Week 2 Elder Hal Jones

Hey guys! I love it here at the CCM. The first day was amazing. We had meetings all day and at night we met our branch presidency and they called my companion and I as District Leaders. My companion is Elder Baker and he´s really cool. I love our district and we´re all so close now.  Our district includes Elder Tonga, E. Labrum (he doesn´t know the Labrums from chicago), E. Harper, E. Charles, E. Bean, E.Wood, E. Shupe, E. Brown, E. Baker and I.  There are two Hermanas, also - Hna. Amis and Hna. McLean.

From the first day I´ve been the best at Spanish in our district and whenever anyone has questions about Spanish they ask me. I know that isn´t because of my own ability because I only took one year of Spanish. I wake up at 5 every morning to study the language and then E. Baker and I go running at 6. I know the Lord is blessing me because of my diligence in studying the language and the material. We taught our first investigator the second day and then two more times later.  During the second lesson I was just able to completely understand what he was saying and I was able to remember Spanish that I hadn´t thought of in 4 years. Every day my ability in Spanish just grows tremendously and in the lesson we taught yesterday I didn´t even need to use my notes I was just able to talk with him in Spanish for the entire 40 minutes and I know that I was just a vessel for the spirit to flow through me because I wasn´t doing the teaching, the spirit was.

I just love it here. I can really thrive in environments where I have one goal and no other distractions. It hit me this week that my mission has started and that I need to work as hard as I can and be the best missionary I can be. Our zone leaders leave next week so our branch president said that E. Baker and I are probably going to be Zone leaders, which is crazy because we just got here. 

The weather here is amazing. Literally everything we were worrying about isn´t even a problem. I don´t think it´s ever gotten above 85 degrees here and I haven´t gotten sunburnt at all. Every day at 6pm it starts raining and thundering which is awesome. The view is amazing because we´re right at the bottom of a valley and all the houses are built on the sides of the mountains. So yesterday when we were outside studying for our investigator lesson, Mexico was playing in the world cup and whenever Mexico scored a goal we could hear the entire city going crazy.

Also my whole district is going to the Lima Peru Central mission! and there´s another district going to our mission too. When we came on Wednesday there were 300 missionaries in the CCM and once we came there were about 450 missionaries. Before we leave there are going to be over 1000 missionaries here! I miss you guys and I can´t wait to tell you more. I know that the Lord has called me to succeed and I already know that these are going to be the best two years of my life. 

Also the food is amazing and really authentic Mexican food. I love it, but so many people complain about it. I've kind of figured out that whenever people are away from home they will find something to complain about. 

ps. can you tell Brother Rowlings that my favorite scripture that I want to use for my plaque at church is Ether 12:12.  Also I  need a micro SD card for my camera because without it it only holds 2 pictures.