Lindsay the Bug Killer and Enchiladas save the day!

Buenas!  This week was really good, but also had some pretty rough days.  Friday we had some appointments in the morning and we were really excited for the day because we had good plans!  But no one was home.  And then all the people that were home didn’t let us in haha.  We walked to the homes of nine different families and nada!  And this was from 11:30 - 3 - the hottest time of the day.  We were really discouraged.  But then we went and had lunch with some really awesome members, la familia Flores Mejica.  La Hermana Julissa (the mom) made us enchiladas and flan!  So we were very happy!  Enchiladas are very different here.  There are two types:  one that is fried masa with meat, cheese, lettuce and onion on top and the other is like the enchilada that we know  in the States - but the sauce is mole and topped with half and half, lettuce and queso fresco.  Both are delicious.

So there’s this old man that we go visit.  He’s almost blind and only has one leg.  He used to be really sad and negative all the time but since we’ve been visiting him we’ve seen a real change in him.  He’s happy!  It’s really great!  So we went to see him one night and there was a HUGE dragon fly on his ceiling fan.  We told him it was there and he got all scared haha.  So I offered to kill it.  I’m really not that brave but somehow here in Mexico I always end up as the Bug Killer because everyone else is a bug baby (that one’s for you dad :)   Anyway, I grab his broom and start swinging away haha!   The dragon fly starts going crazy flying everywhere and I’m still swinging away and my comp and I are both screaming and it’s madness for like 30 seconds.  But I claimed the victory with one swing and the beast fell to the ground in defeat.  And all while this was happening Palomo was scared out of his mind because he can’t see!  But we reassured him everything was okay. And he was grateful! :)

We moved houses!  We live right across the street from the church now!  The house is in a better neighborhood!  Our old house was in a more dangerous area haha.  When we told people where we lived before everyone was surprised because apparently stuff goes down over there.  But we never saw anything or felt insecure.  I’ve really only felt scared like 3 times.  Which is actually crazy if think about it.  I’m 20 years old and not from here and I live with another 20 year old not from here.  But I know that Heavenly Father is constantly watching over us!  So Mom you don’t need to worry!  I’m in good hands.

Overall, this week was really rough.  We’re having trouble finding people to teach.  And when there are no people to teach, we have nothing to do.  We did a lot of walking in the hot sun looking for someone, ANYONE that wanted to talk to us.  This is by far the hardest thing that I have every done.  Everyday is like hiking Mt. Timpanogos and then falling down (Hot Rod style) all the way to the bottom.  Sometimes we reach the summit, sometimes for just one lesson, sometimes for a couple days!  But these are the moments that make it worth it!  Helping a viejito to get to church so he can hear “la palabra de Dios”, teaching kids who is Jesus Christ, actually participating in a group conversation in Spanish, helping someone pray for the first time.  This is why I’m here!

I love you all!

Love, 

Hermana Keeler

She sent this picture and said "this is how I feel about obeying the rules"... but don't believe her, she was a rule follower before her mission and she is even more now!

A list of the Awesome and Horrific

Buenas!  This week was actually so crazy.  I am beyond exhausted.  But I have news!  The elders in the ward right next to ours got sent to different areas and the mission closed the area.  BUT Hermana Cervantes and I asked if we could visit some people in the area and President told us we could work in both areas!  So we’re working in our area and opening another area!  We have a lot of work.  We’re getting to know all the members of Quetzalcoatl, looking for investigators there and continuing our work in Vergel.  And we’re going to move into the house where the elders used to live.  It’s nicer than our house and there is AIR CONDITIONING in the bedroom!!!  AIR CONDITIONING!   It’s legit 100 degrees everyday with 500 percent humidity so air conditioning is a dream within a dream.  We’re going to move in a week probably.  Good thing because my closet has termites and the kitchen is infested with ants.

Be grateful for your houses people.  The United States is beyond fresa (Fresa is a word that mean fancy/rich/snooty).  Like forreals.  Sit in your 73 degree living room on your comfortable couch and think of me, por favor!

