Week 3 in the CCM

¡Buenos Dias! 
I don´t know why my companions decided to wake up at 5 in the morning to come write emails, but here I am. Later today we are going to the Consulate building to pick up our green-cards. I´m planning on coming back later today to write another email.

This week our district got called to be the new ushers for devotionals. I like it because it gives us something different to do. Its super easy. I got the easiest job, I just say hi to people as they are walking into the auditorium. Other guys in my district have to tell people where they can or cannot sit. Nobody likes them.

I joined the CCM choir. We sing at every Tuesday devotional. This week was kinda cool because we sang the exact same song that our ward sang at our Christmas Program back home. It was the same arrangement, but in spanish of the song ´´How Great the Wisdom and the Love´´ The choir director thought that I was a super good singer because I knew my part so well.

We have a few jokes, or sayings, that we always say in our district that are kinda funny. The first one is: It is always better in America. Its the belief that everything here in Mexico will slowly start to seem better and better. At first the milk is gonna taste super gross, but after 2 years, we´ll think ´´hey I kinda like this milk´´ but no, It´s always better in America. Normally we aren´t talking about food though when we are using that saying.

The other saying is ´´Givém Heaven.´´ We use that to say good luck right before someone is about to teach an investigator. 

Anyway, I gotta leave soon. I´ll write a little more in about 5-6 hours.

Week 3 Continued
Our trip to the Consulate building was awesome. The bus ride was long, and the bus was very crammed. We ate street tacos, and later found out that it was most likely dog meat because they only cost like 8 pesos. Also I bought churros and a Coca-Cola. The Coke is a lot better here in México. 

We are so tight as a district here. We all have nicknames for each other. Mine is Max Steele because that is what the Latinos call me. Elder Thorn is called Thor by the latinos. Herzog is Zog-Dog. Elder Stephans is Jake´n Shake. Elder Alves is Mr. Potato Head. Amosa is Dirty Dan. We call my companion Hey Arnold. Zerkle is Zercules. Elder Alba we call the Chazmanian Devil because his first name is Chaz. We call Elder Smith "Papa Smith" because he is the oldest of all of us. Its awesome how close you can get to a group of guys in such a short amount of time. A few of them drive me crazy sometimes, and I´m pretty sure that one of them is gay, but I love all those guys. We help each other through all the challenges in the CCM whether it is being sick, homesick, or frustrated with learning spanish. I couldn´t have asked for a better district.

The Latinos taught us a cool slang word. It´s Vato. It´s similar to saying Dude or Bro in English. Its really fun talking to the Latinos because I can finally understand what they are saying. Also they love playing hacky sack with me. I tried playing cage-soccer with them, but they are super good at soccer and I really suck.

Studying is starting to get better. I really enjoy reading the scriptures and trying to find powerful verses that I can use in a lesson. I wish I had my scriptures with me now, maybe I could share one of them. The teacher that we have in the afternoon is a stud. His name is Alejandro Hernandez and he is 23 years old. He has the most powerful spirit of anyone that I know. He has some of the scariest and most motivational stories from his mission. He has a scar down his forehead from when someone tried to kill him on his mission, but he was protected because he followed the spirit. He was very reluctant to share that story, but I´m so glad that he did.

Anyway, I can´t think of anything else to share about my week. I´m feeling a lot better from last week. I love you all and hope that you enjoy reading about my mission. 

Week 2 in the CCM

¡Hola! 
I think I´ll start out with the bad news. On Tuesday night, tons of missionaries got sick with some kind of virus or food poisoning. Unfortunately I was one of them; I got it bad. It was the worst night I have ever experienced. 3 of the 4 guys in my room had the bug, and we were all up all night just heaving our guts out. Every 20-30 minutes it would come back. It sounded like a warzone in the bathroom. I don´t wanna gross you out too much, but it was literally the most sick I have ever been. I feel much better now.

This morning we went to see the Mexico City Temple, and the Visitors center. If any of you have been to the Independence Visitors Center, it was a lot like that. I still felt a little sick, but it was a great experience. I bought a really awesome Mexican backpack.

Week 2 was pretty much the same as week 1. Our schedule is very routine. I can´t wait to leave the CCM and go to Ciudad Obregón. I know spanish pretty well, and the CCM can be pretty boring sometimes. I do love my companions though. The 4 of us in our room are pretty good friends. Elder Alves wants us to go to Idaho when we get back from our missions so he can cook us some potatoes from his potato farm, lol. We all stayed in the casa yesterday because we were sick, so we just talked to each other all day long and that was pretty fun.

Some interesting stuff about Mexico that I haven´t mentioned yet: Either Mexicans like blowing things up, or there is a lot of gun violence in Mexico City. Every day from 11:00 to about 3:00 there is an airplane that flies over the city playing an advertisement for the circus, it´s really loud and annoying.

