HOLA FROM CALKINI - FEBRUARY 8, 2016

So this was a great first week in Calkini! The work is so different here, it is crazy. The culture in itself is just so shockingly different from Merida, the people here are all Mayan and speak Mayan as a second language and yeah, just to be brief, it is crazy.  But i have learned so much this week about missionary work, and the way I can improve. The thing about this little town, is in the center there is a huge catholic church, so basically everyone tells us, NO I GO TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE BIG TEMPLE. Whereas in Kukulcan, the people said they were catholic but didnt go to church at all, and were very honest about it. But it is nice being in a little humble area again, 

So what has been cool about this area is that about 4 months ago I worked for a week in this area, and met literally all the members and less actives. So this whole week I have just been seeing a bunch of familiar faces. They all go, whoa, I already know you?! And they act all confused. Haha It made the change of area a little easier, and also my companion has already been here 4.5 months, so he knows the people really well. 

Elder Escobar, my companion, told me before these transfers he was really really praying to have an american companion come to his area that already knows how to work and can work super hard here.... and then I showed up. What I have learned a lot this week is how inspired these changes really are, Elder Escobar and I work so great together, and we have seen so many reasons of why we are together. It truly doesnt matter where I am serving, as long as it is where the Lord would have me be! 

Something I learned a lot this week was how to contact people better, like I said, the work is way different here than in Merida. In Merida we honestly did not contact people too much, but here we literally talk to EVERYONE, without a joke, literally EVERYONE. I have learned from Elder Escobar to literally just show all the love in the world to these people. We ask them really personal questions right off the bat to find their need, and then we tell them straight up how much we love them, and with that we had a ton of success being accepted my people. 

But the thing is, while we did get accepted by people, we literally got rejected by more people this week than all of my mission before combined.... for example. We were teaching an old man, and then this guy came in and started screaming at us to get out of his house and that we are false preachers and everyone is from the same God but we have a different God that is the Devil.... and we plainly said we want to help his dad and are simply teaching, and then this guy threatened to get a knife and did in fact get one, and we left... lol. The thing is that i never felt scared, I know the Lord is always with me. But seriously we got rejected a ton, almost every person rejects us here for being Catholic. We taught a young girl named Mariel, and then the next day when we went, her grandma yelled at us for 1 hour about how her granddaughter is Catholic and we can't come anymore and how horrible of people we are... the sad thing is, Mariel accepted a baptism date. 

Also, this week everyone was stuck in their house for it being too cold... too cold meaning about 75 degrees. The best was when we went to someones house and they rejected us and when we asked when to come back and they said when the weather wasnt so ugly... it was 72 and sunny. Also this week is what they call the Carnaval, or in our language, the carnival. So every day and night everyone it's in the center of the town until like 4am, and our house is close to center and we hear music all night. It ends tuesday night! But it makes it so no one is in their house...

What hit me this week that I am truly away from home is when our branch president was gonna go do visits with us, but then told us he couldn't because he wanted to watch the Super Bowl... lol. 

My companion and I have half of the area and other missionaries the other half of the area of the branch, and in the other half is where all of the members live, so our missionary work is almost pure searching for investigators. 

EVERYONE SPEAKS MAYAN HERE. I WANT TO LEARN SO BAD. I am learning a little bit here and there, little phrases, but it is so funny when these people just go off in Mayan and my comp and I are just like... uh... .it was like that in my first area in Coahuila too, but I was so focused on learning Spanish i blocked out all Mayan, but now that I am almost fluent in Spanish, I am gonna focus on some Mayan!

LOL in sacrament meeting yesterday there were like 40 people, and in the middle of the meeting an old man answered his phone and talked for like 5 minutes really loudly, I AM IN THE CHURCH; WHAT DO YOU WANT!!! Lol i laughed so hard. 

So for those of you who know me, I always spill things. I had been doing pretty good lately, until the other night in a house of a less active member, they gave us chocolate milk... in water. IDK why they call it CHOCOMILK here when it is made of water but anyways, i was like YES MY FAVORITE; CHOCOLATE. And I am new trying to make a good impression, when I spilled the pitcher of the chocolate milk everywhere on their table and floor... i felt so bad. Classic Elder Plowman.

So this week I talked a lot about rejection... but honestly I dont get too down about it, because searching all day everyday just to find 1 person, or even just spread the message, makes it so worth it. I have gained so much faith this week. Elder Escobar and I are killing it here. We are trying so hard to be diligent, and truly i love this work so much. I hope all is well, I send you all my love from Calkini, Campeche, Mexico!

Elder Plowman