MONDAYYYYYY!!!

¡HOLA! 

In all honesty, not a ton has happened since Friday when I emailed last. Saturday was just another typical day at the CCM. Sunday was fast Sunday because of General Conference and we had a really great testimony meeting. Our district and 12A got to sing a special musical number and it was probably not the best, but the spirit was really strong, and in the end that’s all that matters!

We also had several devotionals like we always do. We heard another talk given by Elder Holland that was amazing, but I don’t have my notes with me so I couldn’t tell you what it was called. It was amazing though, because they always are! They made a new rule here that the hermanas have to sit in the front of the auditorium during devotionals so we can’t sit with our district and it’s really frustrating. We get a lot of special treatment here, but a lot of it isn’t wanted and feels more like punishment, haha! Hermana H was so upset that she started crying.. and I didn’t know what to do, but I felt really bad.

We have decided that we are probably going to have to disguise ourselves as elders this weekend so that we can sit with our district during General Conference this weekend. WE GET TO WATCH GENERAL CONFERENCE LIVE!!! I’m so stoked about it! 

Okay now for the most important news I have for you guys this week. Last night we got our travel plans and.. I LEAVE MONDAY!! Monday.. I can’t even believe it. We leave the CCM at 4:30pm drive 2 or so hours to the airport and then our flight from Mexico leaves at 8:25pm. We fly 8 and a half hours to Santiago and get there around six in the morning.. then we have a 6 hour lay-over in Santiago until our flight for Osorno leaves. Luckily that flight is only an hour and a half! It’s gonna be a looooong day, BUT I’m so pumped!!

Well people, that’s about all I have for you this week. Nothing crazy has happened since Friday, and I won’t have anything super out of the ordinary to write about until next time! I can’t wait for this crazy adventure, and just think, the next time I write you all it will be from Chile!!! WOOT WOOT!! Don’t get me wrong, I’m terrified. This week in the CCM has been super humbling and I honestly feel like I know next to nothing, but I know that the only way I’m really going to be able to learn the language and learn to be a missionary is if I jump right into it! So wish me luck, I’m sure I’ll need it!

I love you all so much and I really hope things are going well! I promise my email next week will be a lot more eventful! I’m sure I will have so much to say I won’t even be able to say everything! It’ll be craaaaaazyyy!!! But until then, just know that I am so so happy and that I cannot wait to share the gospel with the people in Chile!! Eeeeee I gotta go! Keep on keepin’ on!

hugs,

Hermana Sessions

ONE MONTH.. WUT??

I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely can’t believe I left a month ago today. Most days here it feels like it’s been a year and a half already, but I also feel like I just got here yesterday. Time is such a weird concept. If I misspell a zillion words in this email I apologize in advance, this computer underlines every word in red as if it’s misspelled so it’s really, really hard to read what I’ve written.

This week.. was honestly the same as the others. I wish I could say that something crazy and out of the ordinary happened, but I’m not supposed to lie as a missionary, so I can’t do that, haha. Last Saturday we had TRC which I think probably stands for “teaching recent converts” but I could be wrong. Hermana H and I taught a somewhat recent convert and a member and honestly just talked to them about their lives and got to know them. It wasn’t much of a planned lesson, but it still went really well and we were able to feel the spirit. 

What else.. there’s a really awesome missionary couple here from Arizona. They work as mental health counselors here at the MTC and for all of the missionaries serving in Mexico City. They’re super great! Elder Packard is the first counselor in our branch and we joke that his wife, Hermana Packard is the second counselor because well.. she practically is. Anywho.. we love them, but Hermana Packard is going home for a while tomorrow to figure out some health issues and she won’t be back until after we head to Chile so I’m really sad about that.. she’s the sweetest and has taken good care of us.

We had a pretty hilarious experience with a Latino here. We were asking if they had hills or mountains in Mexico and he said they were “cerros” which means hills.. so then he asked us what it was called in English and we told him “hill”. Well I’ve never ever realized it before but apparently hill and hell sound very similar, so he thought we said hell, and then was like "infierno..??" Huge misunderstanding, but way funny! English is hard.. hill, heel, hell, hail.. I’m glad I’m not learning English. He also thought brand and bread were the same word.. poor guy!

