WEEK 4 At the CCM: CHECK

Hermana Wainwright and I were the only ones whose skirts didnt have pockets....awkward for us when everyone wants to take a hand in pocket photo....

Week 4 at the CCM: CHECK

Our estimated departure date from the CCM is September 9th and it's crazy to think that in 2 weeks mas o menos we'll be shipping out!!  We've really been working hard as a district to improve upon our knowledge of the evangelio and spanish, and are really seeing the results of our labors.  All of us now are able to teach fairly well without the help of notes, and are able to carry lengthy conversations with investigators about the gospel. But, it's a little trickier speaking about everyday topics with natives here. We joke that "If we're not talking about Jesus, we can't speak spanish".  It's an interesting struggle. We're all so blessed cada day and have really learned that if you're not exactly diligent, you're not exactly obedient.  

There's been a myriad of learning experiences both spirtually and doctrinally this week and if I could I would just give you my journal so you could read them.  But one thing that really stuck out this week happened on Saturday.  Our afternoon teacher, Hermano Cruz *Best CCM instructor ever,  asked Hermana Hall and I to prayerfully study the Book of Mormon and choose a chapter that would best fit the needs of those in our district, and then share that chapter with the district when we all read the Book of Mormon together. We studied individually, and were both struck by the chapters in Alma. I thought it would take a little longer to narrow it down, but both of us immediately felt that Alma 53 was it. We read it as a district, and had a really long conversation about that chapter's application into our lives. 

A few things that we all agreed stuck out: 

1. In verse 5 it says "And this city became an exceeding stronghold......which they had caused them to build with their own hands". 

2. Verse 19: "They never hitherto had been a disadvantage...they became now at this period of time also a great support'

3. Verse 20: "exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity, but behold this is not all..they were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted'

I really wish I could go into more detail, and give an account of everything that was said. The points I really want to get across though are these. We're all pretty solid, not just those here at the CCM, but those outside of it's walls that are striving to live the gospel of Christo.  We have never been a disadvantage,  but at this period of time in the last days, it's not enough to simply not be a disadvantage. This chapter is the call to be more, to be a great strength.  And how do we do that? With our own hands.  The amount of diligence and obedience that we place into learning and applying the teachings into our lives will determine the thickness of the walls in our spiritual strongholds. When we do these things, we will be able to be the best instruments in His hands with whatever we are entrusted.  For me and my district, we have currently been entrusted with the people in Rancagua Chile, Guayaquil Ecuador, Raleigh North Carolina, and Indianapolis Indiana.  But when we are released from the call as full time missionaries, and called as lifelong missionaries, we will be entrusted with others. The people that are placed in our lives are there for a reason.  But, it's up to us and the strongholds we build that determine whether or not we are prepared to meet the responsibility that comes with being entrusted.  Ive been able to reflect on the things I'm doing and have altered myself according to where I am verses where I want to be.  I hope that as you continue, you'll be able to do the same.  Now is the time for us to rise and meet the potential that the Lord knows we can attain,  and that will bring greater happiness into the lives we serve as well as our own.  Love you and hope you have an amazing week!  

<3 Hermana Temple

 1. Elder Bichsel showing off the results of some lime green parakeets urinating on him

Hermanas in District 12B!!  Wainwright, Bradshaw, Hall, Thompson, and yours truly

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Chilean flag proudly hanging up in the administration building!  Representamos!

Hermana Hall and I with our objectiva as misioneras! 

 Hermanas Allison and Moody, couldn't have asked for more amazing sisters to look up to here at the CCM.  I love them.

SHORT, BUT SWEET

HALFWAY THROUGH AT THE CCM!!

There's not a ton of time left to email so I'll make it fast. The language is progressing incredibly well, and we\ve all found in the disrtrict that as our spanish has gotten better our english has gotten worse! 

Things were a little more difficult this week. We had a lesson with one of our investigators '"Alexa" and a practice lesson with one of the elders in our district that both didn't go as well as past lessons had. Usually we were in sync and could feel the spirit throughtout all the lessons but for whatever reason, those 2 lessons for us didn't go well and we felt like failures as missionaries. Some really negative thoughts went through our heads like If we cant even teach the fake people here, how the heck are we going to teach real investigators in the field??" We had a heart to heart and after stepping back and realizing where those thoughs come from *spolier alert -it's the adversary*, we said a prayer to basically have the spirit with us, and to have Him help us overcome those negative emotions. A massive feeling of reassurance overcame us and shortly after, we went to teach another lesson. It was incredible. You could truly feel that the lesson was being divinely guided and at the end, the person we taught said that they really felt the truthfulness of the message we were teaching. 

