Last week in the CCM -- Ready for El Salvador

Thats my favorite line from Llamados a Servir. Called to serve. "Ready, Always Ready" Thats how I feel this week. IM SO READY TO GET TO EL SALVADOR!!!! Really I can´t wait. And it doesn´t even seem real. I can´t believe I really am on my last week here in el CCM. It feels like we just dont ever get to leave this place, but we do. and i do! next week!! Still not quite sure the exact day we leave. They will post it hopefully later today or tomorrow. But i will have the chance to email you before I leave anyways so be looking for that. I am guessing that my flight leaves early tuesday morning, which means we would leave el CCM in the middle of the night on monday, but that is a total guess. So who knows. It really hasnt even hit me yet, but i just cant even express to you how excited I am. Im not even that nervous. Which Im sure i will be feeling nervous when we are actually leaving, but not yet. Sure its gonna be tough, especially with the spanish and all...and considering I probably only have a few normal showers (as in not bucket showers) left to take haha. Its gonna be crazy. Im so excited to get to teach real people and share the gospel with people who really don´t have the truth and for those who are searching for happiness in their lives. Anyways so this last week went by SUPER fast. Like I dont even know what to say it went by so quickly. Oh I guess I could tell you that last weekend I got a little sick. Just a cold. But it really made me realize how hard it is to get sick as a missionary. I was just so tired, and I really didnt sleep well on friday night i think it was. So saturday I woke up exhausted and it just made me realize that as a missionary if you get sick, there isnt much help for ya because you just keep going. I really just wanted to lay in bed all day, but i didnt. I felt mostly better by monday, but i still have a little bit of a runny nose. Once again i love sundays here at the CCM. Probably my favorite day of the week because they are always so inspiring. Elder Delahunty in our branch presidency taught our leadership meeting and he shared a really neat experience that he had at the Salt lake temple. He talks about the temple a lot because his main called here is a temple mission in the Mexico City Temple and then just on sundays he helps in the branches at the CCM. In fact we saw him at the temple today when we went. Speaking of..it was really neat to go again one last time here in Mexico City. It really is such a beautiful temple. AND being our last trip here I was able to understand quite a bit of the spanish, so it was a really great session. I feel like it is going to be so weird to come home and go to a session at the temple in english again haha. but thats not for a long time haha. Anyways back to sunday. Relief Society by Hermana Pratt again was good as always. She spoke on faith and we really looked at Alma 32 of course, but it was a great lesson. Devotional on Sunday was a broadcast by Richard G Scott recorded from the Provo MTC devotionals. Probably the best part of sunday. He talked on prayer and how we need to be completely open in our prayers and talk to our Heavenly Father because he is just waiting to listen to us. Sometime I know in my prayers I dont always express my feeling because I think well Heavenly Father already knows how I´m feeling so I dont really need to tell him. But thats not true. We should be completely honest in our feelings and tell him all of our thoughts. Obviously being a missionary my prayers have gotten a lot more sincere, but it is still something im and trying to improve on. Our Heavenly Father wants to know every detail of our lives, and he wants to help us. Another good thing that happened on Sunday was President Pratt asked me to give the closing prayer for Class with the MTC Presidency. We have Class with the MTC Presidency and the devotionals in the auditorium and it is with all of the English speaking missionaries, so if you sit towards the front you have the chance to get asked to say a prayer...kind of nerve wracking...and so yeah presidente pratt came and sat down next to me and asked if I would say the closing prayer. So I did haha. And afterwards though he was like "beautiful prayer hermana, how many weeks have you been here?" and then he told me my spanish was really good and stuff. Not really a big deal, but it was to me that day because i kind of was feeling down on my spanish that morning or saturday or something so it meant a lot. