Every Minute Has Been Worth It

Hola Familia! 

            We just had a devotional about how important understanding who God is in gaining a testimony. Elder Johnson (from one of the quorums of the Seventy) talked about how the sons of Mosiah always began teaching by making sure who they were teaching understood who God was. After Lamoni and the King of the Lamanites understood the basic doctrine of who God was, they were willing to believe everything else they were taught. What an important place to start in teaching Jayden! ... It's been a crazy week! I am in a trio with Hermana Porter and Hermana Miller.  (I will send a picture of us next week.) Hermana Porter is from Alpine, UT and just graduated from high school like Bekah.  Hermana Miller is from Boise, ID, and has done a year of school at Boise State. Both of my companions are really great, and I am so grateful for what they have already taught me!

            I've always heard that at the MTC (or CCM, el Centro de Capacitacion Misional) you just have to make it until Sunday. After that it is easier and a lot less overwhelming. It is totally true. The first few days were truly hard. The first day of classes my companeras and I were not prepared at all.  We didn't have any of the books and materials we needed because we didn't know what we needed to have when. And we were late to nearly everything. We finally figured it out though, and we haven't been late or unprepared for anything since.  
            On Friday we began teaching an 'investigator”.  It has been a wonderful experience to learn how to teach, but it is a bit frustrating when you cannot fully communicate the ideas you want to share. Our Spanish is improving fast though. Even just comparing our first lesson on Friday to the last lesson we taught on Monday!

            Sunday was amazing because it was a chance to focus on learning spiritually and not have to worry about our Spanish so much. The MTC President's wife taught a lesson in Relief Society about becoming who God wants you to become through the Atonement. In the evening we watched a devotional about prayer given by Elder Scott that helped me to evaluate my prayers. It was a nice gentle reminder of where I can improve and do better.

            Starting this week we have been less overwhelmed and less worried that our Spanish isn't improving as fast as we think it should. Yesterday we had a chance to serve by cleaning in the Comedor, and today we got to go to the temple. The Mexico City Temple is beautiful! It felt so great to be there and have a chance to be still. It is about 45 minutes away from the CCM and so we get to see a bit of Mexico City.  All of the especially important buildings--schools, hospitals, churches, colleges, etc--have a tall fence and guarded gates. If someone wants to advertise their business they just paint a big sign on the side of the building--the bigger and more colorful the better. People weave in and out of traffic if they have the right of way or not, and we even saw a troupe of jugglers as we waited a one stoplight. It was neat to see all of these little tiendas and street vendors lining the streets. However, I am grateful the CCM has a fence and guards and we get to be in the city but not of it.

            Truly, being here at the CCM has been a wonderful experience. Wonderfully hard, but I have learned so much that every minute of it has been worth it.

I love you all mucho!

Hasta luego!

Hna. Thacker