Week Two

Hola familia!

Life is good! Life at the CCM is pretty much the same old! Nothing changes in day to day life pretty much, so anything really crazy or fun that goes on, we have to make up and do ourselves. But it's still great! I love it here! It's such a pretty place, and everyone is so awesome, and there's so much open space for gym time and what not! Gym time is probably my favorite time, not gonna lie haha! There's so much to do! They have a massive indoor basketball court, half of it is a basketball court and the other half has a volleyball net! Surprisingly, usually everyone is over at the volleyball half! Everyone plays volleyball here! I must say, I've gotten pretty dang good at serving! ;) But also inside are a ton of foosball tables and a couple ping pong tables. But that's just the inside. Outside, there's a ton more, because we are on a crazy 90 acre lot. So, there are three other basketball courts scattered around the campus, there are a few soccer fields, there's an outdoor concrete volleyball court, and another outdoor beach sand court! There's a baseball field, there's a full track for running, it's insane. My district either usually plays volleyball, or ultimate frisbee, which is super fun. 

I was not prepared for this weather. We only planned for weather in Chile, and didn't bother checking for weather here... which was a mistake on my part. It was super nice at first! But then it started to rain more and more, and now the clouds aren't going away. It's freezing, it's wet, and I don't even have a sweater.  My bag wasn't waterproofed because my mission is the driest place on earth, but Mexico City is definitely not! But that's ok, I can tough my way through it. I just wish I knew what it would be like here. 

So you're wondering how CCM life works. Lemme tell ya. It's boot camp. Day one, you get a packet with all the materials you need, and then a bag with all the books you'll need (It's a lotta books). In the packet, along with your white bible, room key, missionary agenda, and badges, you get a packet of papers that is your life for the next six weeks. It has a schedule on it, on which each and every day of your weeks here has been meticulously planned and mapped out. There is legit NO free-time other than on P-Day. You get three meal breaks, but I got unlucky, and my zone goes last to eat, and so we only get 25 minutes tops before the workers kick us out. The food is... interesting. Let's just say my bowels went for a roller coaster ride. And that's the most censored way I can say that. Other than the meals, though, you are in class. All day. Every day. Classes for language, for book of Mormon, for Preach my Gospel, for everything! You have one little classroom that you are in all day, and two teachers: one for mornings and one for afternoons. It gets pretty boring, not gonna lie. But then you really feel the spirit, and you find interesting ways to pass time and have fun with your district. Basically, this place is like high school, except for instead of 7 hour days, it's 15 hour days. Waking up gets hard, but once you're up and moving, you get into a rhythm and basically sleep walk. 

I spend most of my time here with my district. We have class together and it's just our district in the class. However, we get bored. So we often go to other districts classrooms and mingle.  So we do know, on a very small basis, everyone in our zone. During gym time too we see other people and get to meet people from other zones. It's actually very fun! That's another reason it's my favorite time of the day: because I get to see my friends that I don't see at all the rest of the day! Other than these times though, and during meals, we only ever see our own district. 

Elder LeFoll in the classroom under a desk in the back, it's so tiring!

I went to the temple today! I finally got to escape the prison walls that surround us! It was fantastic! The traffic was even crazier than before, if that were even possible! But the temple itself was so amazing! I love the looks of it, because it has this whole Aztec sort of theme going on inside and out, so it looks similar to ancient Aztec pyramids or something! Inside was super interesting, because we did everything like normal but in Spanish. It was super fun! Even the workers! They were the normal old people, but Mexican! It was awesome! There's also a little store off to the side of the temple with a lot of cool things, and I got myself an Aztec/Mayan Calendar looking sort of thing! It looks dope. And I can hang it up. Which is also dope. Speaking of dope, I heard it's legal in Cali now? Well, sucks for them, I guess... 

Elder Seui and I in front of the temple

I'm a photographer!

My district at the visitors center.

 Anyways, you told me to clean my room and whatnot? I actually have the cleanest room out of my entire house! We always have our beds made, the floor is swept, all of our crap is away in the closets and whatnot! You'd be proud! And, our room smells the best! I go into the other rooms and can't stay because it smells too bad, but my room always smells good! Haha we're a very clean room!

I get a haircut today, but I am a little nervous because the people don't do it the way we are use to.  Elder Seui had to take his sewing scissors to his hair after his haircut to try to get it more to what he is used to.

Yeah, I heard that Trump is now the new President! Hahaha that's funny, and I was sure too that Hillary would win. That's really sad though how it's made people riot. I hate hearing that, and that's one of the worst parts of this whole election. They hated each other, and they made the country hate each other. It's super sad. But hopefully that will clear up after a bit. I wonder what he's gonna do with the country... I'm very interested to see the state of things when I return. 

I'm glad to hear the Grandma and Aunt Tammy are doing great! Two scary things that ended well! That's very funny to hear how Dad switched to an iPhone and now has technical difficulties! I bet Mom's feeling the power now, huh? ;) But thanks for the email, I loved all the stuff you put in! Bronson makes me laugh even from hundreds of miles away! I love you guys! Me encantan todos ustedes! Yo no puedo esperar para viernes cada semana! La iglesia es verdadero, y yo soy agradecido por este evangelio y por la oportunidad para estár un misionero para la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimas Días!

Te amo!

Elder Schmid

Right in front of recepcion is this random statue of just a big head.  I pass it every day, and I love it!  I need to name it...