¡¡Hola amigos y familia!! ¿¡¿¡Como estan?!?! No se que este fue el corecto via a escribe pero me gusta a habla y ecribe con mucho felicidad haha. I have been loving here in the CCM and I cannot believe that it has already been three weeks. Today marked one day past the halfway point of my arrival her and it feels like I´ve been here my whole life and for hardly a day at the same time. The food isn´t that great but the people are amazing. All of our maestros are amazing teachers and have amazing stories from their missions. The more stories I hear about the mission field the larger my desire is to learn more Spanish and go start teaching.
One of the coolest parts of my week was that yesterday I met my Mission President! He and his wife were going through the temple with a group of missionaries that are leaving our mission the same week I will be getting there. It was great to see how happy and loving each of those missionaries were at the end of their missions, and I know that they have been very successful in their teaching. throughout the course of my time here in the CCM I have three opportunities to go to the temple with my district and we have now gone twice. I only have one more time while in the CCM to go through the temple!! That is insane!!
The language is coming along very well, my companion however is still struggling. I try to get him more motivated to study a little extra and work just a little harder to get a firm grasp on the lessons in Spanish but he seems fairly content with where he is at. It saddens me but all I can do is love him and keep trying to motivate him to work a little harder. It is interesting to see how much other missionaries see the maestros and missionaries in the field as some sort of unattainable state of righteousness and light. My companion always talks about our teachers in a way that makes it seems as though they are legends and no other missionaries can match what they´ve accomplished. When I hear the stories of our teachers, all I can think about is the amazing experiences that I am going to have in the field with my investigators. I am not recognized in my District as an amazing source of gospel knowledge or the best speaker of the language, in fact I think many missionaries in my district don´t really know how strong my conviction is to share the gospel. However our District Leader Elder Peterson, who I have come to love and respect very much, has told me several time that I am one of the hardest working missionaries he has seen. The several times that I have heard this from him have been times I am frustrated with myself for not understanding the language or a couple times when my companion has taken a lot of time to get ready for the day and made us late for class. It reassures me that I am not slacking off, and that if I keep faith that the things I don´t understand now will come in time the Lord will bless me with the gift of tongues and the ability touch other people lives in ways I cannot comprehend.
My favorite day of the week here is Sunday. Every Sunday we get an extra fifteen minutes of sleep in the morning and then have Devotionals, Sacrament Meeting, Priesthood, District Meeting, and FHE. All of these are filled with great spiritual messages. My favorite this week was a devotional from Elder Holland to all missionaries in 2009. The talk was filled with tons of great advice for missionaries and I´m working on making a small poster of all the great quotes here to hang up in my room, but one part in particular really hit me (don´t take this too literally but it might happen) : COME HOME ON A STRETCHER. As soon as I heard these words I knew what my mission is going to require of me. I will spend all of my energy each day seeking out those who need help and to hear the message that I have to share. I am not going to be the same person when I come home and I have already changed so much in the last three weeks. The impact of giving every part of my being to my mission is going to be hard, but the rewards that the Lord promises us in return are far more than that which we are giving up. Each of us needs to live every day, searching for someone who needs our help, because they truly are everywhere. And if we put forth just a little effort to find them, we will find that we can help them in more ways than we thought were possible. I know that this is true, and each of us has the ability to love and help others. I love you all and hope this message finds you well and happy!
Love,
Elder Conger
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