A Quick Update of Our First Two Weeks

MTC at Provo, Utah
Our first week on the MTC was quite an adventure. To start, our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:30 AM so we needed to be at the airport early on Monday. We finished packing Sunday evening (actually early Monday since we went to bed at 2:30 am) and got up at 4:30 am. Our flight left as scheduled so we landed at SLC around noon. Lib and Limher picked us up, went to eat something and then took us to the MTC. We were late per their schedule so they hush us in at the reception desk and took us to our first meeting of the day.


This picture below shows the view we had from our room. We thought we had the best Suite in all the MTC!

This first meeting was an eye opener. We were part of a group of 75 couples (senior missionaries as they call us). These couples came from all over the US, although most of them were from somewhere in UT. They asked us to introduce ourselves, so each of the couples took turns to do so. We learned there were other couple from Gilbert, one from Mesa, and one from Scottsdale. We had couples from Florida, Saint George, and many other different parts of the country. As you can see on this picture below (showing some of the 75 couples), we were (BY FAR) the youngest couple there!!!

Many would approach us and at one point or another in the conversation they will say something like “you look too young to be retired”, or something to that effect. So we would explain we are just taking a break away from work to be able to serve at this time.

Some couples were going to places like Philadelphia, Missouri, NY, Arizona, NM, etc. But some of them were going to small countries in Africa, or a tiny island in the middle of nowhere called Azores, or to better known places like Spain, Hawaii, Italy, or Australia...can you imagine that? 75 couples willing to serve wherever they were send to! Paying their own expenses, not having the comforts they are used to, and some of them we learn doing it with financial sacrifice. Like the one couple going to Bangkok that sold their house to be able to serve a mission…and they are learning the language. Oh!, and we learned that for many couples this was not their first mission, but the second one, or the third one…and in one case I think I heard the fifth mission!!! Since this week my prayers at night when I ask “for the missionaries around the world” have a more personal meaning, since I know at least 150 senior missionaries willingly serving wherever they were assigned.

We had Elder Hafen, an emeritus General Authority come to talk to all the missionaries at the MTC. He had a good message, teaching us that the young missionaries enter the temple before their missions so they can have power and authority. He also had a couple of fun lines for us. He said he had received letters from a granddaughter and a grandson telling them what they thought about the MTC. This is what they said:

“MTC is EFY on steroids!”

“a young elder telling his companion, referring to the young sister missionaries: if you don't look once, you are not a man. and if you look twice, you are not a missionary”.
and the same elder referring to all the nice, good looking young sister missionaries: “Now I know why we have our name tag right above the heart...so all the hormones bounce back at it!”

And a senior missionary told me that “the MTC is like being in heaven! everybody smiles at you, they are nice, the young elders run to open the door for you, and the food, oh my goodness, it is fantastic! Definitely like being at heaven!!”

We definitely enjoyed our stay at the MTC. We learned new teaching skills, spiritually was a blast, and it was just amazing how many people are willing to serve.


SLC-DFW-Mexico City
We sadly left the MTC on Friday August 8, 2014. Lib came to pick us up and we stayed with him and Limher for that night. Then on Saturday morning Lib took us to the airport, early in the morning, around 4:00 am. Our flight left around 6:30 am and had one stop at Dallas Forth Worth. The picture here is from the inside of the airport.

Then we took our final flight to Mexico City and we started to get nervous. The great week at the MTC had ended and now we were about to start our service in Mexico. We kind of knew what we were going to be doing but still, for some reason we were kind of nervous. The plane took a south direction so we were able to see the Gulf of Mexico from the plane. This picture taken from the window
of the plane reminded me of the scripture in Isaiah 66:1 that says: “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne and the earth my footstool…”




Our First Week at Mexico City
We arrived Saturday August 9 of 2014 around 2:30 PM. Sister Olson was waiting for us at the airport and immediately took us to a “Consejo de Area” (Area Council), where we met most of the Area Seventies and the Area Presidency serving in Mexico. We arrived at the last part of the meeting so we only got to hear some of them share their testimony. Then the Olsons (a nice couple from California who are serving their third mission here at Mexico City, this time as Executive Secretary) took us to the hotel where we will be staying for the next 18 months. We dropped our luggage and then they took us to buy some groceries since the next day was a Sunday.

