We got to the MTC around 5 on Tuesday, it's about an hour drive from the airport and the buses aren't as nice as the ones in the United States, and the roads are absolutely crazy! They are packed and people drive really really close to each other and it's stop and go, and people don't use blinkers and pedestrians cross the street where ever they want to. It's worse than California driving. But it was great and the dinner meals every Tuesday night is Costco pizza, and we had a devotional that night and Sister Oscarson was the guest speaker.
My district is amazing, there are 10 elders in my district, all but one going to Reynosa, the other is going to Salem, Oregon.
We are all getting so close to one another, 6 of us are from Utah, 3 from Arizona and 1 from Texas, we have grown so well together as a district and I could say that we are the best bonded in the MTC.
I will say, the MTC has been the hardest thing I have ever done. The first full day was the hardest day of my life, it was a very stressful day because mostly everyone that works here speaks Spanish and very little English. so you have to make so with what you got. But as the days go on, my homesickness fades as I keep myself busy, it's the times that we are relaxing in our room at night is when I get homesick the most. But it has been a great experience overall.
This week I have gained a testimony of the power of prayer, our teachers help us learn the language by solely speaking Spanish, and it was really hard to start, but as time went on for these past few weeks, I have been blessed to understand and ever communicate with my teacher as well as my practice investigators. 3 days in we were given an investigator to teach, and the investigator only knows Spanish so you have to prepare a lot for the lesson beforehand. The other elders in my district all have less Spanish knowledge than I do, and my comp has a really hard time speaking and understanding so much on the time I have to take the lead and teach most of the lesson. He is hard work and I know that I am supposed to help him, he loves to talk and sing and sometimes he gets a little annoying but I have been trying my best to just deal with it and help him with everything and our comp relationship has been getting better.
Every district has 2 teachers, one for the morning and one for the evening and they are great guys, Hermano Palma is our morning teacher, he is a stud and has an amazing spirit, he is funny and is really short. But they are really helping us prepare to teach in the field.
The food here is, well I don't know how to explain it, it doesn't stay warm for long so I/we are usually stuck with eating cold food and most of us are not used to it so we are constantly running to the bathroom every hour or so.
Sleep is good, we are in with lights out at 1030 and are up at 630, it's still hard to stay awake during the day but it's getting easier and easier to get up early. Study is good, we spend a lot of time memorizing scriptures and passages in Spanish to help us in the field. We study a ton of Spanish and have to memorize and understand between 30-50 words a day, we have computer time when we use a program to help us learn and teach.
Our schedules for the day are packed full and we don't have much time to ourselves, it's go go go but it's been helping us get better at the language and better prepared to work hard out in the field.
The MTC is surrounded by a high brick wall and barbed wire fencing, it's a really poor part of the city that was are in. The houses are really close together and they are made of concrete and painted a ton of different colors.
Today, for P-day, we were given the chance to go to the Mexico City temple and do an endowment session there, we get to go 3 times while we are in the MTC. It was an amazing experience to hear some of it in Spanish, I am grateful that I can go to the temple and have the peace that comes from such a great refuge.
I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, he dedicated his life to making sure that all of us could have the gospel in our lives, we watch a church movie on Sunday night about Joseph Smith and had a district testimony meeting after the video and it was the greatest testimony meeting that I have ever been in, I know that he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, and I know that the happiness that the gospel brings me is something that I can't wait to share it with the people in Northern Mexico.
I'll tell you that support is what keeps me going, getting e-mails from people keeps me going and letters are even better, I can receive letters any day of the week and I can write them in my free time after class or in our house at night, and I CAN RECEIVE PACKAGES, they messed that up last week and I can receive packages. Anyway, I would love to hear from more of you.
Thank you for all the prayers and good wishes, there are times that it gets really hard and I need them. You're all the best, and I hope to hear from you all soon!!
The MTC mailing address is:
Elder Corom L Jones
Mexico Reynosa Mission
Mexico Missionary Training Center
Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828
Gustavo A Madero
Colonia Zona Escolar
07230 Mexico City, Distrito Federal
Mexico
You are the greatest and remember that Heavenly Father loves you, I know that he loves you!!
I love you all and hope that life is progressing well!! I pray for you all every night!!
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