Amanda Barden and Professor Lynn England, Sociology
The time I spent in Teziutlan researching and learning about the 1999 floods there was uplifting but also scientifically frustrating. The goal of this project was to learn about what kind of impact the floods had on the members of the church there, what kind of influence the church may have had on the community during this disaster, and how the help that the church offered may have influenced missionary efforts. I should mention that this is a small departure from my original proposal, as one must adjust his/her research question while this kind of qualitative research develops.
As outlined in my proposal, I primarily depended on interviews to collect the data I needed to answer my questions. Although I did collect hard data to outline the actual events of the flood, I depended on interviews from members of the LDS ward to provide me with the information necessary about the experiences of the members of the church and to learn how people outside the church may have been affected by the aid provided by the church.
I ran into many problems during my research process. The most difficult problem I encountered was, of course, the language barrier. Although I prepared before I left for Mexico, I learned that what language skill I thought I had developed in America, was insufficient to allow me to fully understand and express the emotional necessities of such a tragedy. To get the kind of information that I needed from the people there, they had to both trust me and believe that I would understand everything that I wanted to know. For this reason, I spent the first few months doing some informal research. I spent my time building relationships with the people in the ward and asking questions here and there about the floods. During this time I collected many photos, video clips, books, and newspapers about the flood. Later, towards the end of my stay in Mexico, I sat down with the members and recorded formal interviews. Once these interviews were conducted, I had the daunting task of translating and transcribing them. This was took an enormous effort on my part, and perhaps more time than any other parts of my project combined.
These interviews also turned about to be a small problem, as is all research that depends on open ended interviews. I found that much of the information I received about the church’s aid didn’t agree. I had to supplement this information with more concrete data I found in newspapers or from stake presidents. Also, because the Mexican culture is a story telling culture and a culture which embraces the supernatural, I often found an interesting mix of fact and fiction in the interviews. These interviews, once sorted out, provided me with the brunt of the information I needed to complete my research.
What I found in Teziutlan is a people full of faith. Teziutlan is a small mountain city which depends on clothing factories for economic survival. With both parents and a child working in a fabrica a family makes enough money to eat and maintain humble living quarters. The socio-economic distribution in Teziutlan is disgustingly obvious. There is a small, if existent, middle class. Most of the people there fall into one of two categories, rich or poor. The opportunities of the people depend on the class to which they are assigned, mainly demonstrated through education opportunities. Like in most disasters, the poor were the most harshly affected by the floods in Teziutlan. The church there is strong and growing, becoming a focal point of the community.
The most modern and perhaps beautiful building in Teziutlan is the LDS stake center, which was built only a few years ago. During the time of the flood, Teziutlan had one ward which was split as a result of rising numbers in 2002. The small ward building that sheltered nearly 300 Teziutecos over the course of nearly 3 weeks continues to stand as a monument of the help and support offered to the people there.
Of the eleven lengthy formal interviews I collected and the informal interviews with other people, all of them indicated that they believed that the perception of the church was greatly influenced and that missionary work was helped as a result of the aid offered by the church. The LDS church was the first organization to offer support to the people in Teziutlan, and the government announced over the radio that the LDS shelters were the best places to seek aid and shelter during the rains. One interviewee relates, “I remember that the highways were broken and no car could enter with food, the food that did enter came by plane or helicopter. But the church made a center of collection and help for those persons who didn’t have food or houses ….” Missionaries who served in this mission during the time of the floods indicated that they heard talk of the aid offered by the church over the radios and among the people on the street several hours from the flooding. They admitted that even if the numbers didn’t change (no one had record of the exact number of baptisms over the passed five years in the ward, but there were many), they believed that the aid provided by the church was a great missionary tool. One interviewee had this to say, “And remembered the Lord, because we talked of him, and well, for some time they cried and had sadness, but when the sun came and people began to return to their homes we played with them, and because of this many people were baptized, and came to know the church, we baptized good people.”
More than the missionary help that the aid provided the people, the members I interviewed discussed mostly how they themselves were more deeply converted through they experiences working in the shelter during the floods. Another interviewee describes his work in the shelter, “My experience in the disaster was principally in the helping of the shelter, a building of the church, the only church building in this time, and it was a shelter also for the people who lost their homes. We were there for two and half weeks sheltering people, there arrived like 300 people in the chapel. It was a very difficult time because all the people were sad, all the people were bad because they lost their homes, many lost all that they had, no? They lost absolutely everything. On thing that affected my testimony was…ok…it was a blessing that I could see the union of members of the church in difficult times for us it as normal to have the sense of exactly what to do. The Young Women took care of the children, the Young Men took care of other young people or transported food that was sent from the church in other states or the general offices of the church. Other people searched for people who were lost and helped other families who were effected and that is a little of what I remember.”
My research developed into a touching story of a people’s survival which was only made possible because of the faith of many LDS people. One of my favorite interviews ended in with this exerpt and so I would like to end my report to you in the same way, “I learned much of the way of Heavenly Father because one to another we shared their sadness because they lost everything, everything, everything. Some families lost everything, they only had what they could save and carry with them. I recognized a lot the love of the prophet for each one of us as his sons and daughters also because they always recommend the things that should be stored for something like this. We organized ourselves very well and much love was born in this moment. But not to go on to much in my talk, I want to say that it was very beautiful because when everything had passed, when the calm came, and everything was in order, we didn’t want to leave the shelter, we didn’t want to leave the chapel because it was a time very good in so much love. We felt a lot of love on for another and age of service brought our hearts much peace and much happiness. And we met many families and some converted to the church. And my testimony was strengthened a lot…”