Wow this week was nuts! Probably the busiest week of my entire life! First off, the food here is absolutely amazing . I have honestly loved almost every single meal. Its just like a cafeteria but they serve quality food. Not a lot of mexican food suprisingly, but we do have toritillas everyday and little sugar breads for dessert. Way good. But really we have had like every kind of food. For lunch today they gave us broiled fish and I made myself an amazing fish taco. Yesterday was the most unreal dinner. We had spinich salad with feta cheese, wings for the main course, on the side a warm grilled cheese on a croissant, a crazy local fruit on the side (I have no idea what it was), and horchata for a drink. It was prime, I feel like I´m at my school cafeteria but have ruths chris for food. So cool.
So this week was crazy. First day they were going at like 100% Spanish at like 100 Miles per hour. It hit me hard. Like Two days in I really started to pick it up and felt my confidence boost and then I tried to give my first lesson to my investigator and quickly realized I knew nothing. I was struggling to learn because I wanted to learn so fast, but then I realized I´m learning a new language and let me just say I´m grateful to have two years to learn it. So yeah we got a new investigator (she is a member, but its like intense role play) the third day here and me and my companion prepare every second of the day to learn enough Spanish and write a lesson to teach her. Its tough but Im starting to get the hang of it. My Companion´s name is Elder Cutler from New Mexico. He is super smart and hard working, but not super into sports. We made sort of trade that he will teach me Spanish if I show him how to play some new sports. Pretty funny but its working out well. A hard working companion who relies on the Spirit is all I could ask for. Everyday we get to get exercise. We have just been lifting weights, playing basketball, and ping pong. I miss playing ping pong at home because not many people here are my level. Either higher or lower, but no big deal. (Thanks to Jason Barth!)
Everyday we study, and then study, and then teach, and then study. Its actually pretty nice though and I wish I had more time to study! I honestly feel like I could use 4 extra hours a day to study and learn and prepare for the lessons. The study is completely focused on teaching the investigator which is cool but we still have occasional time to study for ourselves. Everyday is basically like this with all focus on learning Spanish and teaching the investigator. We do also spend like two hours a day learning the lesson and learning how to teach people. It is a lot of work! Way more than what I was doing in high school. But its different because the Spirit is always with us to teach us and help us do things that seem close to impossible. But trusting that I have been called of God and that the Spirit will help me, things are starting to work out and the worrying and stresses of teaching are going away. Its so relaxing to feel the Spirit a lot. I have been doing my best to have it with me every hour of the day. It really is the only way I will learn Spanish and be able to truly invite others to come to Christ.
Sundays are definitely the best days because for once in the week we can just sit back and listen. We had sacrament meeting, classes, and we watched a prerecorded MTC talk by Elder Holland. It was so good! One of these days they will be able to stream one live from Provo MTC. Sunday night we watched a movie! Yes a real movie. It was called Legacy. It was a pioneer movie but super old so it was hilarious. There is one part in it where its like 20 minutes of a love story but kind of bad acting so we were all laughing so hard. I honestly thought they were going to turn it off because we were laughing so much. It was pretty funny. It was nice because it was the first time where things really started to sink in. I think yesterday (Monday) was the first real day where I got the hang of everything here. The schedule is dialed in and so is how to study and learn. Its feeling good. Also my other roomates Elder Prach and Elder Shiffler are absolutely hilarious. One is more serious and the other is always just laughing. Its super nice because my companion and I dont really laugh much together but everying morning and night when we are with them it is hilarious. And they arent just like goofy people, they are legit and super hardworking. But they just like to laugh, which I couldn´t ask for anything better. It really helped me make the transition here . Thanks for the prayers!
Wow there is a lot more I could say and I will include a lot more next week. My Prep days are tuesdays. So check for emails then, also I will grab you the correct place to send mail. I hope all is well at home! Chloe gets home soon to be with Sam. And in 5 weeks I will be 20 minutes from Alexis! So cool. Let me know how everything is.
Elder Sumsion
Elder Cutler from New Mexico and Elder Sumsion
On the bus from the airport
Buses from the airport to CCM
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