12/17/12 Pics

Nativity on the temple grounds. Note that there´s no baby Jesus... cause he wasn´t born yet!!! they don´t put it out till Christmas Eve haha

A little nativity set that Rosa and Cesar got for me. They have one and I was like oh my gosh! I want one and I showed up yesterday and they had one for me!!! I LOVE them! haha

This is how I feel sometimes.... our little furry friend that we found in the ditch! I thought they didn´t move fast! but he slapped the ground and I jumped so bad. he was soooo scary and random! haha love it.

Mission Christmas Party

12-10-12

okay, so, I have so much to write and so little time! that reminds me of when I only had 30 min in the CCM. sucked! anyway... so random little things first... Elder Christopherson is coming in January. we may be getting 2 new sisters in our house next week! yay! that means that I almost def stay in this area! I hope so! I can't handle leaving right now! transfers are next week... For Mother's Day we had a mariachi band in the church! way fun. 2 trumpets and a bass and reg guitar. I got my package at the Christmas party last Tuesday. came right in time. but I'm not going to open all of it. I already grabbed my shirt and shorts. they were poking out so I knew it was from you. the address was ripped off I think by the mish. but I won't open it till our phone call! promise! haha. (No she did not wait, haha) next week we have to figure out what time to call....

Christmas here... we had lights on our house already, so we bought an extension chord! and WE have LIGHTS! yay! haha it's great! it's weird that everyone's got everything all decorated and it's so hot... haha. everyone here is obsessed with the nativity scene. haha they're huge. Christmas trees are everywhere... but it's not like ours. lots of fake trees too.

My comp goes home the next change. not this one. so in feb i think. I want to stay, but Pres Ward's letters sound like I'll be leaving.... it's all good. I'm ready. I'm just going to miss these people soooo much! I have to make sure I take pics!

And Christmas is big. I've heard that the 24th is bigger! and 25th is lazy and you sleep in all day haha. I'm looking forward to it. just another day working as a mish, but it'll all good.

the rains are pretty much gone until May now... I'm going to miss it. I LOVE the rain so much.

fyi, today isn't p-day. we're going to the temple tomorrow, well our zone is anyway... we have a wedding to do in the morning. so we might not go. it was our idea too!!! and they're planning on going to the canal again and I haven't gone yet.... so o well, I'll find another time. I hope we make it to the temple though... I haven't gone for a while and we're so close and who knows where I'll be next change! haha

so some stories this week...

creepy lady. seriously... super creepy... we were headed all the way up into progreso 4 and this older lady (again) was standing there on a hill in front of us. waving us to come. so we come forward and she´s like¨I´ve been waiting for you....¨okay, so we don´t even know this lady! haha. she doesn´t even greet us. she just waves us on and says pasen pasen. haha. so we followed her up to her little house and she contude on into her garden. she took us to the end and pointed to flowers... er regular plants and had us admire them. I then looked over and saw this figure sitting on the ground. it looked like the back of a head with real long hair streaming down but nasty looking like it was tacked onto the head. I then remembered that it´s normal to have life sized dolls for the year cause they burn them for the new year. I looked over and sure enough it was that. it´s like a big scarecrow. but with real hair tacked to the top of it. CREEPY! haha. more happened, but that´s the jist. later during and after the hymn she was like laughing hysterically and yeah... and she said she was pregnant last time. not sure if that´s true. she´s crazy! but I love her anyways... hahaha

so like 2 weeks ago, it was just pouring down rain. It was pday, and I was crossing a river of rain water flowing down the street. I came out of it really wet and without a shoe! one of my flip flops got stuck in the water and I assumed it washed down the hill and flowed into this 2 and a half foot big hole that all the water was rushing into. I was searching for a while shoeless, while the men in the market were all laughing with me. it was hilarious! really... haha later, this lady was like joven joven! I looked up and she was pointing the area that I lost my shoe. I walked up and it got loose! and I chased it down the hill a little while and jumped on it and stopped it! I succeeded and then... a car passed and slashed water all over me. It was the most fun I´d had in a long time! haha I raised my shoe in the air and waved at the men and people standing in the market! yay!! success! haha

12-3-12

Flooding
A huge like super store was completely under water close to where we live. soooo scarey. our water was super muddy for a few days. we were only out of water for a day. I can´t believe how much water there was. I guess some one waroking at the gate just desided to open it and it came rushing out. there were a few deaths. the bridge was the worst part. since the super store was under water, ALL the merchandise was ruined. the familia juarez went to check it out cause they were just giving all the merchandize away. they came home with big huge black bags filled with stuff. the store and clean up poeple s just like bagged up what ever in bags. they got high heals, tons of ponchos, tons of barbies and dolls (which is aweome for their little girl) and an awsome tonka truck. tons more like christmas stuff and rugss and clothes too. like early christmas! haha it was awesme. tons of familias came home all muddy and with bags of stuff that day. I guess there were just tons and tons of people there to get free stuff. petty awesome. I want free stuff! haha

Are you learning a lot by studying the scriptures?

SO much! I´ve never known so much! simple gospel topics on steroids and then more complicated things like transfiguration and translation and the celestial kingdom and things... haha but that´s just for free time. seriously, I read the scriptures just for fun. I want to read Jesus the Christ when I get home. I could read it here, but I just want to focus on the scriptures for a year and half. Maybe I´ll change my mind later. but yeah, I´m learning so much! I have really realized how much I don´t know! like I feel like I know nothing!!!

 Yeah! I got our trees up, but not decorated. I sure am missing you when it comes to home decorating.  The boys just don't really care much.

I miss that too! shoot! I wish I could be there... but then again, I want to be here! I´ll be back home next year though, so no worries! haha only have to suffer 1 christmas without me :)

I made a wonderful turkey soup for dinner. Lots of work boiling the carcass and picking off the meat. Made me think of how they would do that in Panama; eat it all up!

It´s so true. I´ve pealed lots of meat off bones here.

And how is your Spanish?

better, better, harder with a gringa comp. we have been speaking too much English... but it´s nice to chat in English. it´s refreshing, so I think I´ll enjoy it while I can.

My comp is completely into the work. she´s awesome. we still make fun of ourselves being with 2 gringas in front of the members and people. haha it´s terrible and awesome at the same time. I want nachos!!!!! (An American dish I guess.)

That´s all I have to say! I want pictures! I want to see pics of Christmas and all!

LOVE YOU ALL

Dia de Accion de Gracias 11-26-12

We bought a chocolate cream pie and took it to Hna Yorgina´s. She´s the best cook in Panama so, pretty much our dia de accion de gracias was great. Never had rice for Thanksgiving dinner before. a first for everything. If I have to be with a gringa comp, it´s not so bad to be with a gringa for a holiday that´s only celebrated in our country. We kept asking each other what we were grateful for all day.

I am excited to hear about your new comp.

So my comp is amazing! she knows how to be a mish. she really does. she is teaching me so much. this transfer (sorry, I always call it a change cause that´s what it is in Spanish, cambio) is going to fly by cause we´re working way hard. love it. She´s the 3rd of 6 girls in her family. She´s way cool. Of course there are quirks but what comp doesn´t have something. I´d prolly be my own worse comp! hahaha. Love her already, even if she is a gringa...

How are the people in your ward? who feeds you? how is your Bishop there? and do you teach lessons on Sunday?

