Day 10: Hola from the CCM (MTC)!!!

Hey everybody, it's been a long week and a half, but very short at the same time! Adjusting to life here in México has been really crazy! Everyday is packed with tons of things to do. Lots of language and teaching classes, and plenty of personal study time. For all you who thought I was going to be eating rice and beans for every meal, you're wrong. The food here is actually really great! They have so many different options (though not as many as the Provo MTC) and they're all really good. Except for the eggs. So beginning on Tuesday, I arrived at the CCM around 3 or 4 and met my companion Elder Tobler from Orem, Utah. He's such a great guy and I'm so blessed to have him as my companion! That night we had a devotional that was broadcast from the Provo MTC to about 14 others around the world. Elder Neil L. Anderson spoke, and it was so good that I actually didn't fall asleep at all during his talk unlike some of the others (in my defense it had been a really long day). I don't have my notes with me right now so I can't share, but it was really good.

The next day I met my district and my teachers. Everyone in my district is super awesome. Every time we share what we learn from our studies or when we bear our testimonies, I'm blown away by how amazing each and every one of them are. My teachers that I have are also really cool: Hermana Lopez, and Hermano Vicente. They both are so amazing even when I don't understand what they're trying to teach me. Later in the week I met my branch presidency, and the branch president said that we are the celestial branch and that the others are telestial and terestial. I think it fits.
To be honest, the entire first week was so hard. Everyone in the district had some sort of difficult thing that they were going through, and so it was good to just talk to each other as a coping mechanism. For me personally, I was struggling with balancing everything. It was hard to know how much to study language or study PMG/PME or just try to memorize scriptures. I ended up focusing mostly on Spanish since I've been having a hard time keeping up.
I feel like I've been all over the place, so I hope that this made sense. Sorry for not being able to respond to emails during the week since I'm not allowed to read emails or take pictures except on P-day; which is on Thursdays.
Miss you guys!! Keep me updated on how things are back home!

Mexico city temple

Elder Tobler and I at the temple this morning.

Posing as Arnold the buff statue

My view of the CCM campus and a bit of the city behind from my dorm

Day 1, September 18, 2018 Mexico MTC

I have arrived and am safe.

I will not have a P day until Thursday next week. So not in two days.

I'm also supposed to tell you that I'm in Branch 3 and District D.

Day 1 Tuesday, September 18, 2018

He's off! Jared's excitement at leaving on his mission was contagious. So hard to let him go, but so much joy.

Monday, September 17, 2018

This was crazy time for our family. Due to some rapidly growing fires on the mountains behind our home (the Pole Creek and Bald Mountain Fires), Jared had to evacuate with our family and the rest of Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills the Thursday before leaving on his mission. Everything happened pretty fast for all the residents. At the time of evacuation, Jared just had to throw all his mission stuff in suit cases to be repacked later - hoping he had it all. We didn't know when or if we would have a home to come back to. Being on evacuation status made for interesting circumstances. We had our final dinner as a family with the rest of the evacuees at a dinner being served by the Red Cross at Salem Hills High School. Our bishop and members of our stake presidency had to go back to their homes to get the suits they hadn't evacuated with (residents had to be escorted to their homes to retrieve items left behind). Normally in this area, a missionary is set apart at his home. However, since neither our home nor church were available, we met at a church in Payson. Just before being set apart, Jared ran into a bathroom at the church with his suit to quickly change. While things were chaos on the mountain outside, things were far different inside. Such a feeling of peace and joy was present there. Testimonies were born and the Spirit was strong.