On Sunday I blessed the sacrament for the first time in months! And on top of that, it was in Spanish! And on top of THAT... I only had to do it once! I definitely feel that my spanish is improving, and I can´t wait to see where I will be in two years. My District met this guy from Merida yesterday and he said everyone speaks Mayan. He taught us some Mayan phrases...#trilingual
I actually love the weather here in Mexico City. The CCM is actually a beautiful place especially considering how I occasionally view it as a giant prison for the church. It is a good place don´t get me wrong, but the barb wire fences, and the whole never getting outside the walls things sells my metaphor. Oh and if you have the hook up with the chef Esteban in the kitchen, he gives you some treats... metaphor continued.
One thing that has really switched my attitude from the first week is learning to view my mission as a once in a lifetime learning experience. It is a bit like what I picture it what be like going to college at Harvard or Yale. The days are long and jam packed with constant gospel and language study. I have grown to have an attitude of excitement for how much of this gospel I am learning and how much I will be able to learn over the next two years. There is so much to learn and I like the challenge. I read the book of Moses the other day in class and I really enjoyed studying an area of scripture that I did not know very well. I absolutely love this scripture I found in Moses 7:13. Änd so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of lions was heard out of the wilderness, and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. I hope that as I progress in my knowledge of this Gospel and knowledge of the Spanish language that I will be able to speak the word of God with great power.
We had a stress management class the other day that was literally a joke. We ran a mini relay for a total of 2 mins and went inside and looked at cartoon missionaries with worried looks on their face...umm ok? Really the problem with the CCM is not stress, but rather being tired all of the time. Everyday is full of work and so when every hour is maximized to the fullest, you literally crave bed time.
Sunday was absolutely awesome! Elder Andersen in our zone is an opera singer and he did a musical number in our devotional meeting. We also got to meet with Lane Steinagel who oversees 8 MTCs and is over the language department. He was straight fire with his talk. He was one of the original writers of the PMG manual and wrote the original Learn the Language chapter in PMG. He served his mission in the islands speaking Maori, and he was a mission president in Ukraine. He is completely fluent in 4 languages, and speaks many others very well. Hermana Giles in our district had the courage to ask him to come eat at our table, and we talked with him for a good hour. He was very inspirational, and it was a wonderful experience.
Yesterday was actually a very good day as well. It started off kind of bad because my companion and I did not realize we had a class and may or may not have been 30 mins late... But on a good note we have the casa closest to all the noise and music of the city. It literally never sleeps and mexico traffic makes NYC seem like a kid´s playground with constant fireworks and sirens. This close proximity is a good thing why you ask? Because after gym time, what song should we hear? Wildest dreams by none other than the beautiful Taylor Swift. It was a wonderful moment.
Our service project was folding sheets in the back of the giant laundry mat in the CCM. While walking I ended up talking a ton to our zone leader Elder Sturdevant who I absolutely love, about guitar because he plays too! We talked about john mayer and playing patterns and all kinds of cool stuff. His district 7B leaves next week and I will miss them a ton. Oh and also I had David Archuleta´s sister pick out a journal for me from the tienda so it´s whatever.
We started our new investigator teaching yesterday and it is pretty fun actually. It is amazing how much spanish I actually know and it is cool to be able to use the how to begin teaching points found in Predicad mi Evangelio.
I have decided the role I would like to work on fulfilling in our district is the role of the peacemaker. I have been blessed it seems like with an extra heightened sense of calm and love for the members of my district, and I am trying to help us have better unity and to not get upset with each other. We are here to learn to love all of God´s children and I kept having the scripture "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of god" run through my head.
On a separate note, if Jesus the Christ isn´t exactly your cup of green tea, try reading it in James Spader´s Ultron voice... It makes it way more fun.
Asi mi concluyo mi epístola.
Btw that phrase is found at the end of Alma 60 and reads and thus I close mine epistle. Basically the Captain Moroni way of *drops mic
Love you all, and hope you have a wonderful week:)
Elder Saunooke
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