We don´t have a bishop cause it´s a branch. Just a branch pres. he´s been the pres for about 2 and a half months. they switched right after I was here. he´s cool. the second counselor helps us a ton. the pres doesn´t have a car, so I think that´s why the 2nd counselor helps us with more stuff. it´s just easier. Pres is great. the ward members are nice. the church isn´t as strong in Panama as it is in the other Central American countries. Hna Yorgina (I´ve written about her before, her name is Georgina in English) feeds us when she can.  She´s the best cook in all of Panama. NO JOKE. when we have cena with her, that´s all I can think about between citas. we have our cocinera (Hna Vicky) for lunch every day during the week. we have dinner with a fam Saturday night, lunch with another fam on sunday and I think we´re going to start getting more dinners during the week. today Hna Yorgina invited us over for breakfast. SOOOO good. I love her, and her food, and her house, and I love her family the most. tomorrow we have dinner with her too! yum. last night she made tacos. shoot. so good. I don´t teach on Sunday. we just got a lider misional this last week, so he´s been teaching gospel principles. at least we have a lider misional now. and someone who wants to do a lot and work hard and has energy. our church building is just a big, like you know, the mobile home materiel. like that. with a wood pulpit in the chapel. it´s pretty different. our stake center is casi normal though. when I see like The District videos, I remember how church buildings look in the states... haha weird.

so yesterday there was MAJOR floods in Panama. you have to look it up online. it´s terrible. and I´m pretty sure it´s where the mish in that area live. at 6am to 8am it filled with water. you have to look for films of the dam that released all the water. they said it was from rain... but it hasn´t been raining that much

some of what I experience: the music on the streets... look up aventura and prince royce. the flood means roads are closed, an entire super market was covered with water. and we don´t have any water in the house for three days! we have a tank in the back yard though. fast showers and no way to clean our clothes! yikes!

my battle wound is almost gone from the accident. pains only lasted a week. it´s almost just a faint memory in the past! haha

Nitzia is a convert of about 10 months. guess what, she´s the relief society pres! it´s amazing! she´s amzing! seriously, church members in the states are crazy. we don´t need to be perfect. just full of love. we´re so freaking judgmental! arg.....

11/19/2012

Did you know that there are Lions Clubs here.... that was soooo weird for me when I saw that..... haha like I´m not even in the retirement communities.... so funny.

So have you used your multi-tool?

Yeah, love it. but you know what I´m more grateful for is my knife  that you bought me for my birthday last year. I totally brought it and I use it EVERYday. (It's a serrated cheese knife that is open on the blade.)

How is your towel working out there?

love my towel. love! (This is the xlarge REI microfiber camp towel.)

Has summer weather began? I hope it's dryer.

rain has slowed up, but I loved the rain.... now it´s going to start drying up. they said summer is cooler cause there´s more of a breeze.

Did you get some vinegar, hydrogen peroxide or alcohol to sterilize your shoes and feet?

yes, but I haven´t done it yet.

Do you have a phone?

no. just our home phone which looks like a reg home phone but it´s actually a cell

Do you get to eat much fruit?

yes. and it´s not normal fruit. I love love fruit

Do they have American food/grocery stores?

yeah, Panama has everything that a white person could want.

I hope you get to celebrate a little. I'm sure there's not Turkeys, huh? Maybe pumpkin pie? 

I hope so! my comp and I are both gringas, so we´re so going to do a thanksgiving! I WANT PIE! haha

Q'xopa, that means que so pa.... meaning que paso in real Spanish.... meaning what´s up.... haha

here´s the news... my new comp is a..... GRINGA! what the frik! okay  seriously ... that was my biggest fear! My one thing that I asked HF (Heavenly Father) for! NO GRINGAS! and look what he did! he put me with an amazing mish from south Utah. Her name is Hermana (Anne) Hurst. She´s blond and blue eyed. It´s soooooo awkward! seriously! like two white girls walking down this dirt road in the middle of Panama.... yikes, my friends. it´s not a pretty sight. it´s so embarrassing. we have already talked about how this is so not wanted. we constantly tell people and joke with people about being two gringas. seriously and that it sucks. I mean, we love each other... it´s like, like worse than a big bright flashing white light walking down the streets.... but we´re both tough though, I´m not too worried. THE GOOD NEWS. I´m going to learn how to be amish. She´s amazing. She´s only got this change and the next one left, but she´s on fire! So we´re going to be doing some major work here. She´s come from some of the best zones and districts with the highest numbers and she´s way disappointed with our zone and district animo and goals. so we´re going to do some kick butt work in my area this change.

so we were supposed to have 2 baps this Last Saturday... Rosa and Cesar, but they never showed up! We brought investigators to watch and everything and so did another pair of mish. But it turned out that Cesar went with his uncle to his work or something, but he never returned until almost 9 o'clock. We were there when he got home. He started crying. It was soooo sad! He was like, I told him that I had to be home at 4, I told him! I think and so does his other uncle (in law) that his tio(Aunt) kept him away to keep him from getting bap. sooo terrible right! the pòor thing! but, never fear! satan CAN´t win!!! they´re planning on getting bap on this saturday! I´m so excited! I friking LOVE these people!

A Vivid Personal Moment in Sasha's Life 11-6-12

READ FROM THE BOTTOM UP!

I have like 4 months in the mish... so weird. I can´t believe that happened yesterday and on my mish! haha, it´s not all the time you get to hear about crazy mish stories and now I´m part of one! woo! haha. I can´t believe Christmas is coming. at Christmas I´ll only have one year left. at my birthday I´ll be half way thru. wow.

We just met as a zone. this is our last week together so it was our last meeting. I feel such a connection with them. I´ll never ever be able to forget yesterday.

I´m here. wow, seriously mom, it´s like a dream... I wrote a ton in my journal, I might send it to you through the mail. it was so real though. the movies have got it right. just imagine a terrible accident in the movies and that it´s real and in the moment. but really, there´s no need to worry, it´s a witness of the power that we have as mish. the protection that we have. it was amazing. while we were tumbling I remember thinking to God, why, god, we´re missionaries, this can´t happen to us, you can´t let someone die. I really feel like the angels of our family were there with us. we were all very calm. and right now, the people in my zone are the best. there aren´t any other people I would have wanted to experience this with. they are all my friends and I have so much love and confidence in them. I can´t imagine going through this with my family, with you guys, it would be so terrible.

so we were on our way to Villas de Anton. it´s suposed to be gorgeous! our zone rented a chiva, or van like small bus for us 12 mish. the driver, the poor thing, was just some driver. and it was dry. the back right tire blew. we think that he filled it up too much and then as it heated up on the freeway, it blew. he swerved and the chiva did a 360 and then rolled on the road and then down the hill.

yeah, and the chivas (bus) are way easy to roll too. it was crazy.. pretty awesome story though... haha now I have something to compare to your accidents. haha we can laugh and enjoy the story now that it´s over, but never hope it happens again... to anyone.

we had to climb up and out of a broken window. yeah, a couple elders and the driver all broke windows out to get out. and Elder mahina helped us all down off from of the top of the bus which was actually the side of the bus. we´re still shaking pieces of glass out of our hair... haha. we sent off three mish to the hospital in a chiva that pulled off the road when they saw the accident before the aid cars came. 2 aid cars took the rest of us to the hospital. it was really crazy too because not one of us is from Panama, so we had to show documents to like 3 different people. the aid car was just like all the others I´ve been in, except they spoke Spanish  haha. the hospital wasn´t like a clean hospital... like the white washed perfect ones we have in the states. the dr just asked what hurt and sent us to x rays. weirdest dr check up I´ve ever had. and they prescribed medicine to everyone. it was weird to me. we were all asked our age and name and country by like 2 dif police men. one police man started harassing me and trying to get me to talk about Christ and what I thought was humility and stupid stuff in Spanish. and then was saying I couldsn´t understand Spanish, but sorry, buddy, I understood everything.  polocia. shoot! do your job and leave me alone. anyway... yikes... I was the last one out of the bus. I wasn´t in a hurry to get out. elder luciano and I also gathered up everything we could find in the bus too. like backpacks and food and stuff. I was was chill. I held the other sisters as they started to cry sitting on the side of the street. I´m grateful that I´m so calm in these kinds of things. I´m able to be a comfort to others. you know I´m not really a touch kind of person, but the first thing I did was grab my companion and hold her cause we were upset and then the other sister too. and then there´s me... the only hermana that´s like... chill. weird. but a blessing.

