The flights from Portland and Phoenix were great. I was the only missionary leaving Portland, so it was really weird not seeing any family members or anyone I recognized. It was a short flight and a great nap. When I looked at my flight itinerary of the gate number in Phoenix, it wasn't there. I kind of panicked for a second when I got off the plane until I saw, well what looked like three Hermanas, walking in the opposite direction of the gate I was supposed to get to. Luckily for me they were missionaries and they showed me where to go. When I arrived at my gate I saw a few elders and talked with them before we boarded. The plane was about half full and roughly 12 missionaries. One of the Elders name is elder Ryan and looks a lot like Okie. Just would have wished it was. We arrived in Mexico and got on this rickety stick shift bus, and headed for the MTC, about a hour drive. I honestly believe I didn't see a single stop light on the way there. I seriously could have driven better. People were weaving In and out all over. It was hilarious.
When we arrived at the MTC I grabbed my suitcases and went into the lobby where all the new missionaries were at. I recieved my weekly planning schedule, a bunch of other papers, the name of my companion, and of course my name tag. Then was able to send a short letter home to all you guys. The next place was to drop off my suitcases at my apartment, but unlike most missionaries I was going to be staying in a casa (house), which In my opinion is much better than a dorm. My companion wasn't there, so I hung out with some other guys and ate dinner. I was so tired.
To fast forward a little bit, I'm in a trio. Yes, there's three of us. My companions names are Elder Hilton and Elder Mazaleyrat, and that is spelled correctly, pronounced Maza-le-ra. Hilton is from Idaho falls and Mazaleyrat is from France. Literally, out of 700 or so missionaries, there's only one from France and I get to be companions with him. It's a great thing. Hilton will be serving in Las Vegas and Mazaleyrat is serving in Mexico. He speaks fluent French, knows enough to speak English and understands and speaks Spanish pretty well. He reminds me of Jevon sometimes when he tried to speak French. Haha. They are awesome guys and we have so much fun together.
As most you know, the first week at the MTC is the longest, hardest and slowest week in your entire life. There's just so much sitting, it drives me nuts. I look forward each day for gym time and putting on my normal clothes, although I'm getting to like wearing a white shirt and tie. My teachers are Hermana Martinez and Hermano Ruiz. Super cool teachers and I've learned a quite a bit of Spanish from them. Spanish for me has gone great. One of the things I learned this week that many others missionaries don't realize is that the Gift of Tongues is not only for speaking but also for understanding. I've been praying each day for that and have improved my understanding skills a lot. I can speak pretty well and communicate with just about everyone about normal topics, but when it comes to speaking about gospel stuff, that's where I fall a little short. But luckily my district is in the same spot. However I've picked up a lot of basic church words as well.
My district is very small. There's only 9 of us which is great because we've gotten super close already. Our district leaders are Elder Kelley and Galmiester. Then we have Elder Stock (from Washington but not my mission) and Butler(from utah). Obviously myself and my companions. And Hermanas Fausset and Hall. In fact Hermana Fausset is from Provo and worked with Kim at the media center. She knows Kim very well. What a small world huh.
This past Tuesday, there was roughly 300 missionaries leaving which would leave our Branch left with two districts. One of those being ourselves, and the other leaving a week from today. So with that being said the branch called our Hermanas as the STL's. We are expecting at least 200 more missionaries coming by today which should fill in the gaps in our branch. Sunday was great. It was the first time where something felt familiar. I helped passed the sacrament with my companions, and it was just a great day.
Well I have some pretty big news to tell you all. After church that sunday we had worthiness interviews with the branch presidency. And yes I am worthy. To summarize, with the amount of missionaries leaving the next Tuesday it would leave our branch without Zone Leaders. So, when I thought my companions and I would be off the hook as far as leadership positions, I was wrong. We were shortly called that afternoon as the newest zone leaders. We don't know all what were supposed to do and we have some big shoes to fill. Especially being out only a week. It will be a good opportunity for us and we are excited to meet a lot of people.
Here's two funny stories.
1. Last Saturday we had a Zone meeting. It was an hour long and for the first 40 minutes or so, 50 of us played musical chairs. Apparently the past few weeks the zone had been doing an activity like that without any problems. Then lo and behold President Bennet walked in. Instantly the room was silent and he had a confused and disappointed look on his face. He pulled the zone leaders aside and asked them in front of everyone, how is the spirit present during this activity and how is this even a meeting. All you can really say is Sorry president, it won't happen again. I honestly enjoyed the activity, which is the funny part, but what's even more funny is that they had been playing games the past month like that. Well now I know what not to do at a Zone meeting.
2. In our Casa or house, we share with roughly 10 Latinos and that's its, and only one of them can speak English. Well because Elder Mazaleyrat can't pronounce words well, I though it would have been funny to have him try some English Tongue Twisters. He then shared a French tongue twister and Hilton and I laughed really hard. We then had the Latinos try to say it, but it's hard for them to pronounce English or French words which makes it funny and were all laughing. There's a video of a latino and my companions and I trying to say the French one. I guess you can say it's our quote now.
Last night for our Tuesday Devotional, we had a live broadcast from the Provo MTC. Elder Neil L Anderson and his wife spoke, along with a member of the seventy. Elder Anderson just so happened to talk about what we can learn in the temple. And today for our P-Day we went to the temple. The Mexico temple is the largest temple outside of US. It's amazing. There's so much information you can learn in the temple each time you go. One of the things Elder Anderson spoke about is so consistantly visit the temple and bring a spirit of humility and seeking to learn. So it was perfect timing as the next day we would go to the temple.
Well that's just about it for this week. It's been busy, hard and fun all at the same time. There will be a separate email of pictures and a video or two. Thanks so much for your emails and the written letters from Mom, Ro, and Dodo. It feels awesome getting mail.
Love you all and miss you all very much.
When your having a rough day, all ya gotta say is "Bring it On, well then C'Mon"
Elder Nissinen.
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