Monday, July 28, 2014

¡Mexico!

Hey all, I made it! 

Right now I am in the state of Tlaxcala. Not exactly sure where, but it is awesome here. There is also a lot of Spanish as well. It´s good though. 


So my last few days in the MTC were really good. I am honestly having a tough time remembering what happened. It feels like forever ago that I was there with my old companeros. I do remember that it was really spiritual and kind of strange that we knew that we were going to be leaving. One thing that was awesome was our exit interview with President Doman. I don´t know if i have talked much about him but he is awesome! I truly believe that he is the best branch president at the MTC right now. But he gave me a send off prayer-blessing that I could compare to my patriarchal blessing. It really was an imspired moment.


Greeting at the Puebla Airport
Traveling to Puebla felt kind of strange. We were actually in a big group of 14 missionaries traveling together. When we finally got to Puebla our mission pres. was waiting for us at the airport. Pres. Christiansen is awesome! He is definitely a down to earth, very spiritual man. I am glad that I have him as a mission president. So we then put all of our bags into a members truck and split up and drove to the mission home. It was pretty fun, a bunch of us crammed into the backseat of this tiny truck and sped down the road. Drivers in Mexico are crazy! Everyone drives very aggressively and doesn´t really pay attention to all of the rules. It´s actually alright though, because everyone is very alert when they drive here.

So we spent the night at the misson home which is a very nice home in a very rich neighborhood in Puebla. The next morning we had our orientation which was very good and got me excited for the mission! Later that day we went to cambios (exchanges) where about a half to a third of the mission gathers in Puebla for exchanges. There I was separated from Elder Wilkey and Elder Dixon and got my new companion Elder Delgado. Elder Delgado is a good elder, he is from Equador and enjoys futbol. He has been in the mission field for 10 months and is a good teacher. It tough communicating with him because I don´t know much Spanish and he doesn´t know almost any English. It is good though because I have to practice my Spanish.

View from our apartment
So from cambios we took a bus for an hour to Tlaxcala. We are in the Atempan ward and I really like this area. The members are great here! Many of them have really strong testimonies and all are very nice. The people in general are very friendly which makes contacting much easier. It doesn´t feel like that big of deal to stop someone in the street and just talk. The area I am in is pretty compact, there are a lot of houses and small stores. The weather is pretty much perfect, though it does get a little cold in the mornings. It also rains almost every day which I actually like.

The food here is also very good! Every day except for p-day we eat la comida with the members. So here the big meal is called La comida and is usually had at around 2 or 3. It is actually very good, because we eat a lot, then just work until we go home. I have had some really delicious food here! A lot of beans, some rice and chicken. But I am definitely not going hungry here!

Elder Delgado and Elder Hartvigsen
The actual missionary work is good! It is however very frustrating to not be able to communicate very well. There have been many times where someone has asked me something and I had no idea what they said! Its really tough when you want to share and show people that you care when you can´t speak or even understand most of the time. My Spanish is improving though, slowly. My district leader told me that at about 3 months I will understand everything and at 6 I will start to be fluent. It seems like forever, but as long as I keep at it everything will be OK. I have definitely had to rely more fully on the Lord. 

I actually had an amazing experience this morning during study. In an email a few weeks ago I told of how I was frustrated that I had never really had that strong powerful witness of the Book of Mormon, but this morning I got it! I know for sure, that the Book of Mormon is true! It wasn´t really a epiphany but just more a confirmation. So I would implore you that if you haven´t recieved that revelation, to do it! If I can recieve this answer so can anyone! It really strengthened my testimony, and helped in a lesson that we taught earlier today.

Anyway, I love all of you guys and hope that you are doing well. The church is true!

-Elder Hartvigsen

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