"I think what we owe each other is a celebration of life and to replace fear and hopelessness with fearlessness and joy"
--- Vandana Shiva (Indian activist, scholar, advocate & author;1952 - Present)
Formal or informal, life is full of reasons to celebrate. They don't have to be extravagant either. But to each his own in the way they choose to celebrate. Life is meant to be joyful. Celebration too can be beautiful and wholesome, even spiritual at times. Those are things that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints welcomes.
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These were my holiday experiences in Rio Bravo, Mexico in late 2014. But more so, I want to clarify for any who may not know, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has no objection to celebratory occasions; on the contrary, the church commemorates and celebrates many of them. You might laugh at this and think it a menial fact to emphasize, but I can't tell you how many times I was asked as a missionary if we celebrated things like Birthdays. This is because some religions don't. But the short answer is, yes, we celebrate things. We welcome all things wholesome and uplifting.
THANKSGIVING
It was November now but still quite warm, just finally escaping the last of summer's brutality (See "La Canícula"). To be honest, with every day being so routine that they often blended together, I found myself wondering a couple of times if Thanksgiving had already passed. I thought it was the third Thursday of the month which would have been the 20th but it's actually the 4th which was the 27th. And so it was that I didn't miss it. In fact, it just so happened that our Zone Leaders called all of us the night before to be at the bus station early Thanksgiving morning to head to Reynosa but they didn't say why (See "Mission Administration"). My naïve homesick heart hoped it would be something in celebration of Thanksgiving despite it being an American holiday, not a Mexican one. But alas, there was no celebration. Quite the opposite in fact.
The dozens of us arrived at the Mission Office in Reynosa, Mexico and congregated in the chapel. Soon after, President Morales and his wife came in and didn't beat around the bush explaining what was happening. Hermana Morales, who's in the medical profession and was in charge of overseeing our health, announced we'd be getting our flu shots. What a letdown! We woke up extra early Thanksgiving to travel long distance by bus for flu shots?! Not even a spiritual message to accompany it?!
I guess flu shots were for the best but I wish our leaders would have told us once and a while why we woke up early some mornings. To settle my nerves or to at least not get my hopes up. I don't know why they usually chose secrecy. To each his own I guess, it's not like they weren't allowed to tell us. Personally, I think they just liked to mess with us sometimes. Or maybe since we didn't have much of a choice but to do what they said, they didn't see the point in explaining "orders", so to speak. Who knows?
The Zone Leaders arranged for the bus tickets, and might I add that these behemoth "ski buses" were infinitely better than the rusty peceras (See "P-Days & Peceras"). I was told that our Mission got discounts for inter-city bus tickets due to frequency and the quantity we bought. Traveling by vehicle broke up the monotony of walking up and down the same familiar neighborhoods every day. To enjoy a ride in the company of my fellow missionary friends was a treat. But to discover I woke up sluggishly early for a flu shot was disappointing, to say the least.
What's more, I couldn’t remember if I’d received my annual flu shot before the mission so I forewent the injection. I was told that it would be bad to double up on unnecessary immunizations (although I may have been mistaken in my understanding because I haven’t yet been able to find any data that supports that). But there may also have been a language barrier since my Spanish wasn't very good still. Flu vaccinations are basically imitation viruses that are introduced to the body early so that the body has time to produce antibodies to fend off against the real viruses when they come around.
I ended up choosing not to get my flu shot for some reason that evades me. That was a mistake because days later I started feeling sickly weak. My parents sent me packages of vitamins to boost my immune system but if they did help, it wasn't immediately noticeable.
I was sick for what felt like roughly two rough months with a tender throat, pounding headaches, and sinus problems but no fever. All of these are characteristics of either the cold or the flu so it’s hard to say which it was. I was absolutely miserable for the longest time and the onset of cold weather in those next weeks made the world seem all the grayer (See "Silly Chilly, Mud, and Moving"). It’s possible that my ailment was partially psychosomatic but all I know for sure is that I was not a happy camper. Nevertheless, that’s not to say that the flu shot would have helped because it takes about two weeks for the antibodies to develop in the body after vaccination.
