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!

No hablo Espanol.... todovia

So I'm freezing here... not all the time, it just feels like normal days back home. But it's not hot unless you stand in the sun. I haven't seen much of Guatemala yet, but I think I'll get out more later. I'm mostly just confined to the CCM. The CCM here is also housing for those visiting the temple that is next door (there's a gas station in between the CCM and temple... kind of funny, I think the church has been trying to buy it for a while now...). We got to go to Casa CRE yesterday which is where we do our TRC (we teach actual people and not other missionaries or teachers) it's an actual house by the temple that they have made each room like a living room so we can practice. So that's the only time that we've been free! haha. I think I like it here more than Provo, but it's so different that I can't really tell, plus it's still my first week here which is always a little more stressful than it will be later. It's like starting a new job and not knowing where everything is and what all the rules and procedures are. Some other things that are different are we get a snack time in the evening after dinner... yay... more food, but it's always good. The food is still great here, I expected more rice, but the cook here I think likes to be diverse. I think I've only had rice once since I've been here. I love the fruit (look up what lychees look like, I don't really know how to spell it, but they're a spikey fruit. I think that's the only weird fruit I've eaten, it's good.) The food is so much better than Provo. Our classroom here is actually a bedroom in the temple visitor's quarters... there are a ton of people here right now. They are filled up. One of our teachers is hilarious... we'll go outside and play a game and if we get something wrong, she'd throw a ball at us! She's so funny but so strict at the same time. It's great. Another one of my teachers got off his mish 3 weeks ago and he's just adorable haha. So here, we're the ones with the headsets in meetings to get the translation. There are only 4 of us going to Panamá, and one of us is a Latino elder so he'll be out of here in three weeks. I love Latinos so much. They're so patient with and try to help us so much. I'm excited to be around them all the time! I heard the food in Panamá is all rice and salty food. haha -_---- So letters take forever to get here, but you can write me or dear elder works well, just do it before every Tuesday. I love you all! Hermana Schumacher

MTC Rain Smells like Raisins

5:45 am Wake up and beat the morning rush for a warm shower

6:35 Gym - sand volley ball or gym (OH and you CAN bring headphones! thank goodness I broke that rule... you can use them in the underground gym here at the MTC!)

8:10 Breakfast

8:40 Study, study, study, study... and maybe a 3 hour class of study...

12:50 pm Eat... again...

1:35 Feel sick from eating lunch

1:36 Study, study, study, study... and maybe a 3 hour class of study AGAIN...

5:45 Guess what! We get to EAT AGAIN

6:30 3 hr class or maybe some TALL (Spanish computer learning program)

9:00 pm Plan for tomorrow’s Spanish and eating schedule

9:30 finally go back to resident hall and try to get ready for bed and write in your journal (if you can remember what happened...)

10:15 Silent time = talk with roommates about everything we can possible talk about and laugh super crazy cause we're literally going crazy if we weren't crazy already...

10:30 - 11pm Try to sleep with a million amazing great things flying through your mind!

This is the best schedule ever! At first... it's crazy... and then it's more crazy.... and then, it's just your daily schedule.  We have other things like one preparation day and Sunday and a Devotional on Tuesday nights.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We got to go crazy! They let us stay up passed our "bed time" (meaning till even after 10! Woo) and watch the fireworks.  We had a great program with music, speakers (one of the mish had the most amazing announcer voices I've ever heard from a kid his age!), bagpipes, flags, and ice cream.  After the program we stood outside in a mob of missionaries.  It seriously felt like we were from the 50's.  Late night out, all the girls are wearing skirts or dresses, the boys and girls don't touch each other, everyone's super polite, the boys are all dressed nice... it was... back to the future.  It was a great 4th.  You couldn't have a better night with great new friends and glow sticks and missionaries!

Our zone said goodbye to our oldest district yesterday.  They were supposed to be heading out to Argentina, but they've gotten placed in Colorado and Texas for now.  At least they don't have to stay here for an 11th week... We'll miss them a ton.  We get a new district today. The lucky ducks got to come in today instead of the 4th of July Wednesday (new mish usually come in on Wednesdays). Little baby mishes... I can't wait to meet them and throw all my amazing Spanish at them right away so they think I'm way good! jaja! Kidding... maybe. 

I LOVE people.  I've never loved people so much in my life...

We (my hermanas that I'm going to the CCM (MTC) in Guatemala with on Tuesday) get to sing on Sunday in our branch.  I'm in a Spanish branch... strange to say, right?  It's awesome.  I bore my testimony on fast Sunday in Spanish last week.  It wasn't perfect but it was my only chance to do it here at the MTC so I had to!

SO since we're traveling on Tuesday, I get to call my family in the airport!! I got a calling card and everything! I'm super excited!

