Okay where to start! I have so many things to tell you guys! First off, I love it here!!! It is seriously like paradise! Perfect weather every day, birds chirp 24/7 and the grass is sooo green. The city around is so pretty too. There are mountains surrounding us and so many houses on the mountains! I took a picture so hopefully you guys can see the houses! Also we can only use our camera on p-day here so it's hard to get a lot of pictures but we took some!
Okay so our schedule the first day was crazy! Practically meetings all day! I was like geez 18 months of this?! But now its way better and already the time is flying by! So we get up at 6:30 go to breakfast at 7, have personal study time from 7:30 to 8:30, then normally classes until like 11:30. Our teacher is awesome. So we do like an hour of language class and then an hour of a topic in PMG (Preach My Gospel) or something. Then 11:30 to 12 is additional study time. Then 12 is normally lunch until like 1. At 1 we have language study until 2 and then we have gym time from 2:10 to 3. Then half an hour to get ready again and then TALL time which is a program the church created to help you learn a language. So normally TALL time from 3:30 to 4:30 and then additional study from 4:30 to 5 and then daily planning from 5 to 5:30, dinner until 6:30 and then we teach our investigator and study until like 9:30 and then go home and be in bed by 10:30. I think that's pretty much the daily schedule now.
On Tuesdays we have devotional so instead of teaching we have more study time, devotional, then a district devotional review. Okay I love my district!!! They are awesome. There are 4 Hermanas and 4 Elders. Everyone is so fun and it's crazy because I feel like I have known them for such a long time! You are with them literally all the time here so you get really close.
And i love study time. It's hard sometimes because you are literally studying all day so at the end of the day I am so ready for bed. But seriously the scriptures are so awesome. The Book of Mormon is incredible. Literally it says in there over and over and over again just the doctrine of Christ, how to live with Heavenly Father again. I never realized how simple the gospel really is: have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the holy ghost, and endure to the end so have more faith and continually repent. It really is so simple and the Book of Mormon just tells us that over and over. Every verse in there is so good. I love my personal study time. And the bible relates to the Book of Mormon so well. It's so obvious that the Book of Mormon is true.
So sundays are awesome! Relief Society is with all of the Hermanas and the mission president's wife (in English thank goodness). We went over that conference talk you really like, mom, by Elder Klebingat or something about approaching the throne of God with confidence ((find mentioned conference talk here). It was such an awesome talk. I love how it says to stop blaming others, give your body the exercise it needs and deserves, voluntary wholehearted obedience, and make the church your whole life. And accepting trials as part of your life and a chance to prove yourself.
Then Sunday School is a district meeting. This past week we went over the first chapter in PMG and each companionship took a part and talked about it. Sacrament Meeting is awesome. It's with your zone so our zone has three districts. So everyone prepares a 5 minute talk every week and the person who is conducting chooses who will give their talk. Sacrament Meeting is really the only part of the day that is in Spanish. Nobody in our district gave a talk last week. Then one of the counselors in the Presidency visited our Sacrament Meeting and his talk was awesome. He was telling us that basically the Book of Mormon converts. It was so funny because he started in English, then said "Okay I will speak Spanish, I just want to say this one part in English to make sure you guys understand" then he would tell the whole story in english hahha. Thank goodness though because he is a native speaker and speaks too fast for me right now. Then we watched a devotional Elder Scott gave awhile ago at the Provo MTC. It was so good. I loved it. The first thing he said was that every good thing that has happened to him in his life came because of his decision to serve a mission. That was so cool. And he's an apostle so you know a lot of good things have happened to him haha! He said that multiple times throughout. He also said he loves to see all the sisters serving and he's so happy more sisters are deciding to serve. He also said we will never regret going on a mission and that the Lord will help those who are learning another language. Such a good devotional!
