Ohhh my gosh. I made it to P-Day — a big accomplishment, I promise. Btw, my P-day (preparation day) is always gong to be on Thursday for the remainder of my time at the CCM. I don´t even know where to begin, so this is going to be all over the place, and I am so sorry.
I´m thinking about my laundry because I´ve got a load running right now, so I´ll just tell you about the most serious tragedy so far. I´ve already lost one skirt to the mission hahah. It was my dip-dyed tan to navy silk skirt that I wore to the temple the first time. It POURED rain on our second day (and I forgot my umbrella) so as I was walking home soaking wet, a WORM caught a ride on it, and pooped EVERRRYYYWHERE in it. It was seriously the most digusting thing ever. Hahhaa I can´t even tell you how gross. I didn´t discover it until I was home and the skirt was hanging in the closet. That was after I spilled water proof liquid eyeliner on the front of it that morning, too. So I washed it with a bar of soap in the sink (after getting the huuuuge worm off) and hung it out to dry. Except the slimy worm poop was still everywhere all over the back. But I tried to wear it, and half way through the day, the entire thing just started unraveling. It was like it just gave up on my mission. Hahahah I was so sad, I loved it so much. But I guess it wasn´t meant to be and it was only $15 at Ross, so 😛 no harm, no foul.
So, the first thing you should know is that I love it here. I am having the absolute time of my life, and I didn’t have any problem acclimating. I went to sleep at 9:30 the night I arrived, and when I woke up the next morning at 6am, I hit the ground running. My AMAZING roommates Hna Pulido (Filipino-American, from San Diego CA, 19 años) and Hna Jaccard (Swedish, from Pleasant Grove UT, 19) both had a super hard time. Hna Bailey and I did not even know what to do. We are pretty much the most inspired compañeras ever. We have the same humor, same life experiences, and are just so synchronized. My compañera is the best. She´s actually from Mesa Arizona (all of my roommates are going to the same mission! ITS SO COOL!) and my roommate Missy told me that I might see her here. haha. might see her. She´s just as awesome as Missy said. hahahah I love the two other hermanas that I´m rooming with… but I lucked out with this one.
About classes, though, as it turns out, español is really similar to French. Which means that I am one of the most active participants in class. I am trying so hard to learn Spanish, and it gets easier every day. On our second day, we had to teach our first investigator — “Luis Loya.” His real name is Hermano Hernandez, and he´s going to be our teacher for the last half of our stay here at the CCM. The Hnas that did the first of our SEVEN orientations (not a joke) shattered the illusion before it could be built. People just take it really hard when they don´t know it´s a fake investigator, and the whole purpose is to be like Spock´s unbeatable test. That lesson was actually… horrible. Hahahahah my compañera, Hermana Bailey, thinks she´s terrible at Spanish but I REFUSE to let her get down on herself. She´s making so much progress, and I run drills with her everyday. We try to speak primarily in Spanish when we can, and whenever anyone gets “jinxed” at the CCM, the consequence is to be stuck in Spanish mode until someone says your name. Haha, the first time I “Jinxed” her, she glared at me (jokingly), grabbed the spanish dictionary, and immediately looked up the word “hate.” It was so funny. This girl is awesome.
But our leccíons with Luis Loya have continued, and they are getting better. We´re learning to teach him as a person, rather than leach him like a lesson. This involves a lot of conversations in broken Spanish haha.
Umm, let´s see, what else. THERE´s JUST TOO MUCH. For instance, on the second leg of my journey (out of JFK, with Christy sitting right behind me) I was hit on and stared at by a very nice, middle aged man from ghana. It was very disturbing, and it got so bad that one of the stewardesses asked if we were together D: ÑO. hahah. He got me headphones while I was pretending to sleep so he´s leave me alone, and then I didn´t let him give them to me, even though everyone else had a pair. It was so weird, and Christy got to sleep the WHOLE time while I got elbowed by the large latino woman sitting next to me, hit by the cart passing in the aisle (free meal, free headphones, free pillows y blankets, free EVERYTHING on my flight), and then hit ON by the guy sitting next to me. He was like 40. But then when I was getting off the plane, he tried to ask about where I was going and stuff and I was just trying to deflect and wait for Christy to come down the gangway. He he left for customs, I found Christy, we were in line in customs talking to the other missionaries, I tell a joke. and then I hear it. His laugh. RIGHT. BEHIND ME. I could feel his laugh, and all my face could do was this D’: No one knew. They were all asleep or on different flights. HE WAITED FOR MY TO GO PAST SO HE COULD GET IN LINE BEHIND ME AT CUSTOMS.
Oh, side note, Mexico´s customs? The easiest thing EVER. Haha it took about 3 minutes, tops, and you don´t even have to fill out the papers right. They don´t look through your stuff, they don´t do anything. It was great.
Oh man, this is a lot. Umm, so Yeah! the finale to the story is that I was waiting for Christy to come through the customs gate, the aftrican guy comes up to me and starts saying how nice it was to meet me (even though I had been far less than charitable/nice/civil) the entire flight, and says, “I will see you again?”
me: “Umm.. I mean, maybe? Probably not, though.”
him: “Well, let me give you my card :)”
Me: “I won´t use it.”
Me: “I won´t use it.”