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all went by pretty quickly. It POURED rain on tuesday during gym while we were running (probably didnt help my cold) but it was a good memory. Also the streets and sidewalks in the CCM were literally rivers that day. It rains a lot here. like all the time. so yeah sometimes i walk around barefoot so my shoes dont get soaked...but thats only okay here in the CCM because the sidewalks and streets are not dirty and they are safe...haha but i dont think i should do that once i get to el salvador haha. Mom you were asking about my hands...they have been fine since i have been here no problems really and they aren´t dry anymore so i guess the little bit of humidity is good, we´ll see how it is when i get to El Salvador. Also Im sure ive gained weight...we´ve been trying to run and work out during gym (also my stomach hasnt been hurting after i run so thats good)...but i eat lots of snack here since im just sitting in the classroom all day..oops. Oh tuesday night is devotional night so we listened to a mtc broadcast talk by elder bednar. He talked about how to get the most out of general conference. It was a really great talk and something that he said was when taking notes on conference make sure to not write down just what the speaker is saying, but write down what you are thinking. Because you can always go back and look at their words and plus if you just write down their words it doesnt mean anything to you. Anyways after devotional we always have district devotional review with our district which is always good. And THEN to end the night we did a little gift exchange since its our last week here and it was hilarious! i would tell you the gifts but they wouldnt really make sense. We all just bought stupid small gifts from the little store but it was so funny. Sorry I dont really ever say much about our fake investigator lessons we teach. We have three investigators and we rotate teaching them. The lessons go well, and I know our teachers are acting like those people acted when they taught them...but its hard and just isnt the same as it will be teaching real people. But my spanish is the best during the lessons, compared to just when we talk outside of the lessons, so thats good i guess. Sorry I dont feel like I have much to write, but we do the same thing here every day so I dont have much, especially when the week felt like I went by so quickly. Mom of course i wear your dressed you made me! They are so comfy and i´ll probably wear them even more in El Salvador...its actually sometimes kinda cold here in Mexico. Hope parent teacher conferences go well for you tonight and i hope the primary program goes well for you this week! Also I am so glad you guys got my letters in the mail. Dad Im glad to hear that you get to golf again. im sure you have been dying to do that. Also Im glad you could understand my spanish in my letter. I know i messed up on accents marks cause im not used to writing them..but oh well sounds like I didnt do too bad. Um for the Jesus the Christ book I want to be able to make marks in it...so if you want to give me the one you used on your mission if you dont care that i make marks in it then i dont care, or you can get me a new one. up to you! Dont worry about sending the CD i´ll just read it. Im glad work is going well for you too. Are you just having a lot of 7-11 calls? or are you working on a church right now too? Grandma I LOVE YOUR EMAILS! seriously they make my day every time. Im always laughing when I read your emails because I can just hear you saying it to me. I miss and love you! Well tonight our Hermana teachers are giving our district a special treat and bringing us tacos from the outside world!! Cause like i love the food here...but it is cafeteria food..so we wanted real food from outside the walls of the CCM, so they are making us tacos tonight. I figure we wont get sick right? hopefully not. hahaha i trust our teachers. but yeah we are having a little fiesta tomorrow we have what is called "In Field Orientation" which is all day long...and i have heard it is quite boring. It is for all the missionaries who are leaving the CCM. So we´ll see how that goes..but at least it is a change of pace and getting out of the classroom. Then Saturday will be a normal day. Then Sunday will be another lovely sunday. Its fast sunday since General Conference is the next week. Then the other hermanas in our district leave in the middle of the night on sunday (they already know when they leave because they are going back to the US) so we will have to say goodbye to them so that will be hard. Then I am guessing monday we will have classes and we´ll have time to pack and thats probably when you´ll get another email from me. This is all the plan if I am leaving tuesday, but like I said im not quite sure yet. Then the elders in our district all leave wednesday. so yep only a few more days! Thats basically all! I am so ready to get to El Salvador and serve! Love you all so much Hermana Groneman

