First Week in the CCM

Hola!

Oh man how I miss you all soo much and I have so much to say! I love the CCM but it's so hard to explain! First off, its really small. My day consists of waking up, walking down four flights of stairs to eat breakfast, then walking up two flights up stairs to learn Spanish/study until lunch. Then I walk downstairs again for lunch, back up all two flights of stairs for class until three, then walk up two more flights of stairs to change for gym. Then gym/dinner we'll go back up change, and study/teach until bed. Basically my life right now is repetition in every aspect. It can drag on at times but I feel the spirit so strongly that it doesn't bother me! But this country is, no joke, a freaking sauna, its sooooooooo gosh darn hot allll the time!!! Even just playing ultimate frisbee for 30 minutes has gotten me more sweaty than any football practice ever. But that makes the cold shower after gym much better.

Okay companion and district: I hit the jackpot with my companion Elder Oldroyd, the tall blonde guy behind me in my district picture. He's a spiritual savage, a scripture encyclopedia and just an awesome guy. He's our district leader so I guess than makes me his first counselor hah. But I love him. We work off each other's weaknesses and he has pushed me to be my very best. And for my district: I love them. Elders Fox, Thaler, and Oldroyd are the best. The other guys rock too, just get a little annoying haha. It's crazy, Elder Fox and I realized we had met each other shooting the tube this summer about three days in. I knew I recognized him, but I thought it was just because he looks like Jake Gyllenhall the actor. NO ONE here knows who he is and its so funny because they don't see it! He's awesome, two nights ago before quiet time we sang The Boxer by simon and garfunkel, it was dope.

Okay food. Breakfast usually consists of bananas, bread, brownies or banana bread. The brownies sound weird but they're good. We eat bananas with EVERY meal, I eat four a day. A saying us missionaries live by is "A banana a meal keeps your poop steal". Trust me. It's true. For lunch we have rice, beans, and some sort of meat every day. It was good at first but now it's starting to get old. And then dinner is a toss up; could be anything, we had ham sandwiches Monday for dinner that, no joke, tasted like spray paint. Go spray some spray paint outside, smell it, and then imagine biting into that. Gross. Thankfully I haven't had any other gross encounters with food haha. And I have enough food that I brought with me that could literally feed all children in africa haha. The food here in the CCM is fine, and I'm sure it'll only get worse in the field haha. Not that I'm complaining!

Okay the language. I've learned sooo much but it can be so frustrating. Whenever I get mad, I just think to what Presidante Freestone told us this week. "Don't compare yourself to other elders, just compare yourself to how you were day one." Teaching can be a struggle, but as long as I have the spirit it'll go well. I know how to pray, bear my testimony in Spanish and communicate a little, which is awesome. The temple is right next to the CCM so we get to go and bear our testimonies to those waiting outside the temple. Even though it's simple and choppy I have felt the spirit so strongly speaking Spanish. I can't even begin to tell all of you how surely I know that this gospel is true.

Life is so good and it's so good to hear from you all. Mail can get sent out of here and will get home in about three days but we can't really get stuff back. The veteran elders say their letters get home in three days but they never get any back. Classic DR. My first night some veteran elders said that this place is a prison and that the first week they wanted to go home. I do agree that this place feels like a spirit prison but I haven't been homesick at all. I love it here. I can't put into words how strongly I feel the spirit here. Yo se que la iglesia de jesucristo es verdedero, y que jesuchristo muerte onla curz por nuestros pecados. Yo se que el libro de mormon es verdedero y Presidente monson es un profeta. En el nombre de jesucristo Amen.

Mom please compile a list of addresses that I can send physical letters home to. I'd love that dearly. Also, I'd love to know how the Raiders are doing comann!! And I'd kill for physical pictures. I don't want to forget what people look like! And please clean up this letter its wicked messy (Julia here - done. You're welcome).

Love ya'll 

Elder Blake

BONUS (Came a few hours later):

Okay, So to add (I just got another thirty minutes) Most surprising thing? How dang hot it is here and how small the CCM is. Oh my goodness. There are only about fifty missionaries here and we have sacrament meeting in a room that is about 3/4 the size of the scout room back home. It has gotten old really quick. Especially because we haven't left the compounds of the CCM and Temple all week. I'm so excited to get out and make contacts with people at the university next Friday! I think my Spanish is good enough to have a simple conversation but hey we'll see next Friday! The older missionaries who have been here since the first week of August say the city is extremely humbling. We'll go on splits in a few weeks and I've heard some crazy stories. The craziest is one elder, Elder Smith went to an investigator's house and they gave the elders rice, which was crawling with cockroaches....nasty. And it was the family's only food for the day! Another elder said he went to a really poor part of the city and all the children were basically naked. Just didn't have clothes. And all the Elders said that the people live in cement huts with tin roofs. I'm excited to go out and see for myself. Anyways back to the CCM, there is one small staircase that is the only way to get up and down (from the cocina on the first floor, to my dorm on the fourth and everywhere in between) and in one day we walk up and down all four flights 30 times! I counted! It's absurd. It might sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. I am seriously doing so well, I love serving the Lord and can't wait to invite souls to come unto Christ. I miss home, but I'm not homesick if that makes sense.

Okay more about the food. We get fresh fruit for lunch and the mango and pineapple are AMAZING. Imagine the best mango you've had in your life times 1,000. It's seriously to die for. Rumor has it that there are mango trees outside in Santiago that we'll be able to eat just as we tract. There isn't much of it at lunch so Elder Oldroyd and I race down to the cafeteria really quickly to get the mango. As we say here "Early bird to lunch gets the mango" The meat here is actually pretty nasty. It has this weird, arsonic after taste to it and about 70% of it is either fat or bone...gross. I basically live off rice, beans and bananas.

Life is great, I can't believe how fast this week has gone. They keep us so busy that it's really hard to be homesick. I hope you're all doing well but please let me know how the Raiders do!!!!!!!!! I was really looking for an update. Also, can I get the Packard's address, and could you try and find out Maddi's BYU address?

Thanks love you. Read your scriptures!
Love Elder Blake