There was no Thanksgiving meal unless you count the lousy ham sandwiches and store-bought cookies they gave us after the shots. I could imagine my family back home preparing the juicy beast of a Thanksgiving turkey, peeling the brown potatoes, and stirring the steamy stuffing. I had never known a Thanksgiving without those classic holiday comfort foods. But maybe comfort foods are only as good if it’s cold outside, which it wasn’t yet in Reynosa. Before the mission, I may have placed more emphasis on the food than on giving thanks for everything else in life.
CHRISTMAS
Christmas took its sweet time. Every day felt twice as long. I couldn’t wait to Skype my family for the first time since leaving home four and a half months earlier. At the time, missionaries got to talk to their family twice a year— Christmas and Mother’s Day; that's to say "call or video chat" twice a year. Beyond that communication was limited to emailing home once a week (See "P-Days & Peceras"). Since then, as of early 2019, that policy changed so all missionaries everywhere get to call home every week; (yes, I am very jealous that I barely missed it). We had a time limit of one hour each to chat, which I didn’t feel was long enough; 2 hours per year to hear familiar voices back in my day! An email was one thing but I wanted to hear their voices. I guess I should be grateful that we weren't still using telegraphs and mail carriers on horseback to communicate long-distance. I wanted to make each minute count with meaningful conversation so I told my family via email weeks ahead to prepare a list of things to talk about which they did.
Remember that Rio Bravo was a pretty poor rural place and the members of the Church were few so the best I could do for the Christmas call was to borrow the phone of the daughter who lived below us to Skype. The screen was tiny and the audio was somewhat distorted and quiet and the jack-hammering construction outside did not make things any better but it was better than nothing. It was just a joy to see my family's faces, a great blessing of technology. Talking was harder than I had expected caught up in the moment. Even remembering some English words was challenging. I didn’t know what to say and we went through the list quickly. Ending the call after that hour was worse than getting a dagger to the stomach. It was like swallowing the dagger. My whole body ached. I had to return to reality, where I was and what I was doing in Mexico.
I paired up with Elder Williams for the day so we could both speak in English with our families. He struggled with Spanish, as all new language learners do, so he would often speak excessively in English with me which didn’t help but by the end of his mission, he was a pro (and dropped a few shades in color too). He was hopeful, fun, and made the dismal weather that much more tolerable. He wasn’t my assigned companion but he might have well been.
It was slightly warmer in Reynosa than in Rio Bravo. The entire Mission threw together a Christmas party on Wednesday, December 17, 2014. We left early morning to get the bus to Reynosa. I sat next to Elder Williams. As per most inter-city bus rides, the bus driver picked out a movie to watch, and he chose "Gravity" which was awful. I'd never seen the movie before (and we weren't really supposed to watch movies in the mission) but just the same, watching those scenes of them spinning in space while rocking and turning on the bus made me carsick, but the trip only lasted about 30 minutes thankfully.
I saw all the guys from District D, most of them for the first time in four months. In those four months, Elder Webb already sounded like he spoke fluent Spanish which was strange at first, but good. I see my trainer, Elder Howard from Idaho, for the first time in 3 months. He ran, calling from behind, "Hijo!" and I turned and responded "Papa!" and we hugged. I saw other familiar faces too, like Elder Lopez and the APs. We decorated gingerbread houses (but the frosting was too liquidy to glue well), played games, President even put on "Elf" for us to watch, and we broke piñatas suspended from the basketball hoops out back. The piñata song, “Dale, dale, dale” is sung as a timer for each batter. It was without a doubt the warmest Christmas I ever had. It was as mild as an overcast spring.
My wonderful family sent packages nearly every month of my mission which usually included candy and other goodies. But I never anticipated the can of “Instant snow” they slipped into in my Christmas package. I’d never seen anything like it! The can contained a white potato flake-like substance. The instructions were simply to add water but omitted "how much". We were nervous because the can covered with cautionary warnings also said that the contents would expand but omitted "how intensely or how quickly". I expected something like a baking soda and vinegar, or a coke and Mentos reaction. We added spoonfuls of water by the ounce and began to stir. Not much happened. It was about as exciting as watching bread rise. At last, the viscosity thickened and we went in to touch it like a scared cat investigating a new toy. I wasn't sure if it would be cold like an endothermic reaction (assuming it would be cold like real snow) or an exothermic one. But it was door number three as far as chemical reactions go, there didn't seem to be one. Just a mild physical change like wet paper. It was mushy like oatmeal but it wasn’t cold in the least and definitely didn’t feel like snow. It was a similar experience to licking your finger and sticking it in a bowl of sugar. It was a pitiful disappointment to bother making the long trip from Utah to Rio Bravo, Mexico.