Pictures at CCM

Vive Mexico

Hola familia!

 

Wow I cannot believe it has already been another week!  I am down to a week and a half left in the CCM and then i'll be in El Salvador!  SO CRAZY!  Mom I'm not sure the exact day I leave yet, I should know by next week.  But it will be anywhere from Sunday (the 29th) in the middle of the night to Tuesday.  Also I get to email you like the day before I leave or something.  But anyways thats still like 9 or 10 days away, right?  Also um so im pretty sure I can call you at the airport, but i dont have a phone card.  Can I buy one of those at the airport or what should I do? Did Ryan call when he was at the airport? I figure dad is probably the only one who might be able to be home to talk to, but still send me mom, ryan, and colbys phone numbers so maybe i could call them and leave a message if i cant talk to them.  Or whatever.  I dont know I guess we can figure that out next week. 

 

This week was just another good old week in el CCM.  Its really so great here.  I wish I could come back in like a year or two and see all the changes, cause they are already starting to make a lot of changes to the campus.  They are putting in new washers and dryers in the casas, and the other day we were at gym over by the track and it looked like they are looking at redoing the track (right now its justs rocks).  Also they are in the process of making a new mailroom.  So yeah this place is already beautiful and I cant imagine how great its going to be in like a year.  ALso theyve made upgrades on meal time like now they have nutella and syrup which is great for us missionaries from the US. 

 

Im feeling about the same as I did last week.  I love it here. But I cant wait to get to El Salvador and teach real people.  It is really hard to stay focused studying the language all day and in classes.  Although I know its going to be hard I just want to be thrown out into it.  In Relief Society on Sunday Hermana Pratt ( oh by the way dad yes I have talked to the Pratts, I told them that Brandi was in our ward like the first day I got here haha)  talked about how life is full of patterns and one pattern is how God continually throws us out into the lone and dreary world or the wilderness.  It is repeated so many times in the scriptures.  Once we get comfortable, God throws us into a new situation.  And thats because its the only way we can learn.  And literally I just want to be thrown out into the lone and dreary world of El Salvador.  I feel like ive hit a wall in my learning and I want to learn by experience now.  But i still got a week so Im trying to make the most of it.

 

It is absolutely insane that I am not like one of the "oldest" in my time here at the CCM.  I remember my first week talking to people who were on their 5th and 6th week and thinking how far away that seemed, and now thats me!  Our whole district was pretty sad this week when one of the other districts in our branch left.  They were the ones that we played ultimate frisbee with at gym almost every day.  So no more frisbee for us.  You should be so proud of me, cause Hermana Garbett and I have been actually working out a lot.  Im up to jogging two miles every day and then doing my abs and pushups which for those of you who really know me, two miles is pretty good hahaha. 

 

The big excitement this week was Mexican Night and Independence Day here in Mexico!  I'll send my pics in another message.  But it was a TON of fun.  I am so grateful I got to be here at this time of year.  On Saturday night we had mexican night in the gym and we watched a short clip on mexican history and then they had a ton of mexican dancers there to perform for us and sing for us.  It was awesome! It made me so excited to be in El Salvador and learn about their culture their, cause even though we dont ever leave the walls of the CCM other than to the temple, I still feel like I have felt a love for this culture here in Mexico.  Also we sang the EFY medley song (the armies of helaman) but they were singing in español obviously.  I think they sing that at provo mtc probably quite a bit, but we never sing it here so it was so powerful to be in the gym with all of the missionaries and lot of our teachers were there too and to hear it in a different language.  Then on Sunday night we also went to the gym at night and got to participate in the shout (i cant remember what the word is in spanish...it starts with a g)  but they broadcast the president of mexico and he says VIVE (fill in the blank)! ....VIVE (fill in the blank)! VIVE (fill in the blank)! and everyone repeats VIVE! each time he says a different thing and then he ends with VIVE MEXICO! so it was great to be there for that.  Even though Sunday was the offical independence day, there was still partying and fireworks going on all weekend outside in the city, but it actually didnt bother my sleep much so thats good.  I have been a little extra tired this week...but thats fine.

