This week marks one month that I've been here at the CCM. So crazy!!! It's even crazier that I will leave the CCM and be out in the field in Boise in like a week and a half! I'm excited but also getting very sad, because I totally love it here. I'm especially soooo sad to leave my district and my companion. They're like my best friends! But I know that the work waiting for me in Idaho is what is most important, and the time when I will really be able to see God's hand in my life and in the lives of those I will serve. That's when my mission will really start!
So much stuff has happened in this past week! My district and I got the chance to go to the temple again last week, and it was another amazing experience. The work done in temples is so important and I am so grateful that I have been able to go and perform those sacred ordinances for 2 of my ancestors since I've been here at the CCM! It's so cool to go back and look at their charts on the Family History website and see which temples their work has been done in, and to now see "Mexico City" on there!
This week we had our first "real" missionary teaching lessons. We had this activity called TRC which is when volunteers from around the city come and are taught a 15 minute lesson by a pair of missionaries. The volunteers are a mix of all genders, ages, religions, etc. Me and my companion were SO scared because we haven't taught anyone besides our teachers up until this point! We got extremely lucky and both of our lessons were with volunteers who were members of the church. We first taught two girls who were in their early 20s, they were really nice, but it was very clear that they could not understand our spanish very well...we were struggling. We then taught two really young teenage boys. Our lesson with them went way better, they seemed to understand more and were more willing to help us out when we couldn't find the words to say in spanish. They boosted our spirits a little after our first lesson with the girls, but overall, it was a hard and scary experience. We have to do TRC again next week, and I am dreading it, but we have been working harder at our lessons and our spanish since the first time, so hopefully we will see some improvement!
Our district has still been having tons of fun. We play volleyball together everyday for our gym time, and we always have SO much fun. My 3 years of volleyball experience are really coming in handy too because I am the only person in my district who at least knows a little of what they are doing when we play. Needless to say, they are all very impressed with my skills. Hahaha. Gym time is definitely me and my companion's favorite part of the day. We get to just do whatever and play sports for an hour, and then we have "prep time" for like 45 minutes so we get to just go back to our room, relax, eat snacks, and take a break for a little. Seriously, that time is a luxury to us. It really gets us through the day.
Last night we had the incredible experience of having Elder Soares from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come and speak to us. Everyone here was SO excited, it was like having our very own celebrity come here! I actually was stoked because I have never seen or heard from an Apostle in real life. It was amazing, when he walked in the chapel the spirit was just overwhelming and immediately testified to everyone in the room that we were in the presence of a true apostle of the Lord. His happiness was contagious, and he assured us of how often the First Presidency and General Authorities of the church pray for the missionaries. It was a feeling like no other knowing how important me, and all the other missionaries, are to them and how much love they have for us and the work we are doing. It was so reassuring and motivating. The message he shared with us was about preparing to face evil in our lives. He stressed the fact that, most often, we don't seek out evil, but that it will always find us in the most unexpected ways, and so we must constantly be preparing to face this evil. If we are prepared, our goodness will ALWAYS overpower evil, it won't even stand a match.
Normally at the end of my emails I share a scripture that I liked from the week, but this week I want to share a video. It is one that the church put out for Easter a couple years ago, so those of you who are members of the church will be familiar with it, but I think it is one of the most amazing videos. I have watched it SO many times, even since I have been here, but it never loses the effect it has on me. I will put the link to the video at the end of this. Hopefully it works, but if not you can find the video on youtube or lds.org and it is called "Because of Him" Everything we are and everything we can be is because of Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice he made for us. We would be nothing, and know nothing of joy and love, were it not for him. He is our Savior, our Redeemer, and our Brother. I love this quote from a famous church speaker, Brother Brad Wilcox, "How lucky are we, that we have a Savior who chose to become like us, so that we could choose to become like Him" https://www.
Thank you all for your emails, prayers, thoughts, and constant love. It means the world to me!! I'm sending all my love from Mexico City! Have a great week!
Hermana Rawlins <3
Pictures:
1. Weekly dysfunctional district picture. It's impossible to get one with all of us looking/smiling so we take what we can get.
2. Hermanas with our friends Elder Marcom and Elder Guiliani from a different district
3. Me and my comp during our service activity for the week- yard work!
4. Me and my comp at the temple
5. Hermanas at the temple wearing our (sort of) matching faldas we got from the tienda!
