4 Weeks at (MEXICO CITY MTC)

Hoola amigos. It´s Elder Grilliot, It´s been almost a month in the CCM (mexico city MTC) and it feels kind of like home. but I feel kind of cooped up with all the class time and I have ups and downs of feeling more or less motivated to study Spanish all the time.

Studying Spanish

WE GO HARD.

But really we put a lot of effort in. Elder Fielding is my rock in this aspect haha. He is more motivated to learn Spanish than anyone else I know. He´s never taken any classes in Spanish and he has progressed so much. We try to speak Spanish as often as possible. We set weekly and daily goals and our teachers teach us the gospel in Spanish. I think about how much more comfortable i am now speaking Spanish that I was the first day. Like my Spanish is really weak and there is a lot that i cannot communicate, but like, the first day i remember being hesitant to say "gracious" to a Latino because I thought my pronunciation would be off. Now I just make mistakes like they are cheerios. Every meal we sit with Latinos. like, it´s a commandment at the CCM. haha I love to talk with the latino missionaries here, they are really fun haha. It can be a funny conversation just because of the language barrier. 

Paraguay experience

Kay prime example. In our casa there are a few new Latino elders. six i think. And i´m getting ready for bed one night and I see some of the Latinos gathered together in the hallway and one of them is holding in his hand a clay object that is kind of tribal looking with a strange curvy straw looking thing coming out of it. and I look inside of it and there is legit herbs in there, It looked very much like drugs. just saying. And I was really wary of the whole thing and I´m like "Elders?? Que es esto??" and they are kind of talking to me in Spanish and I have no idea what is going on. One of them goes back into the room and gets a lighter and pretends to light it. I knew it wasn´t drugs but i was super confused.

They get hot water and put it into the cup and one of them drinks it out of the straw. And then the offer me some and i´m kind of wary but they told me that it was a tea that president Bennett (The MTC Pres) had approved. I drink some of it and really it tastes like toothpaste water. And the Latinos just think it´s HILARIOUS haha and it kind of makes me wonder what it is that i just drunk that was so funny. but i laugh too because they are laughing and it´s a really funny situation. And we run around the casa and try to get the other gringos to taste it. Not everyone was willing to try it but each time someone did, the Latinos just burst into laughter and ask us if we like it and we just laugh too in a more confused way. lol it was actually really fun. At the end they tell us that it is a traditional drink in Paraguay and that everyone loves it. I think they think it´s funny because there is a stereotype that gringos don´t like it. anyway. good times.

Temple

We were able to go to the temple last week and it was all in Spanish. The mexico city temple is beautiful. My favorite part of that trip though was when we were in the visitors center. We were just walking around and there was this little Latino girl and I smiled at her and when she saw my name tag she gave me the biggest smile back. Like really genuine. It made me think about what people think of when they see missionaries. That little girl has probably met missionaries before who she really admired and carried the spirit and were great people. I just really thought about how wonderful it is that I get to carry that with me. I got a little emotional when it happened. It was a good learning experience.

Love Elder Grilliot