Hola!!
From Mexico City! Seriously this place is gorgeous!! I love the MTC here. It is actually called the CCM. So if you're ever confused as to what I am talking about, now you know. haha! First off, I want to let you all know that I love you all and appreciate all of your prayers. This place has been amazing, yet extremely difficult, and I love the fact that I can know that you are praying for me. The first day at the MTC was one of the longest of my life. As you can see by the pictures I am attaching the place is pretty run down. There are houses upon houses upon houses!! SO many people. But the CCM is pretty excluded in the middle of the city and it is gorgeous here. So many pretty plants and palm trees :)
The food here took a little adjusting too. I guess they just got new cooks and the food has been "amazing" since then. Lucky for me haha. They have the best tasting fruit!! A lot of the time I do not even know what I am eating. But that is a good thing. Mike, I don't think you would like a lot of the food I eat here, a lot of bread. haha! But this morning I had the best doughnut ever, filled with chocolate so that was awesome. But, I also ate crab mixed with corn and potaotes. hahaha very interesting. Yet still pretty good!
The food here took a little adjusting too. I guess they just got new cooks and the food has been "amazing" since then. Lucky for me haha. They have the best tasting fruit!! A lot of the time I do not even know what I am eating. But that is a good thing. Mike, I don't think you would like a lot of the food I eat here, a lot of bread. haha! But this morning I had the best doughnut ever, filled with chocolate so that was awesome. But, I also ate crab mixed with corn and potaotes. hahaha very interesting. Yet still pretty good!
My companion's name is Hermana Dillman. 
Every girl here is an Hermana meaning sister. She has definately been a good learning opportunity for me. I am totally having to learn patience haha. Danielle, you would love her. She is just like you. She can be pretty fun and she loooooves Doctor Who! haha! Luckily everyone here is pretty much an American learning how to speak Spanish. This has been so helpful. I wish every moment of every day that I had taken Spanish in high school. But there must have been a reason that the Lord called me to speak Spanish. I just have yet to figure out why. haha!
I have another set of Hermanas in my district and I absolutely love them. Hermana Hoj and Hermana Smith. They are literally the only way I stay sane throughout the day. On Saturday we were studying Spanish for 8 hours in our classroom. I thought my brain was going to explode.
Every girl here is an Hermana meaning sister. She has definately been a good learning opportunity for me. I am totally having to learn patience haha. Danielle, you would love her. She is just like you. She can be pretty fun and she loooooves Doctor Who! haha! Luckily everyone here is pretty much an American learning how to speak Spanish. This has been so helpful. I wish every moment of every day that I had taken Spanish in high school. But there must have been a reason that the Lord called me to speak Spanish. I just have yet to figure out why. haha!
I have another set of Hermanas in my district and I absolutely love them. Hermana Hoj and Hermana Smith. They are literally the only way I stay sane throughout the day. On Saturday we were studying Spanish for 8 hours in our classroom. I thought my brain was going to explode.
So speaking of Spanish. So much to tell. Well, it is super super super super super hard! Like I can't even explain it. But I have amazing teachers and I know that I will be blessed in the language through my study of the gospel and by bringing myself closer to God. I have set more goals this week than I have like ever in my life. I study, study, and study every moment of every day. I wish I had taken a picture of what my desk looks like on an average day haha. But I am only allowed to take pictures on P Day. So Tuesdays it is. I would like you all to know that I can offically say my prayers in Spanish and can say bits and pieces of some of my testimony. YAY!! You have no idea what kind of accomplishment this is. I pray more and more every day. I am slowly catching on to this whole Spanish thing. Hermana Dillman and I have even taught three lessons to an "investigator" of the church. Really he is just a teacher on campus who only speaks Spanish. Our first and second lesson were really rough and pretty discouraging. But our third we taught about the restoration of the gospel and the Book of Mormon. I have never felt a feeling as strong as I did in that classroom. Our investigator's name is Luis Valdez and he agreed to read the Book of Mormon. We couldn't have been more thrilled. We walked out of that room and just cried with true joy. There is no joy like the joy of bringing others closer to Christ. I don't think I had ever been so happy and joyous. We had four pages of notes and questions to ask him and we almost didn't go off of any of them. We went off what we could say and what the spirit guided us to say. It was amazing. I wasn't just teaching what I knew I was teaching what the spirit wanted Luis to hear. SO AMAZING. Wow just looking back on it just makes me smile. Yesterday was such a good day. But don't let me fool you if I had written a letter to you Friday or Saturday I would have been telling you that I wanted to come home. This is beyond hard. I am literally teaching people the words of Christ in another language. It sounds impossible but it is being done haha. Thank the heavens above that I still have 5 more weeks to study here. I am so nervous about going out to Ecuador. Crazy. 
My companion is going to Ecuadaor as well, but she isn't in the same mission. She will be going to Ecuador Quito North. She is from Utah. Go figure. Everyone here is from Utah. In fact all the guys in my district call me Iowa or Des Moines haha. Too great. The people here are so amazing. It is so cool to hear everyone's story. It has also been cool to see each person in my district grow as much as I have. There is an Elder in my district who studied German in high school and we had a whole conversation in German the other day haha. Too bad German is not helping me at all here. AT ALL. in fact it makes things worse. I caught myself saying und instead of y the other day for the word and. SO annoying haha.
My teacher Hermana Christensen is amazing. I love her so much. She has been such an amazing example to me. She served in the San Diego Visitors Center speaking Spanish. She told me that each emotion on your mission is magnified. Crazy true. I have cried so much this past week. But you know what it has been all worth it. I truly love it here. The CCM is beyond amazing. The spirit is so strong and testifies so much. I love it.
This morning I was able to attend the Mexico City Temple. AHHHHHHH I know what you are thinking how did she know what was going on? It was all in Spanish? Yes it was. And to be quite honest with you it was spoken so quickly I just followed the flow and understood about 10 words hahahaha. Yikes. But it was still an amazing experience. Such a pretty temple. Not like any of the temples I have been able to attend yet. I loved it and that is where the pictures are from with my district. Well I offically have twelve more minutes to write. I still want to attach pictures. I love you all so much. Just remember that no matter what happens in life and no matter where you are at in your life you have someone in heaven looking down on you watching out for you. Our Heavenly Father loves us more than you could ever imagine. I am only getting to taste some of this now in my life. He knows all of you pains and sorrows. He has been through it all. The atonement of Jesus Christ is real and I am beyond grateful for it. Heavenly Father will bless all of us if we strive to come closer to him. I love the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so glad to have gotten to be a part of this gospel. Man I love it all!!
Remember keep the letters coming!! I love getting to feel like I know what is going on in the real world. I pray for you all every day more than once. haha.
I love you all so much,
Hermana Pack
No comments:
Post a Comment