October 27, 2014
Hola!!! Como Estan? Como esta Virginia sin Richmandawg? Todo
bien aqui en mexico, y estoy muy animado para salir manana por el campo
misional! Ayer fue nuestro ultimo domingo aqui en el CCM, y fue perfecto. Todos
de los discursos eran buenos y tuve la oportunidad a cantar en el reunion
sacramental otra vez! Cantamos "If the savior stood beside me" pero
era en espanol!! Queria llorar durante esta cancion porque fue muy hermosa.
I'll let you guys translate that and see if between MJ and Nathan
and Dad they can figure it out. If not Google translate always works pretty
good.
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| Last picture with my district |
Well guys, today is my last day here at the Centro de
Capacitacion de Mexico. (Mexico City Missionary Training Center.) Anndddd its a mixed bag of feelings for me right
now...with mostly happiness though. I am so extremely happy to get out of here
and teach REAL people!!! So far all we have done is teach role plays to each
other and to our teachers, but starting this week I will get to teach real
people!! I am so excited. I am a little sad however, to say goodbye to all of
the friends here. I've gotten really close to many people, especially my
companions, and the other Elders in our house and in our zone. They are all way
cool and i wish that we could all go to the same mission. But i know that Ill
make more friends once i get to Reno, which will be fun.
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| Some of my favorite Latino friends |
This half-week has been just as awesome as the others. I love
the Hispanic people. For whatever reason we were just never that close to any Hispanics
until this week but they are hilarious!! They are seriously some of the
funniest people i have ever met, and I am pretty sure they think we are the
funniest people they have ever met too. One funny thing that happened this week
is the Elders that are staying in our house did their laundry, but instead of
laundry detergent they put a bar of soap in the washing machine!! We couldn’t
stop laughing because it was so funny. The next guy who was going to go use it
went to put his clothes in but there was like this clump of white stuff at the
bottom of the washing machine so he pulled it out and smelled it and it was
soap!! Then we asked them later what the deal was and they explained it. I can’t
blame them though...if it can clean our dirty hands then it ought to be able to
clean our dirty clothes too!!
So the road that is behind our house that is outside the fence
is still as crazy as described in past weeks. However this week we had a new
addition....... as if the other ones weren’t enough. Some guy with a big
tractor-trailer truck drives by at 5:30 every morning. And i am 99% sure that
he took off the mufflers from his exhaust pipes and instead put megaphones on,
cuz that truck is LOUD as all heck. Like its ridiculous how loud it is. And its
everyday at 5:30! Every morning at that time we are all woken up. We laugh/curse the guy driving it and then go
back to bed for another hour.
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| Our entire zone (zones are bigger than districts) |
I forgot to tell you guys about the wonderful devotional that we
had last Tuesday. The international directors of the MTCs came and spoke to us.
They showed us pictures of the other MTCs around the world, and it was way cool
to see people all around the world doing the same thing as us!! The England MTC
looked beautiful. But did you know that as of Tuesday morning at 8 am there
were 87,598 full time missionaries serving in the world!! And i am one of
them!! Also the director of all the mtcs told us that we were his favorite MTC,
because it was the biggest with the most beautiful campus. Just to put things
into perspective, the Provo MTC is about 30 acres big and has about 2000
missionaries there right now. Here at the one in Mexico we have just under 90
acres and we have 450 missionaries. So needless to say I am blessed to come to
a place with such a big, wonderful campus to learn!!
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Pics from my family at Halloween:
Grace is Minnie, James is a Redskins player,
Spencer is Olaf, my cousin Lucy is Elsa,
and cousin Violet is the ladybug. |
So what is everyone going to be for Halloween this year?? I saw
the costume that Spencer was wearing, is he going to be Olaf?? I loved that
costume. I took a picture of that picture on my camera so i can look back at
it. It is hilarious. But what about everyone else??
In a few days you guys should check out the Reno Nevada mission
blog, because i will probably be on it!! Apparently the Mission President's
wife updates it regularly so be sure to check it out!! The address is http://nevadarenomission.blogspot.com
One funny Spanish-English translations that get mixed up a lot
that can result in some very awkward/funny scenarios is as follows: In Spanish embarrasado is NOT embarrased, it
means pregnant. I’m sure you can imagine the funny things that are said with
that mistake.
One thing that i forgot to mention from a long time ago was that
the roads here in Mexico are crazy!! They have bumps put in everywhere so
people don’t speed, but it gets SO annoying. Like imagine riverside parkway
with bumps in it every 1/4 mile...its ridiculous.
Also one other thing that you guys should check out is this talk
that was in the Ensign a few months ago...one of the counselors in my branch
presidency wrote it, his name is Presidente Lima. He is awesome but the article
is SO cool, especially cuz i know who wrote it!! Here is the link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/06/amazed-at-the-love-jesus-offers-me?lang=eng
Be sure to check it out!
So some of my closest friends are the Elders who are staying in
our house with us. We are especially close with two of the companionships
because we have both been there the whole time. A few of the pictures from this
week include all of our housemates. 4 of them are going to serve in Salt Lake City;
one of them is going to Chapman Tagg’s mission!! I told him to look out for
Elder Tagg. But they are all really cool.
We enjoy playing pranks on each other
and having fun. So far the funniest prank that has been pulled was that we put
an alarm clock in the little closet with the iron in a different room, and set
the alarm for like 2 am, and then we put a cup of water in the closet and
positioned it so that when the closet would be opened, the cup of water would
spill all over the person who opened it. Needless to say, that prank took the
cake.
So last night was awesome. It was our last Sunday night here at
the MTC and we had a testimony meeting for all of us who got here together and
are now leaving together. It was incredible. The spirit was so strong it was
awesome. I was overcome with this feeling of emotion that I cant quite
describe. Right now I kinda feel like I am standing in the Huskies helmet on
the field and we are all jacked up on emotion ready to run out of the tunnel,
before a football game. Except instead of sprinting out onto the football
field, we are sprinting out into the mission field, just like a bunch of
stripling warriors ready to rock and roll. I can honestly say once again
that the Lord has blessed me with 100% confidence. Just like Ammon says in Alma
26:12 when he talks about how he doesn’t want to boast in his own strength, but
he is powerful because of the power of his God. I feel the same way. I know
that it is only through His strength that I am not nervous at all. I heard
someone say this scripture the other day so I looked it up and I love it, in
D&C 84:88 it says: "I will be on your right hand and on your left, and
my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you
up." I can feel him bearing me up. Last night I got almost no sleep
because we had to take Elder Cook to the bus drop off area at 2 in the morning (so
now it is just Me and Elder Agren, no more three-some) but he was up late
packing and stuff and I didn’t sleep well. But today i am not tired at all.
Again, I know that he is bearing me up on my right and left hands. I am sure it
will be the same thing again tonight because Elder Agren is leaving at 2 am
again, and I leave at 5, so there wont be much sleeping going on. But I know
that I can pray for help and guidance and support and he will come through.
Today kinda feels like the last day of school, because we aren’t
doing much. We still had to go to all of
our classes and stuff, but our minds are elsewhere.
I love you guys. You are the greatest. I know that the Messiah
has come, and that He will come again. I am SO excited to go share that
knowledge with the people in Nevada who are waiting for me.
I sure do love and miss everyone!!!!!
Love,
Richie
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My district plus Hermano Sainz
(who reminds me of my Uncle Chad Cannon) |
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| Bein' goofballs |
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| My companions and two of our teachers |
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| Goofin' off with the whole zone |
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