Week 1 and 2

Well we received Ryan's first email and it was so wonderful.  It is just so comforting knowing your son is doing well and feeling the Spirit.  He absolutely loves the Ccm.  It is such a special and beautiful place.  He feels very blessed to have this opportunity to be there and learn in that environment.  Sometimes it is still surreal to see him with his black name tag and realize he is really a missionary and his journey has begun.  It brings us great joy to see him so happy.



Heads up before hand, this is a week and a half email, and the "m" key barely works, so it is all out of order and all over the place, los siento.

Well my mission adventure has started and it has been crazy. On my flight down to the ccm, there was a ton of other missionaries there. That flight felt like a very safe flight that's for sure. I sat by an Elder Pigott from Spanish Fork, we just talked and prepared ourselves for all that was to come. We arrived in Mexico and the heat was immediately present. We all were wearing suits too, so the heat was especially rough. 

The ccm sent two busses to pick up the missionaries arriving around the same time, and it was barely enough to say the least. It was a true Ecuador reminder as we proceeded to fill the isle of the bus up to the headrest level of the bus. Thankfully we were pretty watched out for all being on a bus as missionaries. However, the bus was enough to make you worry anyways. The traffic rules did not exist at all on the bus ride to the ccm, cars would travel in and out of lanes, take stop signs as stop suggestions, and make 3 lanes into 4 or 5 depending on the space. It was insane, but we did make it safely. When we first got here we had a few small intro things, then dinner, and during the 15 minutes of dinner, it began to downpour so hard, if you were outside for more than a few seconds, you got soaked. And that has so far been a pretty usual occurrence in the evenings. My companion is Elder Lund from Mesa Arizona, and so far we have done really well together. He was called as district leader our second day, so we have had many other fun meetings to add to the craziness that is the ccm. Our teachers are both Hermana Rodriguez, so it makes remembering very easy, they have been very good so far, but classes are in all Spanish, they really throw you into the deep end and let you learn how to swim. Our other teacher, Brother Madin has been acting and working with us as an investigator and teaching lessons. We have been praying en espanol since day one, and day 2 gave a lesson (or tried to) in Spanish already. They really do trust you to get the language and let el don de languas do its work. The campus here is so amazing, that I have been very grateful for. The surrounding city is building on building and just crazy, but as soon as you get here it is almost like a paradise. It is very green, and a lot of open space. There are palm trees, and parrots flying around, so it is very cool. And the weather for the most part has been kind, in the afternoon it gets hot, but otherwise the mornings and evenings are like perfect. We have been progressing an "Investigator", and it has been a really cool learning experience, it is our chance to practice the language and the gospel at the same time, multitasking for the win! And all the members and workers here get a kick out of talking in a thick accent Spanish acting like they don't know English, then coming out a few minutes later talking about their English speaking mission to California or Colorado or something.

Anyone that has sent me letters using a ccm website, you are the greatest people, I look forward to everyday after lunch picking up the mail and seeing all of your guys love, you are the greatest.

Also, mi and Estebanava are practically best friends now, he is the cook here at the ccm. He has gotten multiple pictures with me and we attempt to talk the best we can every time I see him. You can follow him on instagram.

We get a daily gym time, and it is good, but man some stuff is out of date. Look forward to seeing a picture of me holding the tennis racquet, it is more square than round. But don't worry, I have made up for not being able to play tennis by creaming the elders in my district in ping pong with some broken balls. Also sand volleyball just wouldnt be complete here without doing it in the rain and just having a blast living in the moment.

4th of July was a party here with the other elders in my dormitorio. We had the most American pride that I have ever seen in such a small group of us. Picture in this email is our decorations that we put up for the 4th of July. The total cost of decorations totaled to 186 American dollars, yes, we went all out. We also sang the national anthem, and that was the first time I have heard all 3 verses, the more you know.

For anyone preparing to serve a mission and/or go to the mexico ccm, here is some advice.

*La tienda es su amigo
*Learn to love salsa
*It will be 20 times harder than what you expect, but it does get better, days start going faster, and you start feeling better about everything
*Befriend your companion, and take a few minutes at times to just talk and remember you are all feeling the same thing, and a break is necessary at times.
*Laugh, as simple as that, it is the greatest blessing.
*Talk to the latinos and people who speak perfect Spanish, you'll both have some laughs, and get to know some fun things.
*There is never a time you cant pray.
*Mark 9:23

P.S. Working very hard to catch a loro con Elder Murdoch, await pictures of that. If you have advice on how to, it would be bien.

That is a lot of Elders heading to the Mexico MTC

The infamous 4th of July decorations

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