Can you believe that that happened yesterday... sometimes it just seems like it didn´t really happen, but then I lean back and feel the big bruise on my lower back. I think I hit a chair. who knows. after our lives are over and we get to watch the video playback of our lives, we´ll finally know what really happened. haha.

It was really terrible. So many things could have been the death of people. but 12 mish, 8 of which hold the priesthood, there´s no way. no seat belts, could have rolled down forever into a river. if there wasn´t a tree... if the seat belt of the mish in the front seat hadn´t broken, the tree would have crushed him. there were angels in that chiva. really. it was so ugly. the girls all cried. I´ve always wanted to know how I would act in such a situation and now I know. I was way calm. the only sister that didn´t cry. but that´s me, right.. I´ll cry at a stubbed toe and a bad day, but with real pain, it doesn´t phase me... ha. I don´t know how to explain this accident. m y comp and I feel like no one really understands the horror of it. I remember so many thing. my first though as the van spun in a circle on the road and flipped once on the road and twice more down the hill, was, o my gosh... we don´t have seat belts. I´ll tell you what, if any of you guys prayed for me or in general, missionaries yesterday, I´m here to tell you that we used all the pray saving juice from your prayers yesterday, so jeep them coming. We´re all really sore. I think we were so happy afterwards cause we were making up terrible stories of what could have happened like the gas tank blows and there's an explosion like in the movies or Elder Mahina how is a big Tongan mish picks up the van with all his adrenaline from the accident and throws it back onto the street and then a bus comes and runs into it. okay, maybe all of our stories we´re realistic... and maybe you shouldn´t post them on my blog, they might scare people... haha I had two x rays at the hospital. we all had to get checked out. today we´re super sore. I have some good bruises on my hand, back and legs and arms and a nice glass burn like clean rug burn on my leg. so now I have cool x ray pics of my right hand and my spine and pelvis. haha.

On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 1:21 AM, Tina Schumacher <schumacherfamily@msn.com> wrote:

I knew I shouldn't let you out of the house..... So me and your Dad were both trying to catch you online all day, over and over, like somehow we knew something was up. So weird. Now we know why you didn't show up online. What can I say, but I'm so glad Heavenly Father thinks you should still be here, in one piece even. Details please!! Sasha style. ~~Love you, Mom and Dad

From: Pres and Sis Ward,

Your missionary was in an accident today. All the missionaries are fine. It is a true miracle. Twelve

missionaries from the Chichemito Zone were on a p-day trip to Anton in a chiva (small bus). The back wheel blew flat and the chiva rolled 3 times. The rolling was stopped by a tree before it could go about 30 more feet into a river. After the rolling stopped, Elder Mahina broke out a window, climbed out and helped to lift out the other missionaries. All the missionaries survived. In fact no one needed stitches, no bones were broken. Most of them had many bruises but that was all. It was a true miracle.
Attached is a picture of the rolled over chiva and the zone together after the hospital checkup.

Gracias,

Hermana Ward 

Catching Up 11-24-12

As you all might imagine, I have been distracted while contemplating the possibility of the sudden demise of my daughter. The week after her accident we received an update that indeed she was just fine. Although we obviously know she is in God's hands, in the back of one's mind you just can't believe she is really just fine after a 360' spin, 3 flips and a tree. We know now she really was and is just fine, and very grateful to be alive, as is the van load of missionaries who have all needed a moment to let this experience sink in. This has been a reminder of how precious life is and to never take those you love for granted. They are a gift from God.

Pics from 10-29-12

5150 with the best Hawaii pizza ever! it has amazing pineapple and cinnamon. with hmna robles and lafo-ou-kaho (dunno if that´s how she spells it... it´s Tongan...)

p-day up at Chica. gorgeous! heavenly! loved this pday my best one so far.

Rolling Bus 11-5-12

Sasha is safe as well as all the other mish, but was in an accident. Pics and info on her Facebook page.

10-29-12

I´ve filled an entire journal so far in my mish.... haha. I love writing in my journal.

I need to stop studing in english... I´ve been turnign to my comp and talking really fast in english to her all of the sudden and then quickly realizing that it was in english.... haha... yikes. my mind is still in frikin english. (quick note: everyone says frik and friking in spanish, hilare to me)

I´m like obsesded with brusha and flossing my teeth here.... they´ve never been so happy, guess that´s a good thing, cause I won´t be headed to a dentist any time soon.

I had a freak out moment yesterday with my comp... I just kinda freaked out about never being able to talk to anyone like I want to! like I´m stuckin a dreamworld where I can´t talk. like my mouth is sewn shut. 

My personal lesson on sunday this week was that it´s always better than we think. My comp and I have been a little downhearted because we have quite a few fechas and no progressing investigators cause they´re not going to church! We also worked really hard at inviting people to classes ingles this week and still... nadie. but on Sunday, we had one 11 year old investigator come to church and then to our surprise another investigator with 2 kids walked in after the 1st talk. As I looked around I realized how many recent/and non recent converts there were. I imagined the chapel without those people and my imagination was pretty empty. I´m so grateful for the people that we do have. I am grateful for those 2 investigators that came to church. sometimes it feels like we´re not doing anything but dying in the heat, but then the lord blesses me with moments of meditation like this, and then I see.

Hermana Schumacher

So many mish! 10-22-12

So many mish! It's so weird, and it´s so weird that these little boys are going on their mish at the same time as me... I feel so old.... haha

this week we had the most rain than ever! some days it never stopped! what´s nice is it´s cool. one day my comp left my umbrella in my bag and we just walked for an hour in the rain... it was pretty amazing. I love the rain soooooo much. I´m getting used to the heat. I don´t feel sticky. I´m working on my mish tan including my wacky tan lines on my feet... yikes!

right now I´m reading my comps english material.. it´s so interesting. I´m learning a ton about spanish from it and how to teach english to spanish speakers (i´d love to do that after my mish like esl, or tsol or what ever it´s called.) and about my comp and i´s communication issues haha. it´s way interesting.

okay, no mucho tiempo.... yikes! I have more to say! my blog is mucho mejor! Thank you blog slave! haha love you mom!

I miss warm and hot showers. so much. If you could send one through the mail, please do...

the more i study spanish the worse I realize I am at speaking it.... yikes, but isn´t that life? haha I can´t speak english anymore either! so much for communication in my life.... blah!

gotta go! I send much love and I have like 10 letters leaving in the next week for all you peoples! love you! and if you haven´t sent me a letter... I don´t have your address to write you and tell you I want to talk to you!!!! so write me!

con mucho amor, Hna Zapatera

Panama Mission Shipping

Straight from the horses mouth:

Brothers and Sisters,

Good afternoon my name is Elder Hawks and I´m in charge of receiving the mail for your sons and daughters here in the mission. It´s amazing to see how much love and support you all offer through letters and packages and I know that it helps to receive such letters and packages from home.

