Week 1 - CCM

Hello everybody from Mexico City,

The beginning of this first week seemed really long. It was all orientation and it seemed like I should have already been here a week! Things have started to run smoother now. The traffic in Mexico is insane. Everyone kinda just meshes in together. I`ve only experienced it when we come to the CCM (MTC in Mexico). The plane rides went smoothly. I didn`t meet up with any other missionaries until my flight to Mexico City. I sat by this lady that only spoke Spanish which was not good for me. I felt really bad for her. We arrived at the CCM later than expected and only got to see the last thirty minutes of the devotional that night. My companion hadn`t showed up so I got one more night all by myself.

Day One was hectic. We had a ton of orientation classes that we had to attend. My companion still hadn`t showed up so I talked to the reception and they said to talk to the President when we had a meeting with him later that day. Until that point I was just in a trio with two other elders that were staying in my same house. When we had that meeting, I went up, introduced myself, and told him my situation. He was my temporary companion until we found me a new one. We went to reception, asked them, and they showed us some new assignments they made. We then had to walk to the class he was in and find him. Once he wasn`t in the first few classes we called the reception desk and they told us the correct room. I finally got to see him, however, he already had a companion and was a part of a tablet-using mission. So the President took all three of us back to reception and had a twenty minuet discussion with them about how they would handle the situation. Once something go figured out, I was lead into the secretary`s office while he made new adjustments. That took a whole three hours of confusion and worrying. I ended up getting put into a trio with Elder Frey (pronounced fry) and Elder Maruyama (say it like you would in Spanish). 

The rest of the days weren`t near as exhausting as that first day was. The days are starting to speed up and run smoother. Last Wednesday I was assigned District Leader. I guess I was supposed to come the the Mexico City MTC, not have a companion show up, and be put into a trio for a certain reason that I still am unsure of. But, now I`m the district leader of eight other people. 

Church on Sunday was so awesome! It is just a branch because there of course isn`t that many missionaries in each branch. Our branch presidency is awesome! They are such wonderful people to talk to and learn from. They are very in-tune with the Spirit.

The hardest days I feel are behind me. There have been some days that I got very discouraged because of the language. I`ve come to realize that whenever this happens, it is usually because I am not being myself. The Lord called me, not someone else. He needs my personality, talents, and ambitions to help those here at the CCM and those in Ecuador. I have to remember to always forget myself and go to work. That is key. 

Our weekly Tuesday night devotional is when I had to remember this the most. We had an Ex-air force guy talk to us (who is also the first counselor in the CCM presidency) Elder Eves. His talk was basically about if you aren`t the perfect missionary then you aren`t a good missionary. Now there was a lot bad with this. a) Not many people took this too well and ended up not listening to him, b) Everyone felt discouraged because they had done something that Elder Eves said they should not have done, and c) we received brand new missionaries earlier that day. However bad this may sound, this was the surface of his talk. As I had time to think about it, I felt that maybe, it was much deeper than what it appeared to be. It made me think of our investigators. Sometimes when we teach, we are telling them how bad they are doing and what they need to change rather than celebrating the accomplishments and pointing out how far they have come. I may not be as fluent as Elder Eves wants me to be, but having taken zero Spanish classes in high school and yet understand conversations and teach lessons within my second day here, I`d say I am doing really well! 

Love you all! There will be few pictures today because we can only take them on P-Days, but I`ll have plenty next week, even of the temple we are attending today! Keep believing, keep hoping because heaven is cheering you on!!

With mucho amor,

Elder Ogden