Hmm...a little about Mexico. It has been raining all de time. Like ALL de time. In fact I look like I just stepped out of the shower some days. But it is a very pretty rain. My skies are filled with clouds and trees here at the CCM. It makes me heart smile (: haha all of my roomies (other hermanas) think I am the biggest hippie because of my irrational love for trees. I just can´t help it. They make fun of me. I´ll have to attach the picture of my "future life" that they made me. It´s cute.......hahahha Oh and there is also lots of lighting. Even where there is no rain, there is lightening. I love it a lot. It´s beautiful!
So here´s a fun fact, south Mexican food is very different from north Mexican food. I never knew that before! I was sitting with the CCM president and his wife at lunch the other day and they were telling me that. They have pretty much been all over the world for different callings. And I learned that my kind of food would most likely be north Mexican...So Tucson should treat me well (: The president´s wife actually grew up in Tucson and so she told me about the food! WHoo whooooo.
Oh and here was a fun time: the other day I was walking out of the girls bathroom a little quickly because my companion was rushing me...anywho, I slipped on the floor! The bathroom floor. Yes, on my hands and knees. It was painfully disgusting (see what I did there?). And I walked out after picking myself up and two other hermanas were about to walk in. This is what I said to them..."Beware the lou!" hahaha I am so funny! Get it? Like from Emperor´s New Groove? When he throws the old guy out the window and he says "beware the groove!" yeah. Super funny, I know. (:
Another fun thing here is the nights. The nights are filled with lovely explosions and loud music. Yes, I fell asleep to Justin Bebier the other night. And not to mention the next day, Sunday, was filled with random explosions during Sunday school and sacrament meeting. What a joyful time it is here in Mexico. I think it was some religious holiday? Whatever it was, they were shooting off these ginormous fireworks from like 6pm to 1am...but not to worry, they started back up again around 5am! FIVE! And they continued randomly throughout the day. Mexicans party.
Speaking of Sunday, I think I may have mentioned how Sunday works before, but if not, I´ll share again. So basically, everyone prepares a talk based on one of the three topics we are given. When we are in Sacrament meeting, 9 lucky people get called up. You never know if it will be you! Except...this Sunday, I realized I had forgotten my talk when I had sat down in the meeting. It was in my classroom! So I knew at that point that I would be one of the lucky ones to get called up and give a talk in Spanish without any notes or help. I was so right. I gave a talk on faith. I started out with this, "Today I am exercising a lot of faith because I left my talk in the classroom!"...so at least it gave me a good starting line, right? It actually went really well! I even teared up a little haha but hey, that means I was feeling something. Even my Spanish went pretty well. I really am getting the hang of this Spanish thing. Don´t get me wrong, I am no where near perfect, but I am definitely improving each day.
One of the things that I have absolutely loved here is the Temple. The temple here has escalators! I did not expect that at all because I have never seen that before. But I came around the corner and there were all these angels, dressed in white, ascending up into the heavens! That´s what it looks like when there´s escalators there. Just a line of angels (: That was neat.
The food is sadly getting worse...but every-now-and-then they surprise us. They even made us tiny cinnamon rolls the other day! One of the cooks there that I am friends with was like"Hermana, take as many as you like." then he waited intently for me to try it and said "you like? you like?"hahah they are the best! I have a hard time understanding them most of the time, but they really try to speak English for me (: And as far as the other food goes, a lot of the days I eat peanut butter and nutella sandwiches. It´s pretty great.
One of my favorite favorite things this week was, as usual, the devotionals! This week we listened to a talk that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave at the Provo MTC a year or two ago. He is so passionate about this work, it is infectious! It was all about growing up and really taking this work seriously. It was perfect for me to hear. He kept saying things like "Don´t you dare come home and not be changed forever!" He kept emphasizing to let this work sink into our hearts and become us. I loved that. He kept saying "Don´t miss this chance¨" We only get it once. I will only carry an actual name badge for this time of my life. I really need to recognize the importance of representing the name I carry below mine: Jesus Christ. I also loved this part. he said "Don´t go back to what you were. Even if you were terrific. That was a younger terrific" It really opened my eyes to the changes I need to make in my life, to the person that I want to be. That God wants me to be. This is nothing to be taken light-heartedly. "We expect a lot. We really expect a lot. And we do not apologize" These words also came from Jeffrey R. Holland. An Apostle of the Lord. And if he expects that much of me, I surely need to expect just the same. I know I am not alone in this and I know that I will be strengthened as I put my trust in the Lord. (Sorry. Hit that italicize button again...don´t know how to fix). Anyways, I just am so so grateful to be a missionary. Especially at this exact time! There is certainly a reason and I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of the hastening of the work that the Lord promised would come. How cool is that!? I feel pretty cool (; haha
Yesterday was a great experience too!! We learned how to sincerely seek for and teach with the spirit. Our teacher asked for volunteers who wanted to sincerely seek for the spirit. I raised my hand along with 5 others and the class was divided in half. The half of us who volunteered he asked us to just pray and start preparing to teach. The other half he took out into the hall and described to them their profile of the investigator that they would be. When they came back in, I ended up teaching Elder Jeske. It was such such such a great experience! I found myself teaching him things that I didn´t even know he needed to be taught until after the fact. The spirit was so strong. We both were strengthened from this experience. The Spirit is the master teacher, not us! We are simply the instruments in the Lord´s hands and we need to prepare ourselves with the words and teachings of the gospel so that the spirit can take what we´re learned and apply it in our teaching. Seek first to obtain my word, then the Lord will give you on the hour the things that you should say. (I think I just combined a few different scriptures, but the same principle applies). Anyways. I AM SO STOKED TO BE A MISSIONARY OF THE LORD, JESUS CHRIST; to wear His name, and to daily strive to feel of His spirit and love. (: NOW is the time! Now is the time for men to prepare to meet God. Not tomorrow, NOW. I will end with one of my all time favorite scriptures (except for I think I say that about all of them) Joshua 3:5 "...Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Are you ready? Will you be ready? Therefore, sanctify yourselves. Then can you be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. (:
I love you all!
Love,
Hermana Hurst
Hermana Hurst
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