Hola!

P-Day at Botanical Garden

This week was a great one! I have been in Mexico for a month! Woo hoo!

These last few days have been really hot, today I especially I am very sweaty. This week we taught 42 lessons! Some of them were with members and less actives too. We have 7 progressing investigators, which means that they are reading the book of Mormon and coming to church, and next month we are hoping for 3 baptisms!!! 

One of the highlights of this week was that we found an awesome family. They were a referral from a member. The first time we shared a short message and left a Proclamation to the family for them to read.  We went over to teach them again and taught them the restoration and invited them to church and they said they had seen our church and felt they needed to go to it because they were having some problems. They came to church this Sunday and I have a really good feeling, they are really prepared and we are just pumped to teach them some more.

Botanical Garden

Sunday is kind of the climax of the week because it is where we see which investigators and less actives came to church! It{s like the ultimate act of faith. This week a lot came and I honestly was so happy. It really is the best feeling when people read the scriptures and pray and come to church because they want to learn more and they are acting in faith and making changes in their lives to follow Jesus Christ! Oh man, that is the best feeling ever!!!

A house

Being a missionary really is the most unique experience. I love it so much. We work hard and we come home dirty and tired, but I know we can work harder.

I am participating more and more in the lessons, but it is still kind of tricky to understand people sometimes.

I call this Lombard Street

I love you tons and tons and tons!!!!!!!!

Remember that we are literally children of our Heavenly Father. We were made to be great. When we are going through hard trials, it is because we are going to grow and become stronger. 

Have a wonderful week!

2 Months!

I have officially been a missionary for 2 months! Although just 3 weeks in Mexico.

Still going strong! I love it! 

This week we had exchanges, where I went to another area for a day and a night with another hermana, hermana zapata. When I was gone, I realized I missed my area and the people we were going to teach that day a bunch!!! Even though I was only gone for one day haha. Some of the investigators and members are our best friends. Its the best. 

Last week, I was wearing a bow in my hair, and when we were on the bus to back to our house I realized it had fallen out of my hair! But I was like, ok whatever.

But then a couple days ago we were in that same neighborhood walking down the street and I saw my bow on the ground! haha! It was all dirty but I took it home and washed it and I was happy.

I gave a talk in church on sunday!!!! I didnt know until right before, but I think it went alright! It was actually a little too long... haha. Didnt think that would happen! Probably because I still speak really slow sometimes because I need to think about the words. 

Turns out! The address for the mission office is different for the one in the packet!!! Or its possible that the one in the packet was for the mission home, and this is the address for the mission office... Dont really know but if you have sent me a letter i don't know when i will get it or if i ever will! Here is the address you should send letters and packages.

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

Mision Mexico Merida

Calle 70 #521-A entre 65 y 67

Col. Centro

Merida, Yucatan, C.P. 97000

Mexico

This is the best address to use. Tell everyone about it. Or put it on my facebook.

Love you tons.

Remember to pray always!!!!! Because really, God is our Father, and we can have a personal relationship with him. And as with any relationship, communication is very important. And prayer is when we have a heartfelt talk with our Father to let Him know how we are doing, and ask for His help to receive strength everyday.

have a wonderful week!

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

Provecho

Hola familia!!!

The weeks pass by fast! I have been here for 2 weeks already. I am kind of getting familiar with our area but its a little confusing and apparently the streets have names but most of the time they aren't written anywhere. 

I see the weirdest things everyday. I saw a huge lizard in the street and we were teaching someone and they had a ginormous turkey just walking around their yard haha. Our neighbors pet monkey got out of its cage and was swinging around on the powerlines outside and we tried to lure it back in with a banana haha.

As far as food, its not really that foreign. We had a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) with some less actives and an investigator and we had ham and cheese sandwiches haha. Every day but P day we eat lunch at a members house. Basically everything I've had is pretty delicious. They love this drink that is tamarind juice. I still don}t know what a tamarind is but everyone loves it. At first I didn't but I think its growing on me. 

Last week there was one day where it was SUPER windy and then for 3 days it was kind of cool and windy. It was the best. I didn't even sweat that much and I actually wore a long sleeve shirt on Thursday. What?? I didn't think that would ever happen. And I had to sleep with a blanket because it was cold.

Usually I am always sweaty and it is a blessing to have a hammock because air flows through and you can rock yourself back and forth and that helps cool down haha. Plus we have a fan in our casa.

We teach lessons basically all day after studying!! Or at least we try to. There is this one neighborhood that is particularly difficult to find people in their home, but we have lots of back up plans or we just teach people we find. We do not knock on doors, but if people are outside then sometimes we talk with them. 

We teach a lot of less actives too. In Mexico people have to attend church 5 weeks to be baptized. So we have to be very patient because we have some people that are really close to being baptized but miss church. :(

I sure am glad I went hiking all winter long because our area has lots of hills but its no big deal.

I love all the people we teach! It is great to share the gospel! But it is also hard when people are not ready to accept it for some reason or another. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!

Heavenly Father is always listening to our prayers and is always waiting for us to come unto Him! It is so worth it to make the effort to study the scriptures and pray sincerely every single day. 

