¡Hola!
Okay, so the CCM life is definitely now how I expected it to be. This is probably due to the fact that I had no idea how long it would feel to be in the CCM surrounded by a fence and having my mission area right outside the fences. AHH!
Well a lot has happened in 10 days so I will try to summarize as best as possible. My companion is Elder Kletzli, he is from Utah and is about 6'7". I'm in the Amulek District and I got my missionary tags on Wednesday. They are so awesome! We had to start teaching an investigator on day 3 and of course it was all in Spanish! We've taught him about 4 times since then and it's starting to get easier, but the hardest part is that my companion and I are sometimes on different pages so its hard to make it flow and then there is the fact that its in Spanish. Its kind of hard to prepare for his lessons sometimes because we know that he isn't a real person and he is just a teacher, but we try our best.
So i think i talked about this before but everything here is in Spanish because all of the teachers are Latino and speak only a little English, but it has definitely helped out my Spanish and my confidence with my Spanish. On Sundays the Sacrament meeting is all in Spanish and we don't get to have headphones for translation but when we have devotionals and firesides on other days, we can use the headphones. I've only used them about 3 times because the person who is translating is kinda hard to understand and I have realized that I can pretty much figure out what they are saying. I was able to finish memorizing the Missionary Objective, Baptismal Invitation, and the First Vision all in Spanish already. I'm so glad that I had to memorize so many things in Spanish class because that has definitely helped out a lot.
I forgot all of my showering stuff in a shower and I found that out the hard way by getting into the shower the next day and then realizing that I had nothing. I have been losing my mind lately. There is just so much information and you have to translate 24/7 so my mind gets pretty dang tired. Oh yeah, they took our camera, electronics, and all of our food on the first day. But we get to have them on Pday, which is today at 1:30 and then I think Tuesday as well. So, I don't have any pictures for you yet.
WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE ON WEDNESDAY! It is a beautiful temple. The session was all in Spanish too but I got to have headphones to translate it this time. I still talked in Spanish for everything. Next time I think I'm going to try without the translation. Being able to finally go beyond the fences was so nice! I got to finally see my mission area, well, a little bit of it. The temple is about 20 mins away from the CCM. Driving here is insane! I don't think they have any traffic lights, so at intersections you find out what car is the dominant one, and luckily we were in a bus because everyone stopped for us, even if they only stopped at the last second. Just from looking at the city from the window, I can already tell that I'm going to love it here. Its packed and is basically chaos, but for some reason I just can't wait to get in the middle of it.
At the distribution center at the temple, I got a few things and spent a few bucks. I did get a small PMG for $1. When we go again, I will probably get another small one but in Spanish because the one I have now is kinda messed up. Life in the CCM is the same everyday but Sunday. We get up, read the Book of Mormon for an hour, eat breakfast, have classes, eat lunch, have gym, have classes, eat dinner, have classes, and then sleep. I'm starting to finally get the hang of it. Although its pretty fun here, I cant wait to get out to the mission field and talk to real people! The Spanish classes have been okay. They were super basic at the beginning and it was a little frustrating, but It was a good refresher on some things. Now we are doing more grammar which is more of what I suck at, so its good but i also hate grammar. The food has been good and Ive eaten everything. Well, at least tried everything. Some stuff here is pretty interesting. Well, I cant think of anything else to talk about, its pretty much the same everyday. But if I forgot anything, I will tell you about it on Tuesday because i think that is our next Pday. Thank you for all of the support everyone! I hope I can respond to all of your emails and letters.
Élder Richmond
WAIT I HAVE ONE PICTURE! This is everyone in the CCM right now. Its the biggest group that this CCM has ever had! Which probably doesn't compare to a fraction of the Provo MTC.
Okay, so the CCM life is definitely now how I expected it to be. This is probably due to the fact that I had no idea how long it would feel to be in the CCM surrounded by a fence and having my mission area right outside the fences. AHH!
Well a lot has happened in 10 days so I will try to summarize as best as possible. My companion is Elder Kletzli, he is from Utah and is about 6'7". I'm in the Amulek District and I got my missionary tags on Wednesday. They are so awesome! We had to start teaching an investigator on day 3 and of course it was all in Spanish! We've taught him about 4 times since then and it's starting to get easier, but the hardest part is that my companion and I are sometimes on different pages so its hard to make it flow and then there is the fact that its in Spanish. Its kind of hard to prepare for his lessons sometimes because we know that he isn't a real person and he is just a teacher, but we try our best.
So i think i talked about this before but everything here is in Spanish because all of the teachers are Latino and speak only a little English, but it has definitely helped out my Spanish and my confidence with my Spanish. On Sundays the Sacrament meeting is all in Spanish and we don't get to have headphones for translation but when we have devotionals and firesides on other days, we can use the headphones. I've only used them about 3 times because the person who is translating is kinda hard to understand and I have realized that I can pretty much figure out what they are saying. I was able to finish memorizing the Missionary Objective, Baptismal Invitation, and the First Vision all in Spanish already. I'm so glad that I had to memorize so many things in Spanish class because that has definitely helped out a lot.
I forgot all of my showering stuff in a shower and I found that out the hard way by getting into the shower the next day and then realizing that I had nothing. I have been losing my mind lately. There is just so much information and you have to translate 24/7 so my mind gets pretty dang tired. Oh yeah, they took our camera, electronics, and all of our food on the first day. But we get to have them on Pday, which is today at 1:30 and then I think Tuesday as well. So, I don't have any pictures for you yet.
WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE ON WEDNESDAY! It is a beautiful temple. The session was all in Spanish too but I got to have headphones to translate it this time. I still talked in Spanish for everything. Next time I think I'm going to try without the translation. Being able to finally go beyond the fences was so nice! I got to finally see my mission area, well, a little bit of it. The temple is about 20 mins away from the CCM. Driving here is insane! I don't think they have any traffic lights, so at intersections you find out what car is the dominant one, and luckily we were in a bus because everyone stopped for us, even if they only stopped at the last second. Just from looking at the city from the window, I can already tell that I'm going to love it here. Its packed and is basically chaos, but for some reason I just can't wait to get in the middle of it.
At the distribution center at the temple, I got a few things and spent a few bucks. I did get a small PMG for $1. When we go again, I will probably get another small one but in Spanish because the one I have now is kinda messed up. Life in the CCM is the same everyday but Sunday. We get up, read the Book of Mormon for an hour, eat breakfast, have classes, eat lunch, have gym, have classes, eat dinner, have classes, and then sleep. I'm starting to finally get the hang of it. Although its pretty fun here, I cant wait to get out to the mission field and talk to real people! The Spanish classes have been okay. They were super basic at the beginning and it was a little frustrating, but It was a good refresher on some things. Now we are doing more grammar which is more of what I suck at, so its good but i also hate grammar. The food has been good and Ive eaten everything. Well, at least tried everything. Some stuff here is pretty interesting. Well, I cant think of anything else to talk about, its pretty much the same everyday. But if I forgot anything, I will tell you about it on Tuesday because i think that is our next Pday. Thank you for all of the support everyone! I hope I can respond to all of your emails and letters.
Élder Richmond
WAIT I HAVE ONE PICTURE! This is everyone in the CCM right now. Its the biggest group that this CCM has ever had! Which probably doesn't compare to a fraction of the Provo MTC.