Hello again Familia y amigos! Elder Jensen and I rushed through the majority of our Preparation Day plans and found some extra time that we could use to finish our letters home.
Before I had to hurry off, I was talking about our normal day in the CCM. Our District spends the vast majority of the day together and in our little classroom. The only times we're in our apartment is for sleeping and showering, as all studies (Personal, language, companion, and additional) are too be in the class room. As such, our little band has become pretty close. Each companionship is something special and adds a lot to our group. Everyone has great experiances to contribute, and we are all very friendly towards each other. Only divinity could have gotten so many working personalities together for such a great cause. We try to stay unified in our goals, reading the scriptures out loud occasionally and having lots of songs and prayers, naturally all in Spanish. Its a wonderful experiance!
Speaking of music, I wanted to let you know about some things in that area. Music players are not permitted on the campus, so my little MP3 player and awesome speaker have been shelved until the day I can ask my Mission President his preferences on them. But it has not been a problem at all. Music is sung freely and joyfully here, especially the Missionary tunes. The Latino Elders, who have been here for a week and been able to further get to know each other, have often banded together to shout praises and himnos at the top of their lungs. Usually late at night. They all scatter at the sign of leadership after quiet time to the drum beat of running feet, which further adds to the musical quality of the evening. A few nights ago some other companionships and I tried to get back by singing the songs in English at around the same time, but they all came out and then we sang together in Spanish, and a great time was had. The Latino Elders are all on their way to the mission field now, since their time here is only two weeks, but they were very inspiring examples of how to live and how to learn here.
Our apartments our nice. They are simple, and have room for six elders in a dorm. One shower though, so the mornings are rushed, even though we only have four elders total. The shower is an adventure in itself, I must tell you. It frequently fluctuates between fire and ice cold, and the pressure is sometimes disappointing. Still, we manage quite well, and are very comfortable. Our room overlooks the main road outside the CCM, and the view is splendid, especially early in the morning and in the middle of the day. We have this beautiful mountain with so many buildings going up the side of it, its crazy! It really is quite cool! Elder jensen and I also have a fun game we like to play, unique to Mexico City. At any given time, we like to look out our window and count how many emergency lights we can see. Our record is four Police cars and one ambulance. The sound of police sirens lull me to sleep, and I have a strange kindred with David's stories of Philedelphia.
Unfortunately, there are some negatives to the apartment. There were no hangars for us, so I have gotten really good at folding pants and my suit jackets. The shirts still confuse me though. Will report back on further folding journies. The apartment is also pretty sparse, aside from a few pictures of Temples in Mexico that aren't close to here. Oddly, the Mexico City Temple, which we visited today, is absent. Elder Jensen, not having palm trees where he is from, has stolen a few palm fronds from the grounds and decorated our walls with them. I also contributed, drawing a few flags of Chile and placing them sneakily around the dorm. The person who wants to iron, provided we ever get irons to iron with, will be in for quite a shock! Finally, we have mosquitos. Not little gnat like insects that buzz around and sting you. There are monstrous, radar upsetting behemoths that like to soar around and suck people through their harpoon mouths. We have taken to leashing the smaller ones, and intend to feed them on the new wave of Greenies arriving tonight and tomorrow. The Latino Elders laughed at us, and then went and hid behind their mosquito nets.
I mentioned the Temple. Wow, what a trip! We haven't been able to leave the walled off grounds as of yet, so we were as excited for the drive around the city as we were to go to the temple haha. It is a whole different world. The streets seem to twist and turn and possess a hatred for modern city planning. The buildings are super colorful, but trash lines the streets and things seem very broken down. The people are walking around in their dozens, or literally hanging off of buses on their way to work. We are especially fond of the driving here. I've learned that driving rules are scoffed at, and street lines and lights are for the amusement of foreigners. It was so great! This whole culture shock was incredible, even if we rode un the shelter of a nice bus. Also, we saw some missionaries, and cheered very loudly. They looked very befuddled.
The Temple is incredible. It reminds me a little of Mesa, with it's vertical orientation, but its quite unique. It is beautiful inside, and the Celestial Room is something that everyone should get the chance to see. It was great going through a session completely in Spanish as well, even if I had to get a bit of help. Oh, it was great. The Spirit was so incredibly strong inside and out, and you could practically feel angels around you. There is this massive painting of Christ's visit with the Nephites, and I have definitely promised myself to spend a few pesos on a copy should I ever see one. The photos we took outside were also pretty good. I do believe that the photos I've taken can only be uploaded through a USB port, which I don't have with my camera. Does Kendra or Jared have any suggestions, being photo people?
Oh, how wonderful it is to be here! My bag is so full of books that I have taken to carrying around the small drawstring bag provided by the CCM just to carry my books from class to class. And I'm using them all! Class or devotional, they're with me. When I met with my Branch President, an always smiling Presidente De Hoyas, they were with me. By the way, he is fantastic. It is great to hear his testimony and his abilities to play the piano. Amazing.
I think that's mostly everything! Send my thanks to President Richter for his thoughts. I can feel the love of him and his wife, and look forward with anticipation to their package. Letters and packages take quite a while to get here, and even longer to go back, so I hope I'll still be around when it gets here. Dad's letter just got here yesterday, and I really do appreciate his quotes and the wonderful message. Thanks to Elder babbitt for his kind words. I look forward to hearing more from him! I don't have the CCM address with me though, so maybe you can give it to him?
Thanks again for all that you do! I love you all so much!
Sincerely,
Elder Richardson
No comments:
Post a Comment