This week had lots of highs and lows.  I’ve made a list of the most awesome/horrific...

HIGHS:

1.   Interviews with Presidente Ruiz.  He is so cool.
2.   Teaching the Plan of Salvation (if you don’t know what that is search it on www.lds.org ) to an entire family.
3.   Planning and carrying out an activity about missionary work for the stake!
4.   Successfully navigating the streets of Merida and communicating in Spanish without    my companion.  We did divisions, I was with an 18 year old from a different part of town.
5.   Eating nachos with carne al pastor.

LOWS:

1. Having to go to the offices twice in one week and taking the wrong bus BOTH times!    This bus left us at the mercado - it’s super far from the offices and smells awful and lots of weird people hang out there.
2.   Accidentally squirting very hot salsa on my face and burning my chin.
3.   Finding out the elders left the house that we are moving into extremely dirty!
4.   Eating spaghetti - but “spaghetti” is noodles with ketchup and mayonaise.
5.   Being told that I look like the psychotic girlfriend meme.  Sorry Derek.

 

(Here’s the psychotic girlfriend meme for your reference because I had no idea who this was, and I don’t see the resemblance but Lindsay does have crazy eyes when she gets excited sometimes!  Hopefully, that’s the only resemblance...)

Overall, this week was good.  Tiring, but good.  I started reading Jesus the Christ during my personal studies.  Everything in the Old Testament points to the coming of the Messiah.  Everything in the Book of Mormon too!  And now that He has already come, everything in the scriptures testifies the He will come again.  He is the most important person to ever walk on this Earth.  With His birth, we started over counting the years, think about that!  Time started over! 

I know that He is our Savior.  He lives!  And because He lives, I can live again!  

I love you all!

Love, 

Hermana Keeler

  Her abuela in the new area!

Meet the Guerra that's a little looney

Buenas!  So this week was kind of crazy!  We had a lot of changes in our zone.  One of our zone leaders injured his ACL and had to go home.  It was really sad :(   So we have a very different zone now.  We’re not sure who’s going to show up to our meeting Tuesday!  

On Wednesday we had a ton of appointments but all of them fell through.  It was a really rough day!  It was so hot (we went 5 days without rain- that means the pavementias continually heated without relief) and we had no luck finding anyone to teach.  We were really discouraged - but also had a little bit of hope because we had an appointment planned with an awesome family.  We arrived and they weren’t home, BUT they got home 5 minutes later!  Sweet relief from a day of rejection!

The Marin Family live on our street and always make us food!  Brother Marin works in the post office for all of Yucatan and he knew I had a package coming!  He brought it directly to me instead of sending it to the offices and waiting an extra week!  And it was the best package ever! (sorry Mom, when you write me a 17 page letter maybe you’ll win!   Thanks Derek :))  so that was a really nice end to a really chafa (crappy) day.  The Marins are the best.  They’re kind of like my parents here in Vergel :)

I taught my very first English class!  Teaching a language in a language you’re not very good at is hard!  But actually it went pretty well.  Only kids and teenagers came but that’s probably better because I would’ve been more nervous with adults.  I just tried to make it fun so they would come back next week!  I was a little bit crazy haha.  Now I’m known as the guerra that’s a little looney in Vergel as well as Oxkutzcab!

I gave a talk in Church!  I was really nervous and when I’m nervous and in front of a lot of people I do the exact opposite as you should do.  I make jokes.  This is a very dangerous habit -- and especially dangerous in a different language.  But while I was up there I realized I was heading for deep waters and swam back to shore haha!   I managed to get a few laughs and not embarass myself.  I spoke about missionary work - shocker!

I spoke about member involvement.  I’ve realized that members are SO important in finding and teaching.  I wish I would have helped the missionaries more before the mission!

Feed the missionaries!   Go teach with them!  Please!  This work is so important!  And it is a joyful work!  We’ve had like no success, but we’re still happy!  We really only taught a few “real” lessons with investigators this week.  But in one lesson we taught a family the message of the Restoration!  And I felt so happy!  Even though I suck at teaching, I love it! 

