Art and faith lead Wolfratshauserin into another world - with friends and children
Created: 01/08/2022, 8:00 PM
From: Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
Small family: Elisabeth Reichlmair with son Valentin Linus and partner Markus Fritz.
© private
Art and faith brought Elisabeth Reichlmair to Mexico.
The Wolfratshauserin (22) currently lives in Mexico City.
Wolfratshausen / Mexico - Before Elisabeth Reichlmair picks up the phone to call her family in Wolfratshausen, the first thing to do is do some arithmetic.
The 22-year-old currently lives with boyfriend and son in Mexico City - 9843 kilometers away from Loisachstadt and minus seven hours time difference.
"It can happen that I write an SMS at eight o'clock in the evening - and don't even think about the fact that it is three o'clock in the morning in Germany," she reports with a hearty laugh.
Since the end of September Reichlmair has been living with her almost three-year-old son Valentin Linus in the “YWAM Hola” (Youth for Mission), an organization that has put itself at the service of mission, education and social commitment.
Life partner Markus Fritz has found a place to stay outside because he does not take part in the training courses.
Big change for the small family
The change was not easy.
"The circumstances are completely different here," she reports.
When it rains - this is the case almost every day in September and October - the water runs into the room.
The enjoyment of tacos with beans, meat and guacamole gave the little family a stomach ache for a week.
And Spanish also needs to be learned.
“At home I was still practicing with an app,” she says of the preparations.
Valentin also went to a Spanish kindergarten.
"He is used to the language, learns quickly and now speaks better than we 'grown-ups'," says Reichlmair, who is a trained educator herself.
Looking for yourself
But what brought the young woman to Mexico?
Reichlmair grew up in what she herself says was a Catholic family in which faith plays a major role.
“At some point I started to question him.” She spoke to priests, friends, other Christians, wanted to try to understand better.
"Do I want to follow Jesus and the faith or is that just part of my upbringing?"
In this context, Reichlmair also wanted to deal with himself.
“We do this far too little,” she is convinced.
"Often enough we just live like that." In the course of self-discovery, however, she noticed how important it is to understand yourself - "and also what identity I have in God."
Colorful: Elisabeth Reichlmair's room.
© private
The 22-year-old attended the Discipleship Training School in Nuremberg for three months, which deals intensively with questions of faith.
“It was here that I realized that art also plays a role in my life.
And so I looked for a way to deal with both. ”She came across the YWMA.
“We are taught, pray, dance and sing and work on a wide variety of topics.
You get to know the faith again in a completely different way. "
It goes on a mission to the south of the country
The next step is outreach, making information accessible to people who were previously excluded from it.
Reichlmair will most likely complete her missionary work in Chiapas and Oaxaca, which are in the south of the country.
“You help people in everyday life like building a house or you work with street children.
At the same time one talks about faith. ”Reichlmair emphasizes that she does not want to force these conversations or her own convictions on people.
“But I want to show people that there is someone here who is interested in them without having to commit.
So someone with whom I can have a personal relationship - God. "
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