Week Seven: Back in the States!!!

With my mission president and his wife:
President and Sister David Hermansen

November 3, 2014

Well guys, I made it!! I love it here!! It is so much fun. My companion is Elder Rivera. He is the man!!  He is from Peru, so his native language is Spanish, which is great. I actually think I speak more Spanish throughout the day here in Reno than when I was in Mexico. 

Traveling from Mexico City to Reno
(via LA and San Francisco)

But anyways, my first night was not very fun at all. We got in about 5 or 6 and went to the mission office, where we met the mission president and his wife. Because we got in late, we didn’t meet our trainers that night - they just assigned us to live with some random missionaries who lived in the areas right around the office. I was assigned to this apartment with three really cool elders, but I was STARVING and extremely tired because I hadn’t slept well in two nights straight. There was like no food in the apartment, and only two beds, so I was on the floor. I didn’t have all of my suitcases; I only pulled out a change of clothes and a towel so I had nothing to sleep with. It was freakin freezing and I had like no blanket except the towel i brought with me. That was my first taste of homesickness. All i could think about that night was how long two years was. 

New missionaries arriving in Reno on October 28th
(with our mission president and his wife)

But, as things always do, things got WAY better the next day. I went back to the mission office where we had orientation with the mission president and all of the mission leaders. They fed us a good lunch and all was well. They then announced who my trainer would be, and because he was still traveling to the mission home, I spent the rest of the evening with the two assistants. They had a dinner scheduled, so I was able to go to dinner with them which was fun (they served spaghetti - surprise surprise haha!)  But then that night my companion arrived and we met up and drove to our house. So we actually live in a members house!! It’s way cool and there are some things to be grateful for...we don’t have to go to a laundromat and pay for our laundry, nor do we have to pay for our laundry detergent, which is nice. And the neighborhood we live in is super nice. 

8 Spanish-speaking missionaries in the Vista Branch

So I am serving in the Vista Branch in Sparks, NV. It’s great. There are actually 8 of us Spanish missionaries here, which is a lot for one small branch. But apparently most of the Spanish-speaking elders in our mission spend most of their time in "zebra" land where they only teach like half of the lessons in Spanish, and the other half in English. So i am so glad to be where I am. Our branch mission leader is awesome. Hermano Verduzco is his name, and he is hilarious. He reminds me of grandpa because he is always joking around and stuff and likes to poke fun at everyone else. 

With my companion, Elder Rivera in our car

We have our own car, which is way nice because it is FREEZING here. The first three days here were beautiful, but then it got way cold all the sudden and now we are like freezing our butts off cuz I don’t have all of my warm clothes...so mom please send the long johns and everything else ASAP hahaa. Our area is actually brand new because they split an old area, so both my companion and me are starting from ground zero. We don’t have much to go off of now, because our area book was practically empty, so we have spent almost all of our time just street contacting people. We have had some success, and have been able to set up a few appointments for this week. We are just trying to get the ball rolling, slowly and steadily. The work is slow, but we are being patient. 

We get $125/month so one of the most stressful things for me so far is how to budget that with food and everything. That covers food, clothes, everything.  I'm gonna learn how to budget, thats for sure haha. But if you want to send me money, don’t send a check, because i have no way to cash it…just send cash or gift cards.

We are supposed to get iPads before the end of the year, which will be awesome!!! I think i will be able to talk to everyone more once that happens. I will be on Facebook and everything daily when that happens.

Love you all,

Elder Todd

Selfie with my awesome comp, Elder Rivera 

Chillin' in Nevada

Beautiful view from our street

The first thing I saw when I got off the plane...

Hangin' out with the two AP's on my first day in the mission field
(AP stands for Assistant to the President)

Week Six: Last Week in the Missionary Training Center!!

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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

My district plus Hermano Sainz
(who reminds me of my Uncle Chad Cannon)

Bein' goofballs

My companions and two of our teachers

Goofin' off with the whole zone

Week Five: Can't Wait to Have an In-N-Out Burger!

My District with one of our favorite teachers - Hermano Martinez (in the center)

October 22, 2014

Whats up guys?!? I can NOT believe how fast the time here has gone. i feel like i just got here yesterday. Its weird to think that three months ago we were in Europe...that feels like last week to me!!

