Thanksgiving in the CCM

So I don´t know if I have mentioned this yet or not, but my companion is a total farm girl.  She even has llamas on the farm, and I love that she knows how to work hard, and that we both aren't girly girls at all. I love all her stories of butchering the chickens and of eating llama meat.  She lives in a town in Idaho with a population of only 500. We actually get along really well.  We also really love gym time too so that´s good.

Hna. Rivera and I are now in week 5 and we are teaching so many lessons now.  We have 6 investigators, and we teach about 2 lessons to each one.  Also, on top of that, we are always practicing in the classroom and teaching people from the Mexico City that are mostly recent converts.  We taught 3 from Mexico City this week.  Since I know the lessons so well now, I can take a few seconds to think of what the investigator needs, and it is so great teaching from the Spirit.

This week, it rained for the second time here at the CCM, but it was our first hard rain.  It was so fun looking out the window to see all the rain.  I love when it rains here too because for a little bit the air is actually clean.  Also, we get a little break from the gross stink of the CCM.  Our roommates call it the 4 o´clock stench haha.  It seriously smells awful sometimes, but it´s okay.  I love being here at the CCM because there are so many opportunities to speak with Latinos.  It was really funny this week when Hna. Rivera and I sat with Latinos this week, because we did the same thing as we usually do when we sit with them like have small talk, and then when we said mucho gusto, I realized that one of the hermanas name was one that I already knew. We felt silly haha.  I bet the Latinos get sick of us talking to them because we always try to work on our Spanish, and we are taking the time away from them talking to the rest of their district. They are so loving all the time.  I love it!! I teach them English words and they teach me Spanish words.

Thanksgiving here was great!! We had a devotional in the morning by Elder Oaks and his wife with a lot of musical numbers.  I thought it was interesting that both Washington and Lincoln said that the purpose of Thanksgiving was to give thanks to God, and for religious freedom.  Later, we had a Thanksgiving lunch, and it wasn´t the best Thanksgiving meal I´ve had, but they tried so hard!!! There was apple pie, pumpkin pie, ice cream, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, and gravy. They even had red, white, and blue tablecloths out.  The latinos were confused about the different food haha. It was pretty funny. Also, later, Elder Connell shared a bottle of Martinelli´s with our whole district.  He got the Martinelli´s from a package that his mom sent, and it finally felt like Thanksgiving was complete.

On Sunday, we got to watch Meet the Mormons and it was sooo good.  It was really funny at the end because there was a song by David Archuletta playing, and everyone looked at Hermana Arculetta.  I felt bad for her though because when she heard her Brother´s voice, she was crying because she missed him so much.

My most spiritual experience this week was listening to a devotional by Elder Bednar.  It was an old Christmas devotional broadcast, but anyway, he talked a lot about how the word repent can be replaced with turning outward, and that we, as missionaries, need to turn outward in love, compassion, and service.  It was a really good talk!!

Love,

Hermana Findlay