Week 1: 1 Week Down!

Hola from the CCM! :)

Hey everyone! Man this is crazy writing my first email! First thing though, PLEASE send me emails whenever you want! I can read emails whenever on my tablet, just can't respond til Wednesday. So basically I just gave permission to my mom to send me 8 emails a day 😅 but yeah email me people it helps keep me sane inside the mtc haha.

So the mtc is crazy! It legit is nothing like I expected. First off, I'm pretty homesick I'm not gonna lie. Didn't think I would be since I went to school, but man I miss mi familia. You guys are the best and im sorry there's no humor in the home now ;) but yeah the first two days here I legit was wondering what I got myself into haha. Now I'm kinda in the flow of things and it's getting super cool, but still so hard. Just thinking about being away from everything for two years is pretty intimidating, so it's important to take it day by day and keep the focus on the people. My teachers are all Latinos and they're so awesome, which definitely helps. We have one teacher named hermano gomez who is the dopest guy ever haha. He is 23 and speaks mediocre English, but he's into mma which is sick, and we have a ton of the same interests. He's freaking hilarious and he's gonna come visit all of us in the US after the Mish lol. Miss everybody at home though that's for sure, boise is such an awesome place and I miss my family and friends like crazy, so be sure to keep me updated on everything and anything :)

Spanish is way harder than I expected haha. I guess those high school classes with Craig Thompson weren't too helpful after all lol. The first day we were all put on a bus with a Mexican driver from the mtc, who didn't speak any English, and that's how our day kept going. There's very little English spoken here, besides the people from the states. It's intimidating, but it's coming along pretty well. Our second day here we actually had to teach a fake investigator, which was way hard. We've done 5 lessons now, and each one has gotten better and better. Finally not having to read my notes word for word haha. And I'm starting to understand native speakers a lot better which is awesome. The coolest thing is that I can pray and testify in Spanish easily, which is so awesome. I know it's gonna take a while to learn it, and it's gonna be super hard, but I'm hyped for what's to come.

My companions name is elder Sanders from chandler Arizona, and he's an awesome kid. Straight outta high school, and pretty good at Spanish. He's like 6'6 and plays basketball, so we get along super well. He's pretty quiet, but when he talks he's got awesome stuff to say. He's been coming to lift with me during gym time, which has been nice cause lifting is my stress reliever out here haha. There gym is actually pretty nice too which helps! Our 2nd night here, I got called as our district Leader! It's pretty sweet, and I've got a few extra responsibilities, but it's cool. My district is freaking awesome. It's crazy how different all of us are, but we get along so well and have a ton of fun together. We have 6 elders and 2 hermanas. They're starting to catch onto my sarcasm which is good lol. I've known these people for like a week, and I honestly love them. We had a district talk after the devotional Tuesday night, and we all started crying in it when we were sharing our favorite parts, the spirit you feel in the mtc with people you barely know is surreal.

Our mtc presidents name is presidente Bennett, and he's awesome. So are his counselors, brother Stapley, and brother eves. We have devotionals all the time here and they're super cool. We actually had a member of the 70 on Tuesday which was freaking dope! The spirit here is just something else man. I've noticed so many little blessings since I've been here, and my prayers are so much more sincere nowadays. I love the opportunity I have to serve. 

So our p day is on Wednesdays obviously, and we are actually heading to the Mexico City temple today! Super hyped for that, even though some of it will be in Spanish and I won't understand it haha. Mexico City is pretty crazy, such a massive city and the mtc is right in the middle of it. We have a sweet view from our room, I'll put a pic in here. There's always this taco shop that bumps Latino music all night haha its awesome. It's beautiful in the mtc though. Palm trees, tons of birds, and it's super open and spread out. There's legit parrots hanging out Everywhere! The food is pretty good, I've been eating a ton of fruit and cereal though cause some of the meat here is super questionable haha. Over all this place is pretty rad!

One quote this week really stood out to me, it was "this is not an event of learning a language, it is a journey of loving the people." I love this quote cause it helps me keep my head on straight haha. It helps relieve some of the pressure I feel to learn the language quickly, and definitely helps me focus on the people I'm going to meet out in the field. 

I'm so excited and grateful to be out here in Mexico getting ready to serve the Lord in nueva York. This is such an awesome church, and such a great calling. I love all of you guys, and please don't hesitate to email me back! Talk to you soon!

Love, Elder Allen