Holding my check-out documents....
I'll be back in the USA next week!

On monday they gave us our itinerary and check-out documents which is actually too bad cuz now we cant focus in class!! we are all too excited. i leave here at 5 in the morning next tuesday, which is actually like way nice cuz 90% of the other missionaries are leaving at like 2 in the morning...which sounds terrible!!

So when i saw one of the pictures that you guys sent me i coulda sworn that MJ was Aunt Missy....i had to do a double take!!! It was crazy!! It must be the hair. 

The weather here has settled into a consistent pattern, and the rain has become way more common that my first two weeks. Every morning is chilly and cloudy. then by like

A storm rollin in one evening

lunch time the clouds burn off and its beautifully blue and sunny until about 6 when the clouds come back in and it rains from like 7-9 every night. and then it all starts over. i dont mind it, cuz our gym time is always beautiful so we can play kickball or sand volleyball with everyone. Yesterday we found a rugby ball and used it to play a game of football, but we got in trouble so we could only play for like 30 minutes :(.

So Saturday Elder Anderson from the Quorum of the Twelve came!!!! it was awesome. the whole CCM was buzzing with excitement. We were all singing in the auditorium when he came in and we all stood up as he walked in. Then he asked to shake all of our hands so we all went through and shook his hand!! it was so neat!!! i told him thanks for coming and he said that no it was his pleasure!!! we all felt like fan girls hahahaha. but he gave a great talk about the atonement and how we need to apply it to our lives before we can properly go and tech it to others. He brought with him Elder Maynes from the seventy and one of the area presidents from here in Mexico. It was way cool.

On Sunday for our devotional we watched a previous devotional from Elder Holland. It was awesome!! I’ve said this before but all of the apostles are like 10x funnier when its just missionaries. He was talking about how much trust the Lord has in us and he said "Its truly amazing that the Lord has put the future of his church in the hands of a bunch of escapees from the Aaronic priesthood." we all got a kick out of that. At the end of his devotional he gave a dedicatory prayer to some new buildings in the BYU MTC and i could not believe how powerful his prayer was. it blew us all away. it was a good lesson to me that i need to do a better job of saying more meaningful prayers. 

oh and one scary thing happened this week though...our house is right on the edge of campus and just over the wall one night we heard a bunch of gunshots and screams and then we heard a bunch of sirens a little while later...we´re not sure exactly what happened but it sure made us grateful for the 10 foot wall that separates us from the rest of the city!!!!!

The Latinos wanted to take a selfie...haha!

We had a trio of Latino elders move into our house this week, so we have been able to get really tight with them and practice our Spanish. they are hilarious. one thing about all the Latinos is they like to use what little English they know with us. they like to call their fellow Latinos "handsome" and they use it like its a bad thing. like when a group of Latinos is introducing themselves with us they will say "oh he is the most handsome out of all of us" and he gets all embarrassed but then we all crack up with each other. the other thing is they are all like WAY short. so even though i am average height for an American, they call me Alto Todd and stuff. its funny. Everyone also calls me Elder Todo instead of Elder Todd, because at first glance a lot of the Latinos think it says Todo. so that is fun. 

so i would be lying if i said everything was easy here.  At times i have felt overwhelmed but then i remember the little quote in a frame sitting in the family room that says something like "God please help me remember that nothing is going to happen today that you and I cant accomplish." i love that quote!!  The Lord is building my patience, slowly but surely. So i can only be grateful for all of my hard times. 

Anyways, i love you guys. You give me so much strength, its incredible. I truly am blessed to have such a great, wonderful, strong support system back home. Some of my peers here don’t get to experience the same support. Always remember to read your scriptures; there is so much to be learned in them. i cherish my one hour of personal study each day like its worth its time in gold.

I should be able to email you guys on Monday, just a heads up. but if not ill talk to you when i get back to the USA!!! i have been dreaming about an In-n-Out burger.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Todd

The Elders in our district

Our classroom

Our messy room before we cleaned it

Garbage truck piled high with garbage
...notice the three hombres hangin off the back!

The streets are flooded!  (the drains here are terrible)