Floods, Earthquakes, and Mud

 Well, this was quiet the week. 

All of this starts on Monday night as we're leaving the church for the night and it starts pouring rain. I had my umbrella but i still got soaked, but walking home in it was even kinda fun and when we got home we hung up our clothes and that was the end of it.....for our area anyway. 

The next day we start seeing videos of flooding farther in the zone in Tula and it’s awful. In the videos literally the only thing above the water was the tops of the houses. But because we had zone conference I kinda forgot about it and stupid me still didn’t realize how bad the flooding was. Zone conference was good but it was just zone conference so nothing mind blowing about it (there are some pictures on facebook if you’re just dying to know more). The Cool thing about it was it was kinda in the rural part of my mission so on the ride you got to see the open parts of Mexico and its so awesome to see all the mountains and fields here. When we got back, it was raining really hard again so we just stayed in. That night though I’m standing in the kitchen just cookin’ up some popcorn (also our kitchen had an ant problem too…I cant escape these stupid creatures) and all of a sudden my body starts swaying and it felt like I was extremely fatigued and dizzy and so when the sensation passed I thought it was all in my head so I didn’t tell my companion. A couple of minutes later though the bishop texts our phone and asks if we were ok after the earthquake. Then it hit me that I wasn’t dizzy it was literally an earthquake and then my companion said he felt the exact same thing as me but didn’t tell me cause he thought it was in his head too. Apparently the earthquake was between 6.9 and 7.1 but it didn’t feel like that to me. Also it didn’t feel anything like the earthquake we had at home last year or whenever it was. 

Later that night I was reading in D&C 88 about the signs of the second coming and verse 87 literally describes the exact feeling of the earthquake "for not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man"  also that day we got a Liahona magazine at zone conference and the main article was by Elder Oaks talking about how close the second coming is. So the Second Coming is nigh folks. (Anyone know if any prophets have died in Jerusalem recently?)

The next day we were gonna go clear a bit of mud from the rain at a house in the area and were walking around the plaza with Walmart and stuff and theres an  intersection there that has ton of traffic and I promise you have never seen anything as chaotic as a 4 way intersection in Mexico. You literally have to pray beforehand to make it out alive if you want to walk across it. Now, during the walk were just talking and stuff just taking in the atmosphere and all of a sudden we walk past the store and there is this awful music coming out of it and I look in and on the wall there is a giant pentagram and a bunch of demon statues for sale and it turns out it was like a satan store and literally the feeling I got walking past it was so awful and it took me a while to shake off that feeling. We ended up not doing the mud clearing that day and on our walk back a member picked us up and bought us pizza which was cool.

Now on Thursday the fun began. When we get up we get a message from the zone leaders saying they need a ton of help with flood cleanup. The ride to Tula is about 30 minutes and its really cool. On the way we get to see the open mountains and fields. Also the power plants are so freaking huge its insane. When we get there we go into these houses and theres water everywhere. If you were to go into the basement you’d have to swim. We literally have to throw away everything in these houses. And these homes aren’t small. These people literally have to throw away all of their belongings. Only pictures do it justice. (I’m writing this on the phone so ill send a separate email later with all of my pictures). After this house we walk about two miles to another house to clear more and when we walk into this house it hits me how bad the flood damage is. You cant even see the floor because of how much mud there is and all of their things are overturned and the mud just smells awful, I don’t know if I’ll ever get it out of my clothes and theres literally dead fish and feces in the mud. Literally the work in these houses consists of using squeejees  literally have no clue how to spell that) yo get the mud out and just throwing all their furniture and stuff on to the sidewalk. And again, only pictures do it justice.

We spent the next few hours at this cool old chapel making care packages with a ton of members and it took so long. After that we drove with a member to another house and on the drive there we saw a dirty trick people use to make money. When you’re stopped at a stop sign or intersection or whatever they quickly clean your windshield and then stand my your car until you give them money. 

As were walking to this next house we see the river and how over filled and how much trash there is in it. When we get to the Next house it’s just as bad and theres is thick mud in the street. I took pictures of how high the water level was. The saddest thing about this house is that they had three cars and all three had been submerged during the flood. During this house cleaning the mud smell was starting to get to get to me and during the bathroom cleaning I had to leave cause i was gonna throw up. 

On Friday we had a miscommunication with the zone leaders and we didn’t go back so we just sat at the church all day, but some elders in my district bought a cake for my birthday which was nice 

Saturday we went back and this time the entire mission was there and it was more of the exact same but more of going into houses and throwing literally all of these peoples ruined belongings into the street. And then later construction vehicles would just take it away. On the ride home that night I realized how sunburnt and muddy I was. Also i saw the Tula ruins from a distance and I want to go so bad. 

Now Sunday morning I awoke to the news of the rivalry game and I suppose you could say I was more than disappointed. The good thing is I wasn’t home to see it and we had to go to church, so i didn't have time to think about it. After church we had to go back again to Tula because of how much service there still was to do and the house we went to first was the worst one yet. This one was full of the black toxic mud and it was so toxic because they said it literally had human feces and other stuff in it. This house was right on the river bank and we literally are just throwing old ruined books and journals and other possessions right into the river. Luckily some elder gave me some shoes for this (there is literally not shoes my size in all of Mexico) but because of how thick and rancid the mud is I might of ruined his shoes. Later after a long day of going into houses and doing the Same things, theres literally a ton of people who just made food and brought water and were offering it to everyone who was working. 

Later that night we're taking a rest and sitting in front of the church and I’m all tired and burnt and muddy and I start thinking of the rivalry game again and how mad I was that we lost to those guys and whatever. But then I hear some Elders talking and I hear the words "death toll" and for some reason it never even crossed my mind this flood would have a death toll. They found 17 bodies but at least 51 total were dead. And then I start to think "here I am feeling bad about myself over a freaking game and there’s literally people here who no longer have belongings and cars and their houses are ruined and they literally have family members who's last memories were being crushed by violent water and toxic mud" 

Anyway it was quite a week to say the least.

Sorry if my letters aren’t spiritual enough, If you want spiritual enlightenment I recommend the book of mormon (Nephi in the book of Heleman is the most underrated character in the scriptures by the way)