Christine
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Hola everyone!!!!! I have waited for this day for almost 11 days, I think it has been the longest wait of my life. Seriously though this is like better than Christmas. I am going to start off my email kind of bluntly but just keep reading to the end!! So this has already been THE hardest thing I have ever done! I could never in a million years imagined what this would feel like. I have never given my full heart, might and mind to something this much. In the words of E. Scoresby "Everyone tells you this is the best 2 years of your life but the first few days SUCK and everyone should know that!" It is so true but it is already getting better! Here are some helpful thoughts people have told me: When you doubt yourself and your abilities you are doubting God, His plan, and His abilities. 2 Nefi 33:3 describes how I've gotten through it, crying unto God. You were chosen to serve in Spanish because the Lord know it is the language you can best testify in.
The CCM is amazing and I know that I am supposed to be here and not in Provo, I honestly think it would have been a lot harder being closer to you guys. It is crazy, some of our maestros honestly don't know more than a tiny bit of English but they are all amazing. I am going to try and answer everyones questions but I don't have a ton of time so just ask me again if I don't answer. I am SO sorry I don't have time to respond to everyone individually!! The letters you all have sent are the BEST!!!! It is awesome to hear from you guys throughout the week. I am pretty much the only one in my district that gets mail and everyone is jealous. The first time we got mail I had no joke like 10 letters. THANK YOU!!!!
I have the best companion ever! She is the sweetest and is so patient with me, her name is Hermana Ramsey. H. Ramsey is from Tampa, Florida but went to UVU for 2 years on a softball scholarship before she came out here. She is headed to the Mexico City North Mission and everyone keeps joking with her that they are just going to open the gates and kick her out because we are pretty much in her mission.
When I got past security on Tue there was like 6 other sisters that I sat and talked with, in total there was about 50 missionaries on our flight. We took a picture together before our flight too. I will attach a couple of pictures but my mom may send more later. The flight was pretty bad because I was so anxious it seemed like an eternity, both people on either side of me had headphones in the whole flight. When we landed we got there 30 min early but just had to sit on the plane because the gate wasn't ready yet. Once we got there we went through customs where they checked our itineraries and passports. Next, we went to get our luggage, everyone had 3 bags to carry so it was kind of difficult but we just balanced our carry ons on top of out biggest bag and then our purses on the smaller one and made our way slowly to the next spot. When you get to the next spot you push a button and if its green you don't have to do anything but if it turns red they search all of your stuff. Of course I got red but the girl I was hanging with did too so that was good, they opened and went through all our suitcases and put them through xray machined as well. We then found all the other heard of youngins in dress clothes and checked in with them. There had been a few flights before us and a few flights after us with only a couple people on each of them so we waited for them and then hopped on to some busses and got to the CCM. They described the CCM as just throwing a bby into the middle of a pool and hoping they can figure out how to swim and that couldn't be more true. Once we got to the airport literally everything has been in Spanish since. I am feeling pretty behind in the language because almost everyone else has had spanish before. I am catching on veryyyyy slowly but it's hard because even the simplest things like numbers and days of the week I don't know. The food has been pretty good and it is a mix of american and mexican food. The comidor is always a surprise, we pretty much never know what we are eating. For example, Elder LeFoll one morning got this croissant type thing that he thought had nutella in it and so he put sugar and syrup on it only to find out that inside was chicken and he had put syrup and salt on it. That basically sums up our eating experience haha. They always have toast and cereal every meal so thats a good fall back. All the workers don't know english but they are all super nice and we always say hola and gracias to them. I did find H. Ius and give her the package, we actually see her quite a bit. My district is amazing, I couldn't ask for more kind and loving people. There are 10 elders and then us 2 Hermanas. Our Sister Training Leaders are the nicest too. So our casa has about 8 rooms I think, our room has 4 Hnas in it, they are both nice. On our second real day we taught in all Español and that was so terrifying, it went so badly but we are getting better, we pretty much teach everyday and we just got two new investigators yesterday. One of the stupid spanish mistakes I have made was that I told our investigator that he could be forgiven of his pescados instead of pecados. Look it up and you will know how stupid I sounded haha!! We have to memorize so many things, it is pretty overwhelming because I am not even good at memorizing things in my own language. Literally all day everyday there is fireworks going off, all the time. This weekend when we were going to bed we could hear music from outside the wall, it was SO loud, we are not even really close to the wall and neither are the houses outside so it is crazy how loud it must have been. One night when the music started we were walking to devotional and we could see the house up on the hill and the lights were going crazy, the only time the music stopped until about 3 am was when they were shooting off fireworks. Sunday was awesome, it is a tiny bit of a break. Literally every second of the day is scheduled out for you and I barely even have time to write in my journal before lights out. I want to write so much more but do not really have time so I will try to get to more next week. All in all my week has been so long and hard but the spirit here is amazing and it is definitely where I am supposed to be even if it did not seem like it at first.
I love you all sooooo much!!!!!
Thanks for all of your support!!
Hermana Peterson
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