Poco a Poco

BUENAS TARDES!!!!!!!!

 

It's finally P-Day!!!!! Thursday is our districts P-Day so look out! This has been the longest wait. I have been dying to hear from you!!! But I will tell you right now that I am having an amazing time. This place is so cool. The CCM is really really small but the spirit is really big. There is so much love and you can feel it everywhere you go. It is remarkable. It is about 40% North American and 60% latino but we all get along so great. We have all picked up spanish really fast so we can all communicate really well and it is so much fun. The Latinos are a woot.

 

There is so much i want to tell you but I don't even know where to begin!!!! I'll start by just telling you a normal day here in the CCM. We wake up at 6:30, eat breakfast at 7. Then we either study for an hour or we have spanish class. We have class until about 12:00 and then we go to lunch. After lunch we have personal study for an hour then recreation! Recreation is so much fun because there is a huge turf soccer feild at the CCM and so we just play futbol for an hour with the Latinos which is just a dream. It is so much fun. After Rec we study some more and more and then go to dinner. The food here by the way is ridiculously good. Like it's unreal. Some of the food is a little weird and it take awhile to get used to but its so good. Although three-quarters of your meal is rice i wouldnt want anything else. I will admit, I have put on a few pounds, but don't worry! Me and my companion are going to start running. After dinner we teach an investigator. Yes, an INVESTIGATOR. IN SPANISH. Its super difficult. But luckily the investigator is just our teacher so were not messing up someone's salvation. And then after that we have some coaching which really helps and is usually the spiritual highlight of the day. It is a very long day filled with scriptures, rice, and a language I don't understand.

 

Okay, maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit. I am actually picking up spanish really well. We have an excellent spanish teacher and when you spend all day in classroom doing nothing but Spanish, you pick it up nicely. But really though, it is all the Spirit, at least when we are teaching. When we are teaching it is really hard for me to understand what the investigator is saying but somehow I know exactly how to respond. It is so cool. I am learning so much here.

 

The main thing I have learned is humility. Before I came every told me, and I told myself, that I would be an amazing missionary, and that went a little to my head. The CCM has humbled me so much. It's crazy. I've learned that I don't now any spanish and I know a whole lot less about the gospel than I thought I did. But Tuesday night I humbled myself to the Lord and said to him, "Okay! I'm yours! You know a whole lot more than I do! Please show me the way." and that is what I have been striving to do this whole week is humble my self and leave all my trust in the Lord. He is the only way I can be successful and without his help I will just be miserable. Just like Ammon said "as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself but I will boast of God, for in his strength I can do all things" (Alma 26:12).

 

Oh! I also got to go to the temple today which was so amazing!!!!! It is so tiny but it is so beautiful. It was so cool to be there and see that The Church is the same all throughout the world. I loved it. It was all in spanish but luckily they had english headsets for us. I am so happy we got to go. We also got to walk around Lima!!!! This city is crazy. It is absolutely massive and jam packed. there are cars and people everywhere. Its so awesome. But you have to be careful becasue the cars do not stop´for anything so its a little dangerous but fun!!!

 

One last thing before I go. My subject. Poco a Poco. It means little by little and it is my theme for my mission. The first couple of days were really hard and really discouraging because I was trying to learn everything at once and trying to be the best I can be but it just was not working and I was having a really hard time. But then I remembered a sister gave out district some advice Thursday night and she said take everything Poco a Poco, little by little and that has changed everything. Thomas S. Monson said "Life by the yard is hard, Life by the inch is a cinch."

 

I love you so much and I wish I had more time because there is so much I want to tell you!!!! But I miss you and loved hearing from you!!!!

 

HASTA LUEGO!!!!

 

Love,

 

Elder McIff