Hermana Rachael Lutze: Week 1 (Baptism by Fire)

One week or one month? It feels like this week has lasted forever!! We have had such long days!! I seriously have never studied this much in my life! That is saying something considering I went to BYU

. So my compañera at the CCM is Hermana Knudsen and she is awesome!! She is seriously so nice and a total tomboy like me!! We get along so well! I'm so grateful to have such a great companion right from the beginning! Definitely a blessing. I was certainly worried at first because I don't always get along with girls the best per say. She is actually from South Jordan Utah!! She flew on the plane with me from Salt Lake so we knew each other before we got to the CCM (Centro de Capacitación Misional Mexico). There are two other girls in our room with us as well and they are in our District (6C). They are Hermana Robertson and Hermana Peterson. They are so wonderful too!! We are seriously all the best of friends now! We go everywhere and do everything together every day all day.

The food is descent here. They serve a good variety of food that you can usually find something that you like to eat. It is weird though, they serve meat for pretty much every meal, including breakfast. Then there is always fruit and salad, refried beans, tortilla chips, a type of rice, bread, soup. So it is pretty good. YESTERDAY WE ATE PIZZA! Oh my gosh it was so exciting. I have never been so excited to eat pizza in my life! And they had macaroni and cheese that day, also a great thing! I think I have lost some weight here though from the food, just a little bit. Especially since I eat so much fruit and salad now.

I just have one teacher right now. His name is Hermano Sanchez and he is absolutely wonderful! He is patient, funny, and a great teacher. He teaches us Spanish and he is also very very good at the gospel side of teaching. Usually we are learning the language and the gospel at the same time. I wish we had more teacher time honestly. The majority of our day is spent in personal study (which means we literally live in our classroom) which is not always used for studying ;). We (meaning the Elders mostly) get really distracted sometimes and talk about other things. We do get back on topic eventually but it is nice to just talk and laugh with my District too! I love my District!! They are some of the best people I have ever met!! We all get along so well and love hanging out with each other all day!! Even at meals! We definitely have the most fun out of all the new districts! So grateful for them and their support this first week.

At the CCM, there is a capacity of about 1200 missionaries. There are only about 950 here right now though. Its weird because it does not seem like I see that many missionaries.

Yes I get to go to the temple next Wednesday I think!! It looks so beautiful and I am so excited!!

I have met Presidente Call and his wife!! I totally forgot that they were Bishop's parents!! They are so kind and loving!! I have loved my time with them! Pres. Call gave a wonderful devotional on Sunday I think it was.

Of course I read what you all wrote in my book! It was hard to open in though. I knew I was going to cry if I started reading it. My prediction was correct because as soon as I started reading it I started crying. You all wrote such beautiful things

Oh I'm glad you went to JCW. Ice cream is always a good cure for sadness! I'm sad Hannah's team lost. Did they play well at least? I'm so excited for Natalie to learn these different instruments!! She is going to be amazing!! She is seriously so talented! I hope Jakie has fun at his camp. I was always so jealous of the Boy Scouts they get to do all the fun stuff!! I hope his game went well!! And that is the cutest thing I have heard all day about Jakie! Honestly an easy mistake.

So I wanted to tell you. You can actually send packages but its through a different site. There are two: Mexico MTC care package.com and Missionary Package MX. Search and you should be able to find it. Just so you know. Aaaand if you send me letters through there, they will print them off and give them to me. So I will get your letters right when you send them.

Other things to Know about my Week:

For the past week, there have been fireworks going off all day! It is so weird? There is a Catholic church that keeps shooting them off and we are not quite sure why? We think it has to do with their saints and possibly the fact that Mexicans love fireworks apparently ;). Also, our campus is so beautiful and very large!! We actually spend a lot of time outdoors walking to different buildings which is nice. There are tons of WILD parakeets everywhere!! They are green and blend in with the grass! they are so pretty. Also, I would like you to know that I have been very successful MOM AND DAD at waking up on time and being on time. I actually just wake up in the mornings without an alarm clock.

Also they move fast here. On Thursday (our first real day here) we had to teach our investigator Miguel IN SPANISH!! THE FIRST DAY!! It was so crazy! But Hermana Knudsen and I rocked it!! We have been teaching him in Spanish every day except Sunday since then.

So every week we are given a topic for our group to write a talk on that has to be completely in Spanish for sacrament meeting. It has to be at least 5 minutes. Then when we arrive in sacrament meeting they announce who will be speaking. So the night before I was talking with my companions and I said that I would probably be chosen. However everyone else was saying "no, no, you've only been here a week you won't be chosen!". Ha Ha. Yea so I sit down and the next thing I know, I am called to be the second speaker in sacrament meeting!! It was out of the frying pan and into the fire!! Of course this would happen to me on THE FIRST SUNDAY HERE! So I got up and gave my talk and it went fine. Everyone said I did great and that I had wonderful Spanish. Look at me the little Latina girl ;).

Well I have had an amazing week!! I've made some great friends! I have learned so much this week as well. I don't think I have ever grown and stretched, participated and shared my thoughts and feelings as much as this week! But it is wonderful!!

One thing that I have really learned this week is to focus and rely on the Lord. I am not a perfect teacher, missionary or Spanish speaker. However, with the Lord's help I know that I can do all things. He knows everything therefore he can guide and teach me in all things. I have seen his help this entire week in adjusting to missionary life, teaching my investigator in Spanish, giving my talk, revelation in class, etc. I know I would not be able to succeed as I have without His help here. He even is helping us learn the language at an amazing rate!! I love my Savior and I know that he will provide a way for me to accomplish everything that I am meant to do here if only I will be obedient, repentant, and willing to listen and follow Him.

Love you!

Have a great week!!

Hermana Lutze

P.S. It is actually pretty cold here. It is mostly always overcast and slightly windy. For a couple days it was sprinkling or misting all day. It never rained....just misted? It was like the mist setting on the sprinkler hose!! and it was non stop.

P.S. We are given 120 pesos to live on each week to buy soap for washing clothes, clothes, snacks, books, etc. That is the equivalent of about 8 US dollars! Everything is so cheap! Its amazing!!