Being a missionary is hard. And the adversary wants nothing more than to derail this work of the Lord. I'm here in the CCM though, where 16 hours a day we are studying the scriptures, teaching, and surrounded by the best influences.  He is working so much harder on those at home who don't have the ability to be in the spiritual bubble that is the CCM.  Don't become discouraged when the difficult times come, because they are inevitable.  Turning to the one person who knows EXACTLY what you're going through, and EXACTLY how to help you is the only way to overcome the hard times.  Jesus Christ wants nothing more than to help us, and as we pray and develop a strong relationship with him and our Heavenly Father, we will be given the ability to resist tempatations and dispel feelings of inadequacy. 

Love,

Hermana Temple

Missing Teeth, The Plague, and The Character of Christ

Days feel like weeks, and weeks feel like days. Time has flown here at the CCM and it is a privilege to be here as a representative of Christ. 

Funny thing this week:

2 elders in our district have fake teeth on retainers that theyre able to take on and off at any given time. So one of them, Elder Kuhn (coon) and his companion played a trick on our instructor by slamming their hands down really hard on one of the desks and had Elder Kuhn come up without his retainer so it looked like he was missing a tooth. Poor Hermana Gutierrez! She kept yelling "que paso!?!?! que paso?!?!?" and was looking all around on the floor for his tooth. When she realized what happened she laughed and the whole class died for a solid 10 min. Pretty sure we all got 6 packs. 

The Plague:

We got a new group of missionaries this week, and apparently a few of them brought something with them so within the course of 2 days, 200 and something people were infected with some horrible stomach sickness. Our district was hit and 2 of our memebers are still recovering. It was so crazy seeing an illness spread that quickly to so many people. The Elders in our district gave some incredible blessings so that those who were sick actually experienced a milder sickness than everyone else, and we were all blessed to carry on with our work as missionaries. It was a really neat experience to see young men who are worthy and who have prepared themselves be able to immediately respond to the needs of those around them. Priesthood holders are such a blessing and the plague brought the best out of the missionaries that were here between all the service they rendered, and the blessings given. 

HIGHLIGHT OF THE ENTIRE WEEK 

On Sunday, we were able to watch a devotional given by Elder Bednar in 2011 at the MTC. If you're able to find it and watch it, PLEASE DO. Its an amazing talk and I can't do it a fraction of justice. It was centered on the character of Christ and how there would have been no atoning sacrifice without it. Elder Bednar began by finding examples all throughout the scriptures of how Christ always reaches OUT in love, service, and compassion instead of following natural man tendencies and focusing inward. This was a time of great self reflection for me for two reasons:

1) As a representative of Christ I need to be doing everything in my power to emulate him and having these characteristics.

2) By allowing His character to become your character allows you to become closer to Christ and more converted 

David A. Bednar said that a testimony is what you know, and conversion is consistently being true to what you know. In Alma 23:6 it talks about the Anti-nephi-lehies and says "as many of the lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away". It says AND were converted unto the Lord. The part where they believed on the words was testimony, and the second aspect was a conversion. The results of having both, as we later read in the chapter and through later chapters in the Book of Mormon, is that they never fell away. What more could a person want more for themselves and for those that they love? Through consistently following Christ´s example and turning outwards to others instead of inwards, deepens our conversion unto the Lord so that we too will never fall away. I made a list of goals of things I´m going to do to deepen my own conversion, and I hope that you will search the scriptures for examples of the character of Christ and apply them into your life. I know full heartedly that this gospel is true and that like Nephi and the ore, He´s given us all the tools that we need to return to our Heavenly Father and to attain a happiness that lasts.  I know that as we utilize the blessings He´s given us, fervently search the scriptures, and emulate the example of the Savior, we will become fully converted and never fall away. Thank you so much for the prayers and the support, I can feel them and assure you that Every. Single. Day. they are answered.  I hope you have a great week!!

Hermana Temple

It's been Rainy

Hola Familia!!!

      So much has happened this last week at the CCM that I dont even know where to start! Ill start by describing the CCM. Its in the heart of Mexico D.F and getting here was really neat. We had this yellow CCM schoolbus of sorts pick us up from the airport. The drivers are CRAZY. Theres people casually walking in the streets, buildings are high,colorful, and jammed packed together like legos, and in some places there werent even any lines dividing the lanes. After driving like this for about 40 minutes we arrived at the CCM. It kind of snuck up on us because its surrounded by a wall thats surrounded by trees on both sides and it literally in the middle of the city. Dont worry theres barbed wire and guards at the CCM. At night after about 10pm we can hear some of the craziness of the city and wonder whats going on on the other side of "the wall" while safely inside.Theres never and absence of cop cars and we are pretty sure we heard a gunshot or something a few nights ago.....probably shouldnt tell mom that. At the CCM it is really nice. There\s loads of lush vegetation everywhere and if it wasnt for seeing the homes on the other side of the wall I would seriously believe we were still in the USA.

