Letter 9/9/14

Hey everyone! I somehow successfully made it through my first week at the CCM. It has definitely been the most difficult but most rewarding week of my life. We woke up at 6:30 the next day and were in class and being oriented all day. Our teachers and everyone else speak Spanish to us almost 100% of the time. It's only English if we ask questions, during devotionals, and when we are in our casa (apartment) or at lunch. We also taught our first investigator on the third day we were here, the second day of actually trying to learn Spanish. That didn't go so well, since I know basically nothing. My companion, however, understands most Spanish but doesn't speak it. His name is Mario Gaspar de Alba. He's like 6'5", so I look like his woman in all of our pictures together. I'll be sending out pictures later tonight and responding to any emails I get back by then, around 4:30 or 5 your time. 

So funny story. I bet some of you have heard the difference in Spanish between pecados and pescados (You need to repent of your fishes vs sins), but I had another pun that some of you might like. One of the guys in our district asked if the store sold earplugs, and then he asked how to say earplugs in Spanish. Our teacher responded with what we thought was "tampones", so some of the guys started laughing a little. Our teacher didn't know why we were laughing, so we asked what the word he said was and said we thought he said "tampones", and then he burst out laughing and did an impression of sticking some "tampones" into his ears. The correct word is "tapones", so you can see we weren't just hearing things totally wrong. 

My Spanish is not super great. It's incredibly frustrating to want to share the Gospel with our investigators and not knowing how to communicate how I feel. It's like I want to share something so badly but am not able to do so. I had a really cool experience yesterday though during our lesson with her. The lesson went alright, and I was able to say a few things in Spanish. At the end I asked if we could have a kneeling prayer. As soon as I started the prayer, I felt like the Spirit punched me in the chest it was so strong. I was able to still say the prayer thankfully. It was such a powerful feeling. My companion said afterwards that he definitely felt it, so our investigator had to have. I also got a priesthood blessing from a guy in my district, Elder Bingham (He was in Helaman Halls in the Toolshed, and I swear I've seen him before, so maybe some of you that lived there know him). Anyway, his blessing was so powerful. That was the high point of my week. This week, again, has been so, so, so difficult. I've wanted to go home to the things I miss so many times, but everyone says to just make it to P day. Last night I realized that the CCM is still going to be incredibly difficult, but it is also going to be incredibly rewarding, worth it, and spiritual. It's amazing that  a place can have such extremes of both positive and negative feelings.

The food here I think is really good, but everyone says you get sick of it. I hope that's not true. I have had fruit almost every meal (mom, you're welcome), and the bread here is also divine. I love the apple juice that you know is just straight from the tree, grown right here in Mexico City. The graffiti here is also awesome. It's such a ghetto outside of the CCM. I'm also pretty sure I have heard some gunshots, and police sirens go off about every half hour or so. That makes sleeping a little harder, but it's also cool, so it works out. Also, if you know of anyone that wants my emails or you do because you're reading this on the blog my mom is going to set up sometime, just send me a short email saying so. Oh! About letters. I can only check my email for an hour each week, so please please please write me letters through missionarypackagemx.com. It's like dearelder.com, but they deliver the letters everyday instead of once a week, and its cheaper than sending it from the states anyway. I can also read them all week, so I cant really explain how badly I want some letters. You can also send me packages of stuff like KrispyKreme and stuff, but it's ridiculously expensive. I'm craving chocolate and candy so bad, so ya know, you should send me some when I get back to the States. Guittard chocolate chips and sour patch watermelons are divine. Just sayin. And I will love you forever. But really just getting a letter every now and then would help so much. Missionarypackagemx.com. I uploaded some pictures, and you can probably figure out what they're about. The last one is the sickest picture I've found in the CCM. It's like Teancum or that other guy about to stab the Lamanite king as he is sleeping. There are random lego hand towers and some ghetto cities around us. Well, I think I've covered pretty much everything, so I hope you all are doing well! Please pray for me! I really need it. Love you all!

PS.  Sorry it's so ridiculously expensive to send stuff through that site. Letters only will be fine. They are only a dollar, and I would love those more than food. Or people can send me letters the traditional way.