The adventure begins...

Hi everyone!

It has been a crazy, but great, first week here at the CCM. 

We taught our first lesson last Friday all in Spanish. It was very challenging. I'm struggling a lot with translating the thoughts and things I want to say into Spanish but it's coming. It is unbelievable how much new vocabulary I've learned in the past week. I can already see my Spanish improving and a lot of what I learned in High School is definitely coming back to me. 

We taught our second lesson on Saturday and I did not feel like that one went as well. My companion wanted to go more off the cuff for this one and teach by the Spirit. I wanted to make an outline. We ended up kind of stumbling through the lesson, rambling a little bit, and I actually got so anxious that by the end of the lesson I was covered in hives. I think we learned our lesson that following the Spirit still means having a plan but being able to adapt that plan as the need arises. 

You know one thing I totally forgot to pack?  Bug spray. There are so many mosquitos here. But you know what's even worse than mosquitos? An infestation of ants. In your closet. More specifically, in my clothes. That has been stressing me out a little bit but we've been spraying some mysterious cleaning spray we found in the closet on them and it seems to be helping so all is well. 

Sunday was a really great day. The focus of the whole day was the Character of Christ. It was mentioned in a few lessons that without the character that Christ had, the Atonement would not have been possible. It was a really inspiring day and probably my favorite of the week. We watched a talk at night from Elder Bednar about Christ and he talked about how, in the times of Christ's greatest affliction, He always turned outward when the natural man in each of us would turn inward and worry about ourselves. He challenged us to study the Bible and Book of Mormon and just focus on the character of Christ. Not what He taught, but who He was. I'm planning on starting that.

Later in the week my companion got sick so I ended up being a threesome with the other Sisters in my district. I really, really like them. I really like my whole district, actually. 

Yesterday, we had a service project. It was to clean one of the houses in preparation for new missionaries arriving. It was kinda crazy. First we swept the whole house, then we just poured water all over the floor. Like tons of water. Then we used the broom to sweep the water around the house. Then we pushed all the water outside the front door. Don't worry, we weren't just making this up. It was all under the instruction of the workers here. I guess when all your floors are tile, that's the way to do it! 

Last night we had a live devotional from Alan Walker, an Area Authority. He talked about how you need to keep your own fire burning as a missionary. He said that our personal study time in the morning is for us to be our own investigator which was good to hear because I had been wondering whether I should be using that time to study in Spanish or English. Now I feel like for the time being, it's okay to study in English. 

Last night we had a meeting with our district as well. We talked about how we ended up on missions, why we are here, how we feel about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really powerful meeting and I think it brought us all closer together
  

I am safe.  I am happy.  I am learning so, so much.  And I'm having fun, too!  Don't worry about me, I'm just fine!  Here's some pictures to prove it!

 

My district

The food is getting better - lunch today!

Mi Casa 

Some of the scenery...

Where to stand during an earthquake

Lego hands?  Quidditch goals?

???

Thank you to everyone who wrote me this week!  We only have an hour on the computers so it's a little bit of a time crunch.  If you did not hear from me yet, you will next week.  

Love,

Hermana Meise

Note from mom:  We were SO HAPPY to get her email today!  I had a chance to chat back and forth with her while she was on the computer.  She says the weather is perfect.  Her companion (the one with the dark hair) is also going to the Oregon Salem Mission.  Hayley HATES ants. She always has. Poor thing! Don't know if she is pulling our leg about the earthquake circle...I have a feeling she is not.