It warms my heart every time i hear from home or from anyone. To hear the wonderful blessings and happiness that Christ has given us is amazing and truly from Christ himself.
So to start off, I love the food, i'll eat about everything, except what's off the street, of course. And, sometimes the people here love to put hot sauce on their food, yeah and then on top hot chili peppers. There have been a couple times where i have been WOAH! hot hot hot hot, wheres the water, oh wait there is no water in mexico, juice juice juice juice, it's great, im sure i will have a liking for hot things when i come home. So be prepared for me to make you some amazing food!! Everything we eat, we eat with tortillas, i love the idea! Anyway, so apparently i'm allergic to the Sun, ha, so here is the story. At the beginning of this last week we walked everywhere, in the sun, and on some of the days i would get these red bumps all over my forearms and neck and the tops of my feet. My companion was worried so we called the Mission President's wife, she is the medical for all the missionaries here, and we were describing my symptoms, red spots, not itchy, I didn't feel faint, i had been drinking tons, and i felt fine they were just there, and after awhile she came back and was like, ok you are allergic to the sun. In my mind im laughing, thinking its a joke, but they were serious, so I thought more about what I had been eating and realized every time that i got the spots i had eaten yogurt or Lecha (milk), and so i waited a couple of days and didn't eat anything with yogurt or Lecha and the spots went away instantly. Haha so i wasn't allergic to the sun, because i live in Arizona, there is sun there.
Anyway, I thought that was funny. Me and my companero were laughing about it. Oh we were walking and came across a park and it was one of the nicest parks i had ever seen in Mexico and they had swings, trampoline and the usual stuff well on the sides were these other machines, that were for exercising. One was for walking, like the clyptowalkers, i don't know, and another was where you sit and pull yourself up, it was great we got some awesome pictures, make sure to look carefully at my face. We laughed about this picture for about 20 minutes, just laughing and it was great!
So we eat with the members every lunch period, we have a meal everyday except monday, for preparation day. And sometimes you just know that what they prepared is all they have. We walked about 2 miles to get to this family's house, and they have people here living off of the government, its called "invasion" i'm not sure the exact translation but something like that, maybe mom will know. But we walked and we came to the dried up river and were on a cliff basically looking out over this little area full of trees. And what i saw, i knew had existed but to actually see it is something different, there are smells and colors and people that you see that will stay in your mind forever. These people lived out of whatever they could find, cardboard boxes, crates, most were tarps tied together with poles in the ground, and the lucky ones had an actual wall somehow. Anyway, we walked to this one family's house and it was tiny, i had to duck to get in side the kitchen / living room. The bathroom, washroom were about a couple feet away and to flush the toilet you had to get a bucket of water to flush it down. They had a garden right next to their living room. They made us potato cakes on a small gas stove and he had a soup prepared with what he had grown in the back, it was small mostly water, and the only seating they had on their dirt floor were two small step stools for me and my companion. This is where they lived, and the night before last it rained and i am pretty sure it rained on them while they were sleeping. But the one thing i will never forget is the happiness that I saw in the dad's eyes. He was kind, gentle, caring, and gave everything he had for us. Heavenly Father loves all of his children, no matter who they are, where they come from, or how they act. He loves them.
I don't think i will ever forget this man or the people here in Mexico. It kinda makes me sad to see the tourist area, where its americanized and everyone thinks this is what mexico is like. It's not and not after what i told you it's like that everywhere, some areas are nice but most are like that. Anyway, this past saturday we had a baptism, hermano Angel, turned 8 and was ready to be baptized. We arrived at the church around 4 and the baptism was around 5, and the font was dirty, with spiders and cockroaches inside, and it was clogged, so there was about a foot of water and we had two sister inside with buckets and we had two lines going, they filled it up with water and we handed them to the Elders who would turn around and dump it into the toilet, it got wet and slippery real fast, thankfully no one fell, but we were all drenched in sweat and looked like we had taken a shower. After it was empty and we cleaned it we then turned on the water and it was about as much as the water faucet in our sink at home. So we had two water spigouts out front and we had another water line going and someone filled up a garbage can, the big ones and dumped it in there. Anyway it took about a half hour to fill and we were tired, the Elders were soaking wet in sweat. It was a wonderful ceremony though, we had about 30 people in one room about the size of elizabeths room and we were all hot and sweaty. We did two musical numbers and sang in Spanish. The service went well and on sunday he was given the holy ghost, and the hermana missionaries did a special musical number at the end and i played the piano.
The singing here is interesting, no one sings on tune or even follows the melody or notes. So for us to do a musical number i'm pretty sure you can imagine in your head what it would sound like. But the great thing about it, they love it, and they sing all the time. The music, is crazy here, who needs an ipod to listen to music when you walk outside and all down the street everyone is playing music, its great. Some of it is nice other times its a little interesting and weird. hopefully i'll be able to record some for you. Today was preparation day, and I love washing my clothes by hand, it was great, and this time i was able to do it effectively and in time. This morning we drove to Los Cabos and climbed a mountain to see the sunrise, it was so beautiful and my pictures don't do it justice. We had the elders and sisters from that mission and from my mission area, so about 10 missionaries it was great! We got tons of pictures and afterwards raced down the hill it was so much fun. The Bishop and his wife then made us breakfast and it was wonderful! We played games as well, Cat and Mouse with ties, and the wink murder game, and meow three times to make the person smile game, it was interesting, because i still don't know that much spanish but enough to get by. After breakfast the Hermana's walked down to the Beach for pictures and it was so beautiful. i love the beach.
Anyway, that's it for me i love it here and I am excited and ready for week three in mexico! I love you so much thank you for everything. You and the family are always in my prayers at night and during the day. I love you. The spirit is strong and I am loving life. I love you!
Love Always,
Hermana Newmeyer
Power of the Word
Local Neighborhood
On top of the peninsula - Sunrise
The Hermana's
Sunrise at Cabo San Lucas
Excercising our Faith
Learning the Language Power
Captive Audience
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