I love to see the temple!

Hola!

Today I went with my district to the Mexico City temple! We couldn´t actually go through the temple because it is under construction for the next year and half. They are working on making it earthquake proof. But it was so great to go to the visitors center and just be in the city! I wish we could have seen more of the city, but I still loved it. 

We experienced another earthquake this week. And I slept through it again!!!! I was so disappointed. Why do I have to be so good at sleeping?? For the first time in my life, I love having a bedtime. When 1030 rolls around, I am so excited to jump in bed and go to sleep. My family is shocked, I am sure.

This week, our district got two new elders from the Provo MTC. They are going to Ecuador but couldnt get their visas until now. They are pretty cool. They said that the Mexico MTC is different and harder than Provo, because the teachers talk so fast and are natives. In Provo their teachers were gringos who talked slowly for them. I agree, it can be pretty difficult to understand what our teachers are saying because they talk so fast, but I am getting better at keeping up. I love my instructors. They are so fun and make the sassiest comments in class. Mexicans are witty! 

We had a crazy rain storm this week! It came out of nowhere and just started pouring. There was a leak in our classroom ceiling, so our floor was flooded the next morning. Esta bien, it´s all part of the experience! However, I heard that one of the sister missionaries slipped in the rain and shattered her knee cap. She was flown to Dallas, TX for surgery. I would have been so bummed if that was me!! 

I am beginning to realize how hard goodbyes are while at the CCM. The people I meet here are going to different parts of the world and I will never see them again. Our district liked to play soccer with a Latino district that left this week. While saying goodbye, they said, ¨Jugaremos futbol en el cielo¨, which means, ¨We will play soccer in heaven.¨ So sad!! 

Anyways, I am loving the CCM. Being a missionary is a very special experience and I can tell that I am growing as a person. My Spanish and my testimony improves each day.

I love you all!

Con amor,

Hermana Angus

Magic Tricks

Hey yáll!

This week I had to give a talk on the Fall of Adam and Even in Sacrament meeting...in Spanish!! I was the newest missionary that was chosen to speak, so I was really nervous that my Spanish was going to be terrible. But after I sat back down, everyone kept telling me how impressed they were with my Spanish! They said I sounded like a Mexican! Best compliment ever! Of course, they might have been lying, but I dont even care. 

One of the elders in my district is 21 years old. So he has been nicknamed Elder Miagui and the other elders are his Karate Kids. It´s a fitting title! Elder Miagui taught all of us how to split an apple with our bear hands! I felt like the Hulk! In return, I taught everyone how to make a toothpick jump in the palm of their hand. We are convinced these magic tricks are going to get us into houses while tracting. One of the elders in my district has nicknamed me Hermana Carne (which means meat¨ in Spanish, as in Angus Beef). I love my district and we always have so much fun. We really, really love to sing Disney. While we are using our language program on the computers every day, we sing Frozen songs. Its the closest thing to music we have!

I get sunburned every day. Since the weather in Mexico City is awesome, we study outside, but I have to stay in the shade. The elders always bring out chairs for the hermanas and they put 3 in the sun and 1 in the shade. I am the shade dweller. I dont know how I am going to survive Texas, but I know the Lord will bless me! 

Funny story: The word for son¨¨ is ¨hijo¨¨ but you dont pronounce the ¨h¨. My companion pronounces the ¨h¨, which makes it a completely different word. Our teacher heard her say it and told her, ¨Hermana, dont say that. That means hooligan or bad child.¨ I started laughing so hard because I realized that she had been telling our investigators all week that Jesus Christ is a bad child of God! I dont know how our investigators kept a straight face during our lessons. However, we are too new to have real investigators, so our investigators are also teachers here at the CCM. Thank goodness my companion learned how to properly pronounce hijo while here at the CCM! 

Another story that I didnt have time to share last week: On my flight to Mexico City I sat next to an older lady and her husband. It was a long flight, and I pulled out my scriptures and started reading. I happened to be reading the New Testament and the lady next to me said, Are you reading the Bible? Is it King James version?¨¨I told her yes and she got all happy and said Ï read that, too!¨After that she just kept talking to me about her church and asked me why I was flying alone to Mexico. I told her I was going on a mission for my church and she was so excited for me. She told me, ¨The Lord will bless you for your service. I know he will.¨While we were at baggage claim, she came over to me and handed me a piece of paper. On it was her phone number and the words Protected in Christ. She then told me to call her if I ever needed anything. Wow! I love how much support missionaries receive! Its great!

I hope everyone has a great week! I love the Book of Mormon more and more each day!

Love,

Hermana Angus

Earthquakes and Fireworks

Hola familia y amigos! 

I made it through my first week here at the CCM! I´m not going to lie, the first few days were tough. Missionary life is really different and the transition was hard. I´m still transitioning, but I am learning to love it here more and more each day. 

For some reason, I thought I would hear a lot of English and Spanish in my classes and around campus. No. The only English I hear is between my American companion and me. My companion´s name is Hermana Hopkins and she is from Heber, UT. She is also going to McAllen, TX! We are really excited. I live in a room with three other hermanas. Three of us are going to McAllen and the other one is going to Richmond, Virginia.

My teachers are native Spanish speakers and know very little English. It´s hard since I don´t know a lot of Spanish yet, but it´s also really helpful. It forces me to learn Spanish quickly. In just one week here at the CCM, my Spanish has improved a lot. I´m still awful, but I´m picking it up quickly. I am so grateful for taking Spanish class in high school! Some of the elders and hermanas here sound like Siri while trying to pronounce Spanish words. Yikes.

Every day people ask me if I have ever been told that I look like the girl from ¨Brave¨. Sometimes I hear, ¨If you could change ya fet, wouldja?¨ from people walking by. It´s funny. 

We have had two earthquakes in the past week! The first one was really small, and I was asleep for the second one. The sirens are really really really loud, but somehow I slept through it! Apparently it was big enough to shake the bed frames and closets. I am a little bummed I missed it! 

Every day there are fireworks going off somewhere in Mexico City. After the firework explosions, the elders always make the Hunger Games symbol in the air. I laugh every time. 

The food is pretty good here! I have tried a lot of different Mexican meals and they are muy delicioso! 

My companion and I laugh a lot. And over the dumbest things. I tried talking to a native Spanish speaking missionary and he said, ¨Hola, buenas tardes.¨ He spoke so quickly that I just decided to repeat what I thought I heard. So I said, ¨Hola, buenos aires.¨ My companion just looked at me and said, ¨Like Argentina?¨ It was so embarrassing! We keep saying,¨You are going to laugh or cry, so let´s just laugh about it.¨

It was so great to talk to my family on Mother´s Day! Even though I had been gone 4 days, I already had so much to talk about! The CCM is busy busy busy! But I am learning so much. Thank you for all of your support! I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and I feel His love every day!

Con amor,

Hermana Angus