Hermana Warburton: 1st Week at the Mexico CCM

¡Hola Familia!

¿Como estas ustedes?

This week at the CCM has been forever long... but it has been good! CCM stands for Centro de Capacitación Misional. They made it very clear to us that it is not the MTC, we are in Mexico now, so it is the CCM (ce ce meh)!

The flight to Mexico was not too bad. There were a ton of missionaries on the plane, and even an Elder from Bountiful! Nobody was worried our flight was going to crash, because of all the missionaries! :) After we arrived at the CCM, we had a bunch of orientations, got our name tags (so I was officially a missionary), and it was a lot of information to say the least! I got my companion and her name is Hermana Johnson. She is super cute and the sweetest girl ever! She is from Idaho falls, and crazy enough, she went to USU too for a year before the mission. I wouldnt be surprised if our path crossed and we just didnt know it! :)

After we got all of the orientation business out of the way, we went to our casa (house). I am in casa 20, and there are 4 hermanas per room. im on the top bunk- so it reminded me of my childhood days. The other hermanas in my room are Hermana Wells and Hermana Gonzales from Idaho and California, and we are all going to the Ecuador Guayaquil North mission!

The first dinner i had, i got just a little bit worried about the food here. They were these tacos with mystery meat.. and I uh didnt eat them. But the food has gotten a little bit better! haha! I seriously eat fruit loops, nutella on bread, and a banana for breakfast and dinner. No joke. The lunches are the best meals, so i always look forward to lunch. The other day they had hamburgers and it made me miss the american kind... One weird food thing. Tamales for breakfast..? We had those one day and I was very thankful for fruit loops and nutella. None of the food really is bad. It is just different than American food that is for sure... So fruit loops and nutella are my life at this current moment.

My district is 12B, and we have 6 Elders and 4 Hermanas. 8 of us are all going to the Ecuador mission, but the other 2 are going to chile and bolivia.

Every day is about the same. We study all day long. We wake up and do personal study, and then we go to breakfast, and then we have class (which includes Gospel study and Spanish study) and then lunch. And then study. And then we teach an investigator. And then dinner. And then more study, study on a language computer program, planning. Bed. Im always tired, but it is all worth it! Our teacher is Hermana Arnaud, and she is the sweetest lady! I really like her!

On friday we taught our first "investigator" (he is not a real investigator, he is a member who pretends to be an investigator, but I dont think the missionaries are actually supposed to know they are not real investigators, but we all know.) His name is Giovanni. (is it a coincidence i saw the opera Don Giovanni in Italy a month ago, and then im teaching a guy with the same name.. i think not!)The first lesson was rough. I mean its my 2 full day the the CCM, and I DO NOT know Spanish. Luckily we had little cheat sheets and books that translated phrases of the lessons in to Spanish that I could read. But it was hard. One thing ive learned for sure is that I am not the teacher. The Spirit must be the teacher, or the lesson is way scattered and it is not really meaningful to the investigator. We have taught Giovanni every day since then, except for Sunday and P-day, and the lessons have gotten progressively better. Yesterday Hermana Johnson and I barely used our Spanish cheat sheets! We just used the language we knew!

So i can now pray in Spanish!! Yay!! A real prayer, out loud! On Sunday I prayed out loud for our district, with no cheat sheet, all in Spanish. I also can bear my testimony in Spanish! So slowly but surely im getting the language. Pero Espanol es muy dificil!! When I think im finally getting the language, a native Latio talks to me and I am completely lost.

Sundays are the best days. You get church, a devotional, and a movie! How great! Relief Society was good, but i did fall asleep during some of it. Yep same old megan falling asleep in church. But Sacrament Meeting was great! Some people from our zone/branch sang "Yo se que vive mi Senor", which is "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," and it was so great! Wow! I do know that my Redeemer lives and loves me. He knows our feelings, our challenges, and best knows how to comfort us.

Yo se que el Evangelio de Jesucristo es verdadero. Yo se que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial, y somos Sus hijos. Yo agrecido por Jesucristo y Su Expiacion. Yo agrecido por familias! (Translation: I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know that God is our Heavenly Father, and that we are His children. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and His Atonement. I am grateful for families)

I love you all mucho!! I am excited to share and learn the gospel more!

Love,

Hermana Warburton