Week #2 in the CCM

Wow I can't believe that I am working on my third week here at the MTC. Next time I write you guys I will be half way through my time here at the MTC. All of the Latinos left today and everyone at alcantara was pretty sad about it because we all became great friends! I'm so happy that they are starting to teach today the message of the restored gospel.

 

Wow, there are so many things that happen in a week that i don't even know what to tell you guys. I'm still loving it here. Hermana Cook and I are trying to speak more spanish than we have been. Which is hard because our conversations are very short and are at like a second grade level conversational spanish. 

Well I will share one story with you that has really touched me this week. Its about one of my teachers, Hermano Cerda. He juggles with fire and the other day one of the elders asked him how he got started doing that and he told us his story. 

When he was younger, his dad left his family and his mom went into a deep depression and they had no money to provide for his family. He started going around asking his friends for money and one day one of his friends said that he couldn't give him money but he could teach him a skill so that he could make his own money. His friend taught him how to juggle with fire and for three years he would juggle on street corners to provide for his family.

 

I was really touched by this story and it made me realize how blessed I am to get out of my little bubble and interact with people who come from such different lives than i do. There are so many things that each and everyone of us should be grateful for in our lives. We also need to remember that every single person is going through their own trial and we should try to walk in their shoes before we judge them. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! 

The two elders in this picture just left today for santiago sur, they will both be amazing missionaries, Hermana Cook and I were really good friends with them. One time I will need to tell you all elder Valenzuelas story, it amazing! 

We went to Mcdonalds for pday today and we were so excited to have different food than the same old stuff that we have every single day. We literally have the same meal everyday with just little variations. 

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First Letter from the CCM (MTC)

I absolutely love it here in Chile. I think it is probably the best country in the world! The weather is amazing and the city of Santiago is beautiful! More importantly though, I dont think I have ever met nicer people than here in Chile. I am not living at the CCM like the majority of the missionaries, rather the group who all arrived on the twelfth are all staying at Alcantara. 

Alcantara used to be the old mission home for Santiago, and it has now been turned into another ospedaje for the missionaries. It is 100 years old, and it is absolutley amazing. There is a senior couple that has been called to take care of the house and the missionaries there. They make us breakfast every morning and then do the dishes for us while we are out on our runs. I am so grateful for them, they feel like our mission mom and dad. I love everyone living at Alcantara. We are one big family and i believe we will be life long friends. All of the latinos are so funny. They can't speak hardly any english but they always say, please elder or please sister in the funniest american accent, and we all just laugh and laugh. 

I love my companion, her name is Hermana Cook and she is from Wyoming and she is so great! I love my teachers at the ccm and they have become good friends of mine. We are always laughing in class. We're only a week in and we already are teaching progressing investigators with hardly any spanish and even {at least for me} less gospel knowledge. But Hermana Cook and I have learned to teach by the spirit and can testify that if you are prepared for the lesson, the spirit will testify of the things that need to be said. 

I loved running into mom and dad and Elder Figeroa this week at the ccm. It was such a great surprise. Everyone loved the cookies that dad made. I hope all is going well for you guys. I promise that if we pray and have faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, our trials will become easier. Keep me posted on anything exciting going on in everyones life! 

Con Amor, Hermana Ayre