Week 1

This week has been a lot of ups and downs at the CCM (MTC en español)... First off I filled out some paperwork wrong but they are fixing it. So that meant I had to stay at the airport for a few extra hours but I got to meet one of the Hermanas in my zone, because she got a later flight in and came alone.

At the St. George airport it was one other elder and myself headed to Salt Lake  (Elder Hobbs) and he´s really cool. He isn't in my district but because we are in the same generation ( arrived at the same time) he´s in my zone. Once we got to SLC during the 2 and a half hour layover we met up with 6 other elders and 4 hermanas(sister  missionaries) We didn't know it but that was our whole zone minus two hermanas.

After the little airport fiasco, I got to talk to Hermana McDowell for a while because she had just gotten off the plane and I was waiting on some papers. That was fun, she´s going to NY, NY. 

Once I got back to the CCM (pronounced se se emmay) I got to meet my compeñero! His name is Elder Russon and we get along very well. He´s older than I am but he seems younger than me in a lot of ways... its hard to explain...

So Thursday we got a tour and this place is big. 90 acres of lands, multiple basketball courts, soccer fields, tennis courts, and lots of classrooms... That is where we spend most of our time...

Friday was the first lesson we taught in español.... It went pretty bad... We taught a fake investigator named Ana but really she is one of our teachers. Food here es muy bueno, (is very good) and they even have some American food sometimes! I am really enjoying the Mexican food here though. We also had a gym orientation on Friday which my companion and I, along with the other 2 elders in my district, who also live in the same casa as me, wore our gym clothes to, when we were supposed to wear our missionary attire.

Saturday we had our first gym time, which was super fun! I played volleyball and basketball, but it was also sad because Saturday was when one of the Elders in my district had to go home because of a worthiness issue, and we had all become pretty close... So that was kinda hard on all of us but he´ll be back out once he straightens things out. So now I´m in a trio and it´s very interesting to say the least... But we all get along great! 

We ended Saturday with this *wonderful* *(very very sarcastic here)* program called TALL. It is to help us learn Spanish and it is built by BYU and while it kinda does the job, there are SOO many things that could have been better...  

Anyway...

Sunday was super awesome! It totally refreshed me and my desire to learn and serve! We had a wonderful sacrament meeting en español, and I actually understood a lot of it! Priesthood was in English and wonderfully great, talking about how we need to desire to serve and not desire a calling which really hit me hard because Elder Vea, one of my companions was called to be District leader on night two and that was hard on me because I feel kinda useless when I don´t have some kind of leadership position. But that was definitely what had to happen because I am working a lot more on focusing on just serving as much as I can where I can and he needed the calling because it was kinda his wake up call, as he told me. 

Sunday night we watched some church videos and thanks to my church leaders, I had seen two of the three... But they are still really good! One was the John Tanner Story, one was a Bible video on the atonement and one was the video with Elder Holland talking to young men about staying on the Lord´s side in life and not crossing the lines that are on the field. 

My bed is as hard as the floor its under almost but Sunday night was one of the first nights I got a decent night of sleep!

Monday and Tuesday morning were very similar just studying and class, but Monday we got to do a service activity of cleaning la comedor! (The cafeteria) But then Tuesday night we had a great devotional instead of TALL so that was really fun! 

Wednesday was one of the best days so far because everyday except Sunday we have been teaching Ana and Wednesday was our last lesson and she committed to baptism! It was so exiting and spiritual even though it was broken Spanish but I can already feel the gift of tongues working in my life. I know that she isn´t a real investigator but when you convince yourself it´s real then the spirit is real too. Also we committed her to be baptized on the day that she actually was baptized 5 years ago because she is a convert, and I´m not sure why that was so cool, but it just made my day.

Also Wednesday was great because we had a Book of Mormon lesson on the doctrine of Christ. Also I actually enjoyed TALL because I can tell I am learning Spanish!

Today is P-Day and we played bball and took some pictures. I bought some things at la tienda(the store) like a tie, tie clip and a shirt and lots of snacks, and I haven´t even spent 20 dollars.... 

Also my district now has me, my two companions, Elder Vea and Elder Russon, and 2 hermanas; Hermana Mapusua and Hermana Aden. Hermana Aden is going to Oaxaca with me as well! The others in my district are going to other places in Mexico and the other district in my zone that got in at the same time as me, are all headed back to the US.

I guess that´s basically all and so I´ll leave a bit of Spanish for y´all to end it!

Yo se que el don de lenguas es verdad. La bendiciones usted recibe por el Espíritu Santo senté muy bueno. Yo se que estoy donde yo debo ser.

Yo se que el Evangelio es verdadero y el bendice nos más.