We watch a church video every Sunday night. We watched one about Joseph Smith. I can't believe how much persecution he and the early Church members went through. Innocent people were killed just because of their faith which is so sad. It makes me realize that I can serve 18 months of a mission. And also that there is no way a church would go through that much persecution and survive if it wasn't true. Why would there even be so much persecution for an early church that didn't harm anybody if it wasn't true and Satan wasn't trying to get it to not survive? Man I have become so spiritual, haven't I?! Hahhaha.
Oh an awesome moment was on my first day here. In one of the classes the teacher was telling us of the missionaries coming to his house when he was 14 and he went on a mission and now he teaches here. It's just so cool that I get to be a missionary and will be able to help change someone's life. Imagine how many people he has influenced now since he went on a mission and teaches missionaries. And that is all because of two missionaries serving! That is so cool.
I love the people here! It is so cool seeing how the gospel is the same everywhere! Seriously it is just awesome that they have the same truth here and understand everything and are so strong. And it's so cool that so many people that work here are learning English. Our teacher speaks it so well. I thought he had spoken it for at least 3 years and he said he just started learning when he started working here (so only for a year and two months). All his grammar is correct! It's crazy! If I can speak spanish as well as he speaks English in a year and two months I will be veryyyy happy.
So we live in casas here. There are 5 rooms and 4 girls in each room so 20 people to a house. There are only like 550 missionaries here at the CCM! crazy! I love that everyone is learning Spanish. It's so cool that it's so small because you see the same people all the time. The food is good. I still don't like meat. I've tried to eat it and just get grossed out so just decide to not eat the rest. But normally I just pick around it. The rice is so good. And I think I have literally had a plum for every meal since I've been here. Also their fruit is weird because it's never really ripe. The bananas are good but the pineapple, plums, and peaches are not ripe hahhaa.
Okay so last night it poured! Like a thunderstorm which was awesome but not so awesome because I didn't bring an umbrella and my companion's was at our house. So our district leader went to the tienda and got us umbrellas! It was so nice!
So the second day here we had to teach our first investigator in 100 percent Spanish. Just me, my companion, and the investigator although I'm pretty sure she is actually a member. But it was so hard the first day because it takes me so long to translate in my head what I want to say. Then we taught her again the third day and it went a lot better. We teach her again tonight.
One quote I loved from Elder Holland: "you make or break your mission between the hours of 6:30 to 9:30". So studying is so important! It's so interesting because there will be times where i just feel like "oh my gosh there is no way I can do this for 18 months. I miss my phone, I miss my family, I can barely speak any Spanish...but sometime within the next 5 minutes I read something or someone says something or even I'm just having fun with my district and I just realize that I can do this and that this is right. I was talking to one of my roommates and she said she feels the exact same way! It's so easy to feel discouraged because this honestly is so hard and I'm probably not even at the hard part yet but it is so much more awesome than it is hard. I totally know that I am supposed to be serving a mission. It feels so good to be here. Oh I love my companion! Her name is Hermana Everett. She is also going to Pittsburgh.
Okay in a whole different topic, CAN WE ALL JUST TAKE A SECOND TO BE SO EXCITED THE NINERS WON ON SUNDAY?! My day is made. I was so nervous to come in here and open up my email hahaha. But now I am so so so happy!
We get to leave the CCM on one p-day to go to the temple visitors center. I think that is everything! I really love it here. I know I wrote a ton and that all of my thoughts are just like so jumbled but I was trying to include everything.
The gospel is true and I am so thankful that i get to preach it for 18 months. I have felt the Spirit so much here and the Church makes so much more sense to me. I think I said this once already but it really is so so so simple. The whole point is just to live with Heavenly Father again and we do that through the Atonement. I honestly never realized how simple it all really is. And how amazing the Book of Mormon is and how it just says the same thing time and time again. It's so cool. Okay love you all! Make sure you pray for the 49ers this week hahahaha. It's crazy how your thoughts really are pretty much focused on the gospel all the time here. I haven't even really thought about football at all even though it was my favorite thing to watch and read about at home! hahahah love you guys!
Love, Jamie
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