1st Week in Mexico City!

Wow, it has been a crazy week. But I did make it to the wonderful Mexico City! It was good to talk to all you guys on Monday, sorry you had to wake up so early but I hope it was worth it! haha It was such a weird feeling flying out of SLC, I flew out at just the perfect time as the sun was coming over the mountains, it was way pretty but it was just too weird to think that I wouldnt see those mountains again for 2 years. Everything went good with the travel, flying into Mexico City was INSANE! haha I guess mom and dad, you know what that is about. This place is even more massive than I imagined. It just goes on and on, and I was expecting one main area of skyscraper  city area, but it is like that everywhere. Somehow i finagled a window seat, exit row, with nobody in the middle so I had a pretty good view. We landed and the AP's picked us up, and brought us to the mission office, right next to the temple. The temple is beautiful, and I think the only clean thing in all of the city. haha. We met President Anaya, and I really like him a lot, he is going to be a really good mission president. His wife is really nice to, but she doesn't speak a word of English. We left our suitcases at the office and packed a bag for the night, and spent the first night at the Anayas house. There house is very very nice. It is was out of our mission boundries, which is why it is so nice. haha. Pretty much the entire thing is made of marble. The part of the city where the Anayas live is very nice, there is all sorts of really nice houses, and tons of nice cars, not what I was expecting. This city is very hilly, and every time you come to the top of a hill, you can see nothing but city on rolling hills for as far as you can see. Anyways, Our first Mexican dinner at the Anayas was a lasagna type thing, corn, a pile of very white lettuce that mom would have loved, and chocolate cake. It was quite good. All 19 of us spent the night at the Anayas in the bunk house in the basement.

 The next morning we had a "traditional" Mexican breakfast of homemade tortilla chips covered in a saucy salsa, eggs, beans, papaya, cantaloupe,and a berry cheesecake. Not bad at all. We had a training after which consisted of having a cold, wet paper towel on our stomachs the whole time to help with the digestion of breakfast? haha. Then we came back to the offices to get our trainers. My trainer is Elder Hernandez. He is from Zacatecas, Mexico and is as Mexican as they come. haha he doesn't speak ANY English! Its awkward. haha. The only words he can say are "come" and that's about it haha. Our area is Carrera. It is a 10 minute taxi ride north of the temple. Apparently it is the poorest in the whole mission, excellent place to start. Our apartment. haha oh boy. It is small, dirty, and Mexican. It is probably a average-nice house for the area. I will try to send pics. The first night we went out and taught. By we I mean Elder Hernandez, and I sat there with a blank look on my face. haha I didn't understand ANYTHING. MTC Spanish sucks. haha jkjk. I love the little Mexican kids here so much, even though they make fun of my Spanish. haha They are all so freaking cute, and it kills me that we are not allowed to hold them, or let them sit on our laps.

The next day we took a taxi back to the offices, did some thing to get my real visa, and some training things. My breakfast consisted of fruit loops. haha. The milk here is boxed, and for some reason I like it so much better. haha. One great thing about our apartment is that we have hot water. We had our first meal with an member which was this spaghetti soup thing, rice with a fried egg on top, and more rice and hunks of pork. We taught 3 new investigators this day, oh I mean Elder Hernandez did. We taught a guy named Arturo, that had been taught before and has a baptismal date for this week. And I will be baptizing him! haha. There is so many ups and downs of emotions that I am feeling here. It always seems like around 1:00-3:00 I get frustrated, homesick, and think there is no way I can do it. But then for the rest of the day is usually feel just the opposite. The driving here is ridiculous. It will be like a 2 lane road, and they will make 5. I could never drive here without getting killed. haha.

