Week 2: The Sweet sound of gunshots

¡Hola hermanos y hermanas! Perfecto!

Ay carumba! There has been so much that has happened since coming here to the CCM! It already feels like I've been here for 6 weeks! I'll try and shorten it as much as I can!

Tan Cerca 

I was SO CLOSE to giving away my first Book of Mormon! Here's how it went down:

On Wednesday, during the flight down to Mexico City, I struck up a conversation with a guy sitting next to me. I basically just asked him why he was heading to Mexico and he told me that he lived there, but constantly traveled for work around the U.S. We talked for a bit about his life (which was seriously so interesting) and then he eventually asked me why I was coming to Mexico. I told him that I was going to the CCM to learn Spanish and preach my religion. He then said such a banger line, “Well they say that French is the language of love, German is the language of war, and Spanish is the language of religion.”

For around 30 minutes, we talked more about the service and blessings that we had seen in our lives and just about travel in general. There was one point where I could have almost offered him the Book of Mormon that I literally had in my hands, but I chickened out. It had painted flowers on it, which didn't seem like his style. 

Later, when I looked in my bag, I realized that I had my Spanish BoM in there! I totally could have given him that! Oh well, we all live with regrets.

La Cultura

People often complain about the traffic in Utah, but I must say: Mexico City is 10 times worse. On the hour drive from the airport to the CCM, there were almost no lanes on the road, the cars were inches apart from each other, and people were constantly yelling what were probably Spanish swears at each other. And, just 10 minutes into our drive, we heard a couple gunshots get fired. It was pretty lame compared to Hermana Fisher who, on her drive, had a dude blow fire right beside their car. I think the people of Mexico City like to keep things spontaneous.

Speaking of spontaneous, at 6:00am on the 2nd day of CCM, my room was awakened to what sounded like a canon. This sound continued at random moments throughout the entire rest of the day. It was nicknamed the “Hunger Games Canon” for obvious reasons. 

Eventually, we found out that there was a Catholic Holiday happening and people were shooting fireworks all day. Why you would shoot fireworks during the day when you can't see them? Honestly idk, but sounds fun.

I think the city is very pretty, though. There is a beautiful view of a cliffside covered in a rainbow of houses and Gandalf going back and forth. There are also so many majestic murals all throughout the city! 

La Prueba

One thing that has grown to be extremely challenging, yet so helpful is role-playing lessons. Normally our teacher (Maestro) Hermana Castillo will give us a specific situation that we have to answer with Doctrine. Then she splits us into groups of 2 and we switch who is the friend and who is the teacher. 

 My District, although very silly, is also super smart, so whenever they play as the friend, they ask some really difficult questions. I get humble really fast when they ask something and I don't have an answer for them. It has gotten me to search in the scriptures a lot more and look for those specific answers. It's really testing my knowledge, but I love it!

Español

I'm really glad that I'm in the Mexico MTC instead of Provo. My Compañera and I like to talk to some of the native Spanish speaking missionaries during our breaks. We've learned a TON from them, and it is so satisfying to apply what we've been learning in class! 

Pensamiento Espiritual

Many of the devotionals we've had kept emphasizing one very important thing: This is a church of joy! As missionaries, we are set apart to proclaim glad tidings of great joy! In a talk by Elder Kearon, he said, “For to miss the joy is to miss it all.” We need to recognize the joy in our lives, because it is there, even when life gets hard. He also said that “We are led by optimists.” God sees the joy, and as we follow him and keep his covenants, we can see that joy too!

I hope you all had a great week! And sorry that I sent this late! P-Days are busier than I thought!

Adios!

Hermana Perkins