Missionary Kid Stories

a! My name is Molly, and I am 12 years old. Our family used to live in the United States, but now we live in Puebla, Mexico. We are missionaries, and we have lived here for two years. I really did not like moving here at first because I missed all my friends where we used to live. Now, I love it here! I have made lots of new friends. They all speak Spanish, and I speak Spanish now, too! Almost everybody here speaks Spanish, but did you know that Mexico has almost 300 languages? Some parts of Mexico have deserts or rain forests, but Puebla is up high in the mountains. The weather here is like springtime all year long. Flowers bloom all the time, and we can always get fresh fruit and vegetables. Our house does not have air conditioning or heating. It never snows in my city, but in the wintertime the nights get chilly, so we snuggle up with blankets and a space heater.

There is a volcano close to our city named Popocatépetl. That is an Aztec name that means “Smoking Mountain”. It really does smoke, too! Usually, we can see the volcano really well in the morning when the air is clear outside. Since Puebla is a large city, by the afternoon the smog and volcanic ash in the sky make it hard to see because it is so hazy.

Our house has very pretty floors made with pieces of onyx. Onyx is a pretty stone that is found in the mountains around here. It kind of looks like marble and is very shiny. It comes in many different colors like black, tan, gray, pink, and white.

One of the most beautiful crafts that people make here is Talavera pottery. It is painted ceramic that uses mostly white and blue, but can have any color that you can imagine. There are tiles of Talavera all over the city decorating many of the buildings and houses. We even have Talavera tiles on each of the stairs in our house.

My family has a car, but lots of people take taxis, buses, or combis to get where they are going. Combis are small Volkswagen vans that go everywhere in the city. People also walk or take their bicycle or motorcycle to get from one place to another.

I go to a Mexican school and wear a uniform every day. I am learning in Spanish, but I also have an English class. That class is really easy for me because I already know English, but my friends have to work hard. I have to work harder in my classes in Spanish. I’m so glad that I can read, write, and speak in Spanish now!

There are not enough schools here. Some of my friends are home in the morning and go to school in the evening when I am home with my family. Many kids have to pass tests to even have a chance to go to junior high or high school. Some families do not have enough money, so their kids can’t even go to school at all.

I love the food here! The corn tortillas smell great when they are cooking, and you can make a taco with them out of almost anything! Tacos árabes are one of my favorite things to eat. They are a thick flour tortilla with strips of cooked pork meat inside. It is not spicy at all, but of course you can add hot sauce if you like it.

Puebla, the city where I live, is a big city with more than three million people. There are many people in Mexico that live in small villages, though. Almost everyone here is Catholic, and the Catholic Church here has mixed in many of the old Aztec beliefs as well. Many of the people know that Jesus died on the cross, but they think they must do something to pay for their sins. The churches here tell them they have to pray or say rosaries to his mother, Mary, to be saved. They also think they have to be good and go to church to help earn the chance to go to heaven.

My family is telling them about how much Jesus loves them. We also tell them about how they can be saved and go to heaven if they believe that Jesus died for their sins. My dad prints tracts, which are little pamphlets that tell a story about how to trust in Jesus as Savior. My dad knows how to design the tracts on the computer. He also knows how to run the printing press, which is a big machine that prints ink onto big pieces of paper. Then, he cuts the paper into smaller pieces and folds it using a machine called a folder. It makes a noise like “tat,tat,tat,tat,tat,tat” as it folds several tracts in a row. He can also print parts of the Bible, like the book of John. Many poor people do not have money to buy books or newspapers, so we give them tracts or parts of the Bible to keep for free. They think this is very special. My dad sends these tracts all over Mexico, and even to other countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and Cuba! Then, the local churches and Christians pass them out and tell others about Jesus. Spanish-speaking people all over are learning about Jesus because of the work that my dad does!

I have enjoyed telling you a little bit about myself, and I hope that you have enjoyed it, too. I hope that you will take time to learn about other missionaries and how you can tell others about Jesus. Maybe someday you can print papers and books that can be used to tell people about Jesus – or maybe you can work in a print shop that prints Bibles in languages that have just been translated!