First Week at the CCM

In this letter:

1. Jessica (Hna Henrie) and Graig (Elder Henrie) are well known around the CCM (Mexico City MTC) for being brother and sister.
2. Hna Henrie and Elder Henrie give the opening and closing prayers (in Spanish) in the new missionary orientation meeting.
3. Hna Henrie's companion is Hna Broadhead from Arizona
4. Hna Henrie tells about her CCM district
5. Already teaching an "investigator"
6. The CCM neighbors "celebrate life" every evening

Well, it has been quite the adjustment getting used to the tight schedule the CCM has got me on! The first few days, I wasn`t sure how on earth I`d be able to study so long each day, but after we got our first investigator, Lisa, last Thursday things really took off. Now I can`t study enough, because I want to be prepared for everything Lisa could need to hear. Hma. Broadhead and I often have to eat super-fast because we get to breakfast halfway through. I never realized until now how long I take to shower (10 minutes, but that`s a lot if you only have 30 minutes in the morning to prepare everything), eat (35-45 minutes, I guess I really like to enjoy what I`m eating), just... everything! The time is going by so fast, I`ve been looking forward to writing you all week but it`s hard to believe the day is already here!

So... After Èlder Henrie and I got to the CCM and ate dinner (pizza!) I went to my casa and found my compañera there. Her name is Hermana Broadhead, she`s from Arizona, and she`s very studious and as eager to be a good missionary as I am. We`ve already learned a lot about the gospel and about teaching people, and sometimes it`s frustrating because we just can`t learn everything quickly enough, but overall it`s very good and I am growing to love the CCM!

It`s very beautiful and peaceful here... except at night when the mexicanos around Benemèrito crank up the music, fry up the papas fritas and shoot off fireworks and cannons for hours. We thought they were celebrating a holiday at first, but after talking to a mexicano misionero and the CCM president`s wife, who both told us there wasn`t any holiday going on, we`ve just started referring to it as `the celebration of life!` And let me tell you, the mexicanos in Mexico City must love life!

On one of our first days here, I think Wednesday, all the nuevo misioneros (there were probably 100 or so) went to the seminary building for a meeting with the CCM president, Presidente Pratt. He welcomed all of us and asked for a volunteer to give the primer oraciòn in Spanish. Nobody felt comfortable praying in Spanish except me, so I gave the opening prayer. (Mom, Sarah`s niece Hma. Poulter played the piano for the opening hymn, you might tell her that. She did great!) Presidente then gave us a stern lecture about always obeying CCM and mission rules because God blesses you when you`re obedient, and afterward he said, `Now Hermana Henrie, I understand you have a brother here. Where`s Elder Henrie? Elder Henrie, will you offer a closing prayer in Spanish?`

I heard Graig`s voice say nervously, `I don`t know how to pray in Spanish.`

Presidente looked at me and asked, `Do you think your brother can pray in Spanish, or should I let him do it in English?`

I told him Graig could pray in Spanish and the next thing Graig knew, he was up at the front holding the microphone and standing next to Presidente. He had a little trouble with the opening, but after that he did great! I was so proud. Although some of the other hermanas around me whispered that I had really thrown him under the bus... Good thing he`s not the type to hold grudges.

I just saw Graig in the computer lab, and he added this to the story: `You can tell Mom that Presidente was whispering in my ear the whole time.`

It`s fun to see Elder Henrie and his companion, Elder Jones, sometimes around the CCM. The other misioneros think it`s kind of cool too, and Presidente`s wife, Hma. Pratt, even told me one day she thought it was cool to have a brother and sister in the CCM learning to be missionaries at the same time. `We`ve had brothers, but never a brother and a sister,` she said.

All the new missionaries, intermediate class or not, started role playing teaching lessons last week. Hma. Broadhead and I are teaching Lisa, and while I`m glad she`s in truth already a member of the Church because I`d hate to practice on real investigators, the lessons still feel very real and we`re learning A LOT, as I said.