Week 4: I am loving it here!

It's time for P-day letter writing!!

Hi!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your incredible love and support. I am so grateful to have you in my life!

It is so hard figuring out what to write! So much happens every day, and my brain is half Spanish half English right now, and let's not even mention this bizarre keyboard. haha! I misspell everything and can't punctuate. IT KILLS ME. This week was great, and today was literally the very best day that I have had so far.

Today we woke up and studied, ate a great breakfast, cleaned our casa, did our laundry, took a nap under the palm trees, ate the best lunch so far, tried crazy candy from the tienda, took pictures, played tennis, and tonight we have the devotionals which I LOVE and have a girls night where we eat chocolate and paint our nails. 

How happy are people that switch to Geico? Happier than a missionary on PDay! ''P DAY!''

Last Tuesdays devotional was the quote from Richard G Scott that Mommy sent me about receiving answers to prayers, so that was really neat!

This week every single person in my district has been sick with either the stomach flu or a bad cold, sickness spreads like wildfire here. Luckily I have been super healthy ever since we got here. I eat healthy, I exercise hard, and none of my clothes that we tailored to me even fit anymore! I am getting the worst tan lines though, pictures to come. haha!

The language is coming along! Our teachers make us speak all in Spanish now and it is great to see how much I know, and I learn so much by having to look up every word I need. On Sunday our Branch President spoke and I understood every single word he said! Best feeling ever!

Teaching is going really well. I am really, really grateful I have conversational skills. I may not know every word, but I know how to say it in a way to touch them. I love love love teaching. Some lessons go better than others because Hermana Jensen and I have very different methods of preparation, but we are both learning patience and compromise.

It's been really funny because Hermana Jensen and Hermana Zindel are very similar, and Hermana Zamora and I are very similar so we balance each other out. haha The other sisters are very loud and both did drama and choir, and Hermana Zamora and I are much more reserved and quiet. Our district gets along so well though. There is one Elder who is still twelve years old, but we are all learning patience. haha We all balance each other out and so many people ask how we got so close. We depend on each other! We're all each other has right now and we make it work! We all write letters to each other to express love, resolve conflict, and help each other through hard times. I love it. I've gotten some of the sweetest letters from our elders that I will keep forever.

I literally cannot tell you enough how much I love our teachers. They are the BIGGEST BLESSING. The are all probably five feet tall, not even one hundred pounds, and they are seriously the cutest. They love us so much and go so far above and beyond to help us. I had a really hard couple of days, and little Hermano Trejo pulled me aside and said, 'You... are... a... great person. You... are... really... beauty. You... are... my... family.' haha Their broken English is the best. I love it.

The natives are my favorite! The hermanas are the sweetest people on earth! We never have any idea what each other is saying, but they always make sure to say hi! And the elders are hilarious. They always yell "te amo"and "mi esposo" to me, probably because they don't realize I know what they're saying. They all give you their emails when they leave on little napkins from the comedor. hahah 

The district that just left passed down 'The Book of the CCM'. it is absolutely hilarious! Kids from the first generacion of the CCM write their experiences in scriptural language and we seriously roll on the floor, tears streaming down our face laughing. We can\t wait to write in it!

We got a new district on Wednesday and I seriously just want to pull out my hair even thinking about them. They are all really young, like just barely turned 18 or 19 the day they got here, and extremely unprepared and immature. It's frightening. Late to everything, leave early, don't pay attention, don't take it seriously, SLEEP IN, goof off... it is a serious problem. As leaders we are supposed to be helping them and loving them, but even their teachers don't know what to do with them. What a mess. We planned a whole lesson for FHE last night to try to help them and they didn't even show up, so I guess I''ll share it with you...

READ THE FOURTH MISSIONARY. It will change your life. My favorite parts were...

"Your life's greatest work is YOU. The purpose and central blessing of life is change. it is to be changed to become more like Jesus Christ. It is to incorporate into your character the qualities of His character. It is to move from one degree of intelligence and capacity to the next.

