4/10/2014 Week Five

Another gorgeous day in Mexico City.  District and Branch Presidents on far right

Havasu Falls- We missed you Sierra

I’m trying not to think about how jealous I am that right now my family is pretty much taking one of my dream vacations without me.....jerks.   We better go again in a few years!!   My emails will be pretty short today...mostly because I’m STILL in the MTC/CCM and I’m officially out of things to tell you about this place.  Like I wrote last week, it’s pretty much like I’ve been reliving the same day over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over  -  Did you ever see the movie Ground Hogs Day?  You get the idea:)  But not for long because I’m out in FOUR DAYS!!!  So that means I get to email you again on Monday and maybe call you on Tuesday, wouldn’t that will be weird! 

I’ve decided that the CCM is pretty much just like a church high school. It’s seriously funny!  When we first started we were just little freshmen who didn’t know how to do anything, but now it’s my last week and it’s like we are graduating seniors who know every inch of this place and are ready to move on.  It’s hard to continue to stay focused in all the classes!   I’m ready for the real thing ...except my Spanish isn’t.  A few days ago we did this exercise were we had 15 minutes to go around campus, find people, introduce ourselves and our purpose, and ask them for references.  It was fun, but like I said, whenever I try to talk to native speakers about non-church topics...that’s when I realize how much Spanish I don’t know!  Haha - so dad, si usted tiene algunas maneras para ayudarnos estudiar la idioma, por favor dice me:) 

This one is my favorite!

Life is still going great!  I’m officially used to all the peculiar quirks of my fellow missionaries.  Like yesterday, an Hermana made a goal to be "exactly obedient", which is great right?  So technically after 10:15pm is “Quiet Time” so that people can write in their journals and stuff if they want, but she took it as literal quiet time.  So after 10:15 even though we were all up and about she decided that she wasn’t going to talk, so if anyone had to communicate with her, she would act it out without speaking.  That way she was keeping the rules!  I have to admit I was really cracking up inside!

In other news, I’m speaking on Sunday (yes in Spanish) and my talk is on the Fall.  I’m using that metaphor mom thought of when we were driving somewhere in the HOV lane and the cop had to pass us...ring any bells??  I told it to Hermana Olsen and she thought it was brilliant:)

***Update on my talk....So how it goes here is they assign a topic for everyone to prepare talks on, and then the next week during church they announce who is giving the talks.  Talk about nerve-racking, and they have to be all in Spanish of course!  But this last week, since we had Fast Sunday then General Conference they assigned 3 topics for us to write talks on: the Fall, the Apostasy, and the Atonement.  We had to write all 3 talks because we didn’t know which one they were going to call us to give! Ahh!  The only reason I knew I was speaking was because I hadn’t spoken yet and it was the last week.  So I prepared these awesome talks on the Fall and the Atonement, and then for the Apostasy I couldn’t think of anything good so I just kind of threw some stuff together and prayed they wouldn’t pick me for that one!  Of course which one do I get picked for? Yep – the Apostasy!  It was so bad!! I think my testimony at the end might have saved it, but I forgot my Spanish Restauracion folleto (pamphlet) so i had to sit up there looking for the First Vision in my scriptures that didn’t have JSH...slightly embarrassing.

  

I'm going to miss them so much!!

 I loved General Conference!! ...except I suffered exceedingly from Numbum Syndrome. I loved pretty much all of it minus a few expected snoozers.  A few talks that I really liked were Elder Bednar’s about the truck and the load of wood, and how our “loads” in life are necessary and help bring us back to the presence of Heavenly Father.  And of course I loved President Monson’s talk about charity and love!   I also found entertaining the first speaker from the Women’s meeting…I’ll just call her Relief Society Barbie!  Haha! Oh...ya no offense but if you saw her face and heard her voice you’d know why;)

I haven’t been that sick here, just some indigestion, but pretty much every single person here has been somewhat affected by the food!  This comida is the ultimate stomach bomb all of the sudden.....uggggggggggg   i.need.america.

 

Don't EVER get haircuts for free from people who learn off of YouTube! I'm not even going to send an after pic

Weston:  HAPPY BIRHTDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So how was the Sweet 17 in the Grand Canyon??   I wanna hear all about it!!  A present may or may not be coming soon for some of ya’ll;)   I got a package today, but the post office is closed till 3!  Its killing me!! Is it from you guys?

Keep the phones close on Tuesday and you might get another email from me again on Monday! Love you fam!

