Mexico MTC - Week 4 - Solo Español

Hola, from Mexico!!!!
Can´t believe another week has come and gone! They are going by faster!!

This week was great as usual! Sundays are still my favorite. We leave the casa at 7:00am and don´t come home until 9:30pm, but everything in between is major spiritual motivation!!! We have Relief Society in the morning, then we have ´Sunday School´with our district leaders, and then we have sacrament meeting with our zone where we listen to each other attempt to give talks in Spanish! I had to give another one last week! I thought I was off the hook since I gave one my first week, but apparently not! It´s fun though! Sundays are awesome!

 

It's hard to believe I can just go up and give a talk in Spanish! It's amazing how it doesn´t sound foreign to me anymore. I would feel comfortable having a conversation with a native speaker, which is actually really fun to do because they are trying to learn English here, so they talk to you in English and we talk to them in Spanish! We have now been named worthy to wear the orange sticker on our name tags that say ´Solo Español ´ on them. People can only talk to us in Spanish and we aren´t allowed to reply in English! It´s pretty nuts! lots of Spanglish going on! 

When I get on here to email I feel like I can´t remember anything we did! We literally have the same schedule everyday, but we still have a good time! We laugh a lot! I love my district so much! We were seriously meant to be together! I´m really dreading the day we leave the CCM! I love it here so much! It is such a beautiful place! it´s like 70 degrees here everyday and there are palm trees everywhere and the prettiest birds! There are like these green parrots that fly around everywhere! I´m still trying to get a picture of one! I love it even with the "cannons" outside the walls, (apparently they like to play with sticks of dynamite here for fun, so its sounds like there is a war going on outside the walls everyday....its fine.) I can´t believe I will be headed to Chile in just 2 Weeks! 

 

I love the pictures you all sent!! They made me laugh! I miss you guys a lot, but I´m never really homesick. I know this is where I´m supposed to be and I´m loving every second of it! I never have a doubt about whether or not I am going to learn the language or if I´ll make a good missionary. I don´t have doubts because my confidence is in the Lord, not in myself. I am not capable of doing any of these things alone. But because of the Lord, I am. I am confident because I'm an instrument in the Lord's hands and He is going to enable me to do His work. I am here in the MTC to learn and to make it easier for Him to work through me! I am so grateful I don´t have to do this alone! 

Estoy muy agradecida por la oportunidad estar en el CCM. Estoy muy agradecida por la oportunidad a servir El Señor. Yo se que la Iglesia es Verdad y El Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios. Estoy muy agradecida por este conocimiento.

Love you guys! Talk to you soon! 

Hermana Segura



The great wall!! This wall surrounds the entire MTC!
we literally can´t see anything outside these walls except the sky!
Its pretty crazy

Searching for those who need the truth!! but only at 20km per hour... =)

Our cheesy fall picture!!

The best looking sisters in the CCM!!! love them!

 

Mexico MTC - Week 3 - Half Way !!

Hola, Everyone!!

 

Another week has come and gone, which means tomorrow I am half way done here at the CCM!! Definitely a bitter-sweet feeling.

 

This week was good! I woke up sick with a cold on Wednesday and then woke up with no voice Thursday and Friday, which made it really hard to teach. Now I just have a nasty cough, but it's getting better!

Teaching has been good and not so good this week. Some lessons are super awesome, and some not so much. I really am beginning to understand the importance of study and prayer. We pray like 80 times a day I swear! you should see the marks I have on my knees! It's so good though. Everything is so much better when you start and end with a prayer.

I have to talk about the highlight of my week first so I don't run out of time! Today we got to leave the palace walls and go to the Mexico City Temple!!! (you should see the walls that surround this place...it's insane. and the giant gate.) As we were leaving we sang. Finally, they were opening up the gaaaaaaates!!!; like on Frozen.......Anyway we were super stoked to get out of the CCM for a few hours! The temple is about 30 minutes away from were we are so we got to see a lot of the city! The driving is absolutely nuts, but it was so much fun! We live in such a bubble here in the CCM, it was weird to see real life happening outside! 

 

The temple is beautiful! We didn't get to go in because they are doing some renovations on it, but we did get to spend a few hours in the visitors center and talk to the missionaries there! That was so fun! It gave me a little more confidence in my Spanish when I was talking to the sisters serving there because they were natives trying to learn English, and we are exactly the opposite, but having the same struggles! The sisters would look at each other when they couldn't remember how to say a word in English, just like Hermana Cheadle and I look at each other when we don't remember how to say a word in Spanish! It was so fun talking to them! They said my Spanish is awesome and that I shouldn't be shy to speak it! That made me feel good! Sometimes I feel like it will never come, but then I remember I haven't been here very long! I know it will come with time and practice!!

Being in the city made me so excited to get to Chile!! I can't wait to be able to just walk around at talk to everyone! Even just waving to people on the streets when we were in the bus was like the best thing ever!! I love it here in Mexico, I can't imagine how much I'm going to love Chile and the people there! 