I love you all!  Have a great week!

Love, 

Hermana Keeler

 

A tree with a tire around it??

She took this picture for her old friend Tigre!

Opening the "best package ever"....

Exact Obedience and the Worst Thing I've Eaten

Buenas!  This week was really great and also really, really hard.  Hermana Cervantes and I came to a realization this week.   Last week we weren’t EXACTLY obedient with the schedule.  We did everything like 15 minutes late and though that doesn’t seem like all that big of a deal, it was!  So we started to make little changes throughout the week and we saw blessings IMMEDIATELY.  We found 5 new people to teach this week.  We had a lot of really powerful lessons!  There was such a difference in how we felt this week compared to last.

I’m still getting used to this whole being in the city thing.  I hear popular music all the time.  I’ve heard “Rather Be” like 10 times this week.  And I saw a KFC.  We didn’t go.  There’s a Walmart here, but apparently its far away :(  I actually really want to go.  We had our nails done!  I sat in a folding chair and put my hands on an old ironing board with a towel on it!  They look pretty good though.

The food here is usually way better than pueblo food.  But this week I ate something soooooo gross I almost couldn’t handle it.  But I was strong and finished it.  Let me remind you that I ate armadillo in Oxkutzcab.  And beans chock full of lard (literally the beans were striped like a zebra).  But to be honest this was the worst thing I’ve eaten.  It looked like spaghetti, but it was actually just noodles soaked in lukewarm ketchup with cut up ham.  I really don’t like ketchup- and it tastes 500,000,000 times worse when it’s slightly warm.  So that was pretty rough for me.

Bucket showers are the way to go.  I was super scared before the mission that I wouldn’t have a shower, but it’s actually better to use a bucket and bowl.  Why?  Let me tell you.  Even though it’s over 100 degrees here like everyday the water is always SO COLD!  Its the worst BUT bucket showers allow me to heat the water with this thing you plug into the wall and stick in the water.  It runs a current into the water so if you touch it, it will shock you.  I’m a little dumb and learned that the hard way.  Anyway, I learned my lesson and I enjoy warm showers from a bucket.

So something we do in every lesson is start by singing a hymn.  But most of the people we teach don’t know the hymns and so they try to follow along.  But if you’ve ever tried to sing a song you don’t know, you would know that it’s really hard.  Usually the people just sing really quiet and it’s fine.  But I don’t know what it is about Vergel in particular but the people here sing REALLY LOUD even though they don’t know the song.  A couple times I’ve wanted to laugh... but i’ve held it in!  Just because I’m a missionary doesn’t mean I’m perfect, but I’m working on it!

Overall, things are pretty good here.  I really don’t speak English ever.  So my English is starting to suck and my Spanish still sucks.  So I just can’t really speak very well in general, haha!  But my Spanish has improved a lot since I got here!

WORK HARD.  PRAY HARD.  BE OBEDIENT.  I learned this week if you do these things our Heavenly Father can magnify our capacities and abilities.  Put in a lot of effort and ask for Heaven’s help and see what Heavenly Father can make out of you!

Love you all!

Hermana Keeler

Hermana in the City

Buenas!  Well, I’m in a completely different world.  I’m in the city with like cars and stores and real houses and stuff.  It’s very different.  I’ve made a list of the differences between Oxkutzcab and Vergel.

1. We ordered a pizza at district meeting and it was from Dominos.  There are no chain restaurants anywhere near Ox.
2. We sit on couches in people’s houses instead of on stools or cinder blocks
3. People have beds.  I know 3 people in Ox who have a bed.  It’s pure hammock in Ox, whereas here very few people sleep in hammocks.
4. Instead of telling me they don’t speak English (when I’m speaking Spanish), people actually try to speak to me and sometimes they tell me my Spanish is good
5. Instead of feeling like the new animal at the zoo, I feel like an actual normal person.  I haven’t heard anyone yell “Guerrita!” in a whole week!  It’s actually really nice.  I don’t feel so alien.