Alright.. I’m gonna run out of time pretty soon here, but I leave in roughly 10 days for Chile!!! WUT!!!??? I definitely can’t speak Chilean Spanish.. I can’t even speak Mexican Spanish and they’re dumbing it down for us like crazy here. I can’t wait to leave though and to get to my mission! I’m sOooOoOo stoked!! Wish me luck though.. I’m going to need it for a while! I’ll be lucky if I even get a word in in the next couple of months.

We were able to watch two older devotionals last Sunday.. one from Elder Bednar and one from Elder Holland. They were both amazing as always, but I especially liked Elder Holland’s. I actually have always just loved Holland so I’m probably super biased. Also, everyone in my district is passing around a talk called “The Fourth Missionary” and it is honestly incredible.. even if you’re not going on a mission, not currently a missionary, or never have been a missionary.. you should definitely still read it! Honestly it’s like the key to life. So many good quotes.. way too many to choose from, but one of my favorites is, "The purpose and central blessing of this life is change." Chills.. something to remember at least. 

Okay I’m definitely, totally, without a doubt, out of time! But I love you all so much, and I hope all is well! My p-day next week will be Wednesday so you’ll hear from me again in no time, but until then.. know that I love you all and that I am so thankful for your prayers and support! 

CON MUCHO AMOR,

and hugs,

Hermana Sessions

Bueno, bueno, bueno, bien!

HOLA!!!

What to say, what to say.. I still love it here! I honestly don’t want to leave in a couple weeks. I’m super excited to go to Chile, but I am going to miss the CCM and my district so much!

Last Saturday I completely lost my voice. It was such a rough day and all of the elders in my district were roasting me so hard because I couldn’t sass them back. We also taught a lesson to our investigator and I had to whisper the entire time and it was such a struggle! Not only was I trying to speak Spanish, but I had to whisper and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he didn’t have a clue what I was saying. On Sunday Hermana H and I had to teach a 50 minute lesson in relief society and luckily I had my voice back, but I sounded awful. Anyway, the lesson went really well.. so that was good!

Both of our teachers started school so we got two new teachers this week. Hermano Tapia and Hermano Barroterran. Hermano Barroterran is fresh off his mission and is only 20 so it’s kinda weird that we’re the same age, haha! We taught Hermano Barroterran for the first time and it went really well, but at the end of the lesson I asked him when we could visit him next and after he responded I said, "Bueno, bueno, bueno, bien!" faster than you can even imagine and Hermana H won’t let me live it down. Also, I can’t say it that fast again to save my life.

Oh, I also decided to be slightly disobedient and I allowed myself 5 minutes to play soccer with the elders.. I kid you not, 2 minutes after I started playing, just as I made a pretty sweet cross the gym instructor came cruising by on his bike and said, "Hermana, you can’t play with the elders!" So moral of the story.. be exactly obedient.

We had two devotionals from Provo over the past week. One on Sunday night and one on Tuesday night from Elder Ballard and Elder Cook! They were both really amazing, but at the moment I can’t really remember what their talks were centered on. I don’t have my notebook with  me either so I lose, but just know that they were amazing as usual!

OHHHH!! And (Hermana B) got here on Tuesday and I saw her in the comedor and was SO happy to see her! It’s so fun to have friends here! Especially good friend! She’s in my zone I’m pretty sure.. which I’m not sure means anything here, but it’s still so good to see her around.

Last night we were able to watch this huge Mexican Independence Day ceremony which consisted of a ton of cultural dances, but it was really neat, and really loud!! We also heard fireworks and music all night, so sleeping was kinda hard.. but all is well.

Okay, I’m so sorry! I’m out of time and I haven’t even bothered to include a spiritual thought. I’ll make up for it next week! Oh and I’m going to try to send some pictures later today after the temple. Love you all so much and hope things are well back home! Keep on keepin’ on! 

Much love,

Hermana Sessions

** The picture of some of the elders in my district is necessary because we’ve decided we are all characters from The Office. In the picture there’s Michael Scott, Dwight, Andy, and Jim. Enjoy!

CCM or Junior High??