With the Holiday Season coming I know that we are going to see an influx of mail and it´s an exciting time for all of us. However, I need to ask a favor from all of you that you DO NOT send any type of food to your sons and daughters through packages. Here in Panamá there is a law that indicates the illegality of sending such things and upon arriving to Panamá any package that has food is confiscated and we are unable to claim it and send it to your kids.

Address for sending packages:

Your missionary’s name

Misión Panamá

Carrasquilla Entrega General AP 0834

Panamá, Republica de Panamá

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help us out here by not sending things in packages because it would be sad to never receive your packages. I appreciate you support and cooperation.

Sincerely

Elder Andrew Hawks

Secretario General

Mision Panama

Sasha's Mom is in trouble..... 10-15-12

Sasha says "so why aren't there posts on my blog? :( sad day... since September..."


Mom says "So as Sasha's personal secretary, I take full responsibility and profusely apologize for abandoning my duties as keeper of The Blog. ;P Enjoy this multitude of new mission experiences as only Sasha can tell them. Fortunately there are no dead or soon to be dead, cute kittens involved."

Assimilation 10-15-12

okay, I'm way lazy right now... and plus, my mother isn't posting my letters! sad day? I think so.... okay, so now I have 20 minutes.

This is my letter to my pres this week:

This week we visited with a woman who we haven't seen for many weeks. we only just met her the time before entnces, this week we actually taught a lesson on the plan of salvation. the last time we learned that her husband has left her and doesn't want to get back together but she does. they have a beautiful home and a 4 year old boy. when we knocked on her door the first day, it was the first time in my mish that I felt a prompting from the Spirit to knock on a door. when we did, Hermana Itsel cried during our time with her. afterwards, we were like... wow. the spirit was tan fuerte. this week after we taught about the first half of the plan of salvation including the life and example of the Savior, my companion felt VERY strongly that she should ask for baptism. she followed that prompting without looking back and our investigator replied without hesitation si! and to a fecha (deadline) all she wanted to ask was what time. as my comp and i left her home. we stopped in the street and offered our gratitude and astonishment at the milagros in our day and especially with this hermana to our Father in Heaven. the Spirit is here in this work! there's no doubt about it. may i just add that this night of milagros was proceeded with a really cruddy day... both my comp and i were emotionally and physically drained. it just goes to show that the Lord really can lighten our load in the end if we only trust in him.

we visited the temple yesterday with a couple. the wife is menos active and her husband isn't a member and they need to get married. needless to say... the temple was the most perfect plan ever for them. I called my mish pres and told him I was hoping for a miracle if he wasn't busy and he wasn't! so he came and picked us up at albrook (the big mall/bus terminal in Panama City, (I'm there right now) and we headed to the temple. pres is great. we talked about the temple and he basically just asks my comp and I questions the whole time and we teach by answering them. the spirit was so strong last night. I personally needed to visit the temple grounds. it's so peaceful and especially on Sunday because there's no one there.

yesterday a member in the ward filled a CD with like almost 70 songs of salsa music .. love it!!! don't worry, we'll be good. haha. maybe just for dancing in morning exercises haha. my comp about died when he gave it to us. haha love it. she loves loves loves dancing. my little sexy comp latina. we're good friends. she says that I know her life more than any other mish in the mish. which is saying something cause she has some good friends here. i think it's weird for her that I ask so many questions to get to know her... i don't know how to explain that. to me information and stories about someone's life are way important, to her it's more about quality time and laughing and showing you care on your face rather than words. I'm learning a lot from her. I hope to stay in touch with her after my mish, with Facebook, that's pretty easy. she heads home in Feb prolly. I've taught her some new things in English. she's working on reading the Book of Mormon in English. and she laughs at me when I say things like what the heck! whatever, fatty fat fatty, and especially yikes, yuck, and eww. hahaha love it.

Spanish is good. I think I finally feel like a mish. haha my coninera said that I look like a mish now. but I'm not sure if that's good or bad... I'm pretty sure that means I like a hot sweaty gringa that's more fat now than when she arrived and she doesn't seem to care about what see wears anymore or if her hair is nasty. yeah, I'm not sure yet if that's what she meant.

Okay, love you all!! I hope my mom posts this!!! haha (hint hint! haha)

I need my jean cut off shorts sooooo bad! but I'm looking for some here. need music. need pics. need pics of Cami's wedding .. tell her that.,.. seriously. I want pics from everyone.

ps. I dance like a gringa. like sooooo bad. I'm going to come back latina. bronceada, able to move my body, speak Spanish, and whatever else... prolly not shorter though... haha

love love love from panama! woot woot panama!

Missionary Life 10-8-12

Ask the mish, they can help you! 10-8-12

Conference was way amazing right? haha. Sat
morning one of our investigators was with us. He´s 20 years old and
can never understand me. I think it´s because he´s so used to the
terrible Panamanian language here haha. cause everyone else can
understand me fine... haha the kids and jovenes are the hardest to
understand here... anyway, so sat morn was like the best session for
him with elder nelson´s talk to mish and non members and
investigators. to every question... ask the mish, they can help you.
hahaha I was like, great! more work, thanks elder Nelson! haha IT
was a great talk. like a mish discussion practically. loved it.

And about missionary ages: Jakob and I always talked about going on our mishes together! haha. tell him to put his papers in asap. his date after school and wait on
the Lord. Seriously, so freaking exciting. all of us mish were
together watching in English and we all freaked! There´s going to be
way more sister mish. I wonder if I would have went at 19...? Tell
Jakob, that the sooner the better because the faster we can be sealed
to you guys after he gets back!!! haha

we went to the stake center and watched all the sessions. my comp`on
fri said that we couldn´t go if we didn´t have invest to go with us,
and I kinda freaked out saying that there´s no way that the mission
would impede my blessing of listening to the PROFETA! hello! this is
our message as mish, the restoration and revelation! haha, so I asked
after the 1st session if we could go to all of them, and they looked
at me funny like, duh,.... of course you can. so, we did. loved it.
I watched it all in english and with hermana kistner too. haha. It´s
funny how our mish is so intertwined with the call in puerto rico to
being comps to being in the same area our first change. we see each
other every week.
I don´t think I need a cd player anymore. an hermana promised me hers
when she leave for home in nov! craziness. she´s way cool. she´s
from tonga/california. haha. It´s great to be able to talk to someone
who understands all my feelings right now and has lived throu the mish
and has advice and speaks english and struggled and loved it. She and
her comp are a little rebelous I think... but the whole mish is sorta
like that. I´m trying to figure out the balance here in the mish of
mish white handbook rules and mish chillness. not too sure yet....

We didn´t have changes, like I thought. so I´ll be with my comp
another change. love her. cultural differences are hard, and I need
to learn to let things go or keep my mouth shut at times... hahaha.
it´s all good. love her to death though., wouldn´t want anyone else
for mi madre. (I´m her hija, she´s my mother. I was"born" into the
mish and when your getting ready to go home they call it "dying" ahah
spanish mish language...)

To my friends and family: if you send me a letter, send me pics!
Alexis sent me pictures and it awakened a desire for more `pictures!
it´s easier than sending me something else, and I don´t really need
anything anyway. PICTURES!!! I love fotos!!