But don’t get me wrong, I really loved being in Ox.  But there are some perks to being in the city.  There are also really fun things about los pueblitos.  No one here speaks Maya!  The Mayan culture was a huge part of life in Ox, but here it’s not.  It’s sad!  I’m going to forget everything I learned!   But then again I only have to focus on learning Spanish so that’s good :)

We always had people to teach in Ox.  People were always home (usually in their hammocks) and usually willing to listen to us.  Here no one is home or they just don’t want to listen haha.  We’ve been trying to find people to teach, so we contacted like 40 people on the street and had mini lessons.  Hopefully a few of these people will receive us when we go to find them in their houses!  Pray that we can find new investigators please!

I like my new companion!  She’s from Peru and her name is Hermana Cervantes.

Sometimes I just can’t believe that I’m actually on a mission haha.  I live in Mexico with a Peruvian!  And I speak Spanish 99% of the time.  I don’t have a smartphone!  I wear a dress everyday!  I talk about the gospel for most of the day  I sleep in a hammock.  If I’m in an air conditioned room for more than 10 minutes, I am freezing.  I wear hideous missionary shoes, but I don’t even care!  I talk to random strangers - IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE - without being scared.  This whole mission thing is weird but it’s my life!

The mission has taught me so much already.  I’ve learned to work hard.  And I try to work hard happily.  I’ve learned to pray harder than I ever have before.  I’ve learned to trust God and His wisdom.

But like 90% of the time I have no idea what I’m doing haha.  I’ve learned so much but todavia me falta un buen.  I have so many things I can work on.  The mission has pointed out my flaws like never before.  Missionaries definitely aren’t perfect.  We’re just normal 20 year olds.  But I know the Lord qualifies whom he calls. So even though I know almost nothing, I know the Lord trusts me to do His work.

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Keeler

Una pluma de pluma

It was transfer day for Hermana Keeler and she is being sent to Vergel, an area of Merida.  So she’s a city girl now!  But she described it as the nice part of the crappy part of Merida.  I’m thinking her letters may not feature animals quite as prominently which actually makes me sad!  She is with a companion that speaks only Spanish, so it will be all Spanish all the time.  We are thinking the language will definitely improve for her.  I guess we will have to wait for more details next week.  She will definitely be missed in Oxkutzcab though she made so many great friends there!  Enjoy this last letter from Ox complete with animal shenanigans

So a few funny things happened this week.  Saturday we found a puppy outside our house.  We were about to go eat lunch with the Branch President’s family and so I flagged down a moto taxi (because they live really far away) and I got in and then Hermana Romero gets in with the puppy!  I was like, “what the heck are we going to do with the puppy?”  And she said, “I don’t know, give it to Familia Villareal?”  And so we went and brought them a puppy and they were like “yeah, we want it!” haha!  I was so certain they were going to say “why did you bring us a puppy?”  But no!  So now they have a new pet!  She really is cute though, she would be pretty hard to turn down.  We named her Boo.

We found an incredible thrift store with clothes from JCrew, Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters!  I got a dress and a shirt for 160 pesos (like 10 bucks).  So that was really cool.  I actually saw a shirt from Urban that I used to have, I felt like I was in a different world, haha, it didn’t feel like Oxkutzcab!

Also we found a stuffed animal tigre and we bought it for Tigre.  He was so happy!  He loved it.  He cried a little bit....

So Hermana Romero found a turkey feather and made a pen out of it and it’s way awesome.  So, naturally, I wanted one too.  We visited a sister named Elena who has a turkey (almost everyone has one - they’re actually the worst though because they attack people) so we looked for feathers outside her house.  We couldn’t find any so Elena’s little sister just ran over to the turkey and picked it up and said “here, take one...” and so I started to pull on the feather and it wouldn’t come out, so I pulled harder with both hands haha and it still wouldn’t come out.  Eventually I just had to stop because I was probably hurting the turkey.  It was quite disappointing.  But l ended up finding a feather on the side of the road.  So now I have una pluma de pluma.  Pluma in Spanish is pen and feather.  Haha! 