I love and miss you but I am loving it here and I love being a missionary! 

Hermana Stacie Fleischer (people have a hard time saying Fleischer)

Buenes Tardes!

Hello family! 

I completed one week in Mexico!! Campeche is really good. Our area has lots of hills and lots of neighborhoods. It is very hot all day and all night. But the nice thing about Campeche is that a nice breeze comes in from the ocean in the afternoon and kind of cools down, but then it gets really humid but it is nice. I have heard that in Merida it is way hotter and no breeze. 

I love telling people that just last week, I was in snow!!!

The center of campeche is really pretty. It is closer to the ocean and the buildings are very pretty. We visited the center of Campeche when we went to go watch Conference at the Stake Center. Sadly, I only listened to one session in English. I could only understand some things... but I am sure it was good. I loved how the Orem Institute sang in one of the sessions!!! I definitely recognized some people (Julie Riding!) so that was fun. Way to represent. The last session I watched in English! I liked it a lot. I liked the talk about where our treasure is our heart is also. It{s so important to remember what really matters in this life!! It especially rang true for me right now because the people in our area really have so little. Lots of houses are just cinder block homes like the ones we built in Mexico. A lot of homes are less than that. They don{t really have many chairs, they usually have to go find some in their yard when we come teach. There is lots of garbage in the street. So it is just a very different scene. But it is very beautiful. And we have the gospel! I don{t know what else we need!

We found someone to teach last week and he was 104 years old!!!! He looked 70 though. He said his secret was fruits and vegetables. I believe him. The people we teach and the members are so awesome. The kids are so cute. For the most part, I don{t understand what is going on. I can speak ok Spanish during the lesson. But if they respond or ask me a question I just look at Hna. Martinez haha. After every lesson ( after everything) I always ask her, ¿que dijo? which means, what did they say? Its my most frequently used phrase haha.

I am probably the tallest person in all of Campeche. Haha everyone is so little. One of the Hermana missionaries we met at conference said that I am the first "real american" in Campeche. (She is from California, but Mexican). So that is interesting. I liked meeting her because I could speak in English again! Woo hoo!

Today for p-day we washed our clothes (by hand in our little sink in our yard) and cut my own hair! That was fun. I felt like Mulan when she cuts her hair with a sword. 

Something that the people do is when women greet each other they kiss each other on the cheek. I was so awkward doing it the first day haha. Lots of people are just super nice and on Saturday tons of people gave us food haha. Usually that doesn't happen but someone gave us tostadas, someone else gave us apples, someone gave us some tortillas, and one of the families we taught gave us these little mango pop things. The food here is pretty good! Although one time a member gave us a chicharron, I still don{t really know what it was but just imagine a Styrofoam sheet of crispy something. I don{t know how to explain it but I ate the whole thing to be polite. It was huge haha. 

Remember to pray!!!! We pray all day and it is the best. It is so apparent that we could not do this work without the Lord. The same goes with life as a whole. We could not endure to the end and enjoy our lives without divine help.

I love you all!

Have a good day!

Campeche

Hola familia!!!

I made it! On Monday we woke up at 3:30 am, then took a bus to the airport at 4:30 am. 

I saw Brother Allred at the Salt Lake Airport! That was fun. I traveled with 4 elders. We flew to Denver and then not too long after we flew to Houston. After a few hours there, we flew to Merida!!

That night we met President Garcia and his wife at the airport and then I spent the night with a couple of Hermana missionaries in Merida. I slept in a hammock! It is kind of weird to get used to, but it was good. 

The trick is you don't sleep in it like a banana, but perpendicular and then you can stretch out pretty good because there is a whole bunch of hammock.

Yesterday, we traveled to the Mission President{s house with all the new missionaries. There were also some new missionaries from Guatemala,  Ecuador, Mexico, Dominican Republic. It is cool.

We ate breakfast and had some orientation and then we went to the chapel and got assigned to our trainers!!!!!!

My trainer/ companion is Hermana Martinez. She is so awesome!! Our area is in Campeche, which is closer to the coast and a couple hours south of Merida.

It is so different here, but I love it. I am really glad Hermana Martinez is from Guatemala because there is no way I could get around here and talk to people with just the Spanish I know. 

 Our casa is pink! Campeche has lots of hills and lots of plants and lots of stray dogs and cats.

Today we studied and bought some food and now I am emailing. 

There is a park not very far from our house that has exercise equipment outside in the park! haha I love it. It looks like a playground or something but there is an elliptical thing and some other things that you sit on and pull a bar. Haha. We did that this morning and it was fun. 

We have lots of things on our schedule today!!! I am loving it here. There is lots to learn and get used to but I love being a missionary.

It is pretty hot here. But not unbearable. Merida was not super humid yesterday, but when we got off the bus in Campeche last night, it was super humid and I felt so sticky. But I think I will get used to it soon. We carry little towels with us to wipe off our sweaty faces before we go into a lesson haha.

I know I can not do this without my Heavenly Father!!! Even though I am thousands of miles away from my home and everything is very different, I will always have my Father in Heaven watching over me and directing me to His children so that they may feel the spirit and come unto Him!!

