Bonus trip to Yucatán on the coast of Mexico!

By the way, it didn't hurt either that to finish off our adventures in  Mexico, Natalie, Chelsi and I took off to the coast of Mexico to visit Mérida and Cancún on the Yucatán peninsula. Our only thought at the end of those three months was.. THE BEACH! Plus ancient ruins in Chichen Itza, beautiful cenotes, and the best ice cream I've tasted in my LIFE from a store called Pola!

We stayed with a fun girl named Azul who showed us around Mérida and took the bus on our own to Cancún for a day before flying back to Mexico City and our homeland.

Recuerdos de México

Living in Mexico over the summer was an experience I'll never forget! I've been back for a little over 5 months now and I love reminiscing on the experiences I had in Guanajuato, in the cities and the ranchos!

The friendships I made in Mexico are still strong! My #byumexlit2015 group of friends has gotten together for Mexican tacos several times in Provo, gives saludos to each other on campus and takes secret snapshots of each other, and keeps our hilarious group texts alive!

Hannah and I had a TESOL class together last semester on ESL course and lesson planning. It was good to draw from our experiences teaching English at the secundaria in Mexico. More than that, I just loved seeing her during class and frequently in between to go salsa dancing, eat, plan double dates and just enjoy each other because our time in Mexico brought us together in an unbreakable way! (Last night, I got a picture message from her from the BYU Jerusalem Center!)



I keep in touch with the friends I made over the phone and through social media, especially friends I made at the YSA Conference in Guadalajara towards the end of our stay! That was a memorable experience, for sure! My friends in Santa Rosa are very special to me as well, and I enjoy keeping in contact with them! (WhatsApp is a must for messaging if you have friends in Mexico!) I have also been in touch from some of the maestros at the school who cared for us so much.




When I got home, I couldn't help but stand there gaping at the perfectly white, flushing toilets, ice machines, hot showers, and good, old American food that surrounded me! Living in another country, especially in a rural community, has brought me much appreciation for the comforts I enjoy that I wouldn't have otherwise. Just yesterday I had to think twice as I casually started using the garden hose to clean off my shoes as I remembered Martina in the ranchos rushing to save the water that came in through the pipes only once every 14 days! And it's amazing to compare the resources at the public schools and universities my family and friends have enjoyed compared to the limited ones I worked with there, including funding and technology.

I don't know whether my trip to Mexico was a unique, cultural adventure or whether it will be the start of many in my lifetime. I do already know that because of the connections I made with this program through BYU, I became aware of and was accepted into another internship with the LDS Self-Reliance Services in the Dominican Republic! I will be receiving training in Salt Lake City and flying out to the DR with a companion next week!

The Rural Mexico Literacy internship has led to opportunities and blessings that I never would have imagined! I am so grateful for the blessings it has introduced into my life! I don't regret for one minute taking that flyer for the cheapest program at the BYU study abroad fair!

As I write this, a crazy storm is dumping rain on the metal roof of our little blue house! The power is out, as always when it rains, so I will type this now and copy it to my blog later…

With less than a month to go before heading back to the United States, I have been reflecting on all that my experience in Mexico has taught me and all that I hope to accomplish as far as giving service and trying new things while I’m here! I am learning the importance of loving everyone you meet, despite differences in ideas, culture and background. I can feel that my Heavenly Father loves every one of them and I need to learn how to emulate that more. I have learned that there are different ways of life that are still acceptable, and there are pros and cons to every lifestyle, so we should try to take apply the good from everything we can!

Hannah and I hope to continue to see progress with the 8 ladies we are teaching in the rancho and motivate them to continue their studies. We also hope to evaluate our English teaching in the “secundaria” school with the kids and encourage them to continue to make education a priority. We are also going to leave some helpful ideas for the teachers and students on how they can make English teaching and learning more enjoyable and effective in the school.

As far as my own Mexican goals, I want to learn how to dance with a partner like they do to salsa and bachata music, take lots of pictures with the people we’ve met, try to make some more tortillas without destroying them, do some more fun sightseeing with my BYU friends on the weekends!

