The CCM is AMAZING! I am loving it here! The campus is super small
and so we all know eachother - especially the norte-americanos. There are only
about 30 of us here. I love talking to the latinos - they are such amazing
people. The day after I got here, 80 latino elders showed up. There are also
three latina hermanas who share a room with me and my compañeras. Love talking
to them!
After 5 days, Im proud to say I am practically fluent in
spanglish. :) I am learning spanish way faster than I expected- The
teaching method here seems to be one of "throw them in the pool and
they'll figure out how to swim eventually." We learn out of necessity
since english is so extremely rare. I absolutely love it.
An elder in my district and he makes us laugh every day. For example, when
we were talking about how we are trusted to live all the mission rules without
supervision, someone told him "you are still under the BYU honor
code!" and he responded, "we live by a higher law now - The honor
code has been fulfilled." It made us all laugh.
Oh! another funny story - one of our hermanas was talking to a
latino elder and tried to ask him his name (Cual es su nombre?) and instead
asked for his number (Cual es su numero?). We laughed for a long while at that
- not very reverent but we couldn't help it.
There are actually three Hermana Blacks here! In a place with only
15 sisters, it gets pretty confusing (For example, in sacrament meeting they
called on Hermana Black to speak and I almost had a heart attack until
they said it was another Hermana Black).
My teacher gave us some great advice for when we feel overwhelmed
by the task ahead. He compared the difficulty of learning a new language in 6
weeks to Nephi's task of building a ship. It seems almost impossible, but if we
just take it a day at a time, a piece at a time, and follow the directions of
the Lord, we can do anything - even build a ship! He also asked us, "your
head thinks its dificíl (difficult), but what does your heart feel?" We
all said good. It is so true. No matter how hard it gets, I still am so happy
here and it feels so good.
I am continually amazed by the blessings being poured out on us -
I am learning so much I don't think I could ever keep it all in my head. I also
think I understand now why missionaries come back so "wierd". My
branch president explained how we like to be well rounded in life, but on a
mission, you get a little lopsided. But it's OK to be lopsided! We are lopsided
in the spirit. It's all good.
Oh! I almost forgot about the Fruit Loop Juice - for every meal
they have two different kinds of juices and every single time they have been
different! So it’s like an adventure in tasting them (because we have no idea
what the signs say). I am officially designated the juice taster since my
compañeras have lost their courage after a few very bad tastes haha. But one of
the first ones we tried here tasted exactly like fruit loops. Go figure.
I love you all! Don't forget to write! I am loving every second
here even though I am tired all the time - in the best way. The good and full
life way.
