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!