Getting rid of pride... and the ants!

Hi everyone!

I really can't believe how fast this past week has gone! Feels like just yesterday I was writing last week's email.

We taught a few more lessons this week. Some I felt went really well, others not so much. Overall, though, I think I'm improving. One of the things I'm really working on is trying to get rid of the "pride" aspect of speaking this language. Personally, saying something in Spanish when I'm not sure that it's right or that it's grammatically correct is really hard for me because I don't want to seem stupid. BUT I'm trying to think of learning Spanish right now as a tool rather than being about ME learning Spanish. I'm not learning Spanish for my own knowledge or for the ways I'll be able to use it professionally, I'm learning Spanish because there are specific people Heavenly Father wants me to help and the best way to help THOSE SPECIFIC people is by being able to speak to them in Spanish. This isn't about me; nothing about this time in my life is about me. So now I've been just trying to say whatever I feel like I need to say without worrying about whether it's "right". I usually can communicate pretty effectively but sometimes it's really frustrating.

We watched a video this week from Elder Holland that I really liked. He was talking about why missionary work is so hard. He said "Missionary work isn't easy because Salvation never was a cheap experience." I really loved that. He went on to talk about Christ and how much He suffered and how we shouldn't expect it to be easy for us when it was never easy for Him. He said that when we have thoughts of "Why can't this be easier?" we should remember that Christ also asked if there was no other way:  "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me...." (Luke 22:42).  I think now, more than at any other time in my life, I am filled with gratitude for the Savior's sacrifice for us. We watched another video from Elder Holland later in the week where he talked about Peter and that made me really happy.

So, the day after I emailed last week, we went and talked to Hermana Jones, one of the older ladies here, about our ant problem and THAT DAY we had a man out spraying our room and can of Raid waiting for us on our front step. She said she just talked to "the guy who gets things done" (I think she meant the President) and once he heard about our situation he sent people right away. SO GRATEFUL.

The food here is actually really yummy. The only questionable meal is breakfast. Sometimes they serve hoagies or breaded chicken fingers.  It's okay, though, because there's always a toast station that has Nutella!

Let me preface this next part by saying that I AM SAFE. Mexico City, however, is not. We are CONSTANTLY hearing gunshots, screaming, dogs barking, and small explosions. We asked our teacher about it and he said that's a really common thing in Mexico City, people just setting off small explosives in random places all the time.

Security entrance into the CCM

Now to Mom's questions! 

• What are you doing for exercise? We do every other day cardio and weight room! They have Elypticals which is nice but not treadmills. In the weight room I just do squats and the Pilates 5 series and that kind of stuff! Today we did district yoga to celebrate P-day!
• Where are the other two girls in your district from and where are they going? Hermana Baros (the darker haired one) is from Draper, UT and going to Scottsdale, AZ. Hermana Standiford (the red haired one) is from Bakersfield, CA and going to New Mexico.
• Are you writing in your journal every night? Yes!! I think I've missed one night but I made up for it the next night. 
• Have you received any "dear elder" letters yet?  Or the one I sent through USPS? I received one from you and some from others but that's it.
• Are you allowed to read any of that mail on any day or just on P-day?  I can read that mail any day. I got those last Saturday so it was the perfect in between. 

Love you tons!! 

Hermana Meise 

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pics....we're only allowed to take pictures on P-day so it makes it really tricky. I'll be better next week.

Note from mom:  So that means the pouch mail "dear elder" letters (see side bar for link) got there in six days!