Week 3 at the CCM

Well well well...  I cannot believe that another week has already gone by!!!  :D  When I first got here, everything just dragged on and on, but now things are beginning to pick up finally!  I've been here 3 1/2 weeks, and will be leaving in no time, but it doesn't seem like it has been that long...  But hey, I gotta love it while I am here, and I do!  Every single day presents a new adventure!

First of all, to start things out with, on Thrusday on my P-day, our Branch President was reorganizing our Zone Presidency because the old Zone Leaders had left the CCM to go into the field.  So, he chose our District Leader and his companion, (Elders Nistler and Johnson) to be the new Zone Leaders!  But then without a district leader, he called Elder Stringham and I into a room and called us to be co-district leaders, which we were both excited and nervous about, because I know that I wasn't expecting a calling in the CCM at all, so when it was extended to us I was taken off guard but was gracious for the opportunity to serve. Oh, and on Thursday, I finally got your letter!  Thanks family for the letter, it really is amazing to hear form you!

 On Friday, the day after my last P-day, we had a party!  We had gone through all of our classes that day, which aren't super interesting so I don't really write about them, but that night we had a fiesta!  It was in honor of our Latinamerican roommates and the Native roommates of all of the guys in our district.  We all went over to Elder Nistler's and Elder Johnson's room and piled up all of the treats that we all had purchased at the Tienda earlier in the day for that reason, and then we talked and ate and partied and everything!  It was really fun, but by the end of it, it was kind of bittersweet because we didn't want to see anybody leave because we had grown so close to them.  I was especially sad to see Elder Ruiz and Elder Hernandez leave, because they were the ones that were in our dorm.  I've included a picture of them that we took it the night before they left.

Saturday was a pretty fun day.  We got to do some Progressing Investigator - which is when we go and teach our teachers who are acting as investigators.  Our first teacher who is Hermano Cruz is a really great guy, and he is only 21 and gets to teach!  He is super enthusiastic and really easy to learn from.  His investigator's name is Adolfo and he is kind of hard to teach, but Elder Stringham and I do it pretty well.

Our other investigator's name was Karla, but after 2 lessons she went to go teach another class, so our other teacher, Hermano Valdez, became Luis, our next investigator.  We've only had one lesson with him, but we placed a Book of Mormon, challenged him to read 2 Nefi 31, and challenged him to pray cada dia.  He said that he would, so we'll follow through on Saturday and see how things went!

Oh, and by the way, I got a picture with Elder Adam Holderness on my last P-day, as well as with another elder that I went to school with who is leaving this week, Elder Chris Pratt. And also on Saturday, that night Elders Butler and Stutz came running into the classroom from outside, grabbed their cameras, and ran out, so obviously, all of us run out following them.  Where did they take us?  To look at the gigantic moth that they found outside of the bathroom! 

Sunday was a really good day too.  I was able to participate in blessing the sacrament during Sacrament Meeting, and let me tell you, it is a very different experience doing it in Spanish, but it was really awesome.  Then, we got to perform a musical number during it, with Hermana Goodman as the melody of "Brillon Rayos de Clemencia" which is the Spanish version of "Brightly Beams our Fathers Mercy,"and the other parts were sung by myself as Tenor 2, Elder Stringham as Baritone, and Elder Nistler as Bass.  I think it sounded pretty good, I'm glad I had that opportunity.  Later in the day, we had a class given by Presidente Pratt, and a MTC Devotional that was broadcast to us from Provo, given by Elder Christofferson and his wife.  Later in the day, for the movie night, we got to watch How Great a Possession, a movie all about how great a thing the Book of Mormon is.  My favorite thing about that movie is the part about the Italian minister, Vinchenzo, who finds the Book of Mormon, reads it and gains a testimony of it, without even knowing what the title of the book is or the church who published it!  He had such faith, even though he was challenged with many things, such as not getting to be baptized for many years and being kicked out of his old church for his belief in the book.  It truly is inspiring and led me to believe, do I take the Book of Mormon for granted that much?  I have had it all of my life, but do I have a testimony as strong as those people do?  I think we can all work on that.

But there was something else that happened on Sunday that was really cool:  during dinner, the elders in my district, along with all of our Latino missionary friends that were leaving in the next couple days, all gathered in the middle of the Comedor and started singing "Para Siempre Dios Este con Vos,"or "God be With You til we meet again,"and then all of the other latinos in the entire CCM joined in with us!  By the end of it, most of the main part of the Comedor was full of people just singing this song at the top of their lungs, and the Spirit was so strong, I was happy to have been a part of it.  But I also wished that I would have gotten a picture of it, but I didn't bring my camera with me...  Oh well...  

Monday kind of flew by, nothing really happened...  But on Tuesday, man it was hard!  Elder Ruiz and Hernandez left at around 4 in the morning, and it was really hard saying goodbye to them.  I'm going to miss them tons!  But we got new elders the next day, Elders Bernitez and Hernandez, and they are pretty cool guys.  But on Tuesday evening we had a broadcast devotional given by Elder Oaks, and it was really great!  I took almost 2 pages of notes!  But perhaps my favorite part was the choir number...  They announced that the Choir was to sing, and then all of the sudden Brother Ryan Eggett, my friends' Rachel and Bekah Eggett's dad gets up and starts conducting it!  I had forgotten that he was the MTC Choir Director!  But beyond that, I even saw my good friends Elders Christopher Brousseau and Rene Villagra singing in the Bass section!  I was sitting by Elder Holderness at this point, and both of us were freaking out because we knew people on TV...  But hey, it was super cool!  I miss them all so much!

Wednesday was another normal day, though I was able to play some real Street Soccer on an outside court they have here on campus.  It was really neat, and we did pretty well!  There was one elder, however, who was being WAY too aggressive, but it ended up being fine.  

And then today, we got to go to the temple in the morning again!  We did the whole thing in Spanish, and it was super cool!  Then we were able to go to a store on the Temple grounds and I bought some Mexican scripture cases for my Libro de Mormon and Biblia seperately.  They look pretty cool!

But basically, that has been my week.  I love you all so much!  And if you email me and don't get a response for a while, please don't be offended - I'm doing my best with the time that I have!  :D  The church is true, never forget it!

-- 

Elder Nathan Hubert