I don’t have a lot of time to write this week, but it was such a good week and it flew by compared to the first 10 days! I love it here, but I have to laugh because sometimes sitting in class all day with 10 elder feels like I’m sitting in a class full of 7th graders. A few days ago, some of the elders were tossing a duct tape ball back and forth whenever our teacher wasn’t looking. Also I forgot to talk about my teacher last time. We have two teachers that are also our investigators. Hermano Osorio and Hermano Trejo. They’re both in their early twenties and are from Mexico, they’re super great!

On Tuesday night we were able to hear a live devotional from the Provo MTC! Elder D. Todd Christofferson was the speaker and it was amazing. I didn’t even come close to falling asleep this time!

So another reason I feel like I’m in junior high.. on Tuesday, the day before my birthday, I found this chocolate egg sitting on my desk and had no idea who it was from. It had this little toy inside of it and it was totally weird. I thought maybe it was one of the sister training leaders in our zone, but totally wasn’t. Well yesterday.. I found out that it was some random elder from another district and all the elders in my district told me not to worry about anything because they were talking care of it. They seriously all feel like protective brothers. Funny enough the mystery elder/secret admirer’s name is Elder Paul. I have yet to see him, but I just thought I’d let you know that creepy things happen here..

My birthday was amazing! It definitely just felt like another day, but so many fun things happened and I loved every second of it. Thank you to everyone who emailed me and sent me birthday wishes! I love you all! I was spoiled with three packages.. a tier of Krispy Kreme donuts, a chocolate cake, and tons of candy. Our entire district suffered from sugar comas that´s for sure. Also, the sister training leaders organized a game of indoor soccer with a bunch of hermanas and I had so much fun! I didn’t really realize how much I miss playing until I got here and all I see are elders playing soccer everyday, and I just have to sit back and cry because I can’t play, haha! It was too much fun and I really hope that the hermanas can play again sometime before I leave the CCM.

Okay last funny moment, at dinner the other night one of our elders, Elder B (he is like the district clown.. so funny, and he’s shorter than me by like a half inch) found a hair in his food, and the way he handled it was just the best. He was all, "I found it! I found the hair! What do I get.. where’s my prize!" I was mid chewing a bite of a bean burrito and I was laughing so hard for so long that I couldn’t swallow my bite once I stopped laughing. Every time I attempted to swallow I just gagged and it probably took me a solid 10 minutes with about a gag/minute to swallow my bite of burrito without throwing up!

Really quickly, something that I loved from the devotional on Tuesday night was a quote from David O. McKay, "It is greater to be trusted, than to be loved." Another thing Elder Christofferson said was, "Yes, He loves you, but can He trust you?" I love this because Heavenly Father loves every single one of his children unconditionally, but just because he loves us doesn’t mean he can trust as. That is up to us. He’ll never stop loving us, but we have to earn his trust. As missionaries we have to work our hardest, be obedient, and do everything we can to earn his trust. I for one want to be someone that He can trust any time, any where, with anything! So I’m trying my best every single day to earn His trust.. because as great as it is to be loved, how great is it to be trusted?

I love you all and hope you all had an amazing week! Thank you so much for your support and love.. as Elder Braswell would say, "Shout out to you!" 

Hugs, 

Hermana Sessions

HOOOOOOLLLLLAAAA!!!

Hola mi familia y amigos!!!

Where do I even begin? I honestly don't have a clue where to start so I guess I'll start at the very beginning.. I've heard it's a very good place to start!

The plane ride was insane! I would say there were maybe ten people on the flight from Salt Lake to Mexico City that weren't missionaries. Some of the missionaries even got to sit in first class just because since there were sooooo many of us. I was literally worried we were going to fall out of the sky because of how heavy our luggage must have been. But don't you even fret because when we arrived at the airport they informed us that 49 bags were missing.. HA! I suppose we had to stay in the air somehow, am I right? Luckily my only bag that was missing was the one I packed for Chile with all my cold weather attire #blessed. Since I had to report my lost bag I was one of the very last missionaries to go through customs and was on the last bus ride to the CCM. There were several Hermanos that work at the Mexico MTC waiting for us that made sure we were all there and then led us to the bus. The bus ride was at least an hour or so and oh my goodness, I have never been more terrified in my entire life. The streets here are INSANE! Seriously! like I have no idea how there aren't at least twenty twenty accidents every minute.

