One month down!!

Hey guys!!! Another week has gone byyyy! I’ve officially been a missionary for a month WHAT?!? ONLY 2 SEMANAS LEFT AQUI!! Although I have grown to I LOVE the CCM so so much and know I will miss it, I gotta say I am sooo STOKED for the field!! Haha this last month time has gone by slow and fast but I have grown so much closer to my Savior and His gospel. I can only imagine what these next 17 months will bring!! 

But I seriously do love the CCM! It is like a spiritual/Spanish boot camp!! Personally I enjoy the spiritual side of things a lot more than the Spanish but it is all important and centered on our missionary purpose, to invite others to come unto Christ. I also love the CCM because I can always feel the presence of the Holy Ghost with me here. This week me and my companion got to teach Relief Society about the gift of the Holy Ghost! Ahhh we are SO SO lucky to be able to have the gift of the Holy Ghost who can give us personal revelation for our lives and confirm truth.  One of the topics we discussed was how the gift of the Holy Ghost has changed our lives since becoming missionaries. I realized that I have received so many tender mercies from the Lord and promptings that I know come from the spirit. The spirit is one of the greatest blessings we can have in our lives and we should always strive to be worthy of its companionship. I know that as a missionary, the Holy Ghost is the primary teacher who is able to confirm truth into the hearts and minds of those I teach. May we all learn to recognize the voice of spirit more in our lives and listen to its promptings! 

This week has also been a week of so SO many noises haha. Ever since I got here I soon became accustomed to hearing loud gunshots and fireworks going off in the background of the CCM in Mexico City at ALL times of the day/night. But this week we REALLY became accustomed to hearing loud noises as it is nearing the dia de los muertos :)) One night some lovely citizen nearby decided to shoot off their cannon like 10 times in a row at 4 am, and I’m pretty sure it woke up EVERYONE in the CCM. Haha we also have study time in the middle of the day and during that time there are always cannons, sirens, and fireworks going off, birds chirping in the palm trees, and construction going on in 3 of the buildings around our classroom. It’s a good time :) 

On Thursday, we had TRC!! At least once a day we have the opportunity to teach our teachers, either in the morning or afternoon, who pretend to be an interested person. They then give us feedback and help us improve our teaching. But in our 4th and 6th weeks we get to have TRC on Thursdays when members of the church in Mexico come to the CCM. We get to meet them and teach them a 15-20 minute lesson. It was awesome!! Probably my new favorite thing here!! I am SO PUMPED for the field when I can teach real people and develop real relationships with others!! We taught a girl named Alondra via FaceTime which was interesting haha and then a lady named Citlalli. They were both super sweet and it was cool because in those lessons I feel like I could really feel the spirit directing me in what to say and which direction to go in that lesson. I also remembered how to say things in Spanish that I forgot I even knew! I love the gospel and I love love missionary work!!

On Friday night we had a member of the quorum of the seventy come to Mexico and speak to us! His name was Elder Shayne M. Bowen and his talk was AMAZING!! He focused mainly on remembering who we are as missionaries and what we need to teach others! One truth that he emphasized that I loved was that we believe that God wants to save ALL of His children. We believe that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ ALL can be saved. This is such a precious and simple truth, but it can make all the difference in our lives. Although we are all saved, in order to obtain the highest degree of glory in Heaven and receive all that our Heavenly Father has, we MUST follow the covenant path. The covenant path BEGINS with baptism and continues as we endure to the end. Enduring to the end means making and keeping further covenants in the temple. The temple is where we want those we teach to end up!! I am SO excited to teach those in Salta about the importance of temples. Especially because Salta is going to be receiving their very own temple within the next couple of years. It is such a blessing and a privilege that I can help prepare them!! Speaking of temples, today we got to go to the temple again. This will be my last time going as a missionary because sadly Salta doesn’t have a temple (yet!!). It was an awesome experience this time because I tried listening to the session only in Spanish and could actually understand the majority of the session!! The gift of tongues is real people!! Also I just love the peace and joy we can receive from being in the House of the Lord. We are so blessed to have so many temples throughout the world.

I've also become aware this week of how much I’ve become totally reliant and dependent on my scriptures. I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES!! It’s super cool just because I feel like I knew them before, but there is soooo much more I’m learning from them as I’m using them as a missionary!! They are central to our lessons and I think it’s so awesome that every time I read them or we study them as a district, I learn something new! 

Sunday was also great!! We get to have two devotionals every Sunday basically, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. My favorite devotional this Sunday was in the afternoon given by the CCM President and his wife about sacrifice and obedience. We talked about the story of Abraham when he was asked to sacrifice his own son to Heavenly Father. He was willing to give up the person he loved the most because he loved God even more. This was a test from God to measure his love and obedience. We too are going to be tested in similar ways in our lives with the same degree of difficulty. Although we do not get to choose what we have to sacrifice if we give up what the Lord asks on the altar we will be blessed in ways we cannot even comprehend. Our obedience and sacrifices in this life will open the windows of heaven. In the long run, our sacrifice will be nothing compared to what we can receive. As a missionary we must sacrifice a lot of ourselves by leaving home, following mission rules, and forgetting ourselves in the service of others. But listening to this devotional by President Olsen helped reiterate to me that I will be blessed if I am obedient and faithful during my mission. We must offer up everything the Lord asks of us on the altar, and in return the Lord will reward us for our faithfulness. 

Anyways, I hope you all had an awesome week!! Thank you guys for your love and support! La Iglesia es verdad!! Also HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!! I think this year I'll have to dress up as a missionary lol 

Con amor, 
Hermana Tate








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