Halfway Through the MTC!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Hola,

It is crazy to think that I am now half way done with my time here at the CCM! Time has really picked up from the first week and it makes me sad to leave this place. This past week has been another incredible one. I am learning so much each week and growing more in love with this place and the people here. The days are starting to blend together and it´s hard to remember life before this. It rains everyday here, usually just a light drizzle, but enough for a daily usage of my umbrella. Trying to write in English is becoming harder because everything appears to be spelled wrong.... Spanish is messing with my English! The other night I dreamt that I was at the hospital and I was trying to explain where I was hurting in Spanish but I couldn't remember a word so the Doctor couldn't understand me. I was so upset in my dream that I woke up in the middle of the night. I guess dreaming in semi-Spanish is a good thing. It's quite funny because almost every night someone has a night mare and screams or is speaking Spanish in their sleep. I have learned that if everyone spoke Spanish like my instructor, that I would more or less understand what was being said, but when a native speaks it seems to sound like gibberish! Cannot wait for the day when I can understand despite the mumbling and insane rolling of the letter ¨R¨.

Sundays here are probably my favorite day. I love sacrament meetings and our branch presidency is made up of some of the best men. They are natives and so strong in the gospel. Their families attend and they have such a wonderful spirit. We also have 3 devotionals on Sunday which are always way good and I learn so much from them. We are still hoping that Elder Holland will figure out that it is necessary that he make an appearance at the new CCM for a devotional (fingers are crossed). It only makes sense, right? Haha! This Sunday was a little bit sad, Elder Dennis (mission president´s son) left for El Salvador. He was suppose to leave on Tuesday but his flight itinerary changed and he left 2 days early at 3 am! He was excited but nervous at the same time. He is going to be a great missionary and I just know I am going to love his parents! It is going to be hard to leave this place and the missionaries I have grown to love. At the same time I am eager and excited to be in Ecuador! It will definitely be a bitter-sweet thing. 

Today we went to the temple in the city and it was so BEAUTIFUL!!! It was such a great spiritual experience with my district and fun to see parts of the city on the drive. After the session my 3 roommates and I had to check out the bridal room which was so gorgeous. My future hubby better have a lot of groomsmen because I have added 3 more bridesmaids to my list. I LOVE these Hermanas so much! Drivers in Mexico City are CRAZY and traffic is awful!!! People are all over the place and cutting in front of buses etc. I hear Ecuador is just as bad though. There are tons of VW Beatles and of course I thought of you Miss Sara O´Dell. I have been very cautious of what I eat because there are a lot of missionaries here that are getting sick with gastrointestinal problems. 

The other day at lunch Hermana Romney sat at our table and of course I had to ask if she was related to Mitt. Mitt is her dad's cousin and she is actually from Dallas, Texas! She is quite the classy lady and super sweet. She did her last 3 years of high school in Mexico because her parents were actually mission presidents here. So she is pretty much fluent in Spanish meaning she will only be here 2 weeks. Hermana Berrett (mi companera) and I joke and call ourselves the Abuelas of the CCM. Everyone is 18 and 19! Mi compenera wore my placa de nombre (name tag) ayer and we didn't notice till halfway through the day. There is actually another Hermana Lyman here. During a devotional this week President Pratt announced that Hermana Lyman would be giving the opening prayer and that she was going to Alabama. I was scared for a second until I realized that the Alabama was not me! The rest of the day I had random elders telling me that they thought I was going to give the prayer or telling me I did a good job. Haha!

I am having the time of my life here and loving almost every minute of it! I LOVE IT HERE!!! I see Elder Lopez about every other day so that is always nice to have that connection to home! and his district LOVES him! All the elders hang around him, it makes me so happy to see! 

Our lessons are going well with our investigators! Nosotros tenemos dos commitments para bauptizmo! Nosotros estaba el primer en nuestro districo tener un commitment para bauptizmo! Translation: (We have two commitments for baptism! We were the first in our district to have a commitment for baptism!)

With Love,

Hermana Lyman