 

Im glad it sounds like you all have a great week! even if the utes lost.  its okay they'll win this next week against BYU :)  Most of you talked about the rain and storms here in mexico.  in all honesty i havent noticed much extra rain then normal.  It is always raining here at night time.  So yeah haha.

Dad I think that is great that you are still reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish.  I don´t have much time to just read it in spanish like we used to, but obviously we study out of it.  Also at the temple last week I was able to see a sealing room and it is beautiful, I havent seen the baptismal font though.  Literally the temple here is gorgeous though.  Like every temple.  I cant imagine what the people in mexico city think though. Because the city is so poor and then right in the middle is this gorgeous temple. Im excited to go one last time to the mexico temple next week.

Mom Im glad school is going well for you. and no i dont care if other people read my email and see this, i still want you to know i love you more than the universe!  I hope you have fun this weekend if you take the trailer out of go up to SLC or whatever.

 

Im not putting this cause I expect a lot, but for ideas for my bday or christmas...there isnt much i really need.  But if you are thinking candy send me some reeses or chocolate or sour patch watermelons. Also I really decided I want to read Jesus the Christ.  I heard they have them in almost every apartment in the field so i didnt bring one, but i decided I want my own so I can mark it.  I would buy it here at la tienda...but they only sell it in español and I want it in english haha. Also this is more for christmas but Im thinking im pretty sure we´ll end up watching General Conference in spanish so if you could send me the ensign copy of the the conference talks in english when it comes out I would probably love that.  but anways thats just random stuff.  Really I just want to hear from you, so letters and emails.  and to all of my friends email or write me cause i miss you and want to hear whats going on back at home.

 

Estoy muy agradecido por el Evangelio y la opportunidad a servir un misión.  Yo se que a traves la doctrina de Jesucristo yo puedo vovler a vivir con Dios.  Yo se que a Dios conteste mis oraciones y me quiere a ser felicidad. Estoy muy agradecido por Jesucristo y su Expiacion, y la oportunidad yo tengo a llegar a ser un mejorar persona cada día.  Este Iglesia es muy importante a mi, y porque de el Evangelio yo recibió muchas bendiciones en mi vida.  Estoy muy agradecida que familias son eterna.

 

Les amo mucho.

 