So my umbrella that is pretty heavy duty, it hasn´t died yet, but it
rains so hard that my hair is soaked even if I use my umbrella. so I
look like a wet dog all day. It´s wonderful. once again.... good bye
beauty, es la mision! haha

Comps and the Big City

First Baptism and Cute Nina 10-1-12

Luis his baptism was this week. pretty interesting since they had to carry him into the water and set him on a stool. He´´s going to be an amazing member. we´ve been teaching him this whole change and he had to stop drinking coffee and for medical resons he can´t stop smoking says his dr.... first bap for me! and this month our mish sky rocketed in the number of baps! goal!

Cutest childeren ever live here.

Love this family. the older son isn´t in the pic. Hna Gina has the best food in all of Panama, no joke. rice with coconut, and everything else! YUM

LOOOOOONNNG Week! 10-1-12

We have cambios (transfers) this week. meaning week number 6. My comp and I will be together one more change, even though my comp asked the pres to be transferred. She´s burnt out here and for me, I think it´s holding me back a little. We both don´t like to make decisions. I like a packed set schedule, not one where I  have to decide what to do, cause what I want to do in the moment is sleep. haha. but we´ll see how it goes. anyway, I should probably tell you about my week.

This was a LOOOOOONNNG week. But it ended with a bang. A good bang, not like a gun shot, bad bang... haha.

We didn´t study once this week, which kills me... I´m way more tired and my Spanish seriously suffers throughout the day. but every morning we somehow had something we had to do or I was sick.

Domingo: Crazy personal experience with a ward member, drains my comp and I

Lunes: P'day but not p'day... solo in the morning. the rest of the day we worked.

Martes: p'day for real. went to Panama viejo. pretty, hot, tired, fun vines to swing on with my district

Miercoles: District meeting, cause p'day was on tue and not mon

Jueves: Sick, like sick sick. it sucked. all night. on this day I was suppose to go to Panama in the morning at 4am but wed night at about 10:45 I started running a fever and it was up and down and up and down all night. I finally fell asleep at about 3am and woke up LATE for immagrations at 6am and then did nothing all day cause, I felt like I was going to fall down to the ground with dizziness and weakness.

Viernes: my comp said that the Zone leader said to go to immagrations this morning. so up at 4 am and out the door.. AND..... no one was there... we call the mish office... no, not today... great.... we got up way early, when I need to rest, we paid for a bus to Panama and now we´re just going to turn around and go home.... yeah, okay, that´s fine, whatevs.

Sabado: Baptism. no water in the font. late. I´m feeling like crud. there aren´t any members there cause the branch temple trip is in a few hours. there´s a seminary grad party going on that is huge and sooooo loud during the bap. yeah, not ideal. the man we bap is in a wheelchair. Pres Ward is here witnessing the craziness. it was a great bap. haha like really great. the Spirit was soooo strong.

Domingo: The day of rest. I finally feel GREAT! todo el dia! it was wonderful )

Side Notes: The toes are good. menos bug bites. I´m tan already. random info: here it gets dark at 7 every day. never changes. at about 6 pm it starts and by 7 it´s pitch dark. it kinda sucked in the beginning, but I´m used to it now. and I´m not looking forward to summer. it´s winter right now and I´m a sweaty mess. I love the rain... I don´t want a dry season.... cry...

Hermana Schumacher y Hermana Rodriguez

Snake en la Casa! 9/24/12

This week marks my one month in the field!! crazzzzeeeeeee!

a week or two ago, we were passing by a house of a menos activos family and in the street there were a bunch of kids and Hno. Ruiz (the grampa who is the member and is a crack up wise guy, he´s great) he had a possum with a rope around it´s neck and was dragging it around! the poor thing! the kids were kicking it and stuff. I think it had been eating their chickens. I told him that it was a creation of God! haha... a really really ugly one at least. the possum reached out and grabbed one of the shoes of a kid that was kicking him and attacked the shoe! haha freaked the kid out until he realized what happened and then laughed with a little hesitation... haha.

my fridge has an old magnet on it.... it says Jedi Training center with a light saber on it. pretty great.... star wars is just a really poor interpretation of missionary work: comps, the force, lots of rules like you can´t fall in love... the likes.

yeah, so the snake... seriously... there was a snake! Okay, so I thought it was a really big worm... but that´s not the point.... my comp swept it outside and started yelling at it in Spanish and smashing it with the side of the broom... haha pretty great.

We went to the temple last week.... um, so I thought I loved all the temples I´ve been in... but Panama temple is quite literally THE most beautiful temple I have ever been in. the stained glass windows from inside are brilliant! I don´t know how to describe it.... and one of my favorite rooms is the dressing room.... that should tell you just a little of how great the rest of it is....

when my comp and I were leaving the temple. The temple worker at the desk who was saying good bye in Spanish to us all of the sudden started speaking English to me and said ´´tonight, memorize D&C 109:22´´ and that was it. so I did. super bizarre but pretty amazing.

Okay, some stuff about Panama.... we went to a zoo last week, my favorite parts were the plants. Thrift stores happen to be amazing here... I will be going shopping before I go home. two weeks ago we went to Causway (dunno how to spell that) but it was beautiful and we rode in one of those 4 seated bikes like we used to do in Seaside and there was a building like the EMP there... I didn´t think there was anything like that ugly building anywhere else in the world, but I was wrong. I love my backpack, like I´m so grateful for a good backpack. taught my first class of ingles this week, un joven showed up and 3 latino mish. it was pretty great, but I had a really hard time praying in English.... like really hard.... guess that´s a good thing. I have theme music to my life here cause there is always music playing somewhere. I freaking love duros, which are frozen juice (made with all the fruits around here) in a plastic bag that they sell everywhere, best thing in my life. Rice made with coconut: freaking amazing! almost better than duros. Everyone here knows who Michael Schumacher is, like EVERYONE. Let´s take a count of the people who know who he is in my home town... oh? no one? interesting... haha I´m glad I know who he is... thanks to Dennis probably... hahaha. The busses here remind me of demolition derbies back home with busses haha, they blow the blackest spoke as they storm off and around corners and yeah... it´s crazy great. Elder Luciano from Mex made us tacos the other night at a members house. (he and his comp, and me and my comp are in the same barrio) they were freaking amazing... man I want Mexican food everyday!!! haha

I finally got my first letters and dear elders here cause we had interviews with pres this week. I think I get letters every six weeks... still not sure on how that works. but I got them this Thursday.

rain rain go away.... haha the street is a river. and it always rains the most on our pday... haha   k, i´m signing off. panama viejo manama! p day is actually tomorrow... haha cause Monday is a closed day for most things in this country.