We went to a funeral for the grandma of a few branch members on Saturday morning.  Funerals here are so awful because they are so sad.  There is absolutely no hope.  It’s so tragic.  Many people think that this life is it.  And once you die, you’re done.  But that’s not how it works!  There is life after death.  Jesus Christ was resurrected 3 days after He died.  He walked the streets of Jerusalem and ministered to the apostles again.  And I know that He lives today!  Because Christ lives we can live again too. In Him we can find hope, peace and tranquility.  We can find comfort in the knowledge that our Spirits are eternal.  And that this life is only a tiny grain of sand on the beach of eternity! :)  Death is never the end.  Never has been, never will be.

I love you all!

Love, Hermana Keeler

 A tiger for Tigre!

And a new puppy for Familia Villarreal

I'm calling this viejita in hammock (she didn't say who she is)

Soy Feliz!

Buenas! 

So this week was really good!  We went to Merida Monday night for a conference.  It’s this thing called 8 principes.  Pretty much it is 2 days of learning how to apply different principles (there are 8 if you didn’t know :)  to our teaching skills.  We learn for like an hour and then do practices for an hour.  I was really nervous because I HATE PRACTICES!  They’re really awkward and I get super nervous and self conscious.  But actually it turned out really well.  I felt relatively comfortable, even though I had never talked to most of these missionaries, I understood a lot!  Not all of it obviously but enough to feel like I was actually practicing and learning, not just watching haha.

So in Merida we stayed with some hermanas.   They’re in an area called Brisas.  We don’t know Merida..so we got lost trying to find their house haha.  We took a bus and thought we would be able to recognize the area (we took a taxi to their house the night before) but turns out we were on the bus for like 15 minutes past where we were supposed to get off.  We had to ask people and figure out where we were because we had no idea!  Eventually we made it back to their house!

The BUSES... The buses are literally crazy.  The bus drivers just yell at everybody and the people just yell when they want to get off and boom he pulls over to the curb so fast.  The buses only stop at the stops for enough time for the people to step in the doorway.  Usually they start going again and take the money and print the receipts while driving.  Each stop is probably an average of 12 seconds.  I’m not kidding AND THEY DRIVE SO FAST!  And they’re so crowded.  I think I was most reminded that I’m not in America anymore during that bus ride.

The hermanas that we stayed with have a BED in their house and I got to sleep in it!   I was soooo excited!  But honestly, I couldn’t sleep!  I was so uncomfortable.  I missed my hammock a lot  I was super happy to come back to Ox and sleep in my hammock on Wednesday night!

We have cambios next week.  Honestly I do not want to leave Ox!  It’s so great!  But I feel like I’m going to be changed!  So this week I’m just going to take it all in.  I’m going to learn as much Maya as possible, I’m going to make the most of every opportunity I have to teach!  I’m going to kiss every old lady I see.  And I’m going to eat frijol con puerco for every meal!

Okay, well maybe not the last two.  But really I love Ox!  The people here are so great and I’ve made so many great memories.  All the old people talk to you like you’ve been best friends forever.  The lady who works in the panadeleria (bakery) by our house expects us around at least 3 times a week.  The way to start any conversation: “Hay muchisimo calor hoy, verdad?” (It’s super hot today, right?)  The drunks that try to speak English with me and call me guerra (white girl).  The people that give us 20 mangos when we already have 50 in our fridge.  

But in all seriousness, Ox is not a nice city by any means, but I love it!  Like, I would never live here, but I’m happy living here in my little two room house that never has running water.  It’s because I’m a missionary!  I really am happy as a missionary!  I’m legit so tired all the time, always covered in sweat, and constantly fighting off mosquitos, but in spite of everything, Soy Feliz!!!

It’s because I know that the message we share is true.  I know that it can change lives.  And most importantly I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior!

I love you all!

Hermana Keeler

These cute boys attend church every week by themselves!  

She says they are stronger than most of the adults in the branch!

Visiting the tomb of their investigator that died the day after Lindsay got to the mission.