This week has been a lot more interesting than last week and I have got some good stories, but it´s so weird this is my last P-day at the CCM! I´m genuinely really going to miss all of the people here, especially my teachers, and the thought of going to Florida and teaching real investigators is kinda scary but it's all good! I'm excited! I get to use an hour on Monday to email before I leave even though it isn't my P-day and then I leave the CCM at 3:30 in the morning on Tuesday.
At TRC this week one of the people we talked to asked where we were going. We told him we are going to Miami, Florida, and he was like -woah, muchos cubanos.- So we laughed and said yes, and then he told us that he can't understand anything that Cubans say. Great. Thats a fantastic omen. A native Spanish speaker can't even understand Cubans...why did I just spend 6 weeks trying to learn Spanish again?! Haha. I've basically accepted that I'm going to be lost the first few months of my mission anyway. I just hope the accent I come back with is still understandable to everyone else that speaks Spanish....
The other two people we talked to at TRC were super cool too. We talked to a grandpa named Mario that is a member. He has been coming to the CCM with his wife every Saturday for TRC since January. His testimony was awesome! The other guy we talked to was also a member and just got back from his mission in Scottsdale. He shared some cool experiences and gave us a lot of advice. TRC has been one of my favorite parts of being here to be sure. It is really awesome to get the chance to talk to people and connect to them and see the way the gospel applies to so many diverse situations.
As a zone, we have a tradition to play kickball together every week during gym time on Saturday. Our new district has got some chill people in it and it was way fun, like always. Well, to continue my epilogue of my unfortunate inclination to look like an idiot when it comes to sports, I'll tell you about this game. One of the new elders is rather large (just keep in mind that rather large is an understatement here...) and he kicked the ball. All was well. Anderson got the ball and threw it to me on first. I caught it and I'm standing on the base. Forced out right? Well, the elder didn't stop running, mostly because he couldn't, and I just watched in slow motion as he got closer...and closer...and closer...until bam. I flew a good five feet backwards in the air and landed on my back. You know when two people on yoga balls fly into each other and there´s a huge bounce back reaction? it was like that...except only I moved. Haha. It was absolutely hilarious.Good times.
Another story. I'm pretty sure there is a guy here that has a crush on me and Anderson. This could technically cause problems, but he's five, so I think we are good. There is a man here that is over all of the non-ecclesiatical things that happen at the CCM. He is over the grounds, the teachers, etc. His wife is a native, but she spent a long time in the US and speaks perfect English. They have three sons, the oldest of whom is 5, and they all live in one of the houses at the CCM. I forgot my tag one day after gym so we were walking back to the casa to grab it and passed Emerson (the 5 year old) finger painting in his front yard. He had an easel and everything. It was one of the cutest things I've seen in my life. We stopped and talked to him for a little bit and then kept going to get my badge. When we came back by, he was still out painting. We asked him what he was painting now, and he showed us a blank page. Haha. We talked to him some more and then told him to draw a tree. Then we asked him if he was going to the Comedor for cena and he said yes. So we told him to bring his finished pictures to show us. Dinner rolls around and he comes strolling in....with his pictures!!! He looks around, kinda embarrassed, but we jumped up and talked to him and his three year old brother, Ethan. He showed us his pictures...guys this kid can draw better than I can...which doesn't say much, but still. Haha. Anyway, Emerson had us in a great mood and we went back to our table to finish eating. About ten minutes later, Emerson comes out with his mom. He had the brightest red face and he kept looking down at the ground, but he gave me and Anderson both one of his pictures! I got the tree. Seriously, my life has been made. I'm going to treasure that picture forever. I miss kids! They are like the best humans I get along with...haha. (But really though.)
Third story from the week. Back at home, for the past year or so I have had to give a talk no-joke every three months, sometimes even more frequently. And every single time I spoke we had a member of the stake presidency visiting our ward. I could never just speak on a normal Sunday. Well, here at the CCM our wards are composed of our zones and every Sunday all of us have to prepare a talk in Spanish. Which basically means we spend maybe ten minutes scribbling something out because time is a rare commodity here. Then, when we get to Sacrament meeting, they just announce who is going to pray and who is going to speak. You don't know beforehand. I felt like I was going to have to speak this Sunday and I was good with that because it's just our zone, yeah? Wrong. We found out Sunday morning that the person in charge of ALL THE TEMPLES IN LATIN AMERICA was going to come to our sacrament meeting. I think, great, well, hopefully I don't have to speak. We go to sacrament meeting and they announce the first three speakers. I'm not one of them, so I take a huge sigh of relief because usually after three speakers one of the members of the branch presidency stands up and speaks to us for a bit. Entonces, the first three speakers speak, we sing the middle hymn, and they announce the rest of the program...I have to speak. Like, for real!? Can I please just speak for once without pressure? I had to do this in Spanish, people. Anyway, I stood up like, cool, whatever, I'm white so its totally okay if my talk in Spanish sucks. I spoke and all was well. Next, we went to lunch and as I was walking into the comedor and I walked past both of the native members of my branch presidency and the temple guy. They stopped me to tell me that my Spanish is really clear and that they were extremely impressed. So I was honored to have them compliment me like that! It made all the rest of the week when I botched all of my Spanish and had no idea how to speak a lot easier to get through. Haha.
Random side note. I am officially a sister missionary because I look at my wrist all the time even when I don't have a watch on...like at gym and stuff. I´ll probably have to wear a watch for the rest of my life. I'm doomed.
Oh...also. Remember how hard it rained in Atlanta when Hurricane Katrina hit? Last night, around 9:00, we were in the middle of post-devo discussion as a zone when bam. Out of nowhere, it is POURING. And the wind is whipping. The building that we were in had part of the ceiling fall through last week, so it sounds like a tornado is going on and the thunder and rain and wind were so loud we couldn't hear each other even when we were shouting. Pretty crazy. We decided just to say a prayer, even though it definitely couldn't be heard, and then we all ran back to our casas. The problem with this is that our sacrament meeting room where we do devo- discussions is on the opposite side of the CCM as our casa. I think about half a mile, but I'm not totally sure. Needless to say, we were SOAKED. Drenched. There were parts of our run that the water was up to the middle of my calf. It was pretty awesome. I felt like I was swimming. Kinda. Not really. But I can pretend. I have missed the Atlanta rain tons! We realized though that we had left our window open because there were no signs of rain earlier. Nothing was ruined, but my journals will forever bear the marks of our mistake. Haha.
To end this letter, I´ll just let all of you know that a seasons pass to six flags in Mexico City is only 30 American dollars...and it works for the ones in the U.S. too, you just have to be able to pick it up from the park in Mexico City. I was kinda upset by that information yesterday...This is important information I should have had LONG before now!
Anyway, I hope all of you have a fantastic week! My P-days will be on Mondays from here on out and you can all start sending me those letters I know you have been just dying to send. I know all of you have at least three already written just waiting for me to be back in the states! Haha, jk.
-Sister Bren Scadden