I’m grateful for this opportunity the Lord has given me to learn and teach and live abroad! There are so many things to learn, and even though it’s hard sometimes, I already know that my life wouldn’t be the same without Mexico!

Niños, sun hats, fiestas, and pigs!

The past few weeks I have experienced a sharp contrast in lifestyle living here in the "rancho" of Santa Rosa! Hannah and I live in the most rural community out of anyone in our BYU group, and we have been learning a lot about the survival, values, and other cultural aspects of the lives of the interesting and friendly people here! The days and weeks are long and hard in some ways. It's a challenge for me living without running water and being surrounded by mosquitos and other bugs that bite and being in the heat without air conditioning, as well as adapting to the different personalities and customs of the people here and trying to think and communicate in Spanish all of the time! But I am so grateful for all of the valuable things this experience has already taught me!

The principal and teachers have put us to work teaching up to five hours of English classes in the "secundaria" and "preparatoria" (middle/ high school age) students in the public school up the street! It has been challenge figuring out how to plan and teach effectively to meet their needs in the language, but we love interacting with the cute students there, as well as the teachers who have welcomed us in like family.

After teaching in the schools, Hannah and I roam the community greeting people, eating some type of food always with tortillas with our family, and teaching several literacy/ high school level studies to women in the community. We currently have 6 students who we teach individually at their homes. They are studying at varying levels, from learning to write her own name to learning algebra working toward a certificate the equivalent of a GED in U.S. I have been learning to appreciate more the value of education and the special privileges I have had in my own life!

We can't get enough of these adorable kids in Santa Rosa! They are always doing funny things and like to follow us around to our teaching appointments and wherever we go. My family donated a bunch of coloring books, frisbees, nail polish, and other goodies that they don't have so much around here! They just have the best time whenever we bring out something fun to share with them.

Open skies, trees and cactus, fields of corn and beans and peanuts, little homes...
This place is beautiful!

Hannah and I have been learning a lot about how to work the public transportation systems in Mexico! Any time we leave the rancho, it's buses and taxis and buses and taxis!

We have to catch a specific bus that stops on this street outside the bus station to get back to our little rancho on Sundays after church! Here I am waiting with all of our stuff after we moved out of the house we were renting for the weekends in Guanajuato and had to take it all back to the rancho!

Sunny, sunny days! We finally took everyone's advice to buy "gorros" (hats) to protect ourselves from the sun! Plus, it's a fashion statement, right?

A lady we are teaching invited us to her grandson's 2nd birthday party, complete with pozole (a yummy corn/ chicken soup), a piñata, and friends and family, and tres leches cake!

This mama pig had 7 babies while we were gone over the weekend! They are so cute!

El rancho se llama SANTA ROSA!!

After anxiously anticipating the rural life adventure in Mexico for 3 weeks, my new BYU friend, Hannah Trimble, and I got dropped off in what we like to call "el medio de la nada" ("the middle of nowhere") in a rancho/ little rural village called Santa Rosa! Arrangements for us to stay in the village we were previously staying in didn't work out, so the INAEBA organization contacted a family in Santa Rosa who housed BYU students like us several years ago through this program. The Rural Mexico Literacy Internship was active for about 17 years, and then dissolved until last year. So

Everyone this square-mile radius seems to be related somehow to the family we are living with. Their names are MARTIN and MARTINA! So I should feel right at home, right?! Except that someone takes the donkey down to the river every morning to fill buckets with water to bring back to the house for cooking and washing (if you feel like it).

This morning we woke up to the sound of roosters that sounded like desperate death cries! Martina and her daughter, Beatriz, were already hand making corn tortillas in the kitchen over a fire stove. Hannah and I each took 3 fresh ones and walked about a hundred yards up the hill to the school, which is a "secundaria" and "preparatoria" for students from about ages 12-18. We met with some of the teachers without any notice in advance who quickly welcomed us, introduced us to several classes, and put together a schedule of when we can basically take over the hours designated to English teaching for each grade! We are going to be busy, busy! Hannah and I are both minoring in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at BYU, so we are excited to have this experience!

