Hello everyone! My first week in the MTC has been crazy. its actually called the CCM here in mexico (Say Say Emayy). I have met a lot of great people and have all learned a ton of stuff about the mission, the gospel, and spanish. They think i dont know a butt load of crap about the gospel but i dooo.
The first day of travel was kinda rough. A lot of boring plane rides with no entertainment. I slept all all 4 and a half ours while on both flights, i guess it runs in the family. i met up with some of the guys going to the ccm in pheonix. i have actually only met one guy that is going to nicaragua. i met up with the rest of the missionaries going to the mtc in mexico city. The bus ride from the airport to the mtc was probably the craziest thing that i have seen since being here in mexico. imagine a 6 lane freeway with no lines and hundreds of people lined up along ether side of it. every drive basically just makes his own lane and there are no traffic laws. i will have to record it on the way back to the airport.
my companion, elder boren, is from the middle of nowhere in new mexico and is serving in the east salt lake spanish speaking mission. he went to byu hawaii for a year and is a pretty cool guy. we get a long pretty well . i am having a good attitude grandma!
my district and zone are sweet. all of the elders in my district are all great guys and are all weird in there own little ways but i love it. we all get along great and have a good time. my zone leaders are also pretty cool one is basically jordan price (short stalky wrestler who likes to yell) and the other plays basketball so we get a long pretty good.
i have worked my butt off in the week that i have been here. my branch presidents are awesome. one is an american who works at the embassy here in mexico city and the other is a straight mexican who likes to tell jokes that aren't funny. its great! on sunday i did the sacrament prayers in spanish which was way cool. our american branch president (president linton) gives a weekly update from babylon every sunday. he tells us about all the important sports news so basically just basketball. i know okc and spurs, heat and pacers. go pacers and okc! actually since I've been here i haven't cared about using a phone or about sports which is good. i am getting caught up in the work! i have missed surfing tho haha
The food here is pretty good but nothing to write home about....wait i just did. beans and rice is served 24 7 and they actually make some good stuff here on occasion. i have had a bowl of cereal, ether pops or fruit loops, with every meal. they made french toast yesterday morning and i had 6. it was awesome. the chocolate milk is not cannon center quality but they have little milk cartons and they are pretty good. every saturday and tuesday they order costco pizza. mexican costco and american costco are not the same haha.
the facilities here are actually pretty sweet. they have a huge gym and a bunch of pretty nice indoor basketball courts. i actually sprained my back pretty bad playin ball on monday and have been out for the last couple days but its all good. they have a nice weight room by mexican standards haha.
grandpa would like the president of the mtc president pratt. he is a grouchy old man that takes no crap from nobody and likes to fall asleep during important meetings haha. ironically, there are stories that when he sees an elder sleeping during a meeting he will stop the meeting, go stand by him until he wakes up, and then yell into the microphone "try harder"! Needless to say i have not fallen asleep during a meeting yet.
whoever said a mission is a nice break from school is a liar and an idiot. being a missionary is hard work and especially hard when you cant speak the language. my first couple of days in the mtc were difficult and very long. we had church meetings all day for like 3 days. now im in the swing of things and it has gotten easier. trial by fire is also an understatement. on my second day in the mtc i had to teach an investigator in spanish even tho i dont know spanish so you can imagine how that went. we having been teaching in only spanish since we got here and i am getting better and better everyday. i am not having too much trouble with the language but it is definitely frustrating sometimes when i cant communicate during lessons to investigators.
after being in the mtc for only a week i have quickly learned how important it is to rely on god for help in all things. the first three days were tough and i definitely thought about how nice it would be to just go home but i am no panzy. and even if i wanted to the entire mtc is surrounded by ten foot stone walls with ten feet of metal fence above that with two layers of barbed wire on top of that. i think its too keep missionaries in, rather than locals out. life has been hard but i am ready for the challenge. i cant put my scriptures down. i have such a strong desire to become a great missionary and to read all of the great things the scriptures have to offer. i have come so much closer to god in just a week and i love the good feelings i have every day. i know this is where im supposed to be.
i am sorry i could not address all of you separately but i only have an hour to write and read on p day. i want you all to know that i love you and that two years will go by quickly. i cant wait to get to nicaragua and get a nice rash! a rash from studying my scriptures so much of course.
love
elder jacobsen
No comments:
Post a Comment