We are teaching more difficult investigators this week. It´s frustrating teaching because my companion still doesn´t know much spanish. I was told to stop translating everything for my companion, so my companion has a very hard time following along. I let him speak as much as I can, but often the things that he says are really off topic to the lesson. He knows a lot about the gospel, and he will get better at spanish, it was just take time.

The most important thing that I´ve learned is how important exact obedience is as a missionary. As missionaries, we are held to the highest standards because we are representatives of Jesus Christ. The rules are extremely strict, but we are blessed as we are exactly obedient to the rules of our mission president.

First week in the CCM

¡Hola! 
I love it here in Mexico City. There is so much I could talk about, I can´t decide.

The first couple days were the longest days ever. We sat through meeting after meeting. We got assigned districts, zones, and casa. I am in district 10B and casa 29. My casa is the furthest away from anything so its really annoying.

I met my companion and other elders in my district. Mi compañero es Caleb Arnold. He is from St Joseph Michigan. The other two guys from my room are Mark Alves from Oakley, Idaho and Landon Thorn from Mapleton, Utah. My room is super awesome. I feel like I know those guys so well already, even though its only been a week.

Our district one of the only ones with just guys in it so it gets pretty crazy sometimes. Our district leader is Jake Stephens from Lehi, Utah. The other guys are Chaz Alba from Eagle Mountain, Utah, Daniel Amosa from Highland, Utah, Jason Zerkle from Las Vegas area, Mason Herzog from Lindon, Utah, and Elder Smith from Salt Lake City.

 I love seeing the mountains. There are buildings that go about half way up the mountains. The buildings are all weird, bright colors. There are tons of palm trees everywhere where there are these cool green birds living in them. The weather is super nice. I wear shorts every day during gym time.

We have to teach investigators every day in spanish. My spanish has improved to the point where I can comfortable say prayers or share my testimony in spanish. My companion on the other hand doesn´t know spanish at all. During the lessons, I do all of the talking. I act as an interpreter and tell my companion everything that is being said by the investigator. Whenever he wants to say anything, he tells me and tell the investigator. The gift of tongues is real. Yesterday, I didn´t prepare anything to say in during the lesson, but I was able to give a complete 30 minute lesson in spanish.

We do a lot of studying. We have one hour during the day for gym time, our meals, and 30 minutes for a lesson. Other than that, we are supposed to be studying. Sometimes we get burned out and play hacky sack or tell each other stories. During gym time we play basketball with the natives. Even though they are all short, most of them can dunk.

The food is pretty good here. They say they "Americanized" the food, but it seems pretty Mexican to me. They serve beans, rice, tortillas, chicken, and a bunch of stuff that I don´t really recognize. I normally mix everything together and it tastes fine. They have a fruit juice machine that is really good, and they serve yogurt drinks every morning for breakfast. Also, toast with Nutella is available for every meal.

I´m running out of time to email, so I´ll wrap it up. I tried to send pictures, but it didn´t work to well. Next Thursday I'll send some. Also I want to show my companions what you all look like.  I love you all, and I´ll email next week. ¡Adios!

La montaña detras de mi casa

The palms by the comedor

Weird statue guy outside the CCM

My District in the CCM

Front row: Chaz Alba, Daniel Amosa, Jason Zerkle, Mark Alves, Landon Thorn, Jake Stephens  

Back row: Mason Herzog, Caleb Arnold, Me, and Elder Smith- I forgot his first name.  

I made it!

Hey everyone! I made it safely to the CCM here in Mexico City. I will be here until February 16th. It is really cool here. The weather is awesome, the food is pretty good, and all the other missionaries are great. Mexicans are really crazy drivers. People change lanes constantly with no regard for a blinker. I think their goal is to stay as close to car in front of them as possible. Also there are no lines separating lanes, so people just drive wherever they want to. The city was amazing to look at from the plane. It is the largest city I´ve ever seen. My Preparation day while I´m in the CCM is Thursday, so that is when I will be sending emails to everyone.

The plane

The first Mexican that I met sat next to me on the plane to Mexico City. Her name was Monica Islas. She was travelling back to Mexico with her husband and her three kids. She didn´t know much English, but we still talked a little bit. She could tell that I was a missionary and it was my first time going to Mexico, so she gave me my first souvenir. It was a fridge magnet that had Lady Guadalupe on it. She explained a lot of the symbolism, but I didn´t understand. She told me that the people of Mexico need religion and she was thankful for my willingness to preach the gospel. Later on the flight I offered her kids some of the candy that I had in my carry on bag. She was so thankful that she gave me her email address and phone # so that if I was ever in Queretaro, and needed anything, she could help me. I decided to give her the spanish Book of Mormon in my bag, and she was very thankful. I hope that everyone that I teach is just as kind as she was.

Gulf of Mexico

Jaden leaving the airport

On a bitter cold January morning saying goodbye to Jaden.  You'll be an awesome missionary!!

One last smile before he goes.  What a good looking guy!! You go Jaden (Elder Steele)!!

He's officially leaving.  We LOVE YOU and are praying for you!!