Dear Family and Friends,
I can´t believe I´ve already been here for a week! Sometimes it seems like time flies but then at other times it doesn´t. Here´s what my week looked like:
Last Thursday we went to the Mexico City Temple! It was really cool. It had a lot of artwork that I´d never seen before. Also a cool part about going to the temple is that we get to leave the sanctuary of the MTC! The streets here are pretty crazy. There doesn´t seem to be a set system like there is in the US. I don´t think I even saw a single stoplight. People just go where they need to go and hope that everyone else stops for them. It´s a pretty funny thing to watch! Also there are many motorcyclists who squeeze between cars/busses whether there is space or not. Good stuff! The sad thing is that my camera was dead (even though I hadn´t used it at all during the week), but I had an elder in my district take a picture of me in front of the Temple so hopefully he´ll send it to me and I can pass it on to you guys next week. The rest of Thursday we only really had time to do laundry because of how long the temple took.
Most of our days here in the CCM are mostly the same schedule, so I´ll just give you and overview of what my typical day looks like. I wake up everyday at 6:25 and have about 45 minutes to get ready for the day. Breakfast is at 7:15 and then we have personal study time for about an hour. Personal study time isn´t really all that ''personal'' because we´re always supposed to be reading and praying for things that will help us bring our investigators (real or not) come closer to Christ. But it seems like I always get something new for myself when I´m preparing for our lessons. After personal study we usually have language class in which we have a bunch of different activities, all in Spanish of course. Most days during part of language class we have practice scenarios where we practice teaching another missionary. These are always challenging but I can see how much it´s gonna help in the field. After language we have additional study and then lunch. Every day after lunch we have TALL (technology assisted language learning) in the computer labs. It´s basically just a computer program that teaches us grammar and has practice activities. I´m pretty sure TALL has some secret component because it can be really hard to stay awake in there sometimes. It´s not uncommon to see people suddenly get up and start walking around or doing jumping jacks to stay awake. :) After TALL is language study which is when we translate our lessons for the day into Spanish and/or make sure we know all the vocab words we need for that particular lesson. After that we head to gym for 50 minutes (super fun--they have a gym, outdoor basketball courts, tennis courts, a full sized track, baseball fields, weight rooms, etc etc. Its pretty darn nice!) then head back to our dormitories to shower up and get ready for the next class. We have a daily planning session everyday where we use our handy dandy agenda diaria del misionero to plan when we´re going to accomplish the endless assignments (sometimes it almost feels like school) and lesson preps that we have to do. Dinner is at 5:15 and then we usually have more language class (but with a different teacher--actually he was our first investigator, ''Carlos'' :)) If we don´t have language class then we have a lesson and more personal or companionship study, which is always good. We have to be back in our houses by 9:30 and then lights go out at 10:30. I´ve been sleeping pretty darn well! And gosh it´s a whole lot easier to get up at 6:30 if you go to bed at 10:30! (I wish I could have had it that good during seminary days, but oh well). My first few days here it was really hard to get comfy on my new bed...it took me at least half an hour to fall asleep. But now I´m sleeping great which I´m really greatful for.
Sundays, Tuesdays and P-days are the only days that are very different. I forgot to tell you last week that my companion and I are Zone Leaders, so Sunday is filled with a couple different leadership meetings, and then of course the normal Sunday meetings. We have a devotional every Sunday as well as movie night where we watch a church movie. Sundays are one of my favorite days. It´s always a reminder to me of why what I´m doing is so important, and I always feel an added sense of my Savior´s love. One fun thing about Sundays is that the branch president randomly chooses a couple people to talk. But no one knows until we get to sacrament meeting, so everyone has to prepare a talk whether they actually end up giving it or not. :)
Tuesdays are mostly the same except that we have a devotional at night. Those are always awesome. The cool thing about this week is that Elder Quentin L. Cook is visiting tomorrow! There will be a special devotional for that. Elder Wride and I are both singing in the choir for that as well. It should be a really awesome night!
I wanted to send some pictures today but I forgot the cord for my camera and my companion understandably didn't want to go back and get it. So next week I´ll make sure to send some pictures! One cool thing that I haven´t gotten a picture of yet is the palm trees and birds! They have palm trees all over the place here on campus and some pretty cool birds! I was shocked the other day to see a bunch of green, wild parrots squawking like crazy! I tried to teach them some spanish but none of em picked it up ;)
One last thing: We just started TRC last night. It's just a normal lesson...except its real live people, some investigators, some members. It´s pretty scary! but I think it went well and I was surprised at how well my companion and I were able to listen and communicate despite the real (FAST) Mexican spanish. We didn´t catch every word but we were always able to know what the person was talking about. I feel the Holy Spirit most when I teach and bear testimony. Its a great experience!
I love you all and hope everything is going well in the US! I´m having a blast here in Mexico and learning a bunch everyday. It´s crazy when I think of how far I have to go as far as teaching abilities and language skills. The schedule can be tiring and the teaching can be difficult, but I am learning like crazy and can see the blessings and help that Heavenly Father is blessing me with! Lots of love.
Elder Baxter
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