My first companion EVER is Hermana Hall. Shes pretty awesome. We talked the entire trip from the airport to the CCM and were ecstatic when we found out we were companions! Shes the middle of 9 kids and played basketball for San Jose State before coming out here. Shes hilarious and we get along\work really well together. 

The food here is great in my opinion. There\s a lot of native dishes that Ive never had before like sheep in some kind of red sauce and theres always a variety of fresh fruit. The pickier kids hate it and make a beeline for the nutella and sandwhich making bar every meal but the food here is actually pretty good. Tender mercy actually, Hma. Hall and I were craving buffalo wings yesterday and the comedor totally hooked us up.

Our schedules are pretty crazy. We wake up at 6.30 and have to be in our classrooms for personal study by 7.00. Breakfast is a 7.45 and after that we have companion study, language study, teaching instruction, and more studying until about 12.45 which is when we have lunch. After lunch we prepare lecciones for investigators and study some more. After our lessons we have dinner at 6.15 and more study. At 8 we have TALL or technology aided language study where we learn various gospel phrases and proper grammar. At 9 we finish that and have a district meeting. Head back to the casa at 9.30 for personal time and lights out by 10.30. Thats pretty much it everyday and its a little frsutrating because you still feel you dont have enough time to learn everything! Despite all of the changes and adjustments, life here at the CCM is great!

It was a little overwhelming because the second day, we had to teach a discussion....IN FLIPPING ESPANOL! My spanish isn't awful, but it definitely isnt up to par and Hermana Hall can say comida, hola, and bano....all very important but our combined knowledge wasnt enough and we were both freaking out. We taught but beause we were nervous and couldnt speak spectacularly, the lesson was a dud. Luckily the fake investigators here have to let you come back and teach another lesson. The second one went better because we were both able to speak and understand more, but pretty much stuck to the lesson and words we had previously written out. Yesterday we had our 3rd lesson with out investigatore, David, and it. was. incredible. Hermana Hall and I have been studying alot and pray all the time por el don de lenguas and el espiritu santo. While in a devotional on Sunday, we both felt prompted to teach David about faith. WE studied capitulo 12 and didnt feel we needed to write anything down....which is insane considering entendemos nada. But we went into the lesson calm and felt everything would go the way it needed to. After talking to David and saying a prayer, he opened up to us about how he had followed through on our challenge to him to read the BOM. His wife read it too and felt the spirit, but he said that he didnt feel that connection and that he didnt have faith or a great relationship with Dios. OH MY GOSH, that was the perfect segway into our lession! I dont have enough time or the recollection to tell you everything that was said, but we really felt the spirit take over that lesson and we KNOW that David felt the spirit. Hma Hall then bore a beautiful testimony in simple but powerful spanish about the gospel and the BOM, which is amazing considering 6 days ago she didnt speak a lick of spanish. Everything about the leccion was un milagro and I know that the spirit of the Lord is upon all of those here at the CCM who are exactly obedient and are using all the tools given to work hard. 

Every single day I receive a witness that this is the only true church upon the face of the Earth and that through it we can find happiness that lasts forever. I am privileged to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints. We heard a quote this week from the always amazing Elder Holland that said "If you live up to your prvileges the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates". I have seen this in my life as well as in the lives of others and know that as long as you live the way we have been asked to and put the Lord first, you will receive divine aid in all things. I love you and hope all is well!

Con amor,

Hermana Temple

 Here are some pictures. We are only allowed to use our cameras on pday so these were all taken today. There are 4 hermanas total in our district also going to Rancagua Chile Hma Bradshaw is the burnette and Hma Wainwright is blonde and there are 3 sets of elders going to Ecuador and Indianapolis who are way cool. Took a few pics of our things like our CASA numero 5, whats on the other side of the wall, our classroom, our humble abode, and our district. They're all really great people with solid testimonies. 

Safe Arrival

I only have 5 minutes, but this is to let you guys know that I made it to the AMAZING CCM and am safe. I love you all. My p-day is on tuesday so Ill repsond to  you then! Your Missionary's mailing addres is:

[Elder / Sister]

09-09-2014 12-B

Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828

Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero

07230 Mexico, Distrito Federal

Mexico