Hola Familia y Amigos!
Another magnífico week at the CCM! It's crazy how it seems like I've been gone for forever, but it's only been two weeks! We work so hard here and we are learning so much that the time just flies by!
Nothing is super new here... so I'll just tell some stories/cool things from the week.
First, funny stories:
Last Thursday we got out of gym time and it was pouring rain like I've never seen, and even though it's only like a two minute run home, we were all absolutely drenched by the time we got back to our casa! It was so fun though to just run around in the rain and get our energy out from sitting in class all day.
So we practice making different sentences depending on the grammar topic of the day, and the other day we were practicing how to say what people want. We played a game where we were divided into teams and I was with Elder Adams, and we had to say as many sentences to each other as we could in a minute, and at that point you don't really think of what you're really saying, and at one point he said "Quiero vivir con su familia!" Or in English, "I want to live with your family!" We couldn't finish the game because all six of us, and also our maestros, were dying laughing. I don't know if that's actually funny to any of you, but it was so funny to us!
Last night a couple hermanas in our casa accidentally dyed all of their whites blue which was super funny! They bleached them today and they're back to normal, but it was just super funny!
Other random stories:
We play A LOT of volleyball here! It's so fun! I can jump serve now, not super consistently, but I can do it! Elder Adams, Hermana Pearson and I are the dream team when we're playing three on three.
Another magnífico week at the CCM! It's crazy how it seems like I've been gone for forever, but it's only been two weeks! We work so hard here and we are learning so much that the time just flies by!
Nothing is super new here... so I'll just tell some stories/cool things from the week.
First, funny stories:
Last Thursday we got out of gym time and it was pouring rain like I've never seen, and even though it's only like a two minute run home, we were all absolutely drenched by the time we got back to our casa! It was so fun though to just run around in the rain and get our energy out from sitting in class all day.
So we practice making different sentences depending on the grammar topic of the day, and the other day we were practicing how to say what people want. We played a game where we were divided into teams and I was with Elder Adams, and we had to say as many sentences to each other as we could in a minute, and at that point you don't really think of what you're really saying, and at one point he said "Quiero vivir con su familia!" Or in English, "I want to live with your family!" We couldn't finish the game because all six of us, and also our maestros, were dying laughing. I don't know if that's actually funny to any of you, but it was so funny to us!
Last night a couple hermanas in our casa accidentally dyed all of their whites blue which was super funny! They bleached them today and they're back to normal, but it was just super funny!
Other random stories:
We play A LOT of volleyball here! It's so fun! I can jump serve now, not super consistently, but I can do it! Elder Adams, Hermana Pearson and I are the dream team when we're playing three on three.
Our favorite dessert here is arroz con leche, which is basically rice pudding. It's SO GOOD! It's a good thing we only get it like once a week! Also, our other favorite is when they have mangoes! The fruit here in general is always always always amazing and ripe, but the mangoes are pure heaven! We also have these yogurt drinks here that we don't have in the states, and I think I may need to find a black market for them when I leave México because they're super good! We have one every morning! They're also super good for you, which is a plus.
Okay here's some more Spiritual stories:
Alright, this one is kind of silly but still a spiritual story. So there are millions of mosquitoes here. Like everywhere. The first night we were here, we could not sleep because we could hear them buzzing around our heads. However, I only got bit once, so that was good. But still it was so obnoxious and we were exhausted. The next night, I prayed to have no mosquitoes in our room that night, and what do you know! No mosquitoes! So every night now we pray for no mosquitoes, and we haven't seen them in our room since! Except last Saturday night I was super tired and I forgot to say it in my prayer that night, and I heard a mosquito buzzing around my head when I got in bed, but I said a quick prayer that they would go away, and they did! Prayer really works people! Even for dumb little things like getting rid of mosquitoes! (On a semi-related note, I've only been bitten 4 times here *knock on wood*)
One thing that really hit me this week was that in the missionary objective, it says our goal is to invite others to come unto Christ, not to go unto Christ. When we invite others to come unto Christ, that implies that we're already with him. We can't ask our investigators to walk a path that we ourselves have never traveled.
Okay here's some more Spiritual stories:
Alright, this one is kind of silly but still a spiritual story. So there are millions of mosquitoes here. Like everywhere. The first night we were here, we could not sleep because we could hear them buzzing around our heads. However, I only got bit once, so that was good. But still it was so obnoxious and we were exhausted. The next night, I prayed to have no mosquitoes in our room that night, and what do you know! No mosquitoes! So every night now we pray for no mosquitoes, and we haven't seen them in our room since! Except last Saturday night I was super tired and I forgot to say it in my prayer that night, and I heard a mosquito buzzing around my head when I got in bed, but I said a quick prayer that they would go away, and they did! Prayer really works people! Even for dumb little things like getting rid of mosquitoes! (On a semi-related note, I've only been bitten 4 times here *knock on wood*)
One thing that really hit me this week was that in the missionary objective, it says our goal is to invite others to come unto Christ, not to go unto Christ. When we invite others to come unto Christ, that implies that we're already with him. We can't ask our investigators to walk a path that we ourselves have never traveled.
