Holy cow it is so good to be able to finally write to you all!! I can honestly say this has been one of the longest weeks of my life! The days are long here at the CCM, but the weeks fly by!! I'm amazed at how much I'm able to do with my days. I've never felt so productive in my life and I´ve never felt more excited to really study the scriptures and study the gospel!!
Well to start off the CCM is beautiful. The pictures I saw before I left don't do it justice. This place is filled with beautiful flowers super green grass, and of course PALM TREES!!! My inner brown boy is super excited to see palm trees. Also there are a TON of parrots here. I've never seen parrots except in the zoo, so that always makes my day! They are super loud which drives the other elders crazy, but I love it.
My companion´s name is Elder Herzog, and he´s from American Fork. He went to Utah State for a year before coming out, and we get along really well. He´s super chill and relaxed which is good for the both of us. The poor kid took 3 years of French in High school so it´s not helping him a whole lot right now.
On Friday we had to teach our first ´´Investigator´´ only in Spanish. I was SO nervous! We gave it our best and it turned out terrible haha. I thought to myself that I would never be able to learn this language!! However, we get better day by day. I´m still not able to speak exactly how I want to, but with a lot of hand gestures and broken spanish I can mostly get my point across. Yesterday I was able to understand everything she said!! I was pumped. I´ve definitely felt the spirit guide my thoughts and words while I´m here. Often times we prepare a lesson and then the spirit takes us somewhere totally different. I had a cool experience yesterday where I could NOT remember how to say that the priesthood is very sacred to us and then a few seconds later the words just came to my mind so clearly. The spirit is strong at the CCM.
On sunday I had to give a talk IN SPANISH! The way they do it here is everyone writes a talk and then they ´´randomly´´ select who they want to have speak. I got called up and had to talk for 5 minutes about the Apostacia. I was so nervous and ended up talking really fast haha... I felt like No one understood what I was saying, but the zone leaders came up to me after and said that it was really good and that I had good pronunciation. Little things like that keep me going haha. I couldn't believe that a week ago I was giving a 10 minute farewell talk in English and now here I am in Mexico speaking spanish. What a world.
The food here is.... interesting. A lot of the time we don´t really know what it is, but we have a lot of faith. So far I haven´t been too sick so that´s a blessing. I´ve started to put hot sauce on a lot of stuff I eat which I never thought I would. Soy un Mexicano!
My teachers are very good and they have A LOT of energy. Their names are Hermano Palma, and Herama Patiño. Hermano Palma is maybe 5 feet tall if he´s wearing high heels, but I have never seen so much energy packed into such a little frame. He's constantly making us laugh and he´s an excellent teacher. I´ll try and get a pic with him soon! We have fun while we learn! My casa is awesome. Most nights all the Elders usually just hang out and chill in our commons area. It´s been super good for me to make new friends like this and relieve some of the stress of being a missionary. We all get along super well, and it´s like we´ve been friends for life! We´re always laughing, sharing stories, and of course making fun of each other.
Our casa is right up against the wall of the CCM right next to the road. We get to hear ALL the sounds of the city. My companion and I call it the dirty city that never sleeps haha. I´ve heard some crazy things and it makes me miss having the golf course as my backyard hah.
Anyways I want you all to know that I´m happy here and that the mission is great. It´s not easy, but
it´s great. To my brothers that haven´t left yet: STUDY YOUR LANGUAGE! Take 20 minutes of your day instead of flipping through Insta and learn how to pray or at least learn how to Testify. I´ve learned out here that even if I don´t know how to answer all the questions my investigator asks, I still have my testimony. Even if it is in broken spanish, it can be powerful. I´ve seen that this week.
I love you all and hope that all is well back home!! ¡Hasta Luego!
Elder Halls
On sunday I had to give a talk IN SPANISH! The way they do it here is everyone writes a talk and then they ´´randomly´´ select who they want to have speak. I got called up and had to talk for 5 minutes about the Apostacia. I was so nervous and ended up talking really fast haha... I felt like No one understood what I was saying, but the zone leaders came up to me after and said that it was really good and that I had good pronunciation. Little things like that keep me going haha. I couldn't believe that a week ago I was giving a 10 minute farewell talk in English and now here I am in Mexico speaking spanish. What a world.
My teachers are very good and they have A LOT of energy. Their names are Hermano Palma, and Herama Patiño. Hermano Palma is maybe 5 feet tall if he´s wearing high heels, but I have never seen so much energy packed into such a little frame. He's constantly making us laugh and he´s an excellent teacher. I´ll try and get a pic with him soon! We have fun while we learn! My casa is awesome. Most nights all the Elders usually just hang out and chill in our commons area. It´s been super good for me to make new friends like this and relieve some of the stress of being a missionary. We all get along super well, and it´s like we´ve been friends for life! We´re always laughing, sharing stories, and of course making fun of each other.
it´s great. To my brothers that haven´t left yet: STUDY YOUR LANGUAGE! Take 20 minutes of your day instead of flipping through Insta and learn how to pray or at least learn how to Testify. I´ve learned out here that even if I don´t know how to answer all the questions my investigator asks, I still have my testimony. Even if it is in broken spanish, it can be powerful. I´ve seen that this week.
I love you all and hope that all is well back home!! ¡Hasta Luego!
Sounds like all the best companheiros are from American Fork!!!
ReplyDelete