The truth is that our nature can change. That is what this is all about. You may permit the Lord to change your nature if you give yourself to Him and to His work. He cannot work on what He does not have and He cannot have you unless you give yourself to Him.

Do you see that only in losing yourself may you find yourself; only by enriching others may you be enriched; only by giving may you receive; only in surrendering may you become free?

The Lord says, "Let me make of you all that you can be."

The realization of your amazing, astounding, and true potential happens only in the hands of the Lord. But you and only you can place yourself in those masterful, loving hands.

The only way to win is to lose.

Lose yourself in the work."

I love being a missionary. It is the single greatest decision I have ever made in my entire life. I am the happiest, healthiest, best self that I have ever been. This is hard work, very hard work, but I love it. This is the single most important time of my life, and I am enjoying every second of it. 

I love you all more than I can say, and think about you every day!

Please send me pictures! I have a special connection to photos and they get me through the hard days.

Hermana McOmber

Here are more pictures from the first day leaving from SLC to this week at the CCM (Mexico MTC)

Hermana Jensen and I before we left SLC airport

sunrise

layover in Texas

descending to Mexico City

Amazingly large city!

Thank goodness for strong elders that helped me with my luggage!

Colorful, dirty, but really cool city!

Scary roads!  No rules, no speed limits, no lanes.

CCM (MTC) is heavily protected with stone walls, barbed wire and guards.

Beautiful sunsets!

Elder Blake and Elder Bradshaw

Hermana Jensen, me, Hermana Zamora, and Hermana Zindel

I love nap time!

B on hillside represents the old name of the school "Benamerito"

Love, love, love all the palm trees here!

These circles are all over the campus.  We are supposed to run to them during an earthquake.

Group Selfies!

Trees are starting to blossom this week.

No one knows what those weird "lego hand" statues are supposed to be.

We play lots and lots of beach volleyball.  The courts are always full!

Cool picture - looks like a bunch of question marks.

Elders Nixon, Whittaker, and Bradshaw

Companionship prayer.

The dryer ruins our clothes so we hang them out to dry.

Week 3: Half Way Done with the CCM!

Mis Amores!

Can you believe that I am half way done with the CCM! Time is so strange out here, every day feels like a week and every week feels like a day, and before you know it I will be home! I tried really hard to respond to everyone´s emails today- I have a really hard time writing because I hold it all in during the week, but when I get online and see that I have 30 emails from sweet friends and family I am overcome with gratitude and, honestly, a little homesickness. I cannot thank you all enough for your love and support! IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME. Last week I ran into Hermana Jones (one of our leaders) and she was so sweet because she could see how tender it is for me to write you, so she gave me a "mom hug," chocolate, and the promise of extra time. haha 

Every week I am overwhelmed as I attempt to summarize seven sixteen-hour days and everything we pack into them. And now my Spanish is to the point that my English is suffering (and yes, that KILLS me). I keep misspelling things and I just laugh so hard at myself.

Last Tuesday night was a MTC devotional that was broadcast to us and I saw Becca McOmber singing in the choir! Such a sweet little miracle! She looked so happy! And then we watched a video in class about stress management and who should appear on the screen but Jordan Egbert! It was so nice to see people I recognized! And then the best part of this week was when Elder Blake Hansen walked into the comedor and found me! He is the sweetest kid and I was so excited to see him! He is doing so great! AND THEN Elder Burke Mccomb walked in and it was like the movies- we saw each other from across the comedor and literally ran to each other. haha He is one of my good friends from BYU and it was so hard not to hug each other! It was the best surprise ever! I am so much happier here having people I know! We also got a new district in our zone, and one of the girls reminds me so much of Aunt Dynah! Miss you!

