Wednesday, August 7, 2013
HOLA!!!!!
I never thought I would be so excited to be able to email
and receive emails! I have been looking forward to this for quite some
time now! So much has happened this week and I apologize now for the
novel I am about to write, but I have so much to tell and little time to
do so. Please forgive the bad grammar and spelling, I am typing as fast
as possible in order to express my feelings and share some of my
experiences here. The keyboards here are quite different as well so I am
still figuring out how to punctuate etc. First off, thank you so much
for the emails. I can't express how much reading a simple email means to
me and how much I look forward to it. I actually teared up because even
though it has only been a week, it feels like a year. I would also love some photos if possible, I regret not bringing any
so feel free to email or mail me some! I will start with the first
couple of days here. They were extremely difficult for me. I wish I
could express the feelings I experienced but I cannot put it into words. I
was very discouraged and looking back can see that I needed to feel
that way to rely completely on the Lord. Everything was very
unorganized, Spanish class was not very structured just pure immersion
of our instructor speaking Spanish to us. Not sure how Bryce did
Russian, respect him so much for that! I had a hard time sleeping the
first 2 nights because I had so much on my mind. We had our first lesson
with Carlos, a fake investigator, on the 2nd day with no notes and our
broken Spanish. I could not feel the spirit at all in our first lesson
and with the Spanish I knew and few words I learned. Looking back on
the lesson, it's a miracle that we were able to say one
sentence let alone teach this guy about Christ and the gospel for 15
minutes. Carlos acted very uninterested in our lesson and said one word
answers to our questions. I wanted to say so many things but did not
have the words. When we get back to our house we smelled vomit and
found that someone decided to come in our room to our bathroom and vomit
all over the side, floor, and wall and then leave it for us to clean
up. Who does that? Our room has finally aired out. I took a shower in
an open room in our house and came out to find that my companion had
cleaned the vomit in the bathroom because she knew how frustrated I was. Can I just say that I have the BEST companion ever! She also got
pooped on by a bird the first night when we and other roommates went out
to pick up cups in order to drink water from the large bottled water
containers when this old man stops us, gives us a speech about not being
out this late at night etc it was about 9:45 p.m. How embarrassing, I felt like I was in high school again. Come to find
out the next day the old man is the MTC president, President Pratt. So
this gives you a brief idea of how my first few days went. Do
not worry, I am now having the time of my life and love everything about
this place. To describe the MTC, we refer to it as CCM, it is so
incredibly peaceful and beautiful. It is on 90 acres and has numerous
casas and apartment style living. The rooms are nice, all newly remodeled with tile and nice bathrooms. Our house has 5 bedrooms and
houses 20 girls. The CCM grounds are BEAUTIFUL!!! They mow and there
are workers constantly cleaning, gardening, and fixing things. We have
actually become friends with the gardener who is amazing, we can only
understand half of what he says to us but he stops what he is doing when
he sees my companion and I and talks. He told us he trims all the
hedges, trees, and makes different designs with some of the trees because of his love for the missionaries. I about cried my
eyes out right there, he is so sweet. The CCM is in a valley and the
mountains surround just about every angle with bright multicolored
houses up the mountain. It has been a school for 50 years and has such a
wonderful spirit, almost like a holy place. We feel so far from the
city yet it is completely surrounding us. The entire CCM in surrounded
in a rock wall with a fence on top of that. Surrounding the fences are
large bushes so we can hear cars passing on busy highways, however we
can not see them. We actually hear several rounds of gun shots at night
which reminds us that the city is more than just a pretty view. I don't know how I got so blessed with the BEST companion in the world,
Hermana Berrett, the BEST district, and the BEST instructor ever. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my companion! I want to find away for her to be in our
family. I already joke with her that I have 3 single,
smart, handsome, sweet, and the best part... Texan brothers! She has a
boyfriend but you never know, a year and a half is a long time! Just
wishful thinking. Hermana Berrett is from Riverton Utah, 22 years old,
just graduated nursing school from UVU and we are so much alike. She is
cute and the one of the sweetest and loving persons that I've ever met.
Of course behind Grandma! I love you grandma and grandpa and are think
about yall! Gym time here is golden. Hermana Berrett and I play
volleyball with a few elders that played some in high school or club
volleyball so it gets pretty intense but we can hang with them! Hermana
Berrett is pretty good and we have a BLAST!!! She played tennis in high
school so when we find some rackets and tennis balls she is going to
teach me! The other two girls in our room are great as well! We all get
along, we all are clean, and we have a lot of fun. My district is
amazing as well, its the girls I room with and
8 elders. These elders are 18 years old and all so different. I have
grown to love everyone of them! We have truly grown so much as a
district in just one week and even our instructor, Hermano Brown says we
are one of the best districts he has ever had. We are very open and
have great spiritual experiences and at the same time have so much fun. I never thought that being so immersed in the gospel could be so much
fun. There is so much love and happiness here and I am loving so much
of it! Our lessons with Carlos are getting better and better and I can
feel the spirit so strongly when we testify to him! Hermana Berrett is a
power house at teaching! I love it! Hermano Brown, my instructor
actually knew Daniel, Marilyn's husband on his mission! He said that
Daniel facebooked him and asked if he knew me, so it is pretty crazy
that he is my instructor! He is so passionate and funny! I'm never
bored in class and he amplifies the spirit by 10 and makes
me want to study study study! Wish I could write more but my time is
limited. Know that I love and miss everyone so deeply. I can't express
just how much my family means to me! I pray for everyone individually
and hope things are going well! I am growing so much here in the gospel
and my love of the church!!! How could ANYONE EVER doubt it. I love
singing in Spanish and the language is coming pretty well. Will send
pictures in another email! The CCM is growing every
week. We had 118 new missionaries arrive yesterday and a lot of Spanish
speakers today. President Pratt informed us that we are now over 800
missionaries and will be receiving more that were suppose to attend the Argentina and Peru MTC on top of the 100 missionaries that are arrive
every week. We are not able to have devotionals in the auditorium
because we have outgrown it. We are now meeting in the gym. Not sure
how many missionaries this place can hold but the influx is insane. President Pratt is actually an international lawyer for the church and
has lived in South America for the last 35 years. He gave a devotional
yesterday and talked quite a bit about the temple in Guayaquil Ecuador! He searched for many of the temple sites in South America and dealt a
lot with president Hinckley so that was pretty cool. Also I forgot to
tell y'all that my companion is going to Quito north mission!!! We fly
out the same day so that will be nice! My p-days are Wednesdays. Ahhhhh so sorry to keep adding to this email
but I'm waiting for my companion to finish and remembered that Elder Lopez
is now the DISTRICT LEADER of his district! I've only seen him a few
times but he seems to be doing well! so proud of that guy!
With love,
Hermana Lyman
P.S. The mission address here is:
Carr. Tenayuca-Chalmita No. 828
Col. Zona Escolar, Deleg. G.A. Madero
C.P. 07230, Mexico, D.F. Mexico
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