Hermana Despain's Odyssey: Week 1 (plus some...)

HELLLLLOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

It has been a very long time since I got to email you, my P-day is on Thursdays, and I haven’t emailed since last Tuesday. I hope no one was freaking out!

This place is so amazing! I don’t think my description is going to do it any justice. The CCM (Centro de Capacitaciòn Misional) is SO SMART!!!! It use to be a prep school (or a high school) that was a boarding school for those kids who didn’t live in Mexico City. There are dorms and houses that the students lived in. It covers 90 acres!!! Which makes it the largest MTC geographically, and by the end of the summer it will be the 2nd largest MTC by population. Last January, a lot of general authorities (I think there were about 9, including Elder Holland) came here to Mexico and had a live broadcast for the whole country to announce that the school would be closed at the end of the school year and reopened as an MTC. I’m sure it was very hard for the people to give up this beautiful place, but I’m very glad they did!

The Hermanas live in the houses: 5 bedrooms, with 2 bunkbeds, so about 20 hermanas in each house. In my house, there are about half and half of Americanas and Latinas. The Latinos are only here at the MTC for 12 days, while the Americanos are here for about 6 weeks. It is so fun to live with the Latinas because we can practice our Spanish with them, and they can learn a little English. All of the Latinas are serving in Mexico, or other Spanish speaking countries, and a lot of the Americanos are serving in other countries also.

I have 2 companions!! Hermana Newbill from Olympia, WA is going to be serving in Tampa with me! And Hermana Marley from Idaho (near Pocotello) is going to be serving in Honduras. They are so great! I love them to death! I really can’t imagine having better companions, but I’m sure there will be other great ones someday. Hma. Newbill is 20, and she went to BYU, and Hma. Marley is 21 and went to Utah State. Both are amazing women and I’m learning a lot from them.

Well, learning began on Wednesday, and hasn't stopped. At this MTC, each class has a teacher from Provo and a native teacher. My class has Hma. McKay and Hmo. Garcia. They are so great!!! Hma. McKay served in Arizona and got home a couple years ago. Hmo. Garcia served in Tijuana and got back about 6 months ago. He’s 20 because Mexico is one of the countries that has a military thing, so they had to serve missions earlier than 19. He’s really shy, and Hma. McKay is really loud and excited, so they balance each other out really well. I love them both so much!

The third day, we started teaching an "investigator", who’s really one of the teachers pretending to be one of the investigators they had on their mission. My companions and I are teaching Amanda Herrea. We’ve taught her 4 times, and tonight will be the last time. On the 2nd lesson, we really wanted her to pray. The lesson before, she just refused, so we didn’t push it too much. But we really wanted her to pray! When we asked her again in the 2nd lesson, I had an impression that we should each take turns praying, and she would be the last one to pray. She agreed to that, so we all knelt down, each of us said a simple prayer, and then it was Amanda’s turn. She said the most beautiful prayer I’ve ever heard (BTW, this was ALL in Spanish). She said she was glad we met with her, and that she wanted help from us, that she was glad she could talk to Him (God), and that she wanted to change her life. After that lesson I knew that this is what I want to do. I’m so excited to help real investigators build relationships with their Heavenly Father. He wants to have a relationship with each of us, but WE have to be the ones who start it. We have to make an effort, and He WILL return it. I have felt that in my life, especially here.

We got to go to the temple today. It was all in Spanish again, but that was even better. It built my testimony of temples, because it’s all the same in a different country or a different language. Of course we all needed a lot of help because we didn’t understand everything that was being said, but that’s ok! I am so glad we got to go. We might get to go one more time, but it closes the first 2 weeks of August, so we can’t go then.

I’m not gonna lie, this is already the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But I’ve already learned that as long as I just forget myself and focus on the work, it’s not hard, I don’t miss you all as much, and I helps me more than I can imagine.

If there’s any advice I can give to anyone and everyone right now it is that we have a Father in Heaven, and He wants to have a relationship with each of us. Just like my mom and dad want me to stay in touch with them and do what they expect of me, Heavenly Father wants the same thing! We need to build our relationship with Him by praying, reading His words in the scriptures (especially the Book of Mormon), and by keeping our baptismal and temple covenants. If anyone needs help with this, ask me, your bishop, my parents, or your Heavenly Father. I know that any of those people can and will help!

Oh! I forgot. Almost every day there is a big thunder storm right before dinner that lasts quite a while. Sometimes it passes by us, but some days, like today, it’s right on top of us! The second day my companion and I saw the lightning right in front of us as we were walking home! It was pretty awesome, and also very scary.

I love this place so much. I love the people! The Latinos are so welcoming to us, and love to hear us try to speak Spanish with them! I love it! This gospel is so true, it blesses anyone who wants to be blessed by it. I can’t imagine life without it. Thank you all for all your support and prayers, it really means a lot!

Hermana Despain

PS the food here is AMAZING!!!!!! I'll describe it more next week. Also, I don't know how the snail mail works here, so maybe don`t worry about that.

Thanks!!