The Spirit Is So Strong Here! (Mexico CCM Weeks 3-4)

Buenos días amigos!

My first week and a half at the MTC have been amazing! The Spirit is sooo powerful here. Saying goodbye to my family was really hard last Tuesday. I love and miss them so much. I flew to Dallas by myself and then in Dallas, I met up with three other missionaries flying to the MTC. Luckily one of them was already fluent in Spanish, so we knew where to get our bags and where to go for customs. A worker from the CCM was there to pick us up. We got into a van with 5 native Mexico missionaries and drove about 40 minutes from the airport to the CCM. It was hailing when we first arrived, but luckily it cleared up pretty quick and we were able to enjoy the ride to the CCM. People drive slow here, but pretty crazy. The houses are brightly colored and people walk in the middle of the road selling. It’s definitely different from what I’m used to, but I love learning more about the culture here. Everyone here is so nice. We arrived to the CCM before most of the other missionaries-there are about 100 that came in our generation. We were able to call our families and move in to our apartments. I was so excited to meet my companion and my district when they arrived later in the day! It is such a blessing that we already knew each other before we came here. We had a devotional the first night and it was so special to sing Called to Serve in Spanish with hundreds of missionaries. 

Pretty much since then, we’ve been super busy. We wake up by 630, shower and get ready and do some personal study before breakfast. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, Hermana Young and I have to leave the apartment to go to breakfast earlier so we can make our 8 am meeting because we were called as Sister Training Leaders. Basically that means we are responsible for making sure all the sisters in our zone\branch are ok. There are about 14 hermanas in our zone. Then we have our morning class, more study time, lunch, gym time or service time depending on the day, afternoon class, dinner, mentoring, and daily planning before going back to our apartments around 9. Every day, I wake up so happy and excited to be a missionary! I love being here and studying outside. It is warm here, and the grounds are gorgeous, full of birds and flowers. Every day is a joy. 

So much happened this week, but here are the top 5

5. We got locked out of our apartment on Saturday when we went back for gym time! The electronic keypad on the door had died, so we went to get a worker. He couldn’t remove the keypad from the outside, so we sat outside our apartment for about an hour while he removed the window, climbed inside, and eventually fixed the door. 

4. Hermana Young and I play our instruments most days for a few minutes. One time last week, we were playing the song Peace in Christ and I noticed that a Latino came in but left before we finished. Then this week, we were playing the same song right before class and said he’d been looking for us all week because the music touched him so much. His name is Elder Molina, and he is from Cali, Colombia. He paid us the nicest compliment. He said he recorded it and wanted to send it to his family because it touched him so much. It is such a blessing to make friends with the Latinos. Not only does it improve our Spanish, but they are literally the nicest people I have ever met.

3. The Zone leaders, Elder McKenzie and Elder Gonzales, and the STLS, Sister Young and I, are in charge of leading a new meeting for the new district in our zone every Wednesday night and it was actually one of my favorite things I’ve done here. We were able to bear testimony of the special spirit here and share advice. Its crazy how much we’ve learned because we were the new ones at this meeting just one week ago. It is such a blessing to be able to know each of the sisters better.

2. We had an English fast from Thursday dinner to Friday dinner. No one in our zone spoke English for 24 hours. It was really hard, and really funny at times when people were trying to communicate and we couldn't understand them, but it was my favorite day. I definitely saw all our Spanish grow. It was an act of faith. I am excited to start the fast again tonight at dinner.

1.The Devotional today was so powerful.

Today, Elder Renlund, an apostle of Jesus Christ, came and spoke to us. This was such a special experience. We have been spiritually preparing for him to come since I arrived at the MTC. One of our assignments was to study the talk 14 Fundamentals of Following the Prophet. A BYU devotional address by President Ezra Taft Benson. This talk is so powerful. One of my favorite quotes is “If we want to know how well we stand with the Lord, then let us ask ourselves how well we stand with His moral captain. How closely do our lives harmonize with the words of the Lord’s anointed.’ 

All of the missionaries arrived at the auditorium more than 30 minutes early. As we were sitting there listening to the piano prelude of primary songs, I felt such a strong spirit. I felt such an overwhelming gratitude to be a missionary. I realized that I had been preparing for this moment in time, to serve a mission, since the premortal world. And then when Elder Renlund came in and all 400 missionaries stood, the Spirit in the room was so strong. I know that Elder Renlund is an apostle of the Lord because of the feelings that I felt then. Elder and Sister Renlund bore powerful testimonies of our loving Heavenly Father who knows each of us individually, the message of the restoration, and our divine call as missionaries. Elder Renlund taught that each of our calls and assignments are inspired, and we have a right to know that. He told us that if we pray, wait patiently, continue asking, and record our answer, a confirmation will come that our assignment was inspired and it will change our mission. After the devotional, he invited each of us to come up and fist bump him. It was so special to watch an apostle of the Lord minister to each of us in the same way as the Savior would, one by one. 

I love being a part of this great work that is led by the Savior himself, through living prophets and apostles. This is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and I feel more joy than I have ever experienced because I am living it more fully and sharing it with others. 

Love you all!

Hermana Dudley