So this week, Preparation Day is on Friday because my Compañera needs to go get her visa. I wasn't allowed to go with her, so today I'm paired with a sister from another district, Hermana Richardson, whose companion also needed to go get a visa.
There is a native Mexican Hermana named Hermana Gonzales who, on her first day, stayed with me and Hermana Loescher because she couldn't find her district or her companion. Now, every time we see each other we say Hola! and smooch each other's cheeks. It's a cultural custom here in Mexico, I think.
We had a teaching Practice session. One-on-one with district 5A, and my 'investigador' said that my Spanish was good, and that I just needed to back down a little. After he explained that he did drugs, I said to him in Spanish, 'The Church has an addiction recovery program you can go to in order to clean your sins!' and 'Through the power of the Atonement, you can overcome your sins!' I guess I was just really excited to share the Gospel! :)
This past Friday we had a substitute teacher, Hermana Sanchez, because our teacher was getting married! On Monday we all congratulated him as he came in. His name is Hermano Valencia, and he returned from his mission about a year ago. He's very humorous, mostly with facial expressions. He's awesome, and his testimony really picks up the District when we're feeling down. He served his mission speaking English, so he relates to us.
During gym time earlier this week, Elder Ficklin and I were both waiting to play tennis on the side, and we began to pitch the extra tennis ball back and forth. He played baseball before coming out into the field (ha ha jokes), and he said that it brought him a lot of comfort to pitch back and forth because he used to do that for hours on end at practice. He was a catcher, and though I have NO skills, he seemed very happy to have a tennis ball repeatedly chucked at him. :)
This past Sunday was Fast Sunday (ha that rhymed). The way they do Fast Sunday here at the CCM is they have all the missionaries fast from dinner on Saturday night until lunch on Sunday. Our district did a district fast for Elder Bohr, who literally got his face smashed in by a goal post and had to leave for three days for intense surgery. He's doing a lot better now; we see him walking around, conscious, with bandages wrapped around his head.
We taught a lesson to 'Matea', or Sister Sanchez. She was a suicidal teenager, and we were able to share with her what her purpose in life is, and why she's important, and that God loves her, and we love her too. It was a very good lesson.
We watched the John Tanner video for devotional! I was reminded of his story, and his strength. I felt closer to my ancestor (on my bonus Mom's side) than I ever have before. It was awesome.
You know that feeling you get when you carefully plan a lesson, study it out in your brain, prepare scriptures to answer anticipated questions, and practice saying it all in Spanish with correct grammar and pronunciation? And then you completely switch lessons once you get there? This was our experience with Alfredo the third time around. He opened up a little at the beginning of the lesson and talked about how he didn't have much time for his family because of work and school. When he said that I grabbed Hermana Loescher's arm and said, 'We need to teach Plan of Salvation!' and my poor companion was like, 'AAAHH!' But only briefly. The lesson differed from our previous lessons in that he seemed genuinely interested in what we were saying and paid attention the whole time. Afterwards, as Alfredo still, he told us he was interested in learning more about the plan of Salvation.
OOOH guess what? This Tuesday, Elder Caseñera of the Seventy walked into our classroom while we were singing a hymn and asked us to sing that same one in a meeting at 10:30, 15 minutes later! We went to this meeting, and there was President Call, President Eves, the Executive Secretary, the manager of all the teachers, the audio-visual boss, the maintenance manager, and a few other general managers over the entire CCM! Elder Casañera said to sing, and the twelve of us all sang Yo Sé Que Vive Mi Señor (I Know That My Redeemer Lives). It was awesome! We all got to shake all of their hands too!
We had our first TRC session yesterday, which stands for Teach Real Citizens. Just kidding. ;) I actually don't know what it stands for, but it's this little building off to the side of the CCM where real people (investigators, members, whoever) come in to be taught the gospel. We taught two people. Isaac was 15 and less active, because his dad wasn't a member. We shared about church attendance. The other was also 15 and preparing to go on a mission. We just shared a spiritual thought on prayer. It was very good practice, and I'm glad we went!
Well, that's all for this week. Tune in next time to hear more CCM Adventures.
Love, Love, Love,
Hermana Smurthwaite
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