P-Day Update Week 3&4, 03/10/2022

¡Hola!

Well it has been a very long and very eventful first couple weeks at the CCM waiting to send this email, I will hit on all the important details!

So my first day at the CCM was Tuesday, but most of that day was spent travelling from Huntsville AL, to Mexico City MEX. I got up nice and early on Tuesday to make it to my 7:00 flight, so I didn't have a huge amount of time to say goodbye to the family but we were able to take a selfie at the gate and they sent me on my way! I flew first to Atlanta where I met up with another Elder from my district, Elder Isbell. From there it was straight to CDMX, it wasn't a very long flight (only about 3.5 hours) but I still was able to sleep for the majority of it! We landed in CDMX and went straight to the CCM after meeting up with the rest of my district, first thing on the agenda for the day was to do a quick COVID screening, get our phones, and drop our bags off at our casita. We were placed in casita 40 which is about as far away from everything else on the CCM compound, but I don't really mind it too much. Anyway, we had a quick dinner where I had a lot of opportunities to speak Spanish, which was great! Then we had a quick devotional talking about Joseph Smith and his history. After that they sent us to bed, it was a pretty rough day to be honest, a lot of information and running around but I know this is where I'm supposed to be.

So this past week all our Spanish classes have been mainly focusing on the basics of the language, present tense, saying prayers, bearing testimony, and sharing scriptures. This is good for the district but I don't feel like I have a whole lot to learn yet (maybe that's just my pride haha) though they are all growing so much in the language it's pretty impressive! Our second day at the CCM we had a chance to meet our branch presidency and zone leaders in a little get to know you event after dinner, they are all very cool, I know I'm going to learn a lot from them! They also interviewed all the Elders and chose a district leader, they decided to choose me as district leader even though I don't really know anything more than the rest of my district. I was still honored to be chosen and hope I can fulfil my duties!

Our first couple days felt like we fit 26hrs worth of stuff in a 24hr block, but I feel the spirit so strongly almost every second of the day so I really don't mind having a full block. But that also makes it feel like I've been here for closer to two months than one week.  Also when we first arrived they told us that they were switching the elder's companionships around a little and they placed me with Elder Ashton instead, so he is my new companion! Because of my new calling I also have three extra meetings a week to go to, which doesn't hurt me since I feel like they teach me a lot, But that also means Elder Ashton has to go to all the meetings too, which I'm sure isn't exactly how he wants to spend his time. Our branch president told us that I was like Moses and Elder Ashton is Aaron, whenever I need support he is supposed to be there for me, and he has filled that role to perfection, he is incredibly supportive and it has been a pleasure having him lead by my side.

The food here has been very delicious, but a lot of the things don't exactly sit well with me, especially with this stomach bug that has been sweeping the CCM it has definitely been a little bit of a challenge. They also feed us three full meals a day which has been a lot of food for me, but I have definitely needed the energy with all the studying and thinking we've been doing! 

As I mentioned before, the sheer amount of spirit in this place has been extraordinary, the gift of tongues is real and I can see it at work everyday, I've made it a priority to have a conversation with at least one non English speaking missionary at every meal and it has been a great way for me to build my skills and meet some great people! On Sunday we had a particularly spiritual day with all the classes we went to, we had a particularly powerful class on the Law of Chastity which went completely different than any other meeting I've had about the same topic. We focused on the forgiving power of Jesus Christ and always trying to be the best person you can, and heading in the right direction, which was a very refreshing take on this subject.

We also had the opportunity to listen to Elder Neil L. Andersen in a virtual devotional that was being broadcasted from the Provo MTC on Tuesday. Elder Andersen spoke about how important it is to know the words of Christ, especially if we are called to teach those words. He talked about some of his important parables, especially the prodigal son, which also put a heavy emphasis on forgiveness and progression. It was a powerful talk and definitely what I needed to hear.

Today was our first personal day and that is the day that new missionaries go through the temple here. So we got up at 6 and headed out to the Mexico City Temple, which was one of the most wonderful experiences ever! The temple is beautiful, it looks like an Aztec temple more than an LDS temple, but the inside was even better! There was an escalator in the temple!! I got a little sick driving through Mexico city traffic but when I got there the spirit took care of that for me, everything was in Spanish, which is to be expected but they gave us a little English headphone pack so we could understand what was being said, but even if we didn't have that I know the power there needs no translation! I truly hope I can get the opportunity to return to this temple!

In conclusion it has been a very long week but a very fulfilling week, I didn't think I could grow any closer with my district than I already but spending time with them most of the day has definitely set our bonds in concrete! We spend a lot of our break time during class cracking jokes and having fun together, I love them very much and it is going to be very sad to see them leave. Though there is one Hermana that is going to Xalapa with me, her name is Hermana McOmber, we get along very well so it will be exciting to serve in the same mission!

The past couple weeks have been hard but I want to reiterate that I know I'm in the right place and the Lord has a tendency of making weak things strong so I will leave it in his hands!

¡les amo mucho!

-Elder Garnica