(Funny how Sasha's grammar is becoming distorted, like she said, a good thing. - The Mom)

Warning Disturbing 9-17-12

I hesitated to post this, esp. for all of us animal lovers, but it is soooo Sasha, I had to. - The Mom

Okay, random... there is like a circus or something in town, cause we saw the trailer of animals again today. a few days ago, two purple trailers that are just open bars drove by. the first had 2 cows, 2 camels laying down, one mini horse and a donkey oh and a zebra. the second had 2 elephants! haha today I was right next to it, and the elephant had it´s trunk out the side, I could have touched it if I had reached out haha.... random. so I have lots of animal stories this week. last Monday while we were walking to the Internet we heard this wailing... We looked over into this Styrofoam cooler and there were two small puppies still with their eyes shut sitting there in the sun. we took them to a lady´s house nearby and gave them to her. later on the way to a cita, they were out by the road again... thanks a lot to the lady with a cruel heart... one was dead and the other I picked up and took to our dinner appointment. they took the poor thing and we tried to feed it. but it was way hard. the family said it died. at least we tried. there wasn´t much hope... AND a couple days later we heard more meowing and screaming in the bushes... my comp and I were like... por que padre!??? por que? so I climbed into the ditch and saw one dead nasty kitten and looking into the tall grass I saw this little black face of a kitten looking up at me. as I pressed down the grass it stumbled out to my hand. I set it on the road and it tried to stumble around to get closer to us. it was soaked from the rain- it crawled into my skirt as I squatted down to look at it. the poor thing... I picked it up to look at it. as it turned it´s head I saw a clean open hole on the side of it´s neck. taking a second look I saw that that clean hole was full of wriggling white maggots. nasty little poor thing... we couldn´t do anything for it... WE LEFT IT on the street! how terrible is that! I wanted to die from cruelty! seriously! It stared at us as we walked away and tried stumbling toward us. and It´s screams filled the air! you have no idea... soooo horrible.. and then, when we were leaving that area, we had to pass by the same place and I could hear from a block away the screams of the kitten again!!! oooooooooookkkkkkayyyyyyyy.... seriously, I plugged my ears and started humming to myself. it sucked.

okay, I´m done being a girly girl, telling stories of suffering dying animals...

this week was soooooo much walking. one day we walked 30 min with a lady that lived in the Elders area cause she seriously looked like she was going to pass out from dehydration or fatigue. so we carried her bags and she carried her baby. we didn´t realize how far she was going.... and once we got there, as we were suffering from sweat, heat, and hills, we just said chao and turned around and finished another 30 min. But in my mind we walked an hour just to see the view. it was freaking amazing! you could see the water and the green hills with red dirt roads and the people and their houses of sheets of metal. it is gorgeous. These people have no idea what life is like back in the states. I don´t know what they think, they see movies and stuff, but to live it and be there is completely different. I guess it´s the same for me in their world. it´s so different. and I don´t know what its like to live there. It´s really different, but still the same life and laughs.

okay... how dumb is this... my retainer broke this week... so I had to go to the ortho here in town... scary? I think so... I can´t speak Spanish and they´re going to do who knows what inside my mouth... but it was all good. 60 bucks for 3 chunks of glue on my teeth, but whatev, the mish will pay thou, so no worries, fam. Its a little sore this week though so I´m not sure if where he glued it is different than where it was or what, so it´s moving my teeth or what... but I´ll just hope for the best.

Okay, peoples, I haven´t written any letters here yet, well, sent them at least. but hopefully I will tomorrow. I also haven´t received anything yet. It all just depends on when our leaders get the mail.

Details 9-10-2012

So I see that the Univ. of Panama is in your town and a stake with four wards, and you are near a hospital, and a grocery store. And way close to the beach. No wonder you are so hot! There is a hospital and I don´t know about a grocery store, but there are lots of chinos which are like little consignment/grocery stores run by the many Chinese people here. We just have a little branch here. The stake center is in Chorrera. Do you Sisters have a cellphone? no, only the nurse, (district and zone leaders have phones too)Where are you shopping for food? like a real grocery store? yes! in Chorrera. we have to take a bus and stuff. it´s all good. I´m grateful for my canvas grocery bag that I brought. and it´s funny, things that are norms in the US are way expensive here and things that are norms here are way cheap. like rice and beans and stuff. you can find everything here from Nutella to yogurt. Are you assigned to a ward area, or stake? branch. my areas include about 6 or 7 neighborhoods. it´s a pretty big area. lots of dying in the heat just walking and walking. What are you eating for member dinners? everyday: rice or rice with beans mixed and chicken. (sometimes beef, fish) oh and papa salads, yum yum

Do you have a dirt floor? or wood, cement? cement. we have the nicest house in the mish. seriously. How's your bed? fantastic. i sleep like a baby sweating in a sauna. I NEVER use a blanket and I wake up once every night or in the morning and pull the sheet over my feet. What is you showers, clothes washing situation like? showers: we don´t have hot water. so it´s always cold. I always look forward to showers... until the breath is sucked out of me cause it´s so freaking cold... haha. I wash my clothes by hand mostly. this last week we walked with our cloths to a laundry mat and washed them there and then carried them back all the way to our house wet... and let me tell you... a wet laundry bag slung over your shoulder... kills!! it´s sooooo heavy! but anyways. we hang them up to dry outside fom the roof beams. How is your Spanish this week? meh, I´m pretty discuraged about my spanish most of the time. I can say what I want to say, but I can´t respond to people cause I can´t understand them... I just CANT understand them... but it´s alright... it´s only the begining of my 4th week. I can´t usually understand everything from my comp. her accent is slow and clear. thank goodness.
How's your hair? ha.... goodbye to beauty, as my comp said to me this week. my hair´s fine. I cut it recently. somedays it´s just soaked with sweat... so nasty nast... my FACE hates it here. it´s just breaking out like crazy and just can´t seem to stop sweating... Does it rain a lot? well... haha funny that you ask. as we walked here... it was gorgeous and sunny. about 5 min after sitting at the comp, the roof just SUDDENLY started pounding. it´s just pouring right now and of course... we don´t have water proof bags, or an umbrella. or anything... gotta love it. it usually rains everyday. when it rains, it pours and there are rivers flowing down the streets. the rain drops are gigantic. and the thunder is like nothing I´ve ever heard before. the other day it litterally shook the couch I was sitting on! NOT joking! Do you have a fan for sleeping? I should probably name my fan. it comes with me to whatever room I´m in in the house. we have two fans and one ceiling fan in our room. the last 2 nights, we´ve had all three in our room. How are your neighbors? dunno really. fine. I love the one family only because they play music all the time. all different kinds too. In English, Spanish, bichata (which I absolutly love) salsa, jazz love it. In this place, I have theme music everywhere I go cause there is always music playing on the streets. I´m learning so much about latin music here just listening to it (and maybe learning how to dance too... dance is SO important for understanding music.... um, yeah, can you say *lightbulb*) Where did you go when you were in Panama City? last week we went to causeway. we walked around lots and rented one of those 4 seat bike peddling things. it was great. it was GORGEOUS. it´s funny how different the city is from our area. it´s like a different world, people, buildings, safety, and things. the city and water remind me a ton of Seattle, the water and ships and boats, the gray city, the dark rain clouds and the green green green all around and on the hills. yeah, a lot like Seattle. just a bit more heat here....... How was your flight down there? Rinky dink plane, or modern? nice plane. hardly anyone on the plane so I scooted over to the window seat. Have you received and packages? no nothing yet.... gotta wait for the week of changes. Why can't you figure out your Chacos? dunno, I have soars and stuff and they like stick to my feet and rub.. dunno... I almost want to send them home and have you get me another pair of tevas... Where are you emailing from today? in Progreso in a little internet cafe filled with the neighborhood kids playing computer games... haha. it´s next to a chino and our laundry mat. spiritualness.... so yesterday NONE of our appointments were at home... my comp didn´t know what to do.. I never know what to do... haha, so she prayed and I listened and we walked and walked and walked (sounds like the pioneer song in the primary hymn book... haha) while passing houses, I had a feeling that we should go to the other side of the houses, but I didn´t even know if we could... I asked my comp if there was a street on the other side and she said yes, so we walked over there and found one house that seemed open for visitors. the two women there were so kind and listened to our message. The other night something similar happened when we were walking because our citas all fell through. we started right off and I turned to a house and just headed for it, knowing that we were going to teach there. the door was open as I was hoping and we taught there. the women was with her like 3 or 4 year old son and she started crying when we started talking about families and if her´s was important to her. she is in the process of separating from here esposo and... yeah, it was perfect. I´m excited to cont to teach her. we have tons of appointments this week. it´s great. love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!