After each day, I feel like I have walked the Vegas strip 10 times, I am so tired. It is so hard to stay awake until 10:30 haha. We have a lot of study time where I am being trained, so we usually don't get out of the house til noonish. It is pretty fun to try to teach Hernandez English, it is so hard for them to pronounce English words. haha. Nobody is ever home here, about 9 out of the 10 doors we knock on nobody is home. We are get to do any tracting, it is all with members, investigators, and less active members, we get new investigators through references. The thirds days lunch. ohhh, it still haunts me. haha A really nice member fed us not very nice food. haha it was basically a bloody extremely spicy broth with huge chunks of tongue floating in it. Taste buds and all. Awful. haha and I was expecting the tortillas here to be good, but I don't particularly enjoy them. BUT. . the tacos, oh yes, I think so. The street taco stands are amazing. Love them. Could eat at them everyday for the rest of my life. haha.

The 4th day we went to the mission offices again and it took us 3 taxis to get there. Due to Eld. Her. forgetting his name tag, and awful traffic that we could walk faster than. We did some more visa stuff, and greenie training. We ate lunch at the bishops house, which was more spaghetti soup, rice, and what I still am unsure of. I am thinking it was squid. not sure. She gave us SO much it was hard to eat it all. I understand a little bit more of the language everyday, but I still only understand maybe 30 percent of what people say. I can talk ok, but understanding is the hard part.

General conference was really good! It is like Christmas here when it rolls around for the missionaries. We took a bus over to the town of Centenario to the chapel there for conference. Us white peoples got to watch it in English in a little room in the back of the church. I was very happy about that. haha. In between sessions we bussed back to Carrera and at lunch with a member, Hermana Elda, it was really good, It was tortillas cooked in like a black bean puree, with cream on top, it was surprisingly good, looked bad, but tasted good. We went back to Centenario for the afternoon session as well which was great. I liked Elder Ballards talk of the Articles of Faith, I will memorize them in Spanish soon. We ate some tacos outside the church, which gave me heartburn, but oh so worth it. We brought an investigator to the priesthood session, Evan. Conference is just so much better as a missionary. haha.

Yesterday conference, not quite so good, why? I had to watch it in Spanish. ah. I didn't really understand it, and it is so easy just to day dream when you don't understand nada. In between sessions my district, me and my comp, and Elders Blanca and Gilles, went to lunch at a members house. She fed us mole chicken-pronounced like guacamole but definitely not the same thing- and lots of rice. But the dessert, oh the dessert. It was my first real dessert I have had besides at the presidents house. We had papaya, chocolate truffles, and these amazing peanut butter cookie things that Brandi would have loved. haha IT was so good, so good in fact that we lost track of time and missed the first hour of the afternoon session. haha oops. But I got to watch the last half in English which was awesome, because us whiteies snuck out and found another TV to put on English. haha.

Today was a good day, it rained all day. The weather is quite nice here, and little hot when you are walking around in it all day, but cant complain. We went to lunch at burger king, which was just so much better than in the US. It is like the nice place to eat here. haha For laundry, we take it to a lavanderia, give them our laundry, they do it and we pick it up tomorrow. The best part of the day was cleaning the house, oh how I enjoyed that. It was sooo gross, the piles of dust and dirt I swept up were just awesome. The kitchen and bathroom are pretty sub par, but they are decent, and I cant complain. you know those bad bathrooms on house hunters international that we cringe at where the shower and the toilet and the sink are basically one? ya, its like that.

Lots of walking here, when we have to go anywhere kinda close, but not walking distance, we take the bus, which is 4 pesos. If it is farther than that, like the temple/mission offices, we take taxi, which is about 30 pesos.

I cant believe Josh and Kayla are getting married this Saturday. Came so quick, now I definitely feel like the shrimp of the family. haha. It is just gonna be so different when I come. back. Good luck with everything though! I'm sure it will all go great, all the pictures and everything were awesome! Good luck Josh and Kayla, thanks for being such great examples and friends to me! Love you guys.

Oh, so you can still do Dear elders! they print them out at the mission home, but I will only get them when my district leader goes and picks mail up, which cant be too often.

Well I cant think of anything else to say, but I know there is much more, mother, I know you are probably sitting at the computer waiting for this to come in so email me back with any questions!

Love you all!

Elder Elgan