Let's talk a little about Sundays at the CCM.  Every week I go to leadership meeting at 7am where we discuss concerns about the zone with our Presidente, then breakfast and a little study.  Off to Relief Society which is taught by Hermana Pratt (wife of the CCM president) in English. The girls have a 45 minute interlude while the boys are in Priesthood, and then we have a district meeting.   Immediately thereafter is Sacrament meeting which is conducted completely in Spanish.  Announcements, hymns, sacrament prayers, and talks are fully given in Spanish.  Each week we are given a topic that everyone must prepare a 5 minute talk on, and then the speakers are announced after the sacrament.  It's just the luck of the draw.  After that is lunch and then a meeting/devotional with the CCM presidency.  Study time thereafter (or choir practice in my case) and then another devotional.  Then dinner and then ANOTHER devotional.  And then we watch the good-bye video for everyone leaving that week, return to our classroom for another district discussion and then to bed! 

This last week I had the opportuntiy to sing "Yo se que vive mi Senor" (I know that my redeemer lives).  I sang the first three verses in Spanish, the last verse in english, with the final line in Spanish.  It was lovely, and quite small.  Our branch is only 3 districts (our zone) of whom we are now the senior missionaries.  Kind of insane. 

This past week has been lovely, actually.  We had a great companionship inventory and are much much more unified now. Our lessons have been going well, and while we struggle with the language, we are helping to  make the spirit known.  One of my favorite things that I studied this last week was in 2 Nephi chapter 33.  Verse 7 says, "I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgement seat" and then in verse 12, "And I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day."  It struck me with such a force this week.  It is possible for us all to be saved.  Every single one of us has the potential and birthright to be saved in the Kingdom of our Father.  And through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, it is possible for our debts to be paid and for us to be made perfect.  We were watching the Joseph Smith video this week, and I just had the thought that here was a perfect man.  Yes he made mistakes, and he struggled, but through the sum of the Atonement, he was indeed perfect. Because no matter how many mistakes you make, no matter how low your sum is, added to infinity is still infinity. We can be perfect because Christ is perfect.

 Which is something I need to keep in mind while studying Spanish.  I am doing