Solo uno semana y medio (Only a week and a half)

Hey everyone!! This week has been pretty typical as far as classwork, service projects (I am a champ at folding sheets), and gospel work. 

I guess I only have some stories and memories I forgot to tell you all about. The water in Mexico is not safe to drink. So the CCM (MTC) brings in water jugs that we put into machines that dispense the water. I have one in the apartment just like everyone else. The first time I tried replacing it was with Elder Hinton and Everett. We got the jug on and thought everything was great, we had clean water in our apartment. But when we woke up, the hallway was flooded because the jug had been leaking all night. 

Caley and I see each other every day and I always walk into her class to bug her district. 

This past Sunday was fast testimony, and I got to bless the sacrament for the first time in my life and the microphone was broken so I had to throw my voice across the room in spanish. It was great! We had the choice to bear our testimonies and I was the first one who went up. Unknown to me, I was being kind of silly and apparently I ran up there with joy (according to my district) and I decided to recognize my sister and tell I her I loved her in spanish and she was soooo embarrased. 

I had to pick a musical number for my district for this Sunday as we are leaving not this week, but sometime next week roughly. I chose ´´Jevantud de Israel¨ or Hope of Israel as this district is just that. They are so powerful, hopeful, desirous, and I know will wield the double-edged sword of truth and right. In the words of Elder Dannemen ´´Hoorah for Israel!!!!´´ 

I had the opportunity to see a live broadcast from the MTC Provo Devotional last night with the speaker being Elder Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was his birthday as well. His words were wonderful and powerful. 

My time here at the CCM is coming to a close and I´m about to open a new chapter in this mission and go to Chile. My heart is full of joy and I am so grateful to be here and soon in Chile. I have made some awesome friends and have had some wonderful experiences. 

I can´t express how much this church is true and that it is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Atonement is infinitely powerful and brings so much happiness in my life. I´m grateful for the prophet today, Thomas S Monson, and his teachings. I also can´t emphasize the importance of prayer. Heavenly Father knows us, knows our struggles, and listens to our concerns, complaints, and our stories of faith and happiness. I know that we can recieve these sacred feelings through the Holy Ghost. I know that families can be together forever in the Celestial Kingdom of our Heavenly Father. If you ever have any doubt in your lives, kneel down in prayer, and express your needs to God, he WILL anwser your prayers. I love you all and I hope that you are having as a fantastic time as I am. Thank you for your support and love as I don´t think you realize how much it truly means to me. 

¡Salud!

Second Week

Okay technically I started my 3rd week...

This week has been incredibly busy and very spiritual. My companion, Elder Everett, and I are finally teaching in spanish with some solid fluency. We don´t use our notes too often and we don´t rely on our dictionaries when we get lost in a sentence. Our grammar classes are long, tiring, and very engaging. Our instructors demand a lot of effort and the progress we as a district have made has been unreal. 

I see Caley just about every day as she is in the class down the hall. She looks like shes enjoying herself. During class yesterday, we played this game where we were told a name and when the instructor said the name, everyone would get out of their chairs, the instructor would take one away, and we would have to find a seat, the last person standing had to use the verb gustar in a compound question. The name given to me was called and I charged for a chair and accidentally laid out another sister missionary. Everyone died of laughter and we stopped playing soon after. Don´t worry shes okay, she won the chair. 

I had the opportunity to visit the Mexico City Temple and attend a session. What an awesome experience and I chose to do it all in spanish, which made the experience much more meaningful, but a lot harder to understand. I will attach pictures of the temple.

I love being in a position of leadership and the experiences I have gained from it. I have had the opportuninty to give blessings, teach at district meetings, and lead some very spiritual discussions. Last night, we had an Area 70 from the Mexico Area give a talk with his wife. He expressed how powerful our work as missionaries can be if we maintain exact obedience. I learned that phrase, exact obedience as soon as I was recieved by the CCM. I pondered its meaning, prayed about it, and read about obedience, at first I thought just stick to the schedule, but when Elder Salinas was giving his talk, I recieved a very strong impression about what exact obedience is. Exact obedience isn´t measured in time like on a schedule, its measured in effort. 

