First week at the Mexico city MTC

 Hey everyone! 

I just finished my first week at the Mexico city MTC, prior to that I had two weeks of online training. Nothing crazy happened on the flight here, although both my big suitcases have a broken wheel so gotta fix that soon. The first night was rough, dogs were barking like crazy and police cars sirens were going off all night. The second day we were here my companion Elder Bowen was assigned as District Leader so Elder Foley and I ( we are in a trio- 3 elders) were made house leaders. Basically what that means is Elder Bowen is in charge of any meeting we have in our district, which consists of us 3 elders and 7 hermanas (sisters). For Elder Foley and I it just means we get to run a devotional at our house with about 20 elders once or twice a week. 

The food... it started off questionable, first night was pizza which was alright then it was good with tacos almost everyday rotating different types of meat. One day it was a mix of sausage, pepperoni and something else we couldn't tell. Other days it was chicken or beef, the beef tacos were amazing. Although my stomach seems to be adjusting, at least the food has been good.

On sunday after we had sacrament meeting and priesthood class then a few hours after that the leaders in our branch got us and took us to a room to tell us we would be the zone leaders. That means we are in charge of the whole branch, just the missionaries not the leaders; they are still over us. It has already been a good amount of work and it adds a lot to our schedule which is great. It adds a couple more meetings each week and I am really enjoying it.

 After that happened we had a devotional with the 2nd counselor in the presiding bishopric. It was great, he showed us and me especially to stop worrying about yourself, forget yourself and serve others, remember that and everything will work out. He had a story that he had a hard time learning Spanish for the first 3 months of his mission, but when he started praying for others not himself, not worrying about his problems or what he needs to do but worrying about the needs of others his Spanish began improving rapidly. That story really stood out to me as it's easy to worry or think about your own life but as a missionary I get to think and focus about the lives of those I can bless with this gospel of Jesus Christ. 

A scripture that stood out to me was 1 Thessalonians 4:16. At the end of it says "and the dead in Christ shall rise first". To me this is related to the devotional as we give our whole soul our whole purpose to Christ, we receive the greatest blessings we can such as rising first, or being in the first resurrection. Not only just that but other blessings along the way in this life. I testify that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the way and the truth. If our whole purpose is given to him, we can get through this life and receive all there is to have. 

Here's a couple pictures