xoxo

Hermana Groneman

Half way done with CCM

Officially starting week 4 familia! and I am officially half way done with my time here at the CCM! How blessed am I to be a missionary at this time. How blessed am I to be here at the CCM in Mexico City. How blessed am I to have the opportunity to learn another language and have God helping me every step of the way. How blessed am I to have a knowledge of this gospel. How blessed am I to have family and friends who love me so much. That is how I have felt this week. On Tuesday night at the devotional we had one of the Area Seventy here in Mexico speak to us. He talked about how the last time he stood at that pulpit was with two apostles when they announced to the students of Benemerito that the school would be closing and become an MTC. He talked about how there was a lot of sadness because of the great joy the school had been for so many in Mexico. But at the same time the prophetic vision that this school would one day become a center for learning the spanish language and I am a part of that. Ah it is just so amazing to be here. On Sunday the devotional we watched was from Elder Holland and it was a devotional that he gave at the provo MTC back in January. Haha there is no greater excitement among the missionaries than when they announce the devotional and they say it is Elder Holland. I wish he would come here and speak cause that would be incredible. But anyways his devotionals are always AMAZING. So inspiring and so hilarious. The one we watched on sunday he kept cracking jokes like "sometimes i just wish i could take away peoples agency....Oh i really shouldnt be saying that" and "....you are a bunch of escapees from the aaronic priesthood" and i dont know they arent gonne be funny me telling you them, but i wish that they had the devotionals online for you to watch but they are just for missionaries. But at one point in the devotional he was getting all riled up and saying all of these funny things and everyone was laughing so hard and then all of a sudden Elder Holland got really emotional and you know how powerful he is when i speaks and he said "THIS MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME" (talking about missionary work) and he said it like 5 times and it was so silent. It was amazing how one second the whole auditorium was laughing and then two seconds later the spirit is so strong and it is completely silent. Also he talked about how important our generation is. and the fact that OUR GENERATION WILL NOT FAIL. Every other dispensation has lost the gospel off the earth and none has succeed. But we know that we will succeed and our generation will not fail. I LOVE when we get to watch devotionals. That is going to be one thing I miss when I am in the field, because the devotionals are always so uplifting. So another great thing that happened this week was on Tuesday, Hermana Garbett and I decided to speak spanish the whole day. NO ENGLISH. we decided this on like sunday and on monday hermana garbett was like "are we sure we really want to do it, can we really do it?" but we did. Tuesday morning we didnt really talk a ton, just cause we didnt really have much to say if we could only speak spanish. But as the day went on we were talking more and more and ALL IN SPANISH. It really made me realize that I am going to be able to survive in El Salvador. My spanish may not be that great yet, but it is coming, and I can do this. Another neat thing about it, is our district spoke a lot more spanish that day too. None of them were spending the whole day speaking spanish but just cause they were around us they felt like they had to because we were so it helped everyone. The coolest part about the whole day was at night after the devotional we have like a devotional review with our district and that was when we decided it would be okay to speak in english so we could discuss more with our district, but the funny thing was we kept saying things in spanish just cause thats what was natural to say after spending the whole day speaking spanish. I really am loving my time here, but then again like I have said, I am so so so ready to get out there. The other day we talked to a kid who was leaving for El Salvador this week (not my same mission) but it made me so excited to get out there. I just want to teach real people! And i love being at the CCM but its kinda just a social scene...like we learn a lot obviously, but im ready for it just to be me and my companion and teaching our investigators all day long. Even though i know its going to be tough i just cant wait! Life as a missionary is so funny though. Ive mentioned ultimate frisbee before and we play with this other district in our branch everyday for gym and its so much fun. except all of the rain makes it soo so soo muddy. Also its like the one time there is accidental contact between elders and hermanas and everyone always laughs and freaks out and make a big deal when an elder and hermana run into each other when they go for the frisbee. Also you know you are a missionary when the elders have made up a game with the sliding whiteboards. They act like its a football game and they try to slide the whiteboard from one side to the other and get it as close to the end with out it touching or bouncing back (Idk if that made any sense at all) but they get all into it and keep score and everything. Thats how you know you spend too much time in the classroom. Also its so weird to hear peoples real names. I can´t imagine called all the missionaries in my district by their first names and its weird to think no one will call me Amanda for another 18 months. Our investigators are doing well. I feel like every other lesson my spanish is good and then bad and then good and then bad. But hey its improving. All of our investigators are our teachers (pretending to be people). Two of them are pretty easy, understand things, and are following commitments. But one of them is super tough. She doesnt believe in god. She doesnt pray or read any scriptures. But surprisingly i actually like teaching her more, because it actually seems more realistic. Cause i know that investigators are not always going to agree and follow commitments and understand. And when we testify to her it is so powerful. I think that is basically all I really have to write this week. I dont know every week is the same. I am always so tired by the end of the day. The weeks go by so quickly though! Also don't worry i am being obedient. That little sleep over was a one time thing. I really am trying to be more obedient especially on getting to bed on time. On time is in bed at 10:30...but usually im not in bed till 10:40 so we´ll try to work on that this week. This weekend is Mexican Independence Day so we get to have Mexican Night party thing and im sure the city outside the CCM is going to be crazy so its probably gonna be loud. It was weird to think yesterday was september 11th back in the states. The temple was beautiful again today, i will try and send some more pics of the grounds to you dad. I am so happy the utes are doing well!! keep cheering loud for me!! Tell grandma that i loved her email and tell her to tell brooklyn hanks good luck for me! I want you all to know that I know this gospel is true and nothing has brought me greater happiness in my life. If any of you are reading this and haven´t read the Book of Mormon, read it and pray about it and you will come to know for yourself that it is true. And for those of you have read it, DONT EVER STOP READING IT. The other day someone said here, that no person ever falls away from the church without first stopping reading the Book of Mormon. Read it every day. Even if it is one verse. It is true. Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God and because of that we have a prophet on the earth today and we know how to live so that one day we can live with out families forever. I love you all so much. Hermana Groneman