The Wonderful Sister Jones gave me a safety pin and bag so I wouldn't lose my passport this time!

 

Se que el evangelio de Jesucristo es verdadero, y se que Dios es nuestros padre celestial he el tiene mucho amor para nosotros se que si nosotros vivimos el evanjelio seriamos bendicidos.
te amo!

4/3/2014 Week Four

Yay!! I'm outta here in a week and a half!   I'm sooo excited to be out in the real world.  The CCM is great and all...but I feel like I've been reliving the same day since march 5th and my whole life is in a fenced in square!  Don't get me wrong I'm still loving it, but the longer I stay here the more antsy I get to get out.  So with that being said...I don't really have that much news to write about.....umm....I ate some more chicken for breakfast lunch and dinner...love that....umm..  Oh, my comps and I committed both of our fake investigators to baptism!   Yippee!!  Really that doesn't mean anything though because they say yes to every commitment we extend...probably just because they can't understand our Spanish, but it was still cool:)   

 Pretty much everything we do here just makes me more and more excited to go out and do it for real. Even though I still can't understand people!  Ha-ha  I wish you guys could see the  conversations my roommates and I have with the Latinas we live with!  Basically it consists of us all of us laughing at each other because none of us can understand what we are trying to say! 

So that's why I was so surprised at how sad I was when they left on Tuesday :(   They stress "love the people you teach" here so much, and after living with those girls I'm not worried about that at all.   On Monday night we had a little performance night with them in our casa, so cute!   They heard my district and I singing on our way back home from class (like always), so when we got back to our casa they all were in our living room with their cameras and hymn books out.  So we just sang together for like an hour!   They were slightly tone deaf...but it didn't even matter!  They are so cute!

In other news, I was sprung from jail today!   Only for a few hours but it was still AWESOME, and a much appreciated breath of fresh air outside the CCM:)   We got to go to the Mexico Temple Visitors Center.  Sadly the temple is closed for cleaning  so we couldn't do a session :(  But the visitors center is seriously the coolest, most high tech way to learn about the gospel ever.  I guess I wasn't expecting very much...but no, it is this huge building with touch screens, moving pictures,  and Mac computer apps galore!  If the church decided to make an amusement park, it would be the Mexico temple visitors center. 

 I was almost surprised there were no actual rides in there!   It was funny on the way back because the whole time on the bus everyone was freaking out at how crazy the drivers are here.  And I was just sitting there thinking "Wow, compared to Dominican Republic and Ecuador this is nothing!"   I didn't realize it, but I think I'm a lot more used to this stuff then the average American!

We are watching Women's Conference on Saturday at the same time as the Elder's Priesthood session.  So pretty much my whole "weekend" (whatever that is..) is going to be General Conference!   I'm super excited!!   Ha-ha...it's weird to think about the things that make me excited now.   For example Friday is Service Day and I've never been so excited to clean a kitchen or scrub a house ever!   And to watch ALL the sessions of General Conference...I've never been able to do it before, or honestly even wanted to, but now I can't wait!!:)

Elder Bigler from back home!

I leave for Texas in exactly 12 days and I know I say I can't wait to leave, but I'm probably going to be kicking myself for thinking that when I'm actually out in the field and I don't get to see my awesome district anymore.  You have no idea how awesome the people are that I'm with!  There are 5 Hermanas and 5 Elders and we all just mesh so great.  I'm still getting used to the whole "no flirting" thing which has been a bit of a challenge for me...especially when the elders always seem to forget that is a rule! Grrr...they don't make it easy, but I love them all so much, basically they are all weirdly EXCACLY like my guy friends back home!

*FUN FACT: in Mexico it only costs 10 pesos to go to college.  whaaaaaaaaa?? Mindblowing. 

So basically the church is so true!  I know in my emails I haven't been mentioning a lot about the spiritual side of things here, but that only because I have no idea where to start!  Every Tuesday and Sunday nights we have these devotionals that are either from an Area Seventy or  a video from a General Authority, and every single one of them seriously leaves me just sitting here thinking about how lucky I am that I get to teach people this stuff for a year and a half!   You guys all know I'm not a crier, like at all…and especially about spiritual things.  Umm ya, that's not so true anymore.   Maybe I'm just becoming more of a pansy, but I'm pretty sure it's because the Spirit is so stinkin' strong here!  Even when you can't even understand anything that is being said!  So amazing.  Well that's all.  Hopefully next week will be my last boring email!

Love all of you soooo much!:)

Love Hermana Bonny