Week 1 MTC-September 2, 2020

Wed, Sep 2, 2020, 7:11 PM Hey everybody! I'm super excited to share a couple things from my first week in the CCM, the missionary training center, in Mexico city. Even though the experience is all online and a lot different than I had planned, there are definitely some great perks to being at home. I get to watch my brother's tennis matches, be with family, and I don't have to say goodbye to Chipotle. Most of my days look pretty similar, starting at 6:30 when I wake up, exercise, have breakfast, and prepare for the day. After that I have morning class, followed by personal, companion, and language studies. Almost all of my structured time is spent on zoom with my companion and/or district, and it has been super fun to get to know them! I wrap up with my afternoon class around 7, and then get to spend a lot of time with my family which has been a great blessing unique to the online mtc. It's a great experience but also a lot of time sitting still on a computer, so after I went crazy in my own room I turned my sister's room into my office. Thanks Madison:) I was also reassigned to Bakersfield California this week! The reassignment is only temporary, meaning once it is safe I will go to Costa Rica, however until then I will be serving in California. Luckily I'm allowed to watch Disney movies, so we watched McFarland last week because it is right in the middle of my mission so I hopefully know a little bit of what it will be like. I'm super excited about the opportunity to hopefully speak some Spanish so I don't forget everything I've been learning during the CCM. Just want to share a quick spiritual thought to wrap things up. A big focus of our first week has been learning to be a friend to all, and to seek to be like Christ through kindness, patience, and understanding. I think this is one of the most important qualities someone can develop, as simply being a friend can have such a profound impact on everyone. Studying the Savior daily has really helped me to see why this is so important and reminds me that through Christ, I can improve myself to become a better friend. Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for all the support! Here are some photos of the fun things I've been doing outside of class...