HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM MEXICO!

Hola everyone!! Even if you don´t read this on Halloween, Happy Halloween :) Today has been the best P day ever. My district hermanas and I all are wearing halloween colors and we switched nametags, and we decorated halloween cookies that my companion got in a package from her mom. We also played volleyball with our Elders this morning and it was super fun :) It has just been a great day!!

Well lets be real here...I am so ready to be in Honduras. Not Spanish wise, because my Spanish is terrible, but I am just so ready! I love the CCM but Honduras is where its at :) Things have been good though. Nothing really exciting has happened. My companion and I are getting along soo much better now. I love her :) Its really funny...we are pretty much exactly the same person except for some of the things she says. I feel really bad for her though. She is really struggling with patience because she should be in a higher level class, and so everything we learn she already knows. But its all good...God puts us where we are supposed to be!

I seriously feel like I have a million scriptures I want to share with you guys...but one will suffice. I was studying about God´s love for us and healing and I came across Romans 8:39. Go read it, its great. Seriously, the scriptures are so awesome. Personal study time is my very favorite. I also had a really awesome experience this past week. I have been really struggling with faith because I am such a worrier. Mostly just faith that when I´m in a lesson, the Spirit will help me know what to say. But anyways I was studying faith and writing my feelings down and I said a prayer and immediately I had a thought pop into my head that I know was from my Heavenly Father. I know He loves each of us so much and that He wants to help us. Let Him into your lives!

Have an awesome week!

 

Hermana Whittle

Name tag switching! :)

Orange, purple and black for Halloween!

All of the Hermanas in McKenzie's district.

Week 3 in the CCM!

Hola everyone! I hope you all are doing well, because I am!  It is very hard and I am so tired but it is so amazing! I love it here. It has been getting cold, which stinks because I didn´t really bring any cold weather clothing but its all good! It has been raining a lot too, which I like because I love the rain :)

Well I don´t know that I have anything too exciting to share. Every week everyone has to prepare a talk (in Spanish) and then they randomly call on people to give them. And guess who got to give one this week? Yep, me. I felt it coming though, so it wasn´t too bad. My poor branch president didn´t know how to say my name though, so I didn´t even know he was calling on me at first. He is so nice though. He lives here in Mexico City and he only speaks some English. Also, we have a devotional every Sunday and Tuesday and usually they either show an old one from the Provo MTC or they broadcast it live from Provo. But on Tuesday we actually had someone come! I think his name was Elder Johnson, and he is in one of the quorums of the 70 and he lives somewhere in Mexico. It was really good though! The devotionals are always good :)

So in all honesty, I can´t imagine how the sisters felt when they were 21 and all the elders were 19, because I get a kick out of the elders now. You can totally tell that they are straight out of high school. Sometimes their immaturity is kind of annoying, but they are really funny. And they get better every week, so it is all good.

So my tender mercy of the week was in TRC last night. There were a ton of missionaries and not enough people to teach, so our district taught another district. And guess who I got to teach...Elder Davis (Spencer Davis) and his companion, who is my friend from high school. Seriously, seeing a familiar face is the best thing ever in the CCM. Also, we went to the temple for the second time this morning and it was seriously one of the best experiences I have had in a temple. Just the peace and comfort and love I felt in answer to my prayers was amazing. I know with all my feart that God loves us so much and He knows us much better than we know ourselves. He sees us as what we can become, and I got a glimpse of that today. Temples are such a blessing and they are my favorite places in the world! Go to the temple as much as you can! I love you all and I will talk to you next week!

 

PS- Things with my companion are much better :) We talked about it and its all good!

McKenzie and the other Hermanas in her district at the temple.

Pictures from Mexico City!!!

Hermana Whittle and Hermana Brugman on the flight to Mexico City.  They both flew out from Phoenix along with another Elder. What a blessing!

All the sister missionaries that flew from Dallas to the Mexico City MTC!

Hermana Whittle and her companion at the CCM sign.

This "B" on the hill behind the CCM is from the High School that used to be in the CCM.

