Week One in the CCM (MTC)

Hola everyone!

So this week went by quickly, yet not. They say the days go by slowly in the CCM, but the weeks go by quickly. I think that is true!

 

Okay so both my plane trips were really good. I actually sat next to a woman who grew up in Guate on the way to LA! She was so excited that I was going there. In LA I met up with 13 elders, and 4 other hermanas, then we flew to Guate. I had an entire row to myself, so I actually got to lay down and "sleep". We arrived at about 5:30 am, went through customs, and got on a school bus to go to the CCM. The driving here is NUTS. People cut each other off and whistle and swerve and motorcycles go between cars. Once we were pulling in to the parking lot, we looked to our left and saw a pick up truck with a bunch of men armed and ready to shoot in the bed. Welcome to Guatemala.

 

They let us take a nap, and that was good, but other than that the first day was really hard for me. I was choking back tears at dinner, and once we went to bed, I just sat there and cried. I have never felt more homesick in my life than I felt that first night. Fortunately, that has been getting better every day. I haven´t cried since!

 

There are 7 missionaries in my district. Elderes Toma, Wickhamshire, Johnson, and Rhoton, and 3 hermanas, Hna Brough, Fisher, and me. We are a trio, which has its challenges, but is fun most of the time.

 

On Sundays (the best day ever btw), we all have to prepare a 5 minute talk IN SPANISH and we are called at random to come up and talk. Considering they call only 6 out of like 50, I thought I was safe. WRONG. Guess who had to give a talk on Enduring to the End in Spanish. Yeah. Speaking of Spanish mine is doing fairly decent. Hna Fisher doesn´t know ANY spanish, but Hna Baugh knows more than me, so we balance each other out. I can roll my r´s when I say words like hombres (shoulders) nombre (name) Cristo (christ) etc. Seeing a pattern? :)

 

I swear I am going to gain like 40 pounds here. They feed you SO much and all you ever do is eat and sit and eat and sit. But the food is actually really good.

 

The Hispanas here are HI-larious. We have 4 in our room and despite the language barrier we are always rolling on the floor laughing by bedtime. We pretty much play charades and they say english words like "shut up!" and "toothpaste!". Hna Montanas taught us the Macarena (the words) a few nights ago.

 

Did an Elder Allen ever serve in our ward? Because I am in the CCM with his sister down here! She was so excited when she found out and started saying things like "WBL Ward getting dissolved" and "Roushars".

 

P Day is the second best day of the week, besides Sunday, since we aren´t holed up in a classroom for 10 plus hours. We have pretty much chilled, played sports, went to the temple (which was awesome) and now we are emailing! We do have classes later, but esta bien.

 

Okay, so package info. Don´t worry about the packages, they get here. No catholic stickers, just write HERMANA JUDD really big on the package. I still haven´t gotten Dear Elders yet but I think that will happen tonight.

 

FUNNY PHRASES OF THE WEEK:

"Como se dice how?" - Hna Baugh

"I´ve been 19 for 1 1/2 years" - Yours Truly

"Yo se que El Libro de Mormon es avocado" - Eld Toma (it´s supposed to be verdadero)

"I just love foreign stale cereal. It´s like a surprise game, a treasure hunt." - Hna Michaelis

 

Alright I love all of you and hope to hear from you soon! I don´t think I´ll be emailing next Tuesday since we are going to Walmart (holla), but it will be sometime, like Monday or Wednesday.

 

Love you!

Hna Judd