These are everywhere.
You're supposed to go there in an emergency ??
What a week it has been. I can hardly believe that my time here in the CCM is almost done. It feels like I just got here. Classes are still going well. My Spanish is coming along. The hard part is figuring out how to conjugate everything. Spanish just uses different conjugations on the end of their verbs for EVERYTHING. Example: In English when we talk about the future we say "I will...." but in Spanish you just tack a weird ending onto the verb. It's a little weird. Not hard to do, but it's hard to remember all the conjugations. (There's also two ways of past tense that are really weird too, but whatever).
We found out this week that Hermano G's wife is pregnant. Congrats to them. Also, Hermano T is no longer helping to teach us. He is now a full teacher, and he teaches his own district.
We had TRC last Saturday and it was really weird. Muy extraño. We actually taught our lesson over Skype. We were supposed to skype someone in Mexico, but, the connection wouldn't work, so we ended up skyping this white girl in Utah. It was really strange! I guess she was an RM that served Spanish speaking. We shared with her the story of how the Brother of Jared received answers, and how sometimes we have to work to receive revelation. It was good, just a little weird.
Sundays and P-days are still by far the best days of the week. This last Sunday, Presidente Suaste taught priesthood meeting. He talked about how those who hold priesthood keys are like light switches, and priesthood holders are like light bulbs: emanating light to other's lives through priesthood service. Elder S taught our district meeting (which btw, I get to teach this Sunday), and he taught about perspective. He had us put a rock in our shoe, and a piece of candy in our mouth and had us walk around. Despite the candy, all anyone could focus on was the rock, because it was uncomfortable. He also shared six examples of people who overcame their personal disabilities to become great including: Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, George Washington, Tom Cruise, James Earl Jones, and Walt Disney. It was a pretty cool lesson. Attitude and perspective are muy importante.
Sacrament meeting was good. During the afternoon we had a class with the MTC president, Pres. Tenorio. He talked about specific prayers. It was kind of crazy. He shared the story in Genesis 24 of how the servant of Abraham said a specific prayer to find a wife for Isaac. He also shared some of his own experiences. For instance, when he was traveling to a city for a church conference, he was supposed to stay at this hotel, but the reservation had fallen through. There was absolutely no room. He talked to the clerk at 1:00 and said that he would go to lunch, and come back and at 3:15 someone would call from Veracruz to cancel their reservation. President Tenorio said a prayer that it would happen. He came back into the hotel at about 3:12 and the clerk waved his finger at him and said, "Nobody has called yet!" President Tenorio smiled and said, "Just wait! It is not 3:15 yet." Sure enough at exactly 3:15, someone called. Tenorio walked up to the desk, as the clerk said, "Uh huh...from Veracruz?...You want to cancel the reservation?...ok." It happened, and Tenorio had a place to stay. Crazy!
Later we watched a talk by Elder Holland that was very similar to his other talk about loving Christ and becoming preach my gospel missionaries. He also talked about how past dispensations had hope for us, because they knew that we would not fail in this great work. It was very powerful. After that, we got to watch a movie about the Book of Mormon called "How Rare a Possession." It told the Parley P Pratt story, as well as the story of an Italian man who had to wait for such a long time to be baptized. It was pretty good. It made me think of how sometimes we take things for granted, like our access to the gospel and to the Book of Mormon.
Our lessons have been getting better and better. Elder B and I are really starting to understand what it means to teach by the spirit.We had a lesson with Nesha, and the spirit was just present the whole time. We taught about change, repentance, and the Atonement. it was awesome. Then when we taught Adrían, we had a great experience. His "wife" was there, and we had planned to read 2 Ne 31 with them, to explain the importance of baptism. However, his wife started saying how she didn't like all the rules of the church, and so we just set our lesson plans down, and taught about obedience, and why God gives us commandments. It was so cool! We just taught by the spirit. I'm starting to feel the Holy Ghost in greater abundance as I teach, and it is awesome.
We also, have two new investigators. We are now teaching each other, so one companionship teaches another missionary who is playing the role of an investigator. We are teaching Chandler (aka Elder D) and Travis (Elder W). We had our first lesson with Chandler on Tuesday, and we taught about Joseph Smith and we invited him to read the Book of Mormon. He has muchas problemas in his life, but he said that when we were talking, he felt a ton of peace. It was good. We have our first lesson with Travis on Saturday.
We got to have some devotionals the last few days. On Tuesday night, we were visited by Elder Toris, who is an area 70. He and his wife spoke, while their son translated into English. He talked about how we can never forget who we are as representatives of Jesus Christ.
I'll finish with the best. Yesterday afternoon, we had a fabulous opportunity. Elder D. Todd Christofferson visited the CCM yesterday, and it was incredible. They said that because of scheduling, an apostle only comes to the CCM about every 28 years. I found that hard to believe, but they said it is very rare to have an apostle visit here. During the devotional, President and Sister Valanzuela of the area presidency bore their testimonies. Elder and Sister Christofferson both spoke about charity, and how when we have charity and virtuous thoughts, our confidence is strong in the presence of God. Elder Christofferson didn't share much of a talk, he mostly did a Q&A session. He really had some wise words of counsel for us. It’s great, because usually in his conference talks he seems very serious, but yesterday, he was cracking jokes, and he seemed like a real person. However, when he talked about the atonement, it was very powerful. He just has so much love for the savior. I want to be like that. The spirit was strong during the whole meeting. What an experience.
I hope all is well at home.
Love,
Elder Mitchell
A mural in the Joseph Smith building
With his companion Elder B
With his district
In front of his casa
With the Elders in his district at the temple
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