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!!!!!!!!!!!!