Week 2

My P-Day will generally be on Wednesdays, but this week we have it on Tuesday because tomorrow Elder D. Todd Christofferson will be speaking to us. I get to participate in a small choir for that devotional and I'm really looking forward to it. We also get to go to the temple today, which will be wonderful.

I love and miss you all so much! If I get too homesick, I just suck on one of the lemon candies that dad gave me and it makes me feel better. Luckily, they keep us extremely busy, so I don't have much spare time to think about home. Each day is wonderful and spiritual, but so long. I feel like they try to fit three days' worth of work into one day, so we all feel like we've been here for about a month already. I feel like I start every journal entry with 'I'm exhausted', but it's the good kind of tired.

There are a little over 90 missionaries here in total. Only 19 of us are from America. We are the first American missionaires to come to this MTC (CCM). We are still in the old Mexico CCM, so we will also be the last American missionaries here before they move tot the Mexico CCM. It's definitely a new and interesting experience for all of us to be in the minority. All of the Latinos are wonderful though. They are extremely friendly and they think we're all really funny. We always end up laughing with them, usually at our inability to communicate. We eat all of our meals with them. They usually teach us Spanish, but occasionally we teach them some English. Their favorite words so far have been marshmallow and cantaloupe. They think those are really strange words and struggle with saying them.

This truly is a program of immersion. They only speak Spanish to us and we are only supposed to speak Spanish with eachother. My mind is kind of in this transition stage. I can't fully think in Spanish yet, but English is beginning to sound like a foreign language too. It's actually taking quite a bit of effort to write this in English.

We started teaching our first 'investigator' on Thursday . . . also completely in Spanish. For the record, that's extremely difficult when you don't speak the language. Neither one of my companions knows Spanish very well, so I'm left to use the little Spanish that I know to take point on the lessons. I had a strong spiritual experience during our first lesson. I didn't feel like the lesson was going in the right direction, so I decided to put my books down (the ones that tell me how to speak Spanish) and just bear my testimony to the investigator to the best of my ability. I was blessed by the Spirit with el don de lenguas, the gift of tongues. The Spirit was so strong. It was a much needed experience because I had been getting a little frustrated with the language.

Yesterday, one of the latina hermanas got to see her mom on the temple grounds. Her mom didn't speak English, but she wanted to meet us. She told us that she knows this work is difficult, but it is so important for us to do. Then she gave us both hugs and told us that our families love us. Even though I had never even met this woman before, I was able to feel a really strong connection to all of you through her. It was definitely a tender mercy from the Lord. I am blessed with so many tender mercies every day. We all are. They're testimonies to me that Heavenly Father loves us so much.

Sunday was also a wonderful day. We got a much needed break from our usual classes. We only meet with the American missionaries. My branch presidency is amazing. President Christiansen reminds me a lot of Jimmy Stewart and I love talking to him. He also doesn't speak any Spanish, so he kind of understands how flustered we all feel.

In one of our Sunday lessons, we spoke about true conversion. We read a lot from the scriptures and from Elder Bednar's October 2012 General Conference talk. I encourage you all to read it, it's an inspired, beautiful lesson on conversion. President Pratt's wife taught a lesson about the Book of Mormon. She pointed out that the people of ancient times, the Nephites, Lamanites, etc, didn't have the Book of Mormon. This is a book that is meant specifically for us. The prophet's saw our day and included what they were inspired to know was necessary. We have to talk advantage of that blessing.

I don't have much time left, but I want you all to know that I love you all so much and that I know this gospel is true. I'm so grateful for all of you.