September 20, 2023 - 5th Email - Mexico Day

 Hola!!

This week was less eventful but still really fun

One thing that kinda sucks is I got a cold last week, I had a teacher who said he had gotten sick and then literally all of us proceeded to get colds, it was a bit goofy since we had just gone through this at the beginning of our time at the CCM where we all got colds but we survived and now we chillin.

Also, another guy in my room (we have two companionships) had a key that was stuck in his closet keyhole. Like, this thing would not budge, and it's been stuck there since the beginning. He's actually been using it as a doorknob since for some reason thay door doesn't have one. I was able to get the key out by pushing a trash bag through the keychain and yanking it while pushing on the door. This key was absolutely busted. I'll post a picture of it.

Ok so Friday (September 15th) was Mexican Independence and I thought it was super cool I got to be here for that, there were fireworks and cannons all over every like two seconds. The decorations were all cool, and actually they've left them up since which I really like since it is Mexico and the banners and stuff are just really cool. At the end of the day we all met outside the comedor and we were told some Mexican traditions on their Independence Day. The mayor of each city stands in the square while shouting set phrases, and after each phrase everyone around shouts "Viva!" Presidente Reyes, who is the second counselor in the MTC presidency, was picked as the guy to do it for us at the CCM because he is actually Mexican. It was really awesome and everyone had a great time. It was hard to get to sleep cuz the fireworks and fiestas everywhere were so loud around us.

At dinner the CCM hired a mariachi band to come play for us and it was really awesome. Everyone was standing around, some people joined in and danced with the band, including the MTC presidency. They actually had really good food that day, too, rather than just cafeteria versions of Mexican food. They had churros that I covered in Hershey chocolate sauce and Nutella so that was pretty awesome

Also on Friday Elder Nelson and I did another mock lesson for Helping Others and we had absolutely no preparation but we still did pretty well so that's cool

It's rained a ton these last couple days too and it's really good because it hadn't rained in like two weeks.

Elder Nelson absolutely destroyed his phone on Saturday because he dropped it. It had already been a bit broken, the screen didn't work really well at all after like the fourth day here and he doesn't actually know what happened to it, but on Saturday it had it's last straw and just was unusable, there were so many cracks. We had to take it to reception so they could fix it. He had to pay a fee for the repair, but they had to take it in for a couple days which is pretty sad because I'm pretty sure that means he lost his duolingo streak, but we got it back last night and he noticed that they never put a screen protector back on it.

On Monday now we're trying to only speak Spanish. No more "¿Quien es el Latino?" (Because we won)

We're going to be focusing just on Spanish this week in class and not going over gospel stuff, so that's a bit weird, but it's really useful to get used to the language.

My cousin (a different Elder Hanson) just got here yesterday and I was able to say hey to him so that's pretty cool, we get to see each other for just over a week before I leave. Speaking of leaving, it's super weird that it's coming up in just nine days. I'm not really sure how p-day works next week, we have normal classes on Wednesday but it shows no schedule for Thursday so we might be able to just pack and stuff that day.

We also had another earthquake drill yesterday. Apparently it's a famous day in Mexico because in 1985 and 2017 on the same day there were deadly earthquakes in Mexico City, and we did a drill in memory of the people that died in the earthquakes.

Today for our temple trip we had to wake up at 5:30 because our bus left at 6:15, we left so early we're getting breakfast there. That means our p-day is going to be longer though so I'm all for it

Spiritual Thought:

I really like Moroni 7:42-43:

42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.

43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.

I really like this scripture because yesterday at our Tuesday devotional President Hymas (the MTC president) said we're going out into a world that's faithless. But many people have no hope either, or they haven't humbled themselves. We as missionaries are going out to spread the gospel to bring people hope, and to tell people to be humble, and only then are they able to have faith.

So again I'm not really sure if I'll be able to send an email while I'm here at the CCM next week because the schedule is goofy lookin, but if not then I'll be in California in my next email. My flight is really early on the 29th. Still not sure if I'm sad or excited. I've loved my district while I've been here and I'm going to miss them, but I'm really exicted to get out into the field and be able to eat American food every day again.

Hopefully I'll be able to write again next week,

Elder Hanson

Pictures!

-the broken key

-me with a giant bag of popcorn I bought at the la tienda store

-roly polies we caught, they're literally everywhere

-mariachi band

-mariachi band 2 plus President and Sister Hymas and President and Sister Reyes

-Independence Day evening

-Elder Nelson got a plunger stuck on the ceiling in the bathroom

-epic chandelier in the Thomas S. Monson building