Hello everyone! The first week here at the ccm has been pretty good. It's a big change from life at home or at school. We are studying 24/7 with no down time. Spanish is hard- really hard. I'll just take you through my week a day at a time.


When I first arrived, we met the president of the CCM and his wife. They're really nice.That night we had a tour and just settled in. My companera came in on another flight so she didn't arrive until later. I am staying in a house. There are 5 rooms to a house and 4 girls to a room. We have bunk beds (I got the bottom bunk-woohoo!) It's so hard to get up in the mornings and have 4 girls share a bathroom to be ready in 30 min. Everyday is crazy. 

The second day here I got to know my companion a little more. Her name is Hermana Epperson. She is super nice. She is from Tucson Arizona. She is 5 foot nothing so I feel really tall compared to her. She knows basically the same amount of Spanish that I do (which is basically nothing) I thought my little Spanish apps and slight knowledge would help me but we bypassed my level within the first 5 min of being here in the CCM. This was the first day I learned how to say a prayer in Spanish. They gave us a little cheat sheet to look off of for the first couple of times- thank goodness. I am grateful God knows the intentions of our hearts because I don't know if even He would be able to understand my prayers the first few days. I made a personal goal to be able to say an entire prayer in Spanish by Sunday. Also, I received some great advice from my branch president. He told me: "If you want to learn Spanish, you need to eat frijoles." 

March 20th was a ton better than the previous day. I'm super glad we have 0 down time because it helps keep my mind off of missing home. We also taught our first investigator! Her name is Anna and she is nice. However, the lesson was the WORST! First lesson, so I had no clue what I was doing. Also, she doesn't speak any Ingles so it makes it hard- really hard. I thought it was just a practice lesson so I gave her my scriptures (which are nice) to read out of. She thought I gave them to her as a permanant gift and kept them after the lesson! I didn't know how to tell her I needed them back. So we told the elders that were going in after us and during their lesson she got up to use the restroom and they took the scriptures! The next elders who went in asked her if she had any scriptures and she said yes then started looking around rapidly. I felt really bad. But it was also super funny. I had no clue what to do! This was also the day we had an earthquake. It wasn't super bad but I did feel it. All the sirens started going off and we had to do an emergency drill until we were cleared to go back into the buildings.

Saturday was great. We had our second lesson with Anna. We prayed so much and studied our missionary bootys off! We even wrote down the entire lesson in Spanish so we could read it if neccessary. We went in and ended up reading most of it because it's the best we could do. Then she started talking super fast and asking questions and guess what? I UNDERSTOOD HER AND ANSWERED HER QUESTIONS IN SPANISH! It was so crazy. It was hard and some of the words I didn't know but it was totally the gift of tounges . When we walked out my companera looked at me wide eyed and said, "Wow!" she didn't know what even went on but the spirit was so strong. It was super awesome. Definitely the Lord-not me.

Sunday was the best day ever! Sacrament meeting is in Spanish. They don't announce any of the meetng until you are there sitting in your seats! You know what that means? We have to write a talk in Spanish every week. This week I was called on to say the prayer. What a blessing that I had already made a goal to pray by Sunday, right?! I said it and was grateful I had made it a goal and accomplished it. Relief society was in English, so that was another blessing.

Monday was definitely a Monday, but it was so close to pday that I made it through somehow!

Today we went to visit the temple in Mexico city. It is a beautiful place. I hope I can come back someday. The angel Moroni on top is holding scriptures in his hands as well as the usual horn. It's really cool. 

Mexico is super crazy. There are always fiestas going on and we hear cannons and gunshots daily. However, the CCM is so safe. The spirit here is so strong and I know nothing bad could happen. It's sacred ground for sure.

That's it for this week folks! Tune in next week for more Mexican madness. 

Te amo

Hermana Bryan