This past week has been pretty tough, but equally spiritually uplifting. Thank you everyone who has written me letters, I really appreciate them!
So since I last wrote, we had our first Sunday at the CCM. Since this was fast Sunday, it wasn't a typical Sunday. Generally we are to each prepare a 5 minute talk in Spanish, based off of a pre-determined topic. Tomorrow will be about the Holy Ghost. But since it was fast Sunday, we were aloud to bare our testimonies in English. Testimony meetings, personal prayer, and personal and companion study are all to be done in our native languages. No exceptions. I appreciate it though, because it allows an opportunity for more focus on spiritual growth as opposed to trying to speak the language.
We also have been teaching an investigator for the past week. We knew he was a CCM employee so that was a little comforting, knowing that our Spanish was not the only way this individual was to learn about the gospel. Hermana Hathaway and I are at a slight disadvantage to the other companionship as neither of us have ever studied any Spanish. In the other companionships, there is one who has studied previously, and at least have a basic understanding. But considering we really have only been here for a bit over a week, I know I have learned WAY more Spanish than I would have thought possible! Yet Spanish is also so similar to french that I keep confusing it in my head. During our lessons I was not speaking one, or two, but all three on a fairly regular basis. The Spirit was so strong though, and I realized that it really doesn't matter too much whether you are speaking clearly, you just need to be able to testify. Oh, and the surprise thing is that our supposed investigator is now our night teacher. That was an interesting discovery!
Tuesday was our trip to Vegas. We got up at 4 am, and were in Vegas basically all day. I have NEVER seen a palm tree before in my life! I was so excited when we landed, and the service missionary who picked us up started laughing at me and asked how I knew what it was then! He took us to the consulate on the outskirts of Vegas. There was a group of about 9 of us, one elder who will be reporting to the CCM in about 4 weeks, and two Hermanas who had to be temporarily reassigned as they were waitng for their Mexico visas. It all went well, if not a little long. We had to run a bit to catch our flight! But I now have a 6 month visa that the church works to get extended.
Sadly we did NOT make it back in time for devotional, where Elder Holland spoke. We asked the driver on the way back from the airport who the speaker was. Knowing full well we would be missing it, we were all a little depressed to learn he would be there. One of the Elders immediately said "Just drive off the cliff." It was pretty entertaining. All in all, it was fun to have a field trip though!
So I know that a lot of people have been watching the situation in Ukraine very closely, and it does seem that they won't be sending any more missionaries there. I was extremely surprised to see Elder Fitzmorris at West campus a few days ago, only to learn that all of the Ukraine bound missionaries in the CCM have been reassigned to Peru. It's kind of nice to see a face from home around campus though!
One of the new things they have been really been pushing for us to use to learn Spanish is this computer program called TALL. I think it will take me a little getting used to, as I greatly prefer to just be studying from my books. Our time to be able to just personally sit and study the language is very limited. Our time is extremely structured, even to the point of only being aloud to work on certain aspects and purposes of the language at certain times. Because I have previously learned and studied a language it's taking me a bit of time to adjust to this new method, but I know that it is an inspired method, so I'll just keep getting to work. It is truly amazing how much I have learned already though.
The majority of this week has been pretty rainy- all duck weather! I don't know if I mentioned in my previous letter, but when I landed here, EVERYTHING is already green. The trees are all fully leafy, the grass was all green, and the flowers were everywhere. So in general I'm finding it to be pretty warm, especially coming from back home. But I guess it'll just help me to transition better to weather in Mexico.
I love West Campus though, we have so many more physical freedoms than those at the main campus. Even if our food selection is much smaller. (Hermana H. and I went there for lunch after the temple today and were amazed! There's soooo much!) We especially enjoy the creek/fountain over near our classrooms. We have some ducks who frequent them, whom my companion has named Buck and Norman. We've been getting along great. She's been such a trooper with the massive blisters she managed to get on her feet. She also has a great sense of humour, so we understand each other. Well, more so she puts up with my puns. But we've had some pretty good laughs and I feel we have come to a good understanding of one another.
Sadly we did NOT make it back in time for devotional, where Elder Holland spoke. We asked the driver on the way back from the airport who the speaker was. Knowing full well we would be missing it, we were all a little depressed to learn he would be there. One of the Elders immediately said "Just drive off the cliff." It was pretty entertaining. All in all, it was fun to have a field trip though!
So I know that a lot of people have been watching the situation in Ukraine very closely, and it does seem that they won't be sending any more missionaries there. I was extremely surprised to see Elder Fitzmorris at West campus a few days ago, only to learn that all of the Ukraine bound missionaries in the CCM have been reassigned to Peru. It's kind of nice to see a face from home around campus though!
One of the new things they have been really been pushing for us to use to learn Spanish is this computer program called TALL. I think it will take me a little getting used to, as I greatly prefer to just be studying from my books. Our time to be able to just personally sit and study the language is very limited. Our time is extremely structured, even to the point of only being aloud to work on certain aspects and purposes of the language at certain times. Because I have previously learned and studied a language it's taking me a bit of time to adjust to this new method, but I know that it is an inspired method, so I'll just keep getting to work. It is truly amazing how much I have learned already though.
The majority of this week has been pretty rainy- all duck weather! I don't know if I mentioned in my previous letter, but when I landed here, EVERYTHING is already green. The trees are all fully leafy, the grass was all green, and the flowers were everywhere. So in general I'm finding it to be pretty warm, especially coming from back home. But I guess it'll just help me to transition better to weather in Mexico.
I love West Campus though, we have so many more physical freedoms than those at the main campus. Even if our food selection is much smaller. (Hermana H. and I went there for lunch after the temple today and were amazed! There's soooo much!) We especially enjoy the creek/fountain over near our classrooms. We have some ducks who frequent them, whom my companion has named Buck and Norman. We've been getting along great. She's been such a trooper with the massive blisters she managed to get on her feet. She also has a great sense of humour, so we understand each other. Well, more so she puts up with my puns. But we've had some pretty good laughs and I feel we have come to a good understanding of one another.
Till next time,
Hermana Crawford
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