2 Weeks Down

Hey. There hasn't been lots that has happened this week, but I did tons and tons of studying. ha ha! Please send me my patriarchal blessing, and soccer cleats once I get to McAllen. I've played a lot of kickball and soccer. It feels good to play soccer in Mexico City. The weather is always pretty great here. Also, send me more p day clothes. We wear them a lot more than I thought. I am getting your letters and I really appreciate them. Letters are kind of like a golden prize here. I get so happy when I get them. AN IMPORTANT DATE TO REMEMBER: 10 am Eastern time is when I get to call you guys on Christmas day, so keep that time written down somewhere. It will be 9 o'clock here. Also, the pictures made it here safely! So, please send more of those too! My companions want to see the ones of me crowd surfing. But anyways, it's still really hard here. Its a different kind of hard compared to the first week. I still miss home a lot and I'm not sure if that's ever going to go away, but my Spanish is getting really good. My teachers say I'm the best one in my class, so they assigned me to teach the 2 new districts we get today Spanish. So, that's cool. We also had the opportunity to go the the visitors center at the temple today. It's really cool there. I can't wait to actually start teaching in McAllen. The days will go by a lot faster when I get there. I love my district. They're great. It would be a lot harder if I had different people. And, to answer your question, Ashley has been keeping up with me. She sends me a letter just about every day, more or less, but  I definitely look forward to letters so much. Emailing never seems like we have enough time. During one of our lessons this week, my teacher made us have a race 2 quick loops here and I ended up winning, which was pretty funny. Everyone else ended up dying because of the altitude here, but it's alright. I can teach full lessons in Spanish and really get to know the investigator. Some teachers here only speak Spanish. So, they tell me to translate to the rest of my district. It's funny. I'll be fluent, hopefully, at the 6 month mark. Maybe later. Maybe sooner. On a different note, it actually feels weird to wear normal clothes now. I'm so used to wearing a suit. It actually feels comfortable wearing one now. I can't wait to get out of the MTC. I don't really like it here that much. We are basically in a huge box with a huge fence, so we don't get to see the outside world and interact with anyone. On the bright side, only 3 and a half weeks left until I'm out of here. Mis maestros son buenos. (teachers) all of them speak Spanish and are slowly trying to speak English ha ha. I understand almost everything they say, though. Even our sacrament meetings are all in Spanish. I gave a talk last Sunday in Spanish, so that was cool. The first talk I've ever given in all Spanish. And, even the hymns we sing here are in Spanish so I'm starting to learn all of the words to those, so I even forget how to sing them in English. There are a lot of words I know how to say in Spanish but not English. The temple was great! I spoke to everyone in Spanish because no one spoke very much English. I hope my mission is as cool as it is in Mexico. Fun Fact: the people in Mexico City aren't mean at all. Everyone thinks of Mexico and thinks of crime and everything, but its nothing like that here. Yeah, there are a lot of poor people here, but they're all really nice and more unified as a country then the United States. I miss you guys a lot and I know it's not a successful mission unless I'm struggling, which I am, so I guess it's going alright. Love you guys. I have to end this a little sooner to send pictures. Also, one more thing, if you could get some people to send letters to an Elder Steven Stanley serving in McAllen too. He hasn't got any family or anyone emailing him or sending him letters so it would make him happy if you did so. My companion and I are both sending this to our families and haven't told Elder Stanley about it. But, thank you so much! KEEP THE LETTERS UP! Miss you guys. I'm about to send some pictures.

-ELDER BRADY-

1 Week In

So, the first week at the CCM wasn't what I expected. There's been a lot of things that have happened. It feels like it's been 2 months. My companion is cool. The view here is great. The scenery is pretty great and a lot to take in. Mom told me that its supposed to be hot here, but it's like paradise here. It never gets hot and it never gets cold and it stays like this all year round. I've already learned so much Spanish. Everyone has their own struggles, but mine hasn't been the language or even learning the gospel, to an extent. The hardest thing for me is that I miss back home a lot and the people there. I miss the Torres family. But, the first thing you should know...

You guys can send me letters whenever and I will get them the day you send them. Go to MTCmexicocarepackage.com-free-letter. Its like you type the letter online and then they print it off and send it to me here at the CCM.

After the MTC, I should have more than 1 hour to email. A few interesting things that happened this week are: one day we were studying the Book of Mormon outside, as a district, under a huge tree and a bird happened to poop right on my scriptures. It was really funny. I've learned so much. I know the First Vision in Spanish and the Missionary Purpose and the baptismal questions and baptismal prayer. I almost always say all of my prayers in Spanish too. I don't know the First Vision in English though, so it is kind of funny. I know more Spanish than everyone in my district and I almost can speak fluently. I can teach lessons in Spanish already. We practice teaching investigators. Its been really hard here. I tend to miss Ashley and you guys a lot and sometimes it gets really sad and I don't know what to do. I write about it in my journal every night. Last night I did have a really powerful experience happen to me,  though. I was having a tough day, a really tough day, and I was missing home so much, which seems to be my biggest struggle. I was reading the scriptures and decided to open to Joseph Smith and when he was wondering which church was right. He offered up the desires of his heart. I read all of that story, and so I decided to do the same. I have never really ever been this humbled before this prayer, but I decided to do the same and offer up the desires of my heart. I have never ever in my life been so sincere in a prayer. Immediately after that prayer, I felt the spirit so strong. I knew it was the spirit too, without a doubt. Ever since then, I've had such a good attitude. I do whatever the Lord needs me to do because I made a covenant with Him in my prayer. So, that was a very humbling and cool experience. I've never studied this much in my life but i wouldn't say its super hard because the things we study are very interesting. I pray for the gift of tongues every night and I really see it starting to happen. It's definitely a testimony builder here. I thought I would feel the spirit here more, though. We study so much and work on our knowledge that we don't have devotionals enough to always be feeling the spirit, but every Tuesday and Sunday we have a devotional. Today we get more new people at the CCM and we are going to scare them with out district telling them to get us out of here. It's really funny. I read the letters you guys wrote me every night and last night was the toughest night. It's hard not being able to talk to anyone at home. Our branch president said that my Spanish is perfect and that I'm ready to go into the field, haha, but I have to be here until January 12th. We leave at 2 am. Once I get out of the CCM, it should be a little better because we will be more free and actually have real investigators to teach. I'll be here for the next 40 minutes typing if you guys respond soon enough. Fortunately, I can type fast. I hope you guys are doing okay. I miss you guys, but I've learned so much in just 1 week,  so, you guys will be really proud of me. Send me letters through that website often. I look forward to letters. BTW, my companions want you guys to send me a picture of the family, which I would appreciate also. - Elder Brady

December 3, 2014

Letters take a while to get here.

You can send packages here, but only through www.missionarypackagemx.com

I'm here safely. It looks really cool. Its crazy down here. My p days here will be on Wednesday! I have my missionary tags and everything. I know a lot of Spanish compared to the other elders and sisters I am with. The scenery is crazy. Everything is in Spanish here.