We got to watch a super cool devotional from Elder Bednar on Sunday about being more Christlike and it was just life changing. I'm not sure if you all have access to it, but if you do, look up "The Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. So good. In part of it, he was so blunt and straight up said, "For all you missionaries who are discouraged because you're not seeing baptisms despite your hard work, get over yourselves! This is not your time and this is not your mission! This is the Lord's mission!" And then he talked about how we need to turn outwards towards other people when we feel like turning inwards. We have to completely forget about ourselves because it's true, this is not our time.
We watched another super cool devotional from Elder Holland last night, and it was all about the Holy Ghost and how we have to have Him as the third companion in our companionships. Also, another fabulous talk. Towards the end, he was talking about our power as missionaries when we have the Holy Ghost and how the words we say will no longer be our words, but will be the Lord's words. He then said, "Welcome to the errand of angels, Elders and Sisters" and I swear there have been no words that have hit my heart with that kind of force before! He repeated it a couple times and emphasized that we are in a very unique and special role right now. I've felt like a missionary since I got here, but that made it so real that this is the real deal, I'm a missionary, and I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. Oh man this is the best!
The other night (they all blend together) we were doing this thing where we got to teach someone in our district as themselves (usually we pretend to be investigators) and pick just one chapter in the Book of Mormon to help them with their worries or struggles here at the CCM. I was with Hermana Edwards, and I kind of just flipped to a random chapter, but it was crazy how the Spirit could work through me and through the Book of Mormon to help answer her questions! I was definitely not speaking my own words, and the scripture I found wasn't even a scripture I really knew! I hope I can get better at doing that more often, because my Spanish isn't perfect and my teaching isn't either, but as long as I can help the person feel the Holy Ghost, I don't have to stress that my words won't touch them, because the Holy Ghost takes over the teaching! AH have I mentioned how much I love being a missionary??!!
Whelp, I think that's it! We get new missionaries in our zone this week which is super exciting! Our elders were made the Zone Leaders this week and we split from the other group, and we get two new incoming districts today! Which is kind of scary because we're the oldest in our zone now, so we have to take more of a leadership role! I'll keep my eye out for Elder Davis today since he's arriving in a couple hours!!
I love you all so much! Thank you for the love and the prayers! Believe me, they help A LOT. I'll talk to you again in a week!!
XOXO,
Hermana Sorensen
We watched another super cool devotional from Elder Holland last night, and it was all about the Holy Ghost and how we have to have Him as the third companion in our companionships. Also, another fabulous talk. Towards the end, he was talking about our power as missionaries when we have the Holy Ghost and how the words we say will no longer be our words, but will be the Lord's words. He then said, "Welcome to the errand of angels, Elders and Sisters" and I swear there have been no words that have hit my heart with that kind of force before! He repeated it a couple times and emphasized that we are in a very unique and special role right now. I've felt like a missionary since I got here, but that made it so real that this is the real deal, I'm a missionary, and I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. Oh man this is the best!
The other night (they all blend together) we were doing this thing where we got to teach someone in our district as themselves (usually we pretend to be investigators) and pick just one chapter in the Book of Mormon to help them with their worries or struggles here at the CCM. I was with Hermana Edwards, and I kind of just flipped to a random chapter, but it was crazy how the Spirit could work through me and through the Book of Mormon to help answer her questions! I was definitely not speaking my own words, and the scripture I found wasn't even a scripture I really knew! I hope I can get better at doing that more often, because my Spanish isn't perfect and my teaching isn't either, but as long as I can help the person feel the Holy Ghost, I don't have to stress that my words won't touch them, because the Holy Ghost takes over the teaching! AH have I mentioned how much I love being a missionary??!!
Whelp, I think that's it! We get new missionaries in our zone this week which is super exciting! Our elders were made the Zone Leaders this week and we split from the other group, and we get two new incoming districts today! Which is kind of scary because we're the oldest in our zone now, so we have to take more of a leadership role! I'll keep my eye out for Elder Davis today since he's arriving in a couple hours!!
I love you all so much! Thank you for the love and the prayers! Believe me, they help A LOT. I'll talk to you again in a week!!
XOXO,
Hermana Sorensen