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Another week here in Hornosillo. Don´t laugh at that pun
because this heat is not funny to me. Just kidding…laugh. :)
Okay so here are some more details
about Mexico Amy´s life.
My companion, Hna. Piña, is very
sweet and very…motherly. I´m not sure how to describe it, but she is great! She
is from Mexico City, is 23 and has a couple inches on me. We live in this
really nice apartment (well, nice for Hermosillo) that has two stories. Elders
lived in it last and left if quite dirty, which left me with a bit of work and
a reassurance that the male race could never exist without us women. But after
two P-days and a bit of cleaning every morning, it is now spick and span.
Our district is awesome and consists
of Hna. Piña and I, Hna. Fletcher (American), Hna. Zelaya (Honduran), Elder
Sanchez (Ecuadorian) and Elder Smith (Czech Slovakian...heehee, jokes.
Obviously American).
For breakfast I usually have cereal,
oatmeal or eggs, and dinner usually a sandwich. Lunch is with members and is
usually lots of tortillas (which are AMAZING here) and beans, peppers and meat.
For drinks we have lots of juices and flavored waters. Virtually all liquid is
called agua, which is ridiculous and confusing to me (sorry Mexico), but I´m
learning to live with it. The people here love what is called Jamaica juice,
which is extracted from a flower, I believe. It´s pretty good. : )
The people here are very loving but
often fiery tempered, which most likely is due to the hot sun. I´m not sure if
I told you this but everything (also everyone) smells like spicy milk. Shirts
(and/or pants) are optional for old men. We women all greet with hugs and by
touching cheeks and making a kiss noise and only a hand shake with the men, but
yesterday I had two men swoop in and kiss me on the cheek before I could do
anything about it. Oops! Let it be known that almost everyone and their dog is
Catholic here. They don´t really attend church or read the bible too much but
they will defend the Catholic church until they die so it can be hard to
convince others to read the Book of Mormon or accept baptism.
Good gravy, the climate here is
crazy. It is incredibly hot (i.e. 120 degrees about two times a week) and humid
because it has been raining a ton. Now, when it rains here it can be brutal.
Last night we had a really bad storm. Things kept flying into our house and the
lightning and thunder were so loud and terrible that I was seriously making
plans in my head for survival if our house fell apart! Our downstairs was
flooded, but thankfully where we sleep is upstairs, so none of our stuff was
hurt. Poor Hna. Barton (who was in my district in the CCM and is now in my zone
here in Hermosillo) only has one story in her house so their bedroom was
flooded.
The heat really takes a lot out of
you when you´re walking all day. I would guess we walk around 3-5 miles every
day. I carry a sweat rag to keep my face somewhat dry. Because I´m so sweaty
all the time, if any wind blows dirt sticks to me like glue so I get pretty
dirty. I try to clean of my arms and legs in member’s homes, if I can.
Dehydration is something that has been a problem for me. I had been drinking
lots and lots of water but I felt sick and reeeallly tired. Hna. Fletcher told
me that I need something with sodium because I lose so much in my sweat.
Luckily, my devilishly smart mother thought to send me with Gatorade powder. I
drink one everyday now and it´s been better. Moms are the best!
Spanish is coming! Let me tell you,
the Gift of Tongues is REAL! Sometime in lessons when I bear my testimony I can
feel the Spirit helping me remember word and conjugations that I have learned.
I am able to talk with most people pretty well. However, there are a fair amount
of people here who either a) talk superdy-duperdy fast; b) slur their words together;
c) have a total of 6 teeth; or any combination of the three, so sometimes I
can´t understand for the life of me. One of my investigators told me that I
have beautiful Spanish, quite a proud moment for me.
It´s an adjustment for sure but it´s
all kind of fun and adventurous! The hardest thing is the homesickness to be
honest. But let me tell you, my testimony of the Atonement has grown so much.
It´s not just to take away our sins. Christ suffered everything we will ever go
through. I seriously know this because so many times this week I have felt His
love in ways that may not take away the homesickness I feel, but it strengthens
me in ways I can´t even describe. Last Monday the homesickness was the worst so
Hna. Fletcher told me to read Alma 7. If any of you need help from our Savior
(i.e. all of us every single day) READ THIS!!! He is there always and all we
need to do it turn to Him and trust Him. Also I highly recommend D & C 121.
: )
For a bit of an extra boost, Elder
Smith gave me a blessing today in English (queue sigh of relief). It was very
comforting. I can´t remember all that he said, but I do remember him saying
that Heavenly Father loves me more then I can ever understand and He is rooting
me on everyday. He blessed me with strength to work everyday because there are
people here who need me and whom I need. This was the perfect medicine for my
homesickness. I think I had kind of forgotten that Heavenly Father has called
me to be in this specific location for the harvesting of His already-white
field. There are people here who, for whatever reason, need to hear the truth
of this amazing Gospel through me. I felt so strengthened after this blessing
and I feel really motivated to be here now.
Sorry this email is forever long, but
now I´m gonna give a brief summary of my week.
Monday
Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening)
with the Benezra family. They are super fun and have 4 rambunctious daughters
and two sons. We watched the Living Scriptures animated video of Joseph in
Egypt. Hilarious in Spanish dubbing!
Tuesday
We had a meeting with the zone that
was very motivating. I like being with other missionaries because it reminds me
that others have gone through the adjustment to the mission life too. I must be
sweet because today I received 18 mosquito bites. Possibly this is too much
information, but 5 of them were on my bum so I felt thoroughly violated. An old
lady noticed my bites on my arms and went to get me bug spray in the middle of
my recitation of the first vision.
Wednesday
One of our investigators, Lupita, has
three daughters. One of them, Dani, is an absolute gem! She calls me ¨Maestra
Hauck¨ (teacher Hauck) because I help her with her English.
Thursday
Today we taught a lesson to the
really nice man named Fransisco. When we sung him ¨Soy un hijo de Dios¨ he
decided that he wanted to sing along but all he sang was ¨Jesùs, oooohhhhhh
Jesùs¨ to his own melody. We taught another man named Jesùs Antonio who is
24. He was very receptive and he accepted baptism AND went to church! The peeps
here have a hard time with church attendance.
Okay I´m out of time. The rest of the
week was good. Walking, teaching and sweating.
Con amor,
Hermana Hauck
Love her :)
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