Him: “:)? Well, we can talk over Facebook”
Me: “I´m going to have to go a strong ´no´on this one. I don´t use a phone or computer. Sorry 
(#ButNotSorry)”
So then of course Christy came, and I told her all about it, and we were equally mortified, and she said that she noticed it but thought I was doing a pretty great job handling it. We´ve all just started calling him my Nigerian Prince (wanting to give me a million dollars in exchange for my bank information, of course).
(#ButNotSorry)”So then of course Christy came, and I told her all about it, and we were equally mortified, and she said that she noticed it but thought I was doing a pretty great job handling it. We´ve all just started calling him my Nigerian Prince (wanting to give me a million dollars in exchange for my bank information, of course).
So that´s my fun en-route-to-the-CCM story.
So, the spiritual stuff. Or CCM related stuff. There´s no way I can say everything that I need to. This compound is 90 acres of paradise. Palm trees everywhere, 65/70 degree weather… the works. It´s so amazing. And sadly, my camera didn´t come with a cord so I can´t upload any of my pictures. We have devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday in the Gordon B Hinckley (you have to get there 45 minutes early to get a seat in the memory foam auditorium, or else you have to sit on plastic chairs in the gym where the audio/video cuts in and out). On Sunday nights after dinner, we go to the GBH to watch a movie (The Testament/John Tanner/Etc). My district is composed of the most amazing human beings ever. Elders: Sewell, Gee, McKenzie, Williams, Alley, Sheeher, Moats y Anderson. Hermanas: Pulido, Jaccard, Bailey y yo. We live in our classrooms from 7:45 in the morning until 9:30 at night. We have language classes, personal study, companionship study, daily planning, Libro de Mormon, y TODOS en la aula. Esta loco! But the district is awesome, and our District leader is Elder Sewell. He and I are the over-achievers in the class. He turns 21 in a month, I am 21 now, and we both… hahah we´re the exact same person, except he is a boy. Our teacher is Hermano Chan, and.. I hate how attractive he is. Hahaha it´s a good thing though, because in trying to impress him/make him fall in love with me/marry me when I´m back from my mission, I am pushing myself to learn way faster than I´ve ever learned anything in my entire life. He´s fresh off his mission, and.. yeah. My roommates are all convinced it´s going to happen :p But, you know, for now, I´m locking my heart. Gotta learn how to preach the Gospel in spanish!
The CCM is over capacity right now. There´s over 1,000 missionaries here right now, and my days arrival was the biggest ever – 200 all in one day. We all live in casas or dorms. Wanna hear something hilarious about our Casas though? They are all HORRIBLE hahah! There are around.. 50 or so casas? I´m in #18, and there´s 4 rooms (4 girls each) per casa. Each room has a shower, toilet, and two prison sinks. Our toilet seat is actually too small for our toilet, and not actually attached to anything, so one wrong move and SPLOOSH! Your booty is baptized, and it´s so horrible. Anyway, the plumbing in our apartment has broken twice in our first week. Actually, on our 3rd day, the ENTIRE campus had a main line break, and none of the buildings except the Thomas S. Monson had flush capability. EVERYTHING SMELLED LIKE POOP. It was so hilarious. But right now, on the subject of poop, my Casa cant run the water or else poop comes up through the drains! So we have to go down the street to another casa to do our laundry, use the bathroom, and shower. It´s ridiculous. I shouldn´t have laughed at Steven Thomas when he told me that happened to his casa (#47) two days ago D´: Steven Thomas was in the Singles Branch back home, and he´s been here three weeks. He´s going to Albuquerque New Mexico. Karma is so strong.
Oh man, it´s great here, though. The spirit is so strong, and everyone is completely united in heart and mind. Our testimony meetings every night are just the best part of the day. It doesn´t matter how bad the day has been — the spirit we bring just makes everything all better. We went to the temple today. Well, the visitors center. The temple is closed for no one knows how long for renovations. So we toured the visitors center, took tons of pictures, and JUST as soon as I get back to the states, I´ll be sending pictures. Oh! and I got souvenirs! I promise. and don´t even get me started about Mexico City. It´s hard to look out the window of the CCM buses, just because you´re sure you´re about to collide into everything and everyone! I can´t even describe it. Terrifying. And there are no turn lanes, turn signals, or… pretty much any rules to how you should drive. PEOPLE DRIVE THE WRONG WAY DOWN THE ONE WAY ROADS AND EVERY ONE IS JUST OKAY WITH IT. Our bus is a stick shift too, so that makes matters even more shambley. I just can´t with the traffic here hahaha.
So, in closing just know that there is so much that I wish I could share. I wish I could transcribe the entire, AMAZING week, and just.. I don´t know – have you watch it? Maybe when we´re all dead, I´ll have a screening of the Movie of My Life, and then you´ll see:)
Because I can pray, converse, and bear my testimony in broken Spanish, I would like to close with my testimony. Yo se que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial, y Jesucristo es el Salvador por todos personas en el mundo. Yo se que nuestro Padre Celestial is amoroso, y el Evangelio es verdadero. Yo se que en oracíon sinceremente, usted puede saber la amor de el Salvador, y saber que el es aqui por usted. Yo se que José Smith es un profeta, y El Libro De Mormon esta inspirado de Dios. Este conocimento nos ayuda a a vivir feliz, y tener muy esperanza. En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.
All my love,
Hermana Mrozek
Hermana Mrozek // Kennewick Washington Mission 