The companions with the matching skirts in different colors! :)

Hermana Whittle and her district getting ready to watch General Conference.

Hermana Whittle and the Hermanas in her district on their first trip to the Mexico City Temple.

Hermana Whittle and her district at the Mexico City Temple

So happy to be at the temple!

Hermana Whittle in an earthquake circle-- not sure if that is supposed to be a safe place if there is an
 earthquake or not.  :)

All the Hermanas in McKenzie's district up bright and early on p-day to email their families! 

First letter from Mexico City MTC!

Hola everyone! Holy cow, I cannot believe I have already been here a week. It was awesome yesterday to see all the newbies getting here and know that I'm not one anymore :)

So I guess I will just talk about my first week here in Mexico City! The first day was really weird...once we got to the CCM(MTC in Spanish) everything was just really weird and I felt so disoriented. Nothing was really very organized...we had to find our companions and our casas(houses) on our own. Then we basically went and ate dinner and did nothing but unpack the rest of the night. On Friday we had to teach our first investigator...in Spanish. Oh my goodness, it was soo scary! We have taught them three times now(and we are teaching them again tonight) and I still think it is scary. The first two times, my companion and I just kinda read stuff out of the pamphelet. But yesterday, we decided to not do that and to try to say as much as we could without reading anything. Let me tell you, yesterday was the hardest day I have had so far. I love my companion though! Her name is Hermana Gissemen and she is from Virginia. We actually have a lot in common! We both have the same exact birthday and we got our calls on the same day to the same place, and we both don't like talking in class. But what I really like is that she really pushes me. She is like a pro at Spanish(at least in our district) and so she was really putting me out of my comfort zone yesterday. She made me say everything for our lesson without looking at anything, which was SO HARD. Seriously, learning a language is the hardest thing I have ever done. It is really frustrating not to be able to express yourself. But no worries, someday I will know Spanish! I also really love my district! We have two sets of elders, a trio of Hermanas and my companion and I, and seriously it was a blast. There was a girl who flew to the CCM with me from Arizona and she is in my district! It is so fun :) Four of us are going to Honduras San Pedro Sula West, one to another mission in Honduras, one to El Salvador, and the rest are going back to the states.

Lets see what else can I write about...the food here is definitely not what I expected...it is straight up Mexican food. Not like tacos and burritos, but legit Mexican food. Every meal I try something new and honestly I never really know what I am eating. But it is still pretty good! They always have fruit and weird juices and usually they have beans, some type of rice, and some type of jello or pudding. You pretty much have a 50/50 shot at liking things, so I just go for it and try everything. Might as well get used to it not before I get to Honduras!

The campus here is really spread out and soo beautiful! There are small streets and lots of buildings. We have the cafeteria, the buildings with the classrooms, and lots of other random buildings for different things. And from the campus you can see this huge hiil that has a "B" on it for the school that used to be here.  And then we have the casas, which is where most people live. Each casa has like four rooms with four beds and a bathroom in each. They also have a ton of tables and chairs, a little living room with couches, and a laundry room. They really are like little houses. So Hermana Gissemen and I live with all natives....we are the only two Americans in our casa. And it stinks because they stay up soooo late! We always get in our beds right at 10:30 and they stay up past 11...lights on and all. We have been really tired because we are so sleep deprived. Oh well, I think they are leaving in a few days...so hopefully we will get some sleep soon!

One more thing I want to say...I just want you all to know that God answers prayers. I know he does. Before I came here, I was really worried that I would have to fly here all by myself. But I asked God to give me comfort and there were two other missionaries that came from Arizona with me. And while I was here, I was having a hard time with my district. A few of the people in there were really getting on my nerves. But I prayed to Heavenly Father to have charity, and I seriously love my district now. All the bad feelings I had went away. So don't ever hesitate to pray to our Father, because He loves you all so much and I know He will answer your prayers!

Alright, thats all I've got for now. I hope you are all doing great and that you have a great week! Adios!

Hermana Whittle