When we arrived they gave us an envelope full of information and two name tags and all of the sister immediately put them on right away. Then we had an orientation, had to show our immunization records and were able to email for what felt like 2 seconds to let our families know that we had made it safe. After that some hermanas helped us with our suitcases and took us to our casa. IT WAS POURING RAIN! POURING!! We live in Casa 9. It's orange, and it´s pretty stinking cute! Then we went straight to dinner, or what was left of it, and straight to a devotional which was almost entirely in Spanish and it literally took everything in me not to fall asleep, haha. After that we were allowed to go straight home to get ready for bed, and surprisingly, I didn't even cry myself to sleep. Honestly, I hadn't even had 2 seconds to cry until today.. and I only cried a little.

My companion is Hermana H from Salem, Oregon. She's the girl who's´s going to my same mission that I stalked on Instagram after I got my call. She is super great! I honestly laugh at her pretty often because she says some of the funniest things. She is obsessed with geology and meteorology and tells me all about rock formations and how clouds are formed and why it rains. She reminds me so much of my cousin Sarah, just not athletic in the slightest and way different at the same time. She kills me. Her hiccups are the loudest things I've ever heard and her laugh is up there as well. Too much fun!

So the food here is decent. I was definitely expecting a lot worse. But it's just never really something I'm looking forward too. I found a little bone of sorts in my beans on like the third day and I haven't dared to eat them since. Cereal is always a go to if there's absolutely nothing else that looks appealing, but I usually at least try what they have to offer. Once I tried papaya and took one little bite and gagged so hard my entire district looked at me like I was crazy. All of the food makes me feel pretty gross, but at least they have cereal, watermelon, and Nutella. Speaking of Nutella, they have this candy here called Bueno Bars and they are heaven. Think of a kit-kat with Nutella inside.. If I gain weight while here in the CCM, I blame the Bueno Bars 100%.

My typical day starts with waking up, getting ready (4 girls to one shower, bathroom, mirror, you name it), going to our classroom in the Wilford Woodruff building for personal study, the breakfast. After breakfast three or so hours of studying, TALL which is a language rogram on the computers that makes me want to sleep but is probably really helpful. Then we have lunch, gym time, (those switch from day to day), and we head to prepare lessons and teach our investigator for another solid three hours. Man, our first few lessons with our investigator/teacher, Ricardo/Hermano Trejo were rough. I don't speak spanish yet, that's for sure. That being said, the gift of tongues is so real. Honestly, somehow we make our way through our lessons that are a lovely combination of Spanish, English, and French (Hermana H took 3 years in high school). After teaching we have dinner, language study, study, sudy, study, and plan for more study.. haha! 

My district (12D)  is amazing! I love them all so much. Sometimes they're a little crazy and loud during language study, but I'd say if that's their only flaw, we are pretty golden. I want to talk about them all but I don't have time. There are 5 elder companionships and me and Hermana H so we're a little outnumbered. They're awesome though! Super funny and super spiritual, and just awesome! I'll tell more about them late.

So there's a rule here that the elders and sisters are't allowed to play any contact sports together, but I want nothing more than to play soccer with the elders everyday during gym. I at least convince them to play lightning with me and Hermana H every once and a while.

Seriously running out of time here, and I'm sorry I'm so late getting on. We were able to go to the temple on our very first p-day and it was AMAZING! It's was absolutely wonderful and incredible and I really wish I had time to say more. The bus ride was like an hour though so it took so much time out of our day.

The CCM is honestly beautiful and I love it here! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary. I'm doing my very best to learn the language and become the best missionary I can be before I'm shipped down to the bottom of the world. I have already learned so much. Occasionally when I feel like I can't speak Spanish to save my life I have to remind myself that I have only been here 10 days.. haha, crazy right!? Anyway I don't have time to say anything else other than I stumbled upon D&C 31 and fell in love because wow. So read it if you have time. It's a great missionary chapter.

I love you all so much an miss you tons! But I'll see you real soon, I promise. And until then just know that I'm so happy to be a part of the Lord's work!

xoxo,

Hermana Sessions

p.s. We’re supposed to get to those green circles painted on the street as fast as possible if there’s an earthquake here.. fun!