Panama! (Unedited, weird keyboards)

Okay, there´s so much to say and so little time. hopefully they don´t shut my comp off before I´m done. MI CASA It´s like candy land! it´s two bright shades of pink of the outside. the livingroom wall is bright orange, my batheroom is bright green with a pink toilet and our bedroom is bright blue! Everyone says that ist´s the nicest house in the mish. we have lots of friends here. we call them bichos. they crawl everywhere! they are tiny and love our food. today, being p day, i did some major cleaning.... this place could use a week of deep cleaning... I´ll be leaving it a lot better than I found it... that´s for sure.we have a cocinera for 1 meal every day. I eat powderede soy milk with chocolate and granola and bananas cereal for breakfast. 85 degrees F is nomal and cool temp for our house. ITS SO FREAKING HOT HEREseriously.... food here... lots of rice and more rice and oh yeah, rice. I love it. LOts of walking and lots of kisses on the cheek for greetings. the people here are great. anyone who had the oportunity to serve latinos.... you know what it´s like... shoot! I love them so much haha.... they´re just so full of love and ready to adopt you as family. this land is aamzing... my first night here we went teaching and just walking down these dirt rocky roads.,.. it was like a movie of the most beauitiful places on EARTH. It´s so green and fantastic. HEAVEN. (besides the heat... I could do with less heat....) I´m pretty much swimming in sweat as soon as I .... no... just always swimmin. ADDRESS Hermana Sasha Rae Schumacher-- Mission Panama--Carrasquilla--Entrega General 0834 Panama--Republica do Panama. MI COMPANERA is perfect. can´t speak a full sentance in english and is so sweet, hardworking, and got this mish thing down.everyone loves her. she´s so laid back and helps me sooooo much with spanish, it´ll be able to learn so much from her... SO MUCH. she´s also gorgeous. you´ll see... she says ¨´whatever´to me all the time and ´shut up!´ and ´´what the heck¨ all in ingles... it´s hilare!!! love her! she´s teaching me to dance... don´t tell anyone, it´s a secret....she has so much faith in me. oh and her name in Herm (Blanca) Rodriguez. from nicaragua.

in a lesson the other day I asked for baptism from a lady on her second vistit and freaked my comp out haha she wanted me to just ask her to church. but it was all good. it´s what we´re suposed to do! haha more stories next week!

food. i love food. i love food here. i love people here. love. love.

Once in a while I think... hwat in the world am I doing here... especially in this heat...

cars passing by honk, men yell hey baby in english out their windows and everyone stares. I´m trying to act like I look like them and I am one of them! haha cause I am right!? haha love it..

We're Freeeeeee! 8-18-2012

I’m getting out into the world this week! It’s pretty exciting! So some news about this last week: My district sang in devo this week.  They’re pretty great at singing... just saying. It was pretty much amazing.  We went contacting again this week and we went to like more house looking houses this time.  The area def had more money, but I loved both the areas the same.  The people were good.  I can definitely see that door knocking doesn’t do much good.... it’s all about the members! So you members! Get out there and work with the mish in your area! Seriously, get to it! –I’m going to super miss my Hermana... I’ll miss them all, and I don’t have a clue about what my companion in Panama will be like, so I have to enjoy being with a great friend and missionary while I can!  Hermana Canfield is the best comp! It’s like having a great work out buddy, food sharing partner, and hardworking missionary chica tied to my hip all day long.  For those that don’t know, companions can’t leave the room without the other.  We have to be together and in sight of each other at ALL times! (except for el bano, thank goodness,... haha).  My companions have been great so far.  My traveling comp this week will be Harmana Kistner again! Yay! I love her so much! We definitely knew each other before this life. Just sayin...-- So funny story... We were teaching an investigator (meaning one of our teachers, Hno. Cuque) and my comp tried to say ‘is it alright if we kneel for the prayer?’ and she swears she didn’t say it, but our teacher heard the word for to urinate.... and she made it reflexive... and then I proceeded to say ‘on our kneels’. ...  so pretty much he started cracking up and told us later what she said.  It was hilarious. Yikes yikes.-- So I have to put in a great word for my amazing teachers!  Hna. Chaves was so intense at first, and she loves to make fun of one of the Elders in our district.  I love her! She makes us work and her stories from her mish are strengthening and realistic. Hno. Mandez is a great teacher! He is so patient with us and he knows how to explain things to us simply, clearly, directly and how we Nortes would understand.  He also keeps us in line.  Hno. Cuque is absolutely fantastic.  We all love him a ton!  I think he got back from his mish just a month before working here.  He served in Lima, Peru. He has seriously saved my sanity a few times while I’ve been here. He’s really sensitive to how we feel.  He has a great energy and passion for this work.  He laughs at us all the time and he has an adorable smile.  He just cracks us up and lifts us up.  All of our teachers really care about this mission thing, like a lot.  They are great role models and I wish I could fold them up and stick them in my pocket and take them with me into the field. -- Not much more time left!!!! I’m sure I’ll have tons for next week!  Panama, here I come!--Love you all!!!!!!

eSpanish 8-11-2012

Okay, so I have some shout outs cause I don’t have a ton to say this week besides, this is my ultima semana!!!!! (last week) wooooohoooo! SO,no letters should be sent to the CCM any longer...-- Mom: HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Monday! I love you and anyone reading this should tell her how amazing she is!-- (Today is my comp’s birthday, sooooo yeah... jaja she’s pretty much the best most awesomess person EVER!)-- Alexis and Eric: I miss you two!!!! I can’t believe I haven’t even heard from you... seriously... I don’t have your address... so it’s up to you! I love you!!!-- Cami: I sent you a card for your birthday, but,HELLO! You moved across the entire country! slap in the face, moving on with your life while I’m stuck in time! jaja, I’m writing you another letter and sending it to your bro in law, so you should get it eventually, HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY! and I think you got the job at the factory! at least that’s what it sounded like in my mom’s email, so congrats!!! You’re amazing!-- Jakob: you may get a letter from an elder here.   He’s hilarious so I hope you enjoy it. Get up and wake up and write me a darn letter or email! You could just write Hi.... come on man!!-- Lyndsey, Melissa, Stevan, and all other friends and blog stalkers, some letters are on their way, keep me posted on your life and I hope you’re still alive, cause if you died, I probably wouldn’t find out.-- So this week I got to make up my own investigator, well not make up, but pick someone I know and be them, soooo, DAD, I was you.  It’s been great fun to pretend to be you and be hard on the mish. haha but I’ve learned so much about being in your position and trying to think like you.  One of my favorite things in the CCM is being an investigator. I learn just as much about mish work as I do with practicing teaching.  Just goes to show how important the people are that I will be working with! God seriously loves us sooooo much! Fe in Christ is a milagro worker.  seriously.  Learn of Christ, hope in Him, read His own words in the Bible and in 3rd Nephi 11 thru 28. He is the Master.  Fear is the opposite of faith.  Why fear, when His plan is perfect and the power of God is about to guide you!?!-- So, Spanish, last week I felt like my Spanish was suffering AND my English was suffering... serious, nothing will come out of my heart, up out of my mouth and make sense! But this week I felt the progress that I’ve made.  In lessons, as coordinating Hermana at the CCM, in talking with the Latinos and especially our compañeras de cuarto Latinas and in class, I have actually learned how to exprese mi sentimientos and pensamientos en Español! I wish I could show you... but I will un día. --My body (mostly my guts) hate either me or the food here... and my toe nail ripped off... fun stuff! jaja --I’m so ready for my adventure! Let’s get this mission rolling!!!! Seriously! can you say cabin fever? haha I love you all!!!! sooooooo much! Until next time! sorry! It’s tiempo!   LOVE Ya’ll!

