Week 2: Segundo Semana!

 Our District at the Mexico Temple! 

Going into my third week here at the CCM! Not gonna lie, that first week was rough. It honestly felt like 3 months not 7 days. This past week flewwww by though! The language is coming a lot quicker now, and our district is awesome so time flies. It honestly is a lot of fun right now, which is not what I expected haha. And it helps that my mom is sending me packages with American food all the time, so shout out to momma Butta for that. 

the clouds here look fake they're so puffy lol it's awesome   

So David A. Bednar came to the Provo Mtc on Tuesday, and we got to listen to a live broadcast of it! That was awesome, and the spirit was crazy during it. Bednar is top 5 apostles all time no doubt. He's finally starting to age though which is crazy cause he looked like a 30 year old the past 10 years. The best part of the devotional for me was actually before Bednar spoke, when we were having a pre devotional in our huge auditorium. Our mission president, Presidente Bennett, called up 2 Latino elders, one who could speak English and Spanish, and one who could only speak spanish, with very little English. He asked the elder who could only speak spanish to bear his testimony. But in English. The kid looked so freaked out, but his companion was up there to help him if he got stuck (which he did a few times). It was super choppy and the grammar was off, but the spirit was insanely strong. It was such a simple testimony, but half the congregation was crying. It honestly was one of the coolest experiences I've had here, I love this place more and more each day.

dope sunrise from outside our classroom

Another cool experience I had this week was actually yesterday. So we started off the first week with one investigator (a teacher who acts like an investigator, and does a great job at it too haha) and then the past week and for the next week we have 2 new ones. I had been feeling a little bit down about the language, cause it wasn't coming as quickly as I had hoped. Every single prayer I said throughout the day  (which is like 20) I made a point to ask for assistance in learning the language, and promised that I would put in the work, which I did. But I hadn't seen real progress yet, besides a few things here and there. We had a lesson with Jair (our investigator who didn't even let us in the door the first lesson) and it was amazing. Me and elder Sanders flowed super well together, and I understood every comment and question that Jair had. I was able to answer his questions super quick, and it actually made sense haha. After wards I just sat there and thought about how crazy that was, and how blessed all of us missionaries are. I would never be able to do any of this without my Heavenly Father. 

We went to the temple last p day, and it was awesome. It was all in Spanish, but we got to listen through headphones in English. The last part we had to speak Spanish though, and it was crazy. I didn't know what to say, and the guy helping me kept forgetting a whole section so I had to start over three times 😂 but it was awesome, and the celestial room there is beautiful. It seriously is one of the prettiest temples I've seen, and I'll throw in a pic of it at the end.

 Mexico city temple 

The food here is actually pretty good I'm not gonna lie! And we actually made a deal with the mtc president that if we memorize a ton of Spanish scriptures and invitations in preach my gospel, and speak nothing but spanish for a week, we can get churros from outside the wall! Which apparently is crazy because this president has apparently never let missionaries do this haha. Pretty hyped, especially cause we all already have the missiomary purpose, baptismal invitation, first vision, and Moroni 10: 4-5 memorized en español. Churros are on the way mi amigos.

One thing I wanted to touch on before ending, is patience. I've learned that not everything is going to be easy, or come when you expect it or want it. You need to just keep praying with real intent, keep your faith in Jesus Christ, and study the scriptures for answers. These three things legit get me through every day. My prayers are so specific now, and I take time to make sure I don't miss any blessings I have in my life. It's such an awesome thing to know that we can communicate to God through a simple prayer.

I'm gonna attach a video of my companions to a Google photo shared album, so if you have gmail you should be able to watch it! Also I'll put a bunch of pictures on this too, and feel free to forward this to whoever, or give me someone's email to add to the list! I love every single one of you so much, and am so blessed to have ya in my life. Thanks for everything, and talk to ya soon!

Hasta luego 

Love, Elder Allen