My comp and I are working hard.  It's been tough because we're at really different levels of speaking Español, pero it's been a great teaching experience.  I can feel myself get into mish mode, so if I come home and try to convert everyone, just bear with me, cause I'm training to be a "kick-butt" missionary (as Melissa put it...)

Entonces, when I look into my closest... it shrinks every day, I swear... I have no clothes! Okay, I have some... but really... no.  There's like nothing to wear... good thing I'm not trying to impress anyone here... I'd be in a panic! JA!

I'm so excited to go to the CCM.  I'm so grateful that the 4 of us hermanas are all going together (well Hermana Canfield leaves wed and we 3 leave Tues).  We've become amazing friends.  It feels like we've known each other way longer than 2 week! WOW I can't believe it's only been two weeks... that can't be right... I think I'm starting to understand why our "time" on earth doesn't match up to God's time....

Spanish is coming.  I am learning so much.  I can teach lessons in Spanish.  Poorly, but I can't expect perfection (yet, jaja)

I'm pretty sure they are squeezing an 8th day in somewhere in the MTC weeks... especially with getting up to early and going to bed so late...

(Quick note: the teachers here are... well, amazing.  They build us up so high.  Plus I think they hire teachers here based on skills and looks... if you know what I mean.  It's amazing that there's such a difference between these return missionary teachers and our new missionaries here training.  It shows how much we can progress in such a short time.)

Thank you for the letters this week!  dearelder.com is amazing! serious! DO IT.  They are amazing in the MTC because we get them every single day, pretty much the day you write them! They were so awesome to receive.

Though I don't have much time to miss you, I really do!  I love you all and thanks for your support and love!

Te Amo!

Hermana Schumacher

(PS if you want to send me something, keep in mind that I love stationary to write letters and Chapstick and mints)

After a few computer glitches, I've managed to make Sasha's first post. Sorry for the delay.  Dear Elder is great. Right now choose Provo MTC with box #269. After July 9th, switch to Guatemala MTC.

I will add a few comments from her letter to our family:

My 1st day felt like 12 days... and it was only really a half of one!

I could go on and on, but alas, it's not about the stories, it's about how I feel and grow.  Right now I am climbing a mountain. I'm exhausted, focusing on every step, relying on others around me, remembering what I've been taught and the view is a view I've never seen before. It is a beauty I've never imagined. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

The Lord will answer any prayer we missionaries ask! I am only slightly starting to understand the power He's allowing us as missionaries.

Puffy Pants and 19 Year Old Elders

This has been the longest week of my life and it has flown by!

Where do I start... My companion is Hermana Kistner. She's from Prescott (pronounced Pres-kit, just fyi), Arizona. AND I talked to her on the phone in Puerto Rico the DAY she got her mission call! How crazy cool is that!? She's Nick Johnson's cousin. He was on tour with me in the DR (Dominican Republic) and PR (Puerto Rico.) The other sisters in my district are Hermana Canfield and Ericson. Mi Hermana y yo sentimos como nosotros conocemos each other forever! (excuse the conjugations mal y the grammar mal) Our companionship is not perfect because we are so different, but because of that reason, our lessons and study radiate with the Spirit. Without the Spirit, I don't think I'd still be here. What I have done this week wouldn't have been possible without it. They literally throw you into the work. The 2nd day they had us teaching lessons to an investigator in SPANISH. That's right... crazy! I'm learning Spanish for sure... I'm not worried about being my crazy happy self in Spanish anymore... that's easy... jaja. To get through the day, I laugh. I laugh con mi hermanas y at myself.

My district is fantastic! There are 12 of us in a tiny prison cell that we can never leave except when we are fed. jaja. But, really it's awesome! The Elders are so great... they're going to miss us Hermanas when we leave (we ALL go to the Gatemala CCM (or MTC) in less than two weeks, only Hermana Canfield is staying in Guatemala, the other 3 of us head to Panama.) They are so 19 year old boys. We are reminded of that everyday... but what's really scary is that we're getting so used to being around them. Our district wouldn't be the same without any one of them. It's the strangest feeling to be with them all day and feel like I knew them before I got here. To be honest the only bad thing so far is the stench... haha This food here makes us stinky! One of the Hermanas has the nick name of Hermana Puffy Pants... it can only get worse going to Central America! jajaja...

Our day starts at about 5:45 in the morning and goes till 10:45-11 at night. We have NO down time... but it's absolutely perfect! We study and study and study and laugh! It's great. I went to the temple this morning and it was gorgeous!

I love you all and I hope this 15 minute written blog is good enough for you all! WRITE ME! I haven't gotten any letters and I know I've only been away for a week in your time, but in my time it's been a year... seriously... (also, dearelder.com is a missionary life saver! so... get on that while I'm in the MTC!)

This week's scripture: 2 Nephi 31

Peace Out!

-Hermana Schumacher

(pics next week)