Week 3

so i guess its been pretty chill this week. tbh we do the exact same thing every day so its like being in school all over again but we try to make it fun. its weird because here you feel a weird sense of loneliness even though you are stuck in such a small area with 900 missionaries in a city of 8 million people. no one really knows who you are and so it can be weird at times. it also feels like a definite brainwashing. we do TALL which is just language learning on the computers and even when you have to put sentences together and whatnot your sentence will have to say something like "i can be a better missionary if i follow the white handbook exactly." so that gets old too.

 but i am definitely making strides in the language. i am working on preterite vs. imperfect tenses right now and that is kinda hard. thanks goodness for mom and a big shoutout to my guy Marty Reeder for giving me a huge headstart in the language. i was trying to look at ways that the lord has blessed me in my calling and that is definitely one of them. also i hear that Lima West and North are really sketch and my mission has one of the nicest areas of La Molina so that is cool. i cant wait to get there and have a hobby at least. it will be nice to be able to collect ties and souvenirs and stuff lol i bought 2 today in the temple store and they are dope. 

i had a thought the other day while we were talking about movies in the house. i thought about adam sandlers line in the longest yard when he turns down the wardens offer to coach the guards team and he says "i just want to do my 4 years and go home." and i think that is exactly how it is with the mish haha jk but not really. 

if you guys want to send me packages in Lima i hear there is a website online that gives you sic ways to smuggle things into south america in packages without everything being stolen so go check that out. 

i have been lifting everyday with the other ballers in my district and it is nice. i have shed all of the fat i got before i came out and im not in too bad of shape but that wont last long. i think ive lost like 5 or 6 pounds so far just from stress and this crap mexican cafeteria food. 

Haircuts Today Hmmm

i remembered that i brought my horcrux book which none of you will understand what that is but it has a bunch of quotes and poems in it. i have been reading my poems and forget how much i love poetry so feel free to send me some. like "footsteps in the sand" and for mom, that one russian poem about missionaries would me nice.

it is weird being kind of alone here now. all of the SV kids bounced. i havent seen nathan anderson in a week and elder willmore bounced on monday night so it is sad. but we are like one of the oldest districts now so we kind of get to pick on the noob missionaries ahaha and we have a fun time with that. 

 Brett isnt allowed to get married while im gone because i want to meet the lucky chica before it happens. 

thanks for all of the love and whatnot.

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 2 

so this week was much better than the last. i have really felt the strength and comfort of the Lord. i am making really good friends with most of the guys in my house and we have tons of plans of what we want to do when we get home because one of the elders is from Vegas and has tons of access to stuff haha. This still kinda sucks though because we are only allowed to take pics on pday and we cant listen to any music or anything. thankfully elder roberts who is in our room is a good singer and elder gardiner can beatbox like nobody so ill spit some songs and they will go at it. 

i forgot to tell you all that i didnt even make it off the plane without having blisters from those brown shoes but they are good now. also, from being here i have begun to really appreciate the US missions. all i wanted was ghetto, spanish, and foreign but idk if i like it so much being here in the heart of mexico city. an elder here had a brother serve in the Lima west mission and he went and visited it and he said that is so poor and so trashy but the people were the nicest he had ever met. i guess we will see how i like it. 

i met a kid that is going to play OLB for usu when we get back. he is kinda a smaller poly so idk if he is that good. and somehow everyone in the ccm knows that i am headed to usu to play ball and ive met tons of usu fans so that is actually pretty cool.

last week at the temple i had this overwhelming feeling that i was so close to grandpa Clark. it was so weird. it has made me really happy though that i feel like he and Ramah are on the other side helping me out. the temple is such a cool place and i found out that the Lima temple actually isn't far from the mission home. 

this week the jokes have been about elder hunt, my companion and elder gardiner´s girlfriend. elder hunt doesn't wash his body he just rinses off. he cuffs his own pants and doesn't normally wear a belt so he looks really funny. he is gonna be that elder that comes home and pretends like he doesn't speak english so that people think he is cool or something. elder magee has started calling him a baller though and it is so funny. we are just trying to keep our senses of humor because there is no fun to be had here. my best friend is elder nordfelt he is a funny dude. he gave me a blessing and it was really good.

ive never washed my hands so much here or drank so much water before. it is good but kind of excessive so thank goodness dad has sent me all of those drinks. my house loves it. my language is still coming along well. i can say full thought out prayers and stuff and in our last lesson i taught so well. elder hunt and i are good at teaching. i easily speak and understand the best spanish in my district. elder hunt tries to act like the man even though during lessons he doesnt even understand what she says. teaching is the best part of the ccm. it doest suck haha. our classes here are like a full 4 years of seminary and spanish on roids fit into 6 weeks. 

