Week UNO in the MTC!!!

HOLA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!! I survived my first week in the Mexico CCM!! (CCM stands for Centro de Capitaciones Misional which is Missionary Training Center in Español) Even though the week felt long at times, I have absolutely LOVED being a missionary!! The Spirit is so strong here and I am SOO pumped to learn all the Spanish I can during these 6 weeks!!

So Tuesday, I flew out of Houston straight to Mexico City. Thankfully I met Elder Butterfield on my flight and we went through customs in the Mexico City together. Then we met about 40 other missionaries at the airport, 10 Hermanas and 30 Elders, and took a 30 minute bus ride to the CCM. The ride through Mexico City was super cool but a little scary at times with all the crazy driving!! The city is SO BIG and crowded with so many people!

Once we got to the CCM I found out that my companion was Hermana Hughes! We actually met each other on Instagram before coming here when we found out that we were going to the same mission!! Haha small world. Hermana Hughes is from Sacramento, California and is so sweet. We get along super well and have a lot in common!! This past week has been us mostly just laughing at ourselves trying to speak español. Es muy divertido :)

My district is AWESOME too!! We have 6 Hermanas and 6 Elders! We’re like one of the only districts with the same number of Hermanas as Elders. It’s super cool :) Only Hermana Hughes & I are going to the Argentina Salta mission out of our district, but we’ve met a couple of other Hermanas going there too! The other missionaries in my district are going to Chile, Mexico, Argentina Santa Fe, San Francisco, or McAllen TEXAS!! Haha I told the Hermana going to Texas that it’s basically the best state ever so she’ll love it there! It’s crazy how close we’ve all become after only knowing each other for a week!!

My Spanish is coming along!! Even though I still have a LONG way to go, I already feel like I can understand more than I ever could before! I love being here in Mexico because everyone here practices Spanish literally all the time, and our teachers like primarily speak to us in Spanish. I am so excited to learn how to teach in Spanish because language is so crucial to inviting the Spirit and being able to communicate with God’s children. Our days are long at times, because we have class basically from 8:30 in the mornings until 9 at night with some breaks and studying in between, but the week has gone by fast altogether. One thing I have learned a lot about missionary work and teaching others, is that it is not about me, but about the people I am teaching. My focus should be on loving the people of Salta and helping them feel God’s love for them. In our Tuesday devotional, the CCM President said “the message is more important than the messenger.” I am so excited to share the hopeful message of the gospel with others!

The highlight of my week was General Conference!!!! AHH it was so awesome to be able to have an entire weekend dedicated to hearing from leaders of our church! It was also a special experience getting to watch conference and receive answers to prayers and questions along with the hundreds of other missionaries in the CCM. (Thankfully we got to listen to it in English haha) One of the themes many speakers seemed to talk about was enduring joy. In Terence M Vinson’s talk he said “giving our all doesn’t mean that we will always have blessings or success, but it does mean that we will have enduring joy... It is not our successes, but our sacrifices that will matter to the Lord.” I love this quote because I think it is so simple and applicable to each of our lives. Even this past week, adjusting to life as a missionary hasn’t always been easy, but it has brought me so much joy because I know this is where God wants me to be. Being a missionary is THE BEST!!!

I love this gospel so much!! There’s nowhere I’d rather be! I miss you all & hope you guys have a good week!!!

Love,

Hermana Tate

Some pics!!