Week #2

Hola Familia! So first off, im so sorry about my letter last week being so crazy..i reread it just barely and i messed up everything i was saying and forgot to tell you some things but i have more time this week so hopefully that will help. This week has been fabulous as well. It is so true that the days in the CCM seem so long, but the weeks go by so quickly. I will tell you some of the things i forgot to say last week and then answer questions and then tell you about this week. Um first off i realized last week i made a mistake and said i was in the intermediate level, but im not, im in beginner, i think you probably got that but just to clarify. Also i forgot to say that Hermana Garbett and I are Sister Training Leaders. Really that doesn´t mean much here in the CCM, we basically are just supposed to watch over the other Hermanas if they have any problems, but yeah we don´t do much otoher than that. Also i forgot to tell you all the people ive seen here from Springville! it really isnt that many people but on the first day I ran into Hermana Thomas (she did sterling scholar) and she left this last week i believe. Also I ran into Hermana (Lexi) Lister my first day, i actually see her quite a bit and we chat, it was great to talk to her my first week because she is only a week ahead of me so she knows exactly everything im going through. Also Elder (Derek) Boyer is here, he is going to a different mission in El Salvador. He said he remembered taking your sewing class mom and it was his favorite haha. Anyways i think there might be a couple other springville kids here other than them but i dont know them very well. Also i don´t think i really talked about the organization here at the CCM. So im sure in provo it is super organized but here it is a little laid back. Like i didnt tell you but the night we got here we didnt really have any direction on what to do after we checked in and just you kinda have to figure things out for yourself, its kinda funny but the first week is kinda confusing sometimes, but its better this week. About the temple last week, we bascially go every other pday, so we didnt go today but we will go next week. It really is beautiful and there are some gorgeous paintings inside and a lot of them i hadnt seen before. I loved going to the temple but it did make our pday go by super super quick and we didnt have a lot of extra time. It takes like 30min to an hour to get there. Um mom i have been taking the probiotics every few days, but not every day. I did at first but i havent been sick yet so i think if i just take it every couple days i can save more for later when im in the field when i might need them more. Also i am still eating fine. like really dont worry about that at all anymore cause i literally eat SO much every meal. People complain about the food a lot, but i still really like it :) Dad, im not sure how long a package would take, maybe 2 weeks? if not still send me the shorts later in El Salvador. Also if you have heard of dear elder its a website you can type up a letter and then they print them off here and i get it on tuesdays like i would a normal hand written letter (thanks Avery for sending me one it made my whole day! plus i needed your email!) So about my week, After last pday i had friday and saturday and i felt like those days were a little rough. I literally love everyday but i was struggling with things i felt like i needed to work on or what not. But sunday was fast sunday and I was fasting for things to help me be a better missionary and literally every single thing i was fasting for was answered in our meetings on sunday. I seriously think all of our meetings were just for me specifically. Our leadership meeting was how we can better help our companions and how we don´t know the background stories of those we are around. Relief Society was on the universal language of love and how we speak with the tongue of angels. District meeting was on Christlike Attributes.Sacrament meeting was a testimony meeting (so everyone had like 45sec to share their testimony). then we had our class with the MTC president and President Pratt spoke on the the Atonement and Grace. He really focused on grace and how it is because of the atonement that we are able to do things we wouldn´t have the strength to do on our own. It made me think of you this summer Mom and i know God doesn´t make our burdens lighter, but he strengthens us so that we may be able to carry them with more ease. Sunday Devotional was a recorded broadcast from Elder Christoffersen, and he talked about how we can´t just be busy. We most truly focus on our efforts and the results of our work. I love listening to the devotionals from the apostles to the missionaries. First off, you think that the apostles are sometimes funny when they crack a joke in conference? haha well you should hear them in the missionary devotionals. they are