First Week MTC Life

Dear Mom,

Did you not get my email? I sent one the very first day I got here saying I was alright and that Fridays will be my P Day. I explained also that I had to skip the first week's P Day, and I have no idea why. I'm sorry if you didn't get it, but I checked and I sent it to the right email! 

Mexico is fantastic! The CCM is such a beautiful place! I love it! I honestly have no idea where to start because I have ten days to write about! So, from the beginning... getting here was a big culture shock! The airport was really bustling, and EVERYOne spoke Spanish! All the airport officials were asking me stuff and I just smiled! Listen to this though, my first Spanish conversation: I was walking through the airport with all of the other missionaries on my flight, and an airport attendant walks up to me and asks, "Hola, comó está?" And my mind must have been either too worked, or not worked enough, because I smiled right back and said, "Sí, gracias!" I was feeling so proud of myself and didn't realize my mistake until five minutes later while in line... oh well, off to a good start, I guess! After we all went through customs, a person from the CCM was waiting for us, and had us all group together to leave. There were 7 of us all together on the flight. We were supposed to wait for the other missionaries on the other flights so we could all come together on the bus, but I guess the man decided that that would take too long, so he called us a van. So we all piled in to this tiny van, with a driver who spoke NO english, and went into traffic. Mexcian.traffic.is.insane!!! At any given point on the drive to the CCM, I could reach out and touch another car through my window with ease! Even when we were going 50 miles an hour! Everyone cuts in and out, and they don't stop! If someone starts going in front of you, you stop, because they won't. And then there's people selling their stuff in the middle of the street! Cars are zooming by going crazy fast, and they're just chill, yelling about their mangos. The entire drive, our driver was talking to us in rapid-fire spanish! We literally told him that we could not understand him to well, but he kept going! Luckily, we gave the only Hermana on our flight the front seat, and he focused on her while we could ignore him hahaha!

One of the very first questions they asked me when I got here was if I knew how to play piano, so I told them yes. Apparently... nobody else who came that day could! Or wanted to.... so now I'm the pianist for everything with all the newbies from the day I got here, which is a hefty amount, accounting for all the plane trips and everyone! 

The CCM itself is pretty cool! IT's so big! 90 acres! It is basically a night and day difference. When I got inside, it looked so different from the rest of the city. It's so well kept here, all the grass is alive and neatly trimmed, it's so clean, and everything! There's a massive wall around the entire compound made of thick concrete and brick. Like, several feet thick. And it's topped by barbed wire. It's pretty intense! My companion and I joke about us being in "spiritual prison". The first day was basically just getting all of our stuff, and unpacking. We had a devotional at 7... it was in Spanish. And I met my companion! Elder Seui Fola. He's Samoan! He's so cool! I'll send a picture later today of him and I. I can't send any pictures now because I can only take picutres on P Day, and our day just started. But he's so chill, and funny! I'm glad i got paired with someone who likes to laugh! 

Classes are... intense. Like you've heard before, they start right off with full spanish. Full immersion, I guess. I at least knew a little bit of the vocabulary, so I SOMETIMES had a VAGUE idea of what my teacher was saying. I didn't realize how completely they want to immerse you, though, because we had to teach a full lesson to an investigator the next day! In español! What?! We basically scripted the whole thing and read what we had written! It's a good thing it was just a play investigator, or else we'd have had our first failed discussion! It was fun, though. We have a lot of different classes. One on language, one on book of mormon, one on everything! Every day is just straight class! We leave our casa at around 7;00. and don´t go back until 9:30! That's so crazy! it definitely got some getting used to! But I did, and it's super fun now! I also have an awesome district, so that makes it easier. Sunday was super cool! It was basically a break from all the studying and all the work, and a time to just relax and listen to the meetings. I loved it! With all the devotionals and all the classes, I'm learning a ton! Mi español es mucho mucho mejor que antes! I'm learning to love it, and the challenge of understanding it! I love talking to the native latinos! They're so awesome! I can start off a conversation with them, and they just start going off on anything! I basically never have any idea what they're saying, but they don't seem to care, and I laugh when they laugh, so it's good.

November 1st and 2nd was El Dia de los Muertos! And let's just say, the Mexicans know how to fiesta! All.Night.Long... their music was blasting from dusk till dawn! They were going at it hard! There were also a bunch of houses that were lit up with colored strobe lights and everything! Another thing, here in Mexico city, mis maestros like to joke around that every day is a fiesta! Everyday, all day, at regular intervals, fireworks go off! Not the big ones from shows, but small ones that I might light off with my friends illegally. All we hear is what sounds like a gunshot basically every five minutes! But during El Día de los Muertos, it got especially crazy! All day, and all night they were going! It was so fun!

The food here is alright. It's funny, my first legit meal in Mexico was just straight pizza. A big slice of pepporoni pizza! It made me laugh, I don't know. But the food in the CCM is not really authentic Mexican food, I guess. It's good, but I have had all of these things, but in a better form! Even their horchata! It comes nowhere near the stuff that Hermano Perez makes! But it's ok, I guess, cuz I'm not cooking for myself. So I love it. They do actually have better drinks, however. All of their soda is SOOOOOO good! And there's this yogurt stuff that's like a mix between yogurt and milk, and we drink it, and it's straight divine. I live off of it here.

I can really feel the spirit so strong in this place. It's truly amazing! In every class, and every devotional, and every testimony meeting, I can feel the spirit presiding here with us! It is just all over the place here! I've never really felt that before, and I'm really enjoying it! While here, I've had the most spiritual experiences of my life! The testimony meetings with my district are particularly amazing. There were many tears shed, let's just say that! Mi compañero has a very strong testimony! Every time he talks, I get excited because he makes me feel the spirit really strong! I love it! I love how close I can be with Christ here! Even reading the Book of Mormon is better! I've read so much, and learned so much! I love it, because I've learned how to receive answers to my prayers by reading the Book of Mormon, and that has been the biggest blessing while being here, and there are many blessings. I wish I could bring all my family and friends here to feel what I'm feeling, but oh well. I just pray that I'll be able to share this spirit with those I teach!

But  anyways, what's going on over there?! How was Halloween? What was everyone dressed up as? How are you all getting along without me? Hopefully you get this email...

Te amo, 

Elder Schmid

A 10 peso coin that I thought looked super cool

My District
From left to right:  Elder LeFoll, Elder Scoresby, Elder Hirschi, Elder Butcher, Elder Huxforg, Elder Humphrey, Hermana Peterson, Hermana Ramsey, ME, Elder Henry, Elder Seui, Elder Horrocks

A view of the street that I walk down every day going to and from class.  Love the trees growing over the street.

Me and mi campanero, Elder Seui