I love you all and being able to read emails from you is easily the best part of my week. I hope your weeks are pleasant and filled with joy. I´ll upload pictures soon, they will be shared on my drive so if you can´t see them, let me know and I will figure my life out.

First Week!

Don´t fall into a lake. The CCM is huge, there is a ton of open space and the elderes y hermanas are awesome. I got called to be a district leader the second day I got here. I absolutely love my district and we act like we´re family. I have some good stories already that I´ll share more of in the future. Love you!

Hey everyone, I made it safely to the Mexico City CCM (MTC). The plane was full of missionaries just like myself and the trip was a blast. The air here is so thin, we are a little over 5,000 feet above sea level so working out is hard because I get winded after like 20 minutes. We are thrown into speaking spanish. There is no remorse, but in the week I´ve been here, I've been getting really comfortable speaking the language. We had a few hundred words to memorize and 120 phrases to know by this Sunday. I was called to be the District Leader for my district, Distrito 8-C. We all get along so well. There are 12 of us and we act like we´ve known each other since birth. We speak in spanish all day and do everything together. I love being with them, they are so motivated, spiritual, and a little crazy. My companion, Elder Everett, and I had to teach our first lesson in spanish the second day we got here. 

The Gift of Tongues is real. You have to work hard and have the spirit to be with you to recieve the help. It´s not just automatically knowing the language. It´s the ability to relay what you teach based on the needs of the investigator. Speaking spanish is hard, but every day it gets easier. Its like taking a spanish class all day, every day. Most of our vocab is related to the church and its lessons, which is what were here to learn about, the lessons. 

The weather here in Mexico is pretty consistent. It´s warm all day and it rains quite a bit. There are parrots everywhere and they are very loud. The city surrounding the CCM is also really loud. The natives here like to party late at night, drag race, and sometimes shoot each other in the middle of the night. There has not been a night where I haven´t heard sirens go off and police trying to talk down an active shooter. Thankfully the CCM is gated off with a large fence and barbed wire. 

I was finally able to dunk a basketball the day we started having time to work out. Our district has become known as the Rancagua Dunk Squad, as 6 of the 10 Elders can dunk a basketball. We have been getting a lot of attention from the presidency here as we have been working insanely hard as a district to learn the language. 1st Councilor, President Call, expressed that we were the tallest district he had ever seen. Our group for our branch is made up of four districts, so roughly 48 people attending sacrament on Sundays. All of our services are in spanish. We also recieve a topic for sacrament talks that we get randomly selected to give during sacrament for 5 minutes in spanish. The work is hard here, but the knowledge is irreplaceable.

During my third meeting with our mock investigator, I tried to express saying today which is "a hoy" in spanish and instead i said "ahoy" and started laughing uncontrollably at myself which resulted in Elder Everett and I restarting the lesson.

Once I get an SD card reader, I´ll have pictures for you all. 

Thank you for you love and emails as they really help me. I hope you are all doing wonderful and I miss you all. 

Arriving At MTC

Josh and Caley received their mission calls the same day.  Caley read her letter first and said she was going to the Osorno, Chile mission and left July 12 for the Mexico City MTC.  Josh had already scanned his ahead and had a funny look when she finished.  He read his letter and was going to the Rancagua, Chile mission reporting the same day.  They both hugged each other and we took pictures.

After that came sticker shock.  If you have kids planning on going on a mission start saving now.  With help from family we were able to purchase what we thought we needed.  A wonderful thank you to those who were so kind to help my kids go on missions.  

The hardest part about shopping?  Finding winter clothing in the middle of summer.  



This is the first email I received from Josh.  We sent Josh and Caley off at the Omaha airport at 3am July 12 2016.  Elise Lewin came with us.  

Hey mom, I made it safe, I´m having a wonderful time and the spirit here at the MTC is impeccable. I have never felt so much joy and love when being received like this. Funny story, an elder threw up on the plane. Made me laugh, anyway. I love you and Dad and I will contact you guys as soon as I get another chance.