First Email and First Week In Mexico

Here is Elder Odlands first email he sent. Sounds like he has a busy schedule but is very much enjoying his time in the Mexico MTC. 

Well the CCM has been awesome! I have only been here for 6ish days and I have done so much! 

The first day we had a tour of the CCM and I met my first companion. His name is Elder Hales. He has been a great companion and a fun person to be around. He will be my companion for the next 6 weeks. He is going to Missouri too! We got to meet our district, we have 8 people in our district and 6 of them are going to independence with me! So I thought that was awesome! We will probably end up being companions again once we have been in the field for a while. After we met our district we went to our Casa (house). It’s like a small house with 5 rooms. Each room has a bathroom attached and you share the room with 3 other elders. The two other elders in our room are Elder Jake and Elder Smith. They are also awesome and Elder Jake is hilarious. The beds here already have sheets on them and it is pretty muggy and hot so I don’t really need a big blanket. They do provide a small blanket and that has been perfectly fine for me. The beds aren’t as big and comfortable as my bed at home haha. And I didn’t sleep very well the first couple nights because of the heat and the constant noise from outside of the CCM wall. Mexico City is so dense and busy! Constant car honking... But I slept pretty good last night and apparently I was snoring haha. So I guess Mexico makes me snore haha. So that was pretty much the first day. The second day was when the hard stuff started. We begin studying at 7am and we are constantly studying Spanish, the scriptures, or going to meeting until 930 at night. It is definitely the most my brain has had to work haha. But its good for me. I am used to the schedule now and I am starting to sleep better. So on the third day we were told that we have to teach an investigator in spanish and we just had the morning to prepare... the investigator is just like a teacher that is acting, but they are very convincing!! The first lesson with him, his name is Adan, went well. I could barely understand what he was saying and there were many awk silences where elder Hales and I had no idea what he said haha. And he doesn’t speak any English... The second day actually went worse than the first day, our lesson went by super fast, it is supposed to be a 30 min lesson, and we only took 10 min. Adan just wasn’t talking very much. But yesterday we taught him and it went awesome. I tried a different lesson prep strategy and I didn’t write down as much, Before we went In I said a prayer and just let the spirit guide me in what i said in Spanish. It went awesome. We taught him about baptism and some other stuff about his family and we got him to commit to be baptized on sept. first! I know he isn’t real, but I thought it was a great experience. And they are like trained actors or something haha, because they get really into the lesson and it feels like I am teaching someone that is discovering the gospel for the first time. After that lesson I felt so good and Thanked Heavenly father for the success we had! Today is my P day so I don’t teach him today, our next appt with him is tomorrow. I am definitely enjoying the CCM experience so far! there are so many spiritual people here! Its amazing! 

When Sunday came I was so happy! we don’t have as much studying that day and there are just devotionals with our district and all the missionaries. Sacrament meeting was all in Spanish so that was pretty awesome! And All of the other meetings were really good as well. I have never felt the spirit so strong than on that day. We listened to a talk by Jeffery R Holland and it really spoke to me. It answered so many questions that I had and made me know, without a doubt, that I am supposed to be here at the CCM. Sunday´s are definitely the best days here at the CCM. They are so spiritual! 

The food here is awesome! it is all you can eat authentic Mexican food! It is so good. I go for seconds every meal and Im pretty sure I probably put on a pound or two of weight haha. Each day we get 45 minutes of gym time; we always go and play basketball which is always fun and relaxing! So far I am really enjoying it here! I have learned so much and my testimony is definitely growing! I can’t wait to tell you guys about everything that happens! I will be able to email every P day, I only have an hour to email so if grammar and punctuation isn’t perfect that’s why haha.

I hope everyone is doing well! And I am doing Awesome here at the CCM! 

-Elder Odland

Mexico Sign-Elder Odland and Elder Hales                         Elder Odland and the Many Missionaries

-Elder Odland and the Missionaries