There are ups and downs, and Thursday and Friday of this week were some pretty major downs. My system was seriously on overload and completely shut down. It was HARD. One of our lessons with our investigator went really poorly (the spirit was gone and suddenly the gift of tongues went with it and I COULDNT UNDERSTAND A SINGLE WORD. NOT A SINGLE WORD, and it was absolutely terrifying). And then I slipped in the comedor and fell (major ouch) and doused the nearest elder in the OJ that was in my hand (humiliating). But I was able to learn that there is "no use crying over spilled OJ" and pick myself back up.

The week started to get better when our other investigator said yes to our invitation to be baptized and it was hilarious because Hermana Jensen was so nervous she didn´t understand and kept asking him "Why are you feeling this way?" and "How can I help you understand the importance of baptism?" and questions like that. The investigator and I were trying so hard not to laugh as I said, "Hermana, he said yes." haha All we do here is learn, learn, learn, and then teach, teach, teach. 

Saturday was the best day I have had yet! Our teacher Hermano Trejo is the cutest little guy on earth and he could tell that every single one of us was burnt out so we just played games and laughed our heads off. It was so much fun! Then we played tennis for gym and my collarbone didn´t hurt at all and we got really tan! Then we had a friend (hint for new missionaries: MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE NATIVES) snuck Krispie Kreme doughnuts into the CCM for us so we had a doughnut party before bed. 

Sundays are my absolute favorite day, even more than PDay. You feel the spirit so strong and you are just recharged. We had leadership meeting before sacrement meeting and Presidente De Hoyos said something really powerful, "The three most important things to happen in this dispensation are 1) First Vision, 2) Book of Mormon, 3) Missionary Age Change." And then Sunday night we watched a rebroadcasted devotional from January 2013 with Elder Holland (we seriously cheered like it was the superbowl) and it was amazing to hear him speak on the same topic. 

"What a delightful time to be a missionary! You are who the prophets of the Book of Mormon wrote and prophecied of! Everything they did was for this last dispensation, was for you! This is the generation that will not fail! You will not fail! YOU HAVE TO BE THE BEST MISSIONARIES THIS CHURCH HAS EVER HAD! You must not let them down. You must not let us down. You must not let the Savior down. If the Lord was at the door 200 years ago when Joseph Smith was prophet, where do you think he is now? I command you to come home with at least one convert, YOU! Every single thing I have, I owe to my mission. EVERY SINGLE THING I HAVE. (weeping)"

It was so powerful. They told us they will be dedicating the CCM on February 9th! I am so grateful I will have the opportunity to still be here! Elder Oaks is coming and we are already getting ready for it. So excited!

Monday we taught two new investigators, right on the spot (they do that to you a lot). It went soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo well. We felt the spirit so strong and it boosted my confidence. I totally know how to meet new people and make new friends, I just have to do it in Spanish and bear my testimony!

Today we went to the Mexico City Temple Visitor Center. It was so beautiful! I loved driving through the city to get there! It is a completely different world down here. Wow. I love every second of it. Driving is so scary! haha You are going so fast and then suddenly there is a speed bump in the middle of the freeway. They honk like crazy at each other. There are no lines separating lanes and no one signals (their signals are really weird anyways). People are walking right down the middle of the freeway, motorcycles zip in and out of gaps, and you literally drive with maybe an inch between you and the other cars. I could see the freckles of the man on the bus next to us (everyone here rides the bus or drives really old beetles). The Visitor Center is brand new and is SO HIGH TECH. Technology I have never even seen before! Absolutely amazing.

Life is so good. I am working hard and loving it. I am happy and healthy. I love you all more than I can say and miss you so much!

Te amo mucho!

Hermana McOmber

Nacho Libre bike

I met Hermana Coe online before the MTC

Cousin Ryan hid a note in my scriptures ~ found it!

Donuts with the District

Presidente de Hoyos is a concert pianist

Sunday Movie Night

Part of zone that is leaving

Mexico City Temple - under reconstruction - 

going to the Visitor Center

Driving through Mexico City