CCM=MTC

August 15, 2013

The MTC!!!! It's so crazy here in Mexico. I understand why the Mexican people loved this campus as a high school. It's gorgeous and there is such an awesome spirit here! Let me describe it a bit for you. There are palm trees everywhere! The huge ones that look like fireworks! I love it. And we stay in casas! There are 4 people per room, and 5 rooms in the house. When I got here, I was the last week of the first round of Americans. I'm here for 6 weeks, and the first group of Americans just left on Monday. We got a TON of new missionaries on Wednesday. We have the largest MTC area wise, but right now there´s about 800 or 900 missionaries here. They sent a bunch of missionaries who were going to other MTCs here because the other MTCs are full. I saw a kid from my BYU ward, Eli Tucker! And I saw another kid from my mission prep class, Kyle Webster! It was cool to see familiar faces. Another thing about the MTC! It rains a lot here. One day me and Hna Stott (my companion) got caught in the middle of a HUGE downpour. We had umbrellas, but they weren´t helpful, so we ran to our class. We were soaked. I wrung out my skirt, poured water out of my flats, the works. If I get the picture from a girl in my district, I´ll send it to you. We´re split Americans and Latinos. We eat together, and we share casas together, but all of our classes are individual. The Latinos are so much fun and so nice! They help you with your Spanish, and we help them with English. The food here is good, but it´s different. I always know what I´m eating (chicken, pork, etc) but they put sauces on it and put it with veggies and then I guess it´s a typical Mexican dish! One day they had chicken wings. I didn´t get any, but I guess they weren´t cooked and still had feathers. Hooray for the never ending cereal!

So my district! There are 7 elders and 4 hermanas. The elders are all 18. One went to a year of school, but the rest are fresh out of high school. One of the elders is from North Platte (Elder Haws)! I was so excited! He knew of some of the kids at MW, cause he ran cross country. Adam Wendel sounded familiar to him. The 18 year old elders are spiritually ready for a mission, but they are obviously experiencing their first time away from home. It feels a lot like the first semester at college. Our teacher in fantastic! Her name is Hna. Olsen. She is so nice, and is so focused on the work. We are in a branch with 5 other districts, who differ in the weeks they´ve been here. They are awesome. The district who got here the week before we did is cool. I´ve played soccer with them. There´s a BYU football player in that district! Tanner Mangum? I don´t know if he´s a key player, but I thought it was cool! They´re nice people.

So to talk about the work! First off, it´s weird to have everyone call me Hermana Lau.

But the work. It´s so hard. Emotionally, I´m always so exhausted. The first day I was here was rough. I´ll tell you about my companion, but I wasn´t even sure if I was suppose to be here. I was studying about prayer that night, and came across D&C 6:22-23. It was an answer to my prayers! I felt so relieved and felt HF´s love so much! He really does love each of us and has a plan for our lives! The Spanish is going well. The gift of tongues is amazing! I´m remembering a lot from HS, and it´s coming back fast. I´m so glad I learned so much in Bowcott´s class--Preston, tell him I said thanks! It´s difficult, but I´m trying to use it as much as I can. We try to speak in Spanish all day sometimes, but after a few hours, it becomes frustrating to express ourselves, so we go to Spanglish. We´re learning a ton, and progressing well!

something I learned while teaching was how important the Spirit is when missionaries teach. We taught a teacher who pretended to be Pedro. The first lesson went really well. The Spirit was strong, and it was good. The 2nd lesson was a flop. I was really discouraged because the Spirit wasn´t there at all. On Sunday, someone talked about how enduring to the end needs to have an attitude of it´s good! So I wrote in Spanish on my wall, and it´s now my motto for the CCM! The 3rd lesson went well, and so did the 4th lesson. I´m still trying to figure out how to teach by the Spirit and how to have it instruct me on how I should work.

We got to hear a devotional from Elder Scott on Sunday. It was to all the MTCs in the world, and it was about prayer. I don{t have time to talk about it now, but it was amazing and you guys should watch it!

I love you all so much! I wish I could be home, but I know I´m doing the right thing and I´m loving every minute of it. You´re in my thoughts and prayers all the time! Keep doing the basics.

I love you!

Hermana Lau