10.24.13 - Gift of Tongues

NOTE: THE MEXICO MTC ADDRESS IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!

Thursday is my CCM (MTC in Spanish) P-Day, I wish i could've had the chance to tell you that before so it went so long in between messages. I've missed you all and home so much! There have been a few days where I've really had to pray for help in focusing on my studies here and to stop dreaming about what it would be like to be with family again. Other than those days though, I've been very happy and very I think learning quickly. I have a great District to learn with. I'll try and send the pictures we took of ourselves at the Mexico City Temple this morning sometime later today. What a beautiful temple! It's so big, and still maintains an amazing spirit so palpable I thought I could've cut through it with a knife.

Mexico City Temple

The first few days took some effort to adjust through. I had a little cell-phone with-drawl along with my roommates where i'd reach in my pocket every few minutes to check the phone that became my white missionary handbook overnight. I guess i check that like I would a phone now. The Spanish we're learning isn't advanced enough to heighten my ability to express my self in Spanish yet, although in my Dorm room with one shower and 6 roommates I have a native Hispanic companionship that i talk to often and who help me with my pronunciation and teach me all kinds of new vocabulary though a ridiculous game of charades. One night during study i tried to figure out what Juan (John) was saying and after a minute of obscure hand gesturing my companion and i started to BAAAA for the natives so they could confirm that we had correctly interpreted the word for lamb.

The 3rd day on Campus we had to teach the first lesson in Spanish to a teacher posing as an investigator named Carlos. He  doesn't speak English well in the first place, which i guess is the point in having us "immersed in the culture" so we had to get creative with how to phrase our lesson so the message could be conveyed clearly enough so at the minimum the Spirit could teach what we didn't know how to say. English is definitely the exception here.  My companion and I studied a lot and by the second meeting (where we really just finished the first lesson) we had committed Carlos to baptism. He was our medium difficulty investigator of a set of three, easy, medium, and hard, we´ll teach for a week each. We went on to prepare him for baptism with the second and third discussion during the course of this week which went a lot smoother. I'd be lying if i said i didn't feel the gift of tongues at work in my life.I came in with very little confidence in any of my Spanish and i'm now identified as one that can help teach the other missionaries in my District and Zone. A quick funny story about Carlos. Outside of being a teacher at the CCM he works another job and attends school so he's usually really tired when we teach him. In our last lesson after agreeing to say the closing prayer he closed his eyes and bowed his head and instantly fell asleep. Literally, instantaneous snoring. We didn't wake him up for  about 10 seconds and then laughing finished the meeting and left him to fall asleep during the next companionship's lesson! HA! I hope that never happens to me in a real lesson.

Elder Paddock & Elder Meidell

My companion, Elder Paddock, is from St. George Utah. He swam in high school and is just your solid Utah Mormon guy. We butt heads a little but we're a good companionship. He is directly on the straight and narrow, haha he has to pull be back on every now and again when i get distracted and aren't in bed by 10:31.

On Sundays everyone is expected to prepare a 5 minute talk in spanish and then 6 missionaries are chosen at random during sacrament to speak, this way everyone is on their toes and ready. I was called our first Sunday to speak and surprisingly i was the only one to have prepared in Spanish. This was accentuated when the CCM president and his wife decided to  sit in on our meeting and made a big huff about our Branch's lack of preparedness. Later that day we had interviews and shortly following mine my companion and I were appointed zone leaders for the duration of our stay here. He got all puffed up about it, and i had to talk him down and tell him we were just given a position of servitude. It's ok, i figure it's a utah thing. Tonight we are greeting the new district in our zone and have prepared a 30 minute lesson on the objectives of a missionary. We're excited, and hopefully ready.

The food is alright, I love that it's all Mexican! however that has meant we got few weird dishes... I eat Corn Pops pretty often with my meals.

A fun fact about Mexico City! The Catholic Church obviously has a tremendous influence here and they are very good about celebrating the Saints honored each day. Fireworks go off right outside our walls, on average i'd say 3 times an hour including and especially the night hours. Some people wrote home saying the gangs were at war... but they don't sit with the natives during meals so they really have no idea.

We get 45 minutes each day to exercise and my district isn't a particularly athletic bunch but we've had a lot of fun playing soccer, volleyball, tennis and soccer tennis. It came out a few days ago that most of my District was pretty into Video Games before coming so it's like i'm back to studying with Nick Johnson. Most especially is the Elder i've become good friends with, Elder Bergevin from Washington State, who studied Spanish for 12 years. Another is Elder Atkinson from San Diego who has watched every episode in over 80 TV series and started an internet site featuring his commentary and critics of each televised program.

I'm excited to keep learning and serving. It seems like I'm expected to learn how to be a missionary while I help others become the same thing. The way i've found to do this is to focus my studies on questions other missionaries have, this way everyone is making productive use of their time.

I guess by the end of a week a feel more like Elder Meidell and less like Tyler, and that's not as weird as i thought it would be.

Something I learned in study this week: Christ's teaches he is the bread of life, and he who eats of his flesh and drinks of his blood, living water, will have Eternal Life. This led me to consider mana, the bread God sent each day and which had to be gathered and savored each day. First off, the mana was preparing that people to understand the principle of Christ's sacrificed body which had to be sought after and consumed each day so they could be filled with it's deliciousness. So they could feast on the word more or less and so the word would grow and become delicious. In Christ's life he confused everyone by saying he who would eat of my flesh and drink of my blood will never hunger or thirst and will live forever. No one wanted to eat Christ. They weren't listening through the spirit so they couldn't understand the metaphor at work. Now we eat and drink his flesh and blood respectively, each Sunday. This study increased the importance of the Sacrament in my mind. Christ has preluded to the renewing of the Baptismal Covenant since he taught the Israelites. If we uphold this Covenant in all that it entails we are promised Eternal Life. 

Byah!

I miss you all very much, and i look forward to hearing from you again. The actual address here is:

Carr. Tenuyuca Chalmita No. 828

Col. Zona Escolas, deleg, G.A. madero

C.P. 07230, Mexico, D.F., Mexico

I think we had the address for the old one previously.

Con mi Amor,

Elder Tyler Meidell

10.16.13 - Arriving at the Mexico MTC

Hey family,

I literally just arrived at the MTC, they gave me my name tag and registration packet and then instructed my group to write home. There is definitely an emphasis on writing so i'm sure you'll hear plenty from me. The flight was easy compared to the to and from Hawaii flights. The group that sat all around me spoke only Spanish and i did my best to communicate with them but after covering some basic topics all we could do was look at each other and shake our heads in dismay. It was frustrating and definitely motivated me to emphasize becoming proficient in Spanish while I have professional teachers available. 

I met 9 other missionaries in Phoenix, although i doubt i'll see much more of them once we get into the swing of things.

My companion´s name is Elder Paddock, and that's all i know so far. Mexico city is huge. It's so big. It's quite run down and many cities have florescent paint jobs. A building without graffiti is a definite exception, and traffic is far more dangerous that in New York which surprised me. It was the definition of controlled chaos.

I look forward to hearing from you and having more to tell you the next time i get computer time.

Much Spanish love,

Elder Tyler Meidell