We have also started talking to the guy in charge of literacy teaching through INAEBA in this area, whose name is Erick and is our same age. He has a list of adults who are working on high school level studies. We are also free to seek out more adults who don't know how to read/ write and offer to tutor them using the teaching techniques we were trained on briefly in Irapuato.

When we looked around with our suitcases yesterday at this place we'll be living, surrounded by cactus, goats, pigs, and donkeys... for a minute I second-guessed my decision about what I'll be doing for the next 3 months of my life! But thankfully we have already met many amazing people, including adorable little kids who like to follow us around and are fascinated by us. Our family and Erick are looking out for us, and every weekend for the next 8 weeks we are catching the buses/ taxis back to the city of Guanajuato where we'll reunite with the rest of our BYU group who are having their own experiences in other ranchos. Hannah and I are definitely the farthest away from the kind of civilization we're used to. Lots of bug spray and hand sanitizer is getting us by so far...

I'm so grateful that through school and my mission I've been able to learn Spanish as well as how to positively interact with people of other cultures! I'm recognizing, though, that I lack a lot of knowledge and practice in both as areas as I try to understand! This experience will help me mucho!

I think the Lord gives us opportunities to stretch ourselves. As we know, as we try to be selfless and give what we can to others, our capacity to give and receive His love is increased. (Matthew 16: 25)


Hannah and I get to stay in our own little casita, which looked like a storage shed until they moved things around and brought a bed in. Yes, this is where we live. The rest of the family is right next to us in other little buildings equally blue. It's very much the same color as my bedroom when I was 14...

The sunset last night was beautiful!

We just about stepped on a litter of baby pigs last night as we were walking up to our house and as it was getting dark!!

Welcome to Santa Rosa... 150 people (Más of menos).

Gorgeous Guanajuato!!

On Tuesday we moved out of Irapuato (where the government agency office was that we're working with) to the city of Guanajuato about an hour and a half away. We are stationing ourselves here until our host families in the villages are completely figured out (it's taking a little longer than expected) and then return here every weekend for the next 9 weeks in between our weekdays in the ranchos! I was so surprised by how stunning this city is! The bright colors, historical sights, food and shopping, and the colonial feel make it such an enjoyable place to be! We've had a good time exploring some more before getting settled into our internship routines!

Cheap, delicious food everywhere you look! Watch out! Gorditas, quesadillas, tacos...

It's so much fun just walking through this city!

Just me and don Quixote!

May is "el mes de María" here, so there is some kind of celebration going on every night next to the cathedral, it seems like!

Off to Irapuato

So in between our touristy adventures and teaching literacy in the rural villages, we are spending about a week in the city of Irapuato (about 4 hours away from Mexico City) to coordinate with the INEA (Instituto Nacional para la Educación de los Adultos/ National Institute of Adult Education) and receive training on how to teach literacy classes. So now we are staying in small apartments as we explore a little bit and live the real Mexican life! Plus work on all of our Spanish and internship credit reading and writing assignments for BYU...

Saw the Avengers in theaters for less than 2 American dollars!! That's what I like!

Got a ride from a member and his cute grandson to the the INEA office!

So Dominos here has this special Chimichurri sauce for pizza that is amazing! Neal told us about it.

Checking out the malls/ plazas...

I think it's funny every time I see the way they spell "donas."

We went to church on Sunday in Irapuato and the members were so welcoming and loving!

We can't get enough of the "Michoacana" ice cream shops around here!

"El Centro" of Irapuato is a fun, busy place with all kinds of yummy food and goods being sold! Also prime for people-watching!

Sunday was our good friend, Chelsi's birthday!! 

We surprised her with her favorite dinner dishes from home, birthday cake and ice cream (which I had the honor of shoving into her face to live up to the Mexican tradition), and a PINATA (filled with plastic and paper "men" for her big 25!)

The INEABA government agency workers drove us out to the "ranchos" where we'll be doing our internship work to figure out what resources are available in each community before we assign ourselves to different ones. Also, we scored some delicious grilled "helotes"!