NEW YEARS
New Year’s wasn’t anything too special. Our Branch President stopped coming to church altogether after an unchangeable work conflict and Hermano Alvarez was called to be the new Branch President (See "Church Organization"). We had hoped he would. It took longer than it should have to call a new one, which we needed desperately. He had the financial means as well as the missionaries living above him. President Alvarez would often invite us downstairs for dinner or randomly bring something delicious up to us. For the holidays, he brought us a large pot full of pork tamales. After eating tamales for a month, I was certain I would never want another. We never did finish that pot between the four of us. It was left on the counter because our house was cold enough to keep it refrigerated. Tamales are a holiday food. They didn’t taste like much but like everything, a bit of salsa goes a long way. For the most part, all tamales tasted alike except for the “sweet tamales” which were made with flour, sugar, cinnamon, and raisins, and occasional fruit essences.
PRIMARY CHILDREN
For those who don’t know, we mean it when we say that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the restored gospel is for people of all ages. Besides offering purely adult classes, the church offers classes and programs for the children and youth as well (See "Church Organization"). Like I said before, everyone congregates together for sacrament meetings but classes are offered in the other hour (See "Sabbath Day Observance"). The adults go with the adults, the youth with the youth, and the children go to Primary where they learn on a basic visual and musical level as children do. The "Primary" consists of children ages 3 to 11. The children get to have fun with friends of their own age and the adults get some quiet time to focus without worrying about tending to every need of a tiny tugging hand. Members, generally women or couples, are called as their teachers by the Bishop or Branch President.
For anyone not wanting to come to church for fear that their noisy children would be disruptive, rest assured that you are not alone and that the primary is the perfect place for young children to learn. Come to church! The church is designed around families. I don’t know how other religious denominations manage it but there are many loud sacrament meetings (See "Sabbath Day Observance"). It’s normal and understandable. The Ward I attend with my family is large and there are dozens of noisy infants and toddlers at all times but we press on. If you worry about noisy children, know that you are welcome and not unique in your circumstances. If worse comes to worst, you can always take a break and let your children calm down in the hall; sooner or later, that’s what all parents resort to, at least once. The Lord loves the children and impedes none:
“And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:13-14)
THE NATIVITY
We had a combined Branch talent night for the festivities. The Primary children reenacted the nativity of Jesus (the Latin root Nativus meaning “Arisen by birth”). Most people know what the Nativity is. It was adorable. Let's remember that Jesus was the first gift of Christmas.
There is a term I frequently heard around Christmas time that I didn’t quite understand at the time. That word was “Posada”. I looked it up in my dictionary and discovered that the word means “a lodging” or “an inn”, as in "the inn where no room was found for Mary to give birth to the coming baby Jesus". But I was confused since the term, “Posada” seemed to be synonymous with a Christmas party as I heard it used. It turns out that “Las Posadas” is more than what it sounds.
Las Posadas is a novenario (nine-day religious observance), beginning December 16 and ending on the 24th of December. Las Posadas is a Hispanic Christian celebration. The nine days are meant to represent the nine months of Mary’s pregnancy. The tradition dates back 400 years in Mexico and includes the dramatization or reenactment that we call the Nativity scene. The Catholic Spanish missionaries instituted the Nativity as a proselytizing tool to teach the native Mexican people about the birth of Jesus around the 1500s.
Looking back, I recall watching the Nativity at a couple of the Posadas (celebrations) we attended, but it didn’t seem like a requirement to be considered a "Posada". Just like the Primary children in Rio Bravo, we used to reenact the Nativity when I was in Primary many years ago. I was asked to play Joseph multiple years. It’s a tradition that many have. But now you know where it comes from.
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