12-29-16 last email before leaving the CCM (MTC)

Hey everyone. this week has both crawled by and flew by. I have no way to describe it, it just is. You'll understand when you're older. Or when you're on a mission. Either one. Elder Martindale, the one with arm grabbing and pigeon noises left this week. It was pretty sad to see him go since no one will ever grab my bicep again and exclaim: "Me gusta!". He was a funny guy, and will be missed. Also, check out my comp, Elder Lloyd, with the killer pose. He is great. The 3 of us all have whale ties on in this picture! It is awesome haha, we just had to take a pic. Friday and Saturday were great! They were filled with the spirit, I got the prettiest tie I have ever seen, and the lessons were super powerful and I learned a ton about how to teach investigators. The food was bearable, the nights were long, and the days weren't like 2 years. I really enjoyed it! But of course, if a missionary in the CCM is having a good time, it is necessary to put him back in his place. Sunday was quite terrible. It started early, as always, and I fell back asleep during my morning prayers. Oops. We were super late to breakfast cause of me. Then we went to our sacrament meeting, which was the birth of baby Jesus. Then we went to a CCM devotional, which was also about the birth of baby Jesus. Guess what? Then we went to priesthood meeting and talked about baby Jesus. I am pretty sure I read Luke 2 fifteen times. Then, we went to a devotional, again, with the regional president of Mexico. Who talked about baby Jesus. I can not accurately describe how many times I heard Cesar Agustus' name. But it was stilll okay, cause it was Christmas! No one is ever sad on Christmas! Well, the food was uncooked Turkey. So I guess my new rule is: Never eat the chicken OR the turkey. My day was made better when I opened my Christmas present from my mom, which was a cute little stocking with 'Elder' on it. And that's when it got terrible. I had to call home. It was me crying for half an hour while my family awkwardly told me about how many cool things they got. I actually had a great time during that call, but it brought back all the sad feelings I had when I originally said bye to them as I entered airport security. Sad time. Everyone cried from my district. Then for dinner we had reheated, uncooked turkey from lunch (awesome, right?) and ended our day in solemnity. The next day felt like it wasn't even Christmas, it is still 75 degrees out here and nothing has changed. My week flew by, I studied the book of Revelations (which is great by the way, read it) and had some good laughs with my district and friends. Eventually came P Day! I finally had the opportunity to attend the Mexico City Temple!! It is a large, beautiful Temple with definite Mayan roots. The entire building looks like a pyramid and only gets more ancient as you walk in. Needless to say, sitting through a session in Spanish was the most difficult thing I have done yet, I swear they speak another language. All I know is that is wasn't spanish. The Temple was a great time to relax in the Celestial room and take a break from the busy everyday schedule that missionaries have. I loved going through and feeling God there. There isn't another feeling like it. This week I found this really cool thing in D and C. Section 129. Super cool stuff! Other than that, we've just been preparing to leave the CCM and learning as much as we can, since I hit the real mission field on Monday! Don't send anything else to the CCM since I won't be here to get it. My next email will be super long for sure. Wish me luck in the field, and I'll talk to you next year!