hilarious! Second reason I love them is because they always have comforting words for the missionaries to not be discouraged and they always reassure us of their love and the prayers of the people all around the world. It is so amazing to hear that we are probably the most prayed for group of people in the world. It gives us a lot of strength. Also they always talk about how although we are not apostles our duty is apostolic (i dont know if i spelled that right) and that we walk side by side with the apostles. Our purpose is the same. Also Sunday night for our movie we watched a movie on the Book of Mormon (i cant remember the name) and its about how people literally gave everything they had to learn more about the Book of Mormon because they knew it was true. Parley Pratt gave up his whole house and farm and everything to search for the truth and then he came across the Book of Mormon and read it and new it was the word of God so he traveled until he could find Joseph Smith or anything related to this book, the movie also talked about a minister in Italy who found the book of mormon in the street but it was so worn he couldnt seee the title anymore and the title page had been ripped out. He read it and new it was the word of God, so he spent a lot of his life preaching from it to the people in his churches but he got in trouble for it and was banned for teaching. He had so many times in his life where he gave up his career and everything for this book and he didnt even know the title or the church that it belonged too. Eventually he came in contact with the church and after many many years (because of circumstances that weren´t allowing him to communicate with the church) he was baptized. It is an amazing story and my summary doesnt do it justice but anyways sunday night movie is always great. The beginning of this week has been fabulous as well. I feel like our district has grown even closer. The other day in the cafeteria there were some missionaries singing god be with you till we meet again because some of othem were leaving the CCM and I can´t imagine what that is going to be like when we leave. The other day our whole district broke out into song and we were singing high school musical in our classroom and it was hilarous. Our district is all so different but we love each other so much. Tuesday night was a devotional and Elder and Sister Villalobos (I think they are from the area seventy here in mexico) talked. Also our branch and another branch sang Señor, Te Necesito (I Need Thee Every hour) as a choir. Sister villalobs talked really really short but she expressed a special thank you to the hermanas for serving and for the example we are to her daughters, it really touched me. Elder Villalobos talked about how when we serve others we tie our hearts to them. He also talked about M&M´s which equals Missionaries & Members. Members are such an important role in the work of salvation. At the end he also talked a little bit about Zions camp and that reminded me of Dads lessons in Sunday School. He said that at some point in all of our lives we will go through our own Zions Camp and that means we will all have a time in our life to provo ourselves to the Lord. And serving a mission i think is definitely one of those times. After devotional we have District Devotional review in our classroom just with our district and our district shared our thoughts on the devotional and then one of our District Leaders asked us to all go around a share a fear or weakness we have in regards to our missions. It was crazy to hear how we all have fears and weaknesses but when we see each other every day we are all so strong and such good examples to each other. The first week we only had one investigator (obviously fake, she was one of our teachers) and her name was Daniela. She was very accepting and open, which was good for our first investiagtor but I know it isn´t going to be that easy. We taught her probably like maybe 5 lessons? But then this week we got all new investigators. We now have 3 (they are still all our teachers pretending to be investigatros). we have only taught one of them so far this week, but we have heard from other people in our district that one of them doesnt believe in God, won´t read the book of mormon, is super happy with her life, loves to party, doesn´t pray, wont do anything, so im a little nervous for that lesson. But i hope we can just get her to feel something and mabye then will she open up a little. My spanish is okay. Im not really frustrated with it, but i dont know. At the CCm you are supposed to do what is called HSI (Hablar Su Idioma) which means speak spanish all the time, in class, at lunch, as your walking, where ever. You are supposed to use all the language that you can. But our district doesnt do that hardly at all. Our teachers are obviously way good at teaching to us in spanish, but there are like 3 of us in