I am so glad I got to talk to all of you on the phone!!!!! What a blessing. I love you and miss you!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!!!!!!!!!

One Month

 Buenas Dias! Today I have been in the MTC for exactly a month Que loco, no?

Thank you for the letters and stuff. It is the best!!!! You are definitely the cool kid when you walk out of the mail room with a package.

Most of our zone left to Mexico on Monday, so there is just my district (5 hermanas) and a brand new district of 4 elders left in our zone. It is fun being the ones who show them all the MTC ropes. Since the elder who played piano left, I will be playing the piano in sacrament meeting now! That will be fun. There are a few Spanish hymns that are not in the English Hymn Book and they are really awesome. Hermana Wood and I played our musical number last Sunday for sacrament meeting. During the song, some of my music fell down while I was playing! Yikes! I just kind of made the part up that fell on the floor... it wasn't my best improvisation but the rest of the song went ok haha. We are also playing our song for the New Missionary meeting today!!!

We are taking this song on tour!!! haha (MTC tour)

St. Patty's outfits

We will be getting our flight plans on Friday!!! Woo hoo! I am so excited. I hope I have a layover somewhere cool. I will write you (probably mom) about them when I get them so you don;t have to wait until wednesday.

Sometimes I come home to my apartment at night and I find a surprise from Mally! Woo hoo! Her roommate does the cleaning checks for the Wyview apartments and leaves me goodies :)

Basically everyday at the MTC is the same... but it is still really good. Sundays are nice because we get to watch Music and the Spoken Word and there is always a speaker for Relief Society and sometimes we watch mormon messages in our classroom for an hour haha. We can use lds.org which is nice because there is a lot of good stuff on there. 

Also thanks for the exercise band, apparently at West Campus you don't get a stretchy band! What a let down. I was testing it out last night and snapped myself with it hahaha. It was great. It didn't feel great, but it made me laugh. I can't believe how much I laugh here at the MTC. Hermana Wood and I are always having a good time.

I hope you all are doing so well! It is weird being away from you for so long... but in 17 months we can hug and stuff again. Family is such an important part of the gosepl. How cool is it that Heavenly Father put us on the earth in families, a perfect place to love and learn and grow, and then we get to be with them forever!!!!

I have never wanted to learn so much about the gospel as I do now. Thank you for the gospel principles book! I am eating it up. There is so much good stuff in there. 

I love you so much! Be strong and remember that we have so much light in our lives! 

D+C 6:36 Read it. Love it. 

Les quiero mucho!!!!!!

Hermana Fleischer

Beunos Dias: Half way to Mexico

This week is basically my half way point for the MTC! I have a little less than 3 weeks here! It feels like I have been here forever. I am really excited to go to Mexico, even if it is almost 100 degrees in Merida this week!!!! 

One of our teachers is leaving this week, he's worked here for a while and he is getting a real person job. We are going to miss him so much, he is our favorite.

Last Sunday Hermana Wood and I played Nearer My God To Thee (I played piano and she played violin) for the Relief Society meeting for all the sisters in the MTC! It went so well and it was pretty fun! 

I saw Sister (Debbie?) Smith, from our stake! Ray Smith is in a branch presidency at the MTC so I saw her at Main Campus. 

Fun Fact: The wife of one of the counselors in our branch presidency is from Orem and babysit Neal and/or his siblings when he was little. Kind of a fun connection. I remembered that Lynn was a bishop so that's how we found that out. I don't know her maiden name!! But her married name is Durfey.

Spanish is coming, and I can understand most things in the lessons we teach! But there's a lot to learn. I am SO glad I already knew some Spanish before we came. I can't imagine starting from scratch. I still have a long ways to go. 

Sometimes we catch a bus to come to main campus to eat lunch, we have just done that a few times. But it is fun to have a change of scenery. The 2 campuses seem so different, and sometimes I forget how to greet people in English because we also do it on Spanish with all the missionaries on West Campus. I'm also to the point where the only songs stuck in my head are hymns haha. 

There is a lot I didn't know about missionary work, or more like I'm just learning so much more everyday!! The Lord's work is hastening, whether we are a part of it or not. But we get the opportunity to have a front row seat of watching people change their lives as they grow closer to the Savior. We teach pretend investigators but we feel so much love for them!!! It's awesome. It is so cool how the gospel applies to all of our needs and as we help them know how they grow in the gospel with faith and prayer and the scriptures. The scriptures are like a text book, and we have a lot of tests that we go through, but guess what. It's an open book test! WE have the answers and the way to receive revelation and guidance through the scriptures and we can access them at anytime! 

Especially with all the technology! If you have a smart phone, you can have all the standard works and everything just in a little place! So cool.

Well, Hope y'all are having a good week and that the business is going well!

Today I have my last dentist appointment and I will get my crowns! Yay! And see Mom.

I love you so much and miss you so much. 

I can't really think of many specific things to tell you guys but I hope that this is enough! Ask me any questions I guess.

Also dearelders are the best too. Mom- thank you so much for sending me a bunch! They are great.