¡No Escuchen los Gringos! 8-4-2012

     We three-weeker nortes got to go out into the world this week! We have just about 2 weeks left here and it's going to fly by! 3 weeks left was okay and do-able, but 2! Yikes! We went to the 3D sculped map of Guatemala which was fun. Pres Nicolayson gave us his spiel on his theory that the Book of Mormon happened in Guatemala. It was pretty convincing... like really convincing... but all just theories. After that we went to a market in the city. It was fun. A little touristy but not bad. There's a market-food court part with meat hanging from the booths and big open
sacks of grains and seeds and huge piles of fruits that I have no idea what they are. In the food market, while we were walking by, we were probably on TV. They turned the camera towards us and started this hype in Spanish super fast speaking and then when we probably looked either really scared or confused, the guy with the mic said do you want a lunch. We said no and continued on... it was pretty great. I AM A GIANT. Like seriously... I'm not too worried about people messing with me. jaja. After the market we went to Wendys... woop woop... We had to go there, wasn't by choice. At least we knew it was safe food. haha. despues, we went to this big square in front of a government building that's not a museum or a cathedral. The most exciting thing there was a man yelling and hollering about the gospel on a microphone. He was telling them to repent and all this stuff. As a group of us girls (4 of us) walked by, we noticed what he had begun saying.... everyone was looking at us, well more than the usual staring at the white gringo girls, and he was pointing at us and saying don't listen to the gringos. They talk of an eternal love and happiness that they don't have! okay... like seriously.... it was one of the best experiences of my life.... How desperate can Satanás get! We just kept smiling and saying Hi to everyone as we passed by... It was pretty hilarious.----- So it's been raining like crazy, last night's thunder was amazing! It was just pouring! I love it. Reminds me of home. Okay, random nastiness that no one wants to know but I'm going to tell you anyway... my toes are going to look terrible when I get home, I swear... it's nasty nast. I ripped one of them half way off two days ago cause it was falling off and my other one's all yellow and nasty and I have the worst athletes feet foot nasties that I've ever had. SERIOUSLY the worst feet problems I've ever had. I really don't want ugly toenails, it's just nast.... mish scars? blahk! ----- So letters, no more letters should be mailed to the MTC here... My mom should post a new address for Panamá!!! I'm so excited! Like... sooooooo EXCITED and pretty much ready, I mean I'll never really be ready, but what I don't learn here, I'll learn in the field.----- So, about my comp really quick, cause I only have 2 min. left. She is from Utah, and she's grad from U of Utah. She's awesome. The middle of 5 siblings and she's a nurse mish. She's worked as a nurse kinda but she got her licence just now.---------Thank you all for the letters and Dear Elders! I absolutly love getting them. I'm sorry I don't write back much or my letters are taking forever to get to you!!! I love you all! ---------Post Script: To any blog stalkers (and I hope I have some) that don't actually know me... and maybe you're going to serve in Central America or even just serve anywhere, write me! I stalked blogs and my comp stalked blogs of mish who were serving so I know it happens.... just saying... hahahaha

If I Die, It Was The Fly 7-28-1

I don't have much time to write but.... So this week my companion and I were matched up with a Latina and we went contacting!!! I shook hands with a man who was digging through the trash. And, I got eaten by flys and no one else was... I spoke a little Spanish but not much. I felt more love for strangers than I EVER
have before. I can quite literally feel the true love of Christ flow thru me for these people! Yikes, it's so cliche but it's SO real. I may not have said a lot, but I felt so much! These bug bites are killer! dumb flys. I seem to be the only one that the bugs like. -- so last night some of the sisters went downstairs in their PJ's to practice  a song for Sunday and the Pres came down and got upset with us for having a PJ party... oops... I had no idea. I was following the crowd and they said they had permission. Jaja So last night my dream was that my roommate was in trouble and the pres came in and I said don't tell me you're in trouble. She said she was and he started to sing about how terrible it was and that she had to go home, and he continued to sing and roll around on the floor. Weird I know... plus he was a black guy and our Mish Pres is like soooo white with super white hair... I've been dreaming a ton. The other night the girls in our room were talking about how there's no hope... everyone (girls) gets fat on their mission. So my dream that night was that my mom said I was fat and that my brother got called to a Utah mission. haha random.... anyway!!! ---- I miss playing my trombone sooooo much! like way back when I had a normal life, I knew I was at least kinda good at something... and now... I'm not so sure. I miss music! Last Sunday I sang a solo in church with my old comp on the piano, so in the fireside this week the Latinas came up to me and asked if I'd help out in their musical number. Violin, piano, Latinas and Latinos.... I couldn't hold it in, I laughed while I was up there. It really was good... but if you've heard Latinos sing before,you may know that most of the time they need a little help from above. The Spirit is there though! And it's admirable, their desire to sing.. Of course I'm a giant and everyone saw me laugh during the song. I felt dreadful. Good thing I had my back turned to the President.---- Yesterday my companion and I finally felt like we have hope at being real missionaries.... seriously,we've felt like terrible mish. BUT Our Father in Heaven finally gave us the strength and allowed us to use our ability of inviting the Spirit and teaching. Finally we were able to be successful, now if only we could start over with our other investigators and do better with them. A 2nd chance! please!!! but I guess we'll just have to see where we can take them from here. Okay, they're kicking us off!!!! blahk! love you all!!!!! sooooo much!

Spiders, Eathquakes y Scriptures Oh My! 7-21-12

So, really there's not much to say. Everyday's the same. Keep deareldering. Letters take ages to get here. Thanks for the picture of Emily and Daniel. I' so freaking excited for them! My comp is great. We were already friends so we got to skip the whole get to know you thing and got right to work. We're not perfect together but we're both hard workers. I get discouraged with myself and Spanish because she's so much better than me. But all is well. I'm getting over making mistakes in front of everyone... that's all. Yesterday was my month mark so sing a song and blow out some candles for me! My comp and I have been working out really hard and sweatin. We need it cause all we do all day is sit on our tooshies... we also share meals because once again, meals are determined on an Elder portion not an Hermana needed portion. So much food and soooo good. So some random things about this week: A large group from Honduras is staying in the Casa de Huespedes which is attached to the CCM. My classroom is actually a bedroom in that part of the building so we talk to them a bit. The kids are crazy though! They like to say Hello in Ingleis and what ever else they know how to say. One of them jumped into one of our Elder's laps the other day super randomly. They're great. TEMPLOR! We had an earthquake this week. I was sitting on a sofa by myself and I thought someone kicked it until it kept vibrating. It lasted quite a while. My companion was out on a nurse thing in the city. She was on the 5th level of a building and felt it pretty surely. Some people didn't even notice though... too bad for them. Three spiders is the count this week. They were pretty good sized ones too. Not as big as I wanted them to be though... jaja. So we get to go tracting this week! crazy right! I'm pretty sure I'll pair up with a Latina and we'll jump on a bus and get dropped off somewhere in the city-suburbs.  So it's great to be here. Oh and I can't upload pictures here. SUCKS, but one day you'll get some pictures. I love you all! AMOR AMOR AMOR!