Then on Monday we started with our assignment. Our typical hours are Monday to Friday from 7:30 am to …until we are done, usually around 6:30 or 7:00 PM. We wake up at 5:00 or 5:30 am depending if we need to be in the office at 7 or 7:30 am. We try to run (in a treadmill :() 3 to 5 miles Tuesday through Saturday but sometimes we just don’t have the time or desire to do it…but we are improving on this. Tuesdays of every week we meet with the Area Presidency on what is called AP meeting. You know how we are used to a meeting lasting one hour, maybe two if we are talking about stake conference, or something like that? Well, this AP Meeting lasts until it ends!!! The first Tuesday we started at 7 am, and we took our first break at 1:00 PM…to go eat something and come back at 2:00 PM to continue. We ended the meeting at 5:00 PM….then we stayed to start working on the assignments received during the meeting, so we got home around 8:00 pm.

On Wednesday Elder Olson started training us and gave us the responsibility to process the Recommendations for New Bishops that come to our office. And boy they come!….like 20 per week so far. That keep us really busy and now on top of that Letty has started to process the Missionary applications. Did I mention Mexico has about 250 Stakes with about 2,500 units, 34 Missions, and 12 Temples? So we get missionary applications from all of those units, lots of them! With all sort of problems that need to be solved before we forward those applications to SLC.

In addition to meeting with the three General Authorities from the Area Presidency, I have been in meetings with Elder Ridd, who had a great talk on last General Conference titled "The Choice Generation" (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/the-choice-generation?lang=eng) from the YM General Presidency, and a couple of other General Authorities. So the spiritual part of our mission has been great!

Elder Ridd was here in a short assignment. First he came to Mexico City, met with the Area Presidency for about one hour, then met with the Area Seventies,  some of which attended in person and those that live outside the City attended via WebEx. Being a member of the YM General Presidency Elder Ridd focused on the youth. In short, he said that we need to empower the youth of the Church, we need to help them get trained and teach them. When the youth are teaching then they are learning.  He said an study done in BYU showed that the informal conversation with our children are the more transcendental in their lives.

He also mentioned that our Bishops should spend more time with the youth and less time with the adults, and help the youth uncover the truth by themselves. We should be filling their lives with spiritual experiences. He gave us an example where we need to teach the youth to learn a principle then have him teach that principle to someone else so the youth can really learn. We need to help the youth to be spiritually self-reliant; if we do so their relation with God will increase and they won’t depend on us for everything. Then Elder Ridd shared his testimony and said that if the youth are trained they can move the Work of Salvation faster than in any other way.




Our First Weekend at Mexico City
We have been one week here in DF and a group of senior couple missionaries wanted to visit San Angel, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the City, where many artists come and try to sell their paintings, sculptures, etc. So we walked about half mile to take the minibus (a smaller bus that has about 28 seats but at peak hours can carry as many as 40 or so passengers), then rode the Metro or subway, then the MetroBus, and then walk another half of mile to get to the place we were visiting. There is a Convent built by the Spaniards from when they conquered Mexico and it is now a museum with a lot of interesting things inside.

It has some mommies that were discovered at some point during a renovation, and aqueduct to bring water from far distances, both shown below.

Here is the aqueduct shown behind us. There are two levels where the water used to run in small channels built on top of the structure and at the bottom of the top arches.

And the picture to the right shows some restaurant close by this Convent.

And so it begins...

I have always wanted to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It all began with a simple invitation and we decided to accept it. Four months later, my husband and I are beginning the best 18 months of our lives! And best of all, in my home country, Mexico.

(Being dropped off in Salt Lake City for our early flight to Mexico City)