Season 1 Episode 3 "When our CCM Island doubles in size" (6-22-16)

Mural in the Reception area

Season 1 Episode 3
"When our CCM Island doubles in size" 
(6-22-16) 

Well from the title of this email you should be able to guess that now is the time to be sent out here to the CCM, Because all of the High School Elders have graduated. 

Thursday 16 Junio 2016 - Today was a bit of a struggle to get going, the days after p-day usually is.. We go from doing our own thing all day to being scheduled every second and that can be an adjustment. But once we got going, it was a fantastic day. We were able to do some thing called TRC, this is when they have members, less active members and sometimes converts come and we teach them as if we were out in the field with them for reals. I LOVED this so much, we really felt the spirit and were able to just enjoy teaching. 
(It also helps that my Spanish has improved and I can carry on conversations with people that only speak Spanish) 

Friday 17 Junio 2016 - Some top moments of our day 

We were playing a game with our teachers and a hacki-sack and Elder Snyder 
(district picture to come) might have hit (her)? in the face. Which was funny because when you are in the same class all day even little and dumb things can make us laugh. Which I was told by Elder Miller that we need to laugh at least 3 times a day while on our missions.  Not hard for me though because I am consistently laughing at myself..  We also taught a lesson today that was the worst one yet. Lucky for us that it is to our teacher and she can give us some constructive criticism so that we can learn and grow from it. 

Saturday 18 Junio 2016 - Today was really good. We were able to teach our other investigator Lyari and it was good to see her understanding and agreeing to meet with us to be able to teach her more. Today, I also got to move on to the next personal goals in the Spanish language, I can now pray, recite our purpose and the first vision from memory, so I feel really good about that. 

Sunday 19 Junio 2016 - Sundays win out as being the best days here at the CCM. It is so much fun to be able to just relax and listen to our leaders teach us about the gospel so that we can learn more and better understand in order to teach others more effectively. Today we got to watch the Restoration Movie about Joseph Smith, even though I have seen this movie plenty of times before seeing it surrounded by missionaries, helps the spirit to be so strong and testify like crazy!! 

Monday 20 Junio 2016 - Our lesson with Pamela went pretty well today, not our best but, I think they are being harder on us this time so that we can improve and realize that not everyone is ready to hear and accept the gospel message that we have to share. That is ok because we are willing to wait for them and help them as much as we can based on their individual needs. Our Latin friends that came to the CCM the same day as us have left now and it is weird not being surrounded by their familiar faces when we are in the comedor.

Tuesday 21 Junio 2016 -  The reason for the title of this weeks email... Today we received over 100 new AMERICAN missionaries alone. Not to mention the new missionaries from Latin and South America. As well as our one friend who is from Spain (we are not sure why exactly they had him come here and not the CCM in Spain, but oh well). The comedor on pizza night is usually crazy but with this many new missionaries it was NUTS!! We use to all fit on about 4-5 tables and the entire room was just packed with everyone tonight. There are so many that they have adopted the Provo MTCs way of keeping track of who is new, affectionately called the "dork dot" ( just a sticker you wear on your name badge) Then after dinner we made our way over to the devotional and there were a bunch of empty rows so we just picked one, but then they moved us to be front row. It was amazing to be so close and to be able to hear and see everything, including watching the auditorium slowly but surely fill up continuously. The speaker asked who was new from toady and the majority of the missionaries stood up. I guess we are now officially 'Upper class-men' here in the CCM. My favorite part of the devotional was hearing the choir sing a Child's Prayer. There is something so powerful when the Elders sing these hymns (in Spanish of course) that just makes me feel the spirit differently than I ever have before. 

Mexico Flag Up and actually flying

Things I know about Mexico: Time does not exist here. We are on our own, specially designed CCM clock. Nothing starts on time and everything ends late but some how they want us to be early to everything (when I figure out how to accomplish that I will let you know). Also that 'Que Padre' means 'that's cool'.. and that Mexico City is now called La Ciudad de México and that México DF is no longer its name. 

Challenge: 
This week we have been talking a lot about challenges and being able to overcome them. So I challenge you to take a hold of your challenges and to push onward. There are so many things going on that are incredible in your life that you need to be grateful for. The perspective that I have already gained from being here is massive. One little example is the fact that in the United States you can actually drink water from the tap and not need it to be filtered and then delivered is such a huge blessing that many people do not have. (not a huge deal but its the little things) 

Thank you for your love and support 

Love, Hermana Sanovich