One thing I don't like much about the MTC is we aren't allowed to listen to music. I can't tell you how much I wish I could listen to something when I get ready in the Morning, or when I feel kinda bumbed out. Me and my roomies sing a lot in the casa! My companion is an awesome singer, she was in the BYU women's choir so she taught us how to like harmonize and cool stuff like that! Our Elders in our district sing really well too so we sound awesome together! We may or may not have joined the MTC choir......I am very grateful when we get the chance to hear good music.

 

Well I think that might be all for now! I'm gonna try and get some pictures uploaded here really quick of our temple trip today!! Love you guys and miss you lots!! hug squishy and Murphy for me! Talk to you soon!

 



Got these sweet cases for my Spanish BOM and Bible
at the Temple Bookstore.  Pardon my face, I was excited !!

So, I thought the cart on Nacho Libre was a joke..
I'm not kidding when I say everyone has one of these...

Me at the Mexico City Temple.

Cheesy Picture of the day !

Las Hermanas of District 7B.

Me, next to the Basura.

The beautiful Mexico City Temple !

We have a nutella bar every day and we spread it on our bread
with canoe paddles.. me and Hna. Guager.

Thanks for the Package !!!

 

Mexico MTC - Week 2

¡Hola, hola!!!

 

Man I cant believe how fast this week has gone by! I feel like I have so much to tell you guys!! sorry if last weeks email was kinda crazy. I was just trying to get all that info down in an hour and crying the whole time didn't help me much, but its all goooood!! 

 

Well p days are the best! We kinda just get to hang around, do laundry, clean our room, play ball in the gym, that kind of stuff. It is so nice to have a break from the 16 hour study days. I don't realize how close I am to having a mental break down until like Monday night when I realize I get a break the next day! Its a good mental break down though! Tuesday is not only p-day, its also PIZZA NIGHT!!!! I still love my rice and beans everyday, but there's just something about pizza....

 

I seriously can't even express to you how much I love it here at the CCM!!! we pretty much have the same schedule everyday, but it never gets boring! I wake up every morning so excited to see what the day brings, even if its just studying for hours on end and sitting through 4 hours of language study. It's the best and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else!!

 

This week was full of excitement though! Our convert Hector that committed to be baptized, turned out to be our teacher. The first week Hermana Perez was our teacher and then, after we were done teaching Hector she was like oh by the way, Hector is actually your real fundamentals teacher, I'm just your language teacher, and then in walks Hector/ Hermano Carranza........ we were like what the heck....He is such an awesome teacher though! We are now teaching a woman by the name of Juana Maria, played by Hermana Perez! Last night was our first night teaching her and it was great! It's weird how someone can go from your teacher to your investigator, and be a completely different person. I didn't feel like I was teaching Hermana Perez, she was Juana, and she needed the gospel in her life. 

 

This work is seriously so crazy. I cannot believe how much Spanish I know and how much the Lord has helped me get to where I am. Two weeks ago I would have never thought that I would be teaching lessons, giving talks, and bearing my testimony and praying in Spanish in front of people after just 10 days in the MTC. Last night while teaching Juana, words were literally flying into my head and out my mouth. No joke. The gift of tongues is real. I said things in that lesson I didn't even know I knew how to say, but because I opened my mouth, the Lord filled it with the things I needed to say and with what Juana needed to hear. It's incredible. The feeling is indescribable. If I had to come home right now, my testimony would be 10x stronger than it was when I got here. I thought I had a strong testimony, and that is why I chose to serve, but I was wrong. Things happen here that cannot be explained any other way other than that God lives, and He is watching over His missionaries every second of every day, and He is helping us through it all. This gospel is true. I know that now more than ever. 

 

Being here is like a dream! I can't believe I'm actually on my mission. I was talking to my companion and my roommates this morning about how we are beginning an adventure that will affect us through the eternities. What a crazy thought! At the same time life back home feels like a dream.....everything is just really weird, but in like the best way ever!!

 

Thank you all for each of your little paragraphs! I would love to email you all individually, but I don't have a ton of time and I'm still trying to get the hang of this Spanish keyboard....which really isn't that different from an English keyboard.....but for some reason it's giving me grief....I will get faster at emailing eventually.

 

Im glad grandma's funeral went well. I'm sad I couldn't be there to support you guys, but I know if I was still at home, I wouldn't have had the experience I had with Grandma before I left. I got to talk to her and say my goodbyes, because I knew they were probably going to be my last. I am so happy for her though! She is finally back home! Getting that email last week was really hard, but it truly showed me the meaning of forgetting myself and getting back to work. I cried about it for an hour, hugged my companion, and went back to work and didn't think about it again until Saturday, when I figured the funeral was happening. The Lord blessed me with comfort in knowing that you guys would be okay without me there, and comfort in knowing that maybe grandma was just waiting to send me off, and then wanted to come along for the ride!

