:30 am. I don’t know how he knew but he knew. I learned my lesson though about sleeping 5 more minutes though because this day was a total botch. We missed the combi for La Vainilla by like 5 minutes and had to wait 2 hours for the next one. When we got there, we found out that the member who lives there had left for the day so couldn’t do visits with us. Then an investigator and his family gave us well water to drink (we can’t drink that, only bottled water) and it was super awkward because we didn’t know what to do and they totally knew that we dumped it out and we felt really badly. Then we taught someone who was very insistent that people can only be baptized in rivers and it’s a sin to do it otherwise. Then the member returned just in time to give us a ride home in the back of his truck in the rain. The highlight of the day was probably passing a house that had an entire room dedicated to a very large glittery Virgin Guadalupe. Almost every house has a shrine but this one was impressively large and sparkly. On Sunday we gave talks and it rained again. That’s basically everything that happened this week. Hope all is well at home!

Con mucho amor, Hermana Dangl