Half way through the CCM

¡Hola! It´s great to hear from you guys! Just so you know, I am allowed to print out emails and read them so don´t feel like you have to be super brief because I can read them throughout the week! Dad and Brad, that would be so cool if you got to go to New Zealand! When would it be, I didn´t really understand... Let me know what happens with that! Anyways, not a whole ton has happened this week so I´m sorry if I don´t have too much to say! Today I got to go to the Temple again, which was awesome! We go every other week, so I have one more time left. It takes about an hour each way and the driving is insane. If there are lanes on the roads, no one uses them. And there are always people walking though traffic trying to sell things. It´s super fun to see the city, but it is crazy! My español is getting better... I can at least understand most of what people say, unless they talk really fast! The days are pretty much the same... Breakfast, personal study, class/progressing investigators, lunch, language study, gym, language study on the computer, planning, dinner, and class/progressing investigators... There is little variation so there really isn´t too much to talk about! We had our Tuesday devotional though yesterday which was really good! The Area 70 who spoke said that like 40 something years ago when this place was made a school, Elder Romney profesied that it would be a place where people learned Spanish... or something like that... (The man speaking spoke 0 english and the translation was a little rough) but anyways, at the time they didn´t know what that meant because everyone who came to school here already knew Spanish... When it was announced that this school would become a MTC, that prophesy was fulfilled! It is so cool to be a part of! Also, this week has been very Patriotic because on the 16th I believe is the Mexican equivalent of the 4th of July... It is their independance day... So we have had all sorts of fun Mexican treats this week and the comidor (cafeteria) is decorated with all sorts of things. The best treat was coconut in a lime... I don´t know how to explain it but it was so delicious. On Saturday we also get to see a presentation in celebration! Not sure exactly what that means, but we´ll see! Oh! Before I forget again... There is sister here, Hermana Howell who is going to the Twin Falls mission! She got here the same day as me and lives in my casa. She is so nice! You have to look out for her. I´m going to give her your names so hopefully you can have her and her companion over for dinner or something. :) We have continued to have lessons with our teachers- Hermana Valdez and Hermano Hardy- whose investigator names are Amanda and Renato. The lessons have been okay, but nothing spectacular. It has been hard trying to figure out what their needs are and we only have 20 minute lessons... which is basically enough to say like 3 minutes worth of things in English. Haha... It has been kind of hard too because usually I talk a lot more than Hermana Ficklin, mostly because it is easier for me to speak in Spanish... Although she really is getting so much better! But the other day we had our lesson with Amanda and I kept wanting her to say more, but she didn´t so I pretty much talked the whole time. Afterwards she talked to me and said she really wants to contribute more and she felt like she didn´t get the chance to. I´m super glad she said something, because we were definitely not on the same page: which is critical in a companionship! I thought she didn´t say anything because she just didn´t know what to say or didn´t have anything to say, and she just felt like I hadn´t given her enough of a chance! So, that is something for us to work on. Oh, mom you asked me if I can leave the CCM. No. Only to the temple by bus. We are fenced in and the outside world is very dangerous. We do, however get to talk to locals on Thursdays for TRC. We´ve only had one so far (last week) but tomorrow we will get to again. Members come here and we share a message with them and try to communicate the best we can. Hermana Ficklin and I met with a girl named Carmen, who was probably in her mid-20s. During the lesson we had her read a scripture. She read it and then just started laughing so hard. Hermana Ficklin and I both said ¿Cómo? (What?) like a million times but she just kept laughing forever and wouldn´t tell us. I asked her if she was laughing at our español and she said no... she was laughing because she had read the verse really fast and thought we probably didn´t understand a word of it... Which was true, I wouldn´t have if I hadn´t read it before. Haha... it was interesting for sure. And Mom, we have a laundry room in our house with 2 washers and 1 dryer. We only have 13 hermanas in our casa so it isn´t too bad! Although they have been doing some work in there this week so I don´t know where I´m going to wash my clothes today! And yes, I remember to read the labels. :) There are birds everywhere around here. There are some parrots that are bright green and actually really cool, but I can´t even begin to count how many times a bird has scared me... They have almost flown straight into me! So, Hermana Ficklin really likes birds and even had pet birds at home. One day, after a bird almost hit me, I was complaining about how much I do not like them. I said something about how one time a bird almost pooped on me and I really hope that never happens as long as I live. Well, the next day guess what happened. Luckily it was only a tiny bit and didn´t get on my clothes or hair or anything.. just a little on my leg! I was so mad though! Hermana Ficklin thought it was hilarious. That´s pretty much been my week! One thing I have really come to love a lot since I´ve been here is reading my scriptures. There is so much power in reading them.. If you want to be happier, read scriptures! It is so great starting out my day with an hour of study and then reading throughout the day too! I love it. Most of the time I can´t wait to get to Minnesota, but I really like it here too. It is so open and beautiful. I´m very lucky. The CCM is on 90 acres of land and there are about 800 missionaries here currently. Well, I love you all! Keep sending me emails and letting me know what is going on! Love, Hermana Pierce