I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve the Lord and represent Jesus Christ! This is the greatest experience ever and the greatest work ever!! It's hard, but a different kind of hard. Hard as in hard work, but its so much more rewarding than it is hard! I'm loving every second of it and Im sure it gets better from here! I love you all and I miss you lots, but I know this is EXACTLY where I am supposed to be! 

 

Love you!

 

Hermana Segura

 

I'm gonna send some more pics that I didn't get the chance to send last week and a few from this week! I love this place and my district so much!

The Lord was looking out for me !!

 

Me and my comp Hna. Cheadle from Minnesota.

 

We drink these every morning to help us from getting sick !

 

 

This is our room. I sleep on that bottom bunk!
Notice how the bed is made and the floor is free of clothing.

Laundry is rough... just kidding, we have a washing machine !!

Mexico MTC - Week 1

Hi guys!! I am so excited to finally email you!! I have so much to tell you!!!

First of all, I´m grateful I got to see grandma one last time before I left, and I know she is in a better place. I´m sad I don’t get to be there with you guys through this hard time, but know that I am praying for you. I know grandma will be here with me just like she said she would. (Note: Grandma Colleen passed away on Monday. Sam had a chance to visit with her the day she left for her mission.)

Oh man where do I begin!! I love, love, love it here in Mexico!!! I’m already sad for the day I have to leave. The MTC is so beautiful and so much fun! The food is awesome; I literally have rice and beans for every meal! It’s the best!! . When I got here the first day we had to like go get a check-up with the MTC nurses and stuff and they had to give me a tetanus booster......that was a warm welcome!

My companion is Hermana Cheadle from Minnesota! She’s great! She is very outgoing and excited about being a missionary. We get along well and work hard together! We live in a casa with 20 other hermanas, but there are 4 to each room. Our other roommates Hermana Gouger from California, and Hermana Rhees from Utah, are both awesome! We all have so much fun together!!

Our district is made up of us 4 Hermanas and 4 other Elders. All of them are awesome and we have a lot of fun together! We are already a family, it’s awesome! All of us except 2 are going to the same mission so that’s pretty exciting! Hermana Findlay is in a different district, but her room is right next to ours. All of her roommates are also going to Osorno! They are all awesome so I am excited to serve with them. (I’m saying awesome a lot, cuz everything is awesome.... =) )

My Spanish is coming!! Me and my companion have already taught 3 lessons in Spanish to our investigator Hector! Yesterday we invited him to be baptized and he said yes!! I really can’t believe how much Spanish I have learned in less than a week! I can already pray and bear my testimony, and I even got asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday about the book of Mormon, IN SPANISH!! I was so nervous but afterwards we had interviews with our branch president and he said my Spanish was perfect!! I was so happy!! I still have a long way to go, but I know the gift of tongues is real.

The days here are so long, but they go by so fast at the same time! We are up at 6 and don’t go to bed until 10:30 and we are working hard every minute in between. I really can’t believe I’ve been here a week already, but it feels like I’ve been gone so long! It’s crazy

So I think you will appreciate my near death experience story! =) So Dad was right, the MTC was an old high school. They just closed it and made it into the MTC about 2 years ago. It’s so beautiful here! Anyway so they are doing a lot of work on the old buildings and stuff so yesterday we were sitting in language class and all of a sudden we hear like this crazy bang above us, we look up and see that one of the light covers is like falling off! It happened in like slow motion, but happened so fast at the same time, all of a sudden the cover comes crashing down, lands on my desk and then shatters on the ground. These buildings are pretty old so the light covers are like this glass stuff. The cover left a huge dent in my desk! I’m not even kidding you when I say had I been 2 inches further up; it would have hit me in the head!! Not even a piece of glass hit me or anyone else! Someone was watching over me, no joke! We are now switching classrooms... =)

My language teacher is Hermana Perez! She is so great! She is so helpful and patient with us. She is probably the main reason why I’m picking up Spanish so quickly. We have 3-4 hours of language study every day and she makes it so fun! I love her already!

Being a missionary is the best thing ever!! I am already dreading the day I have to take my nametag off. This is seriously the best decision I have ever made. I know it will be hard, it already has been. Learning a language is difficult but I know I’m not doing it alone. I love it here and I can’t wait to get to Chile!!

My testimony is simple in Spanish, and it isn’t perfect yet but I hope one day it will touch someone’s life.

"Yo se que la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es verdad. Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios. Yo se que El Salvador vive y yo muy agradecida por El." (sorry dad if that was awful... =)

I love you all and I miss you lots, but just know that I am loving it here and that I know you will be blessed. Hang in there this week and tell Grandma that I love her.

Love you!

Hermana Segura

I took a bunch of pictures with my pals here today so hopefully I will be able to upload them!! they are pretty awesome!

District 7B

Mi Casa.

Mexico CCM.

Hermana Segura is off to Mexico!

The Segura's

Sam, Gabby and Derek

There she goes !!



At the gate, waiting to board the plane for Atlanta.

Today is the BIG day!

 

Bags are packed, weighed and ready to go!

 

 

It's October!!

I can't believe how fast these four months have gone! Countdown to Chile: 21 Days!!!