our district who will try to answer questions and share comments in spanish. and then when we are all talking together with our district they barely use any spanish at all. That kind of frustrates me because speaking is where I need the most help. Plus everything that we have learned so far I bascially already knew. It was a good review and i needed it. But i just feel like i havent progressed hardly at all because and i havent learned many new things (other then when we have language study on the computers and i can study what i want) and im not able to have many conversations in spanish other then during our lessons. I know i have improved a little, like i know a lot more gospel vocabulary now. I still am at a good level of spanish compared to the rest of my district but i just wish i myself was improving more. if that makes any sense at all. I really am learning so much each day though. About myself, about the gospel, about missionary work. I really am excited to get out there though haha. I know im not ready to be out there yet though, especially with the language. But as much as i love being around all the other missionaries and the fun we have here in the CCM I just want to be in El Salvador teaching real peopple. But ive got more to learn. Um random fun things about this week. Basically we got to la tienda (the store) every day and i buy ice cream and mexican snacks haha. We get 120 pesos a week. so yeah i spend my money on snacks. Also it rains SO much. Every day at 6pm you can count on a down pour. and the thunder here is CRAZY. I am thinking i might want a better umbrella for when i get to El Salvador. Hermana Garbett has a really nice one from the sister missionary mall. Maybe that could be a good bday or christmas present, and a rain jacket. i didnt bring one and i think i might want one. These are just ideas though, im fine with everything that i brought for now. Also other fun things is our district has been playing ultimate frisbie with another district during gym and its a blast. the other district is hilarous too! I love hearing from all of you and im glad everyone is doing well! Give me details about whats going on! I was so glad to hear the Utes won their game! One of the senior couples serving here that i flew in with on the plane told me on friday that they won barely and I was so happy! Also thanks for the pictures! keep sending more each week of whatever! Sounds like janelle and courtney got some good couponing done, nice work! I am so glad grandma emailed me, i am going to write her a letter back today, but also just tell her that i lover her! Im glad you all had fun getting together for labor day. Mom i am glad school is going well for you and i hope you have good classes! Dad i think about you lots here when im speaking spanish all the time. I dont think we have sung that hymn yet but maybe i will try too. We obviously love called to serve but especially here because there are two extra versus in the Spanish version. I miss you all tons. Keep sending me the emails or write me letters! I am going to send some pics in another email. I realized why they didnt all send last week so i will resend some of them. We are only allowed to take pictures on pday so most of them will still just be from last week or a few from this morning! Thank you for your prayers and i love you all! Mom i love you more than the universe! Hermana Groneman PS to Matt Duke, Hermana Garbett is disappointed she never got a goodbye from you ;) Also i need your email Matt haha forgot to tell you about breaking the rules....dad will enjoy this since it sounds like you spent this past week telling stories with your friends.. So me and hermana garbett live in a different house than the other two hermanas in our district which kinda sucks cause it would be fun if we all lived together. But this week our roommates left the mtc (the were leaving for a different mission in El Salvador, they were really nice but we didnt have the same schedules as them so we only saw them at night) so we were hoping that Hermana Jones and Hermana Hawkins could move in. But we asked and they said no and we figured it was because new missionaries were probably moving in that day (it was tuesday which is when all the newbies get here) but when we got back to our room at night nobody had moved in so we ran out of our house and met hermana jones and hermana hawkins in the middle of the street (this is at like 10pm) and told them to come sleep over and we were all so excited! also im pretty sure that might be against the rules. which is bad because they always stress to us that exact obedience brings blessings. but hey just once. So they brought all their bedding over and slept over at our casa and we stayed up late talking (also breaking rules oops) but it was fun and these are the memories im gonna remember from the CCM. Dont worry i´ll work on being more obediente this week!