in priesthood we practiced baptizing in spanish and stuff and that was fun. kinda awkward for me because elder hunt isnt much taller than a garden gnome. thank goodness i have woken up at 630 for school and 530 for seminary like my whole life. it wasnt difficult to adjust to that. most of the elders stay up super late and fall asleep during classes and the maestras get super mad. it is weird having to actually talk to people and get to know them for entertainment. usually there are other things but it has been fun telling stories and whatnot. 

btw happy anniversary mom and dad and happy birthday brett. if i could send you guys something i would but nothing here is cool. 

i got pooped on the other day by a bird during book of mormon study outside. i had to clean off my pants so that was fun. i was bored so i did some math for fun because it is always fun. i estimated some numbers and whatnot for eating and bathroom and sleeping plus pdays and i figured out that the total amount of missionary work out here is 12,969 hours. i also figured out that two years is about 63,082,000 seconds in total. im almost halfway through the ccm already. the weeks fly by but the days can be slow because we do pretty much the same thing every day. sundays are the best and tuesdays are good too. tuesdays are devotional and pizza night so it is nice to switch things up. 

anyway i am doing well and miss you all but i have received confimation on confirmation that i am supposed to be out here.

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 1

So the CCM really sucked for the first couple of days but it has gotten better as time has gone on. my companion is Elder Hunt from East High. he was like a swimmer and he is a super try hard in basketball even though he was trash and i posterized him once because he made me mad even though we aren't supposed to dunk. But he is a good guy and he works hard at least at the gospel and the language. we are the district leaders. on the way to LAX i sat next to this guy decked out in byu gear who told me his whole life story and is actually a usu fan as well. i made friends first with elder magee who played football for lone peak as a DE and he seemed cool until we got here. he doesn't want to work hard at anything and is kind of a tool so i feel sorry for his companion. the first day we were here i ripped his jacket pocket open and had to sew it back up but it actually looks really good thanks to that sewing class i took junior year. An elder in house from MC hasn't gone poop since he got here so he took some hardcore laxatives the other two nights and sat on the toilet forever. Elder Nordfelt from my district is probably my best friend here he is kinda like Chad Ghering and is really good natured. he is from Huntington beach california and is going to portland. There is a district here that is completely made up of 12 elders and 2 hermanas that are going to the lima east mission and elder hunt, magee, and i are stuck in some other district and have only met one of them. i am looking forward to having some american companions haha. Elder hunt told me that he heard Lima just got a brand new TGIF´s so that is something to look forward to.

We made a video called MTC cribs last night that i will find and send to you guys later it was really funny. our district is chill and has a lot of fun together. The ccm has its own well and water supply so that is one less thing that i have to worry about here. The food is trash though and i have resorted to eating cereal for breakfast because those are the worst and it reminds me of the beautiful US of A. The other day we took the other elder from MC in our house to the counselor because he is having some serious emotional issues and his companion is a straight jerk to him. We get gym time every day so it is nice to lift and play some ball. It is super hot here in the heart of mexico city so i sleep with no sheets or anything on. my feet hang off the bed but it is ok and there is an infinite amount of mosquitos but i haven't been bitten yet. i must have a blood type they don't like or something because all of the other elders complain so much about them. Every week here we get 100 free pesos to spend in la tienda and that is nice i bought some flash cards and stuff and i hopefully will get a present for mom pretty soon that i think she will like. The traffic here never stops and our house is on the edge of the campus so all we hear all night is loud motorcycles and gun shots. I think i counted 8 during a 30 minute study session outside one afternoon. 

We just got back from the temple and it was really cool. The whole thing was in spanish so we wore the headphones and did the veil in spanish but the workers helped us. It let me work on my accent. The temple is super pretty and it was nice to get out of prison here and drive through the city even though it is so ghetto and meet some other people. in our second lesson with our investigator she tried to get us off topic by asking if we liked music and we ended up singing families can be together forever out of himnos and she loved it. We are teaching her really well i think. 

Every Tuesday night is pizza and devotional night and last night we got to watch the broadcast from the provo mtc where elder Anderson spoke. he gave us an example of being a lifeguard at the olympics and how that isn't a hard job but being a missionary can be difficult, but not impossible. He said missions aren't complicated and a ton of other stuff and it is so enlightening and makes me want to get out there. my faith has grown so much here in the ccm and i am starting to see that this really is the Lord´s work and i am just an instrument. there is a good spirit here. i have already memorized su obtejivo and santiago 1:5 and DyC 6:36 and another one that i don't remember the reference to. in DyC 100:1 it talks about families and that scripture was so comforting to me, not that i did much for our family, but to know that you guys will be chill while i do this. 

i have set goals and made thoughts and written down quotes that have helped me get through this week. haha   My homesickness is slowly passing. 

Anyway i am well and healthy and i hope you all are too. Here's some pics. love you 

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Day 1

Hey i made it to the CCM. The flight wasn't as bad as i thought i got to mess around with some fun elders. Mexico City is unreal. My P-Day is Wednesday so i will email you tomorrow and tell you about everything that happened. Love you

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson