WEEK 4

So technically I've only been here at the CCM for about 3 weeks, but as far as our schedule goes, its week 4, so I'm going to call it that! What a week! Class after class after lesson after class haha! Nothing but learning Spanish, attempting to teach in Spanish, a meal, and more Spanish. At first when I got here, I hated the system here. Where they start to teach you a little bit of Spanish, and then the third day you have to teach... I hated that! Why couldn't we just learn to speak it and then apply it. But now i realize how much better it is, being thrown into the deep end of the pool, because you learn so much faster!

Most of our devotionals here are in English. As far as devotionals and CCM-wide meetings, we are usually segregated. But when Elder Christofferson and some other local Area 70s talk, they have everyone together. Elder Christofferson talked in English with a live Spanish translator. But this week we heard from Elder Gauna, and Area 70, and he had a live English translator. The whole CCM presidency and most all of the staff speak very decent English. And every Sunday night we watch some movie. This week we watched Meet the Mormons. I hadn't seen that before, but it was pretty good. As usual the food is not too bad. Obviously, the food here isn't the same as out there, but hopefully it will be streets ahead of this stuff! I usually end up eating a bowl of cereal every meal as well, so that prepping me for the field too haha! We've been playing a lot of basketball and volleyball this week. All the Latinos took over the futsol court so its no fun anymore because they are too good! But everything here is great. WE also found out that there are playgrounds hidden through out the CCM because it used to be a school. That made for some fun gym times as well. Overall, its pretty great here. As long as you want to have a good time and you're doing the right things.

I know this is a bit of a transition but here goes.This last week was a little bit of a struggle, especially the first half. The Spanish was just getting to a new level of frustration. I wanted to teach people, and I can understand them, and I know what I wanted to say, but I just couldn't because I had to do it in Spanish. And on top of that, me and my companion, Elder Spencer, could not get along. All day long I would just think, holy crap, this kid is so annoying. He just has to tell everyone he can find everything he knows. That is one of my biggest pet-peeves. There are multiple times throughout a day where I'd just want to punch him, tell him to shut up, and leave him in the dust. It got to a point where I could not feel the Spirit, whether it was in class or in lessons. It is so miserable being unhappy, and especially having the one person you'd want to spend the least amount of time with, with you 25/7.

The end of last week was really terrible. I was missing home, feeling down on myself for not being able to teach well, and I did not have any love for my companion. But Saturday night, during our Sunday fast, I had an amazing experience. We had a personal/companionship study time, but our teacher was also pulling everyone aside to have a one on one talk thing. I don't know how we got on the topic, but me, the Hermanas, and a couple Elders from my district were talking about things we thought were cool about the church and Priesthood stuff. It was awesome, and I got to talk about space for a little bit so I was actually feeling pretty good at the time. I miss talking with my friends about all the amazing things in the universe. But being able to talk again just put me in a good mood. When my teacher called me back, he asked how my experience had been so far. I told him how I was missing home and all my other things I was having trouble with. Then he told me about when he left on his mission. Before he left, he dad never spent a single day outside of his home. Not one night! He told me how terrible it was, but then he told me something, something that I've heard I don't know how many times. He told me that to make the difference, just have love. Just have love. It was like I've never heard the words before. Because from that moment, I felt so much better. I tried having love for everything. Every time my companion has said or done something something stupid to get attention, I just try to have love for him. And what a change it made. I still have times where he gets on my nerves (every single day) but i can handle it a lot better now. When I get frustrated with the Spanish, I just try to have love for the work, and somehow i can focus more. When I start missing home, I just have love for my Savior and I get fire hosed with the Spirit. The difference is so night and day. The blessing of feeling the Spirit, and thus feeling love, is so amazing.

I just want to say thank you all so much for you love and prayers. I could not be here without your support. It is incredible what the power of prayer can do. Before I came here, I would pray and all, but it was just a routine. When I prayed for things, I never looked sincerely for answers. But it has seemed like every week I've been here, I have a big challenge to overcome. And every time, I've prayed about it. But then later in the week, I don't remember my prayer. It isn't until after the fact that I've realized every time I've sincerely prayed for something, I gotten an answer. Seriously, the church is true. And the Spirit that fuels the church is very real and better than anything else. What an amazing blessing I have to be able to feel it, and to be able to share that feeling with others. I hope you all the best, whether you're at home, away from home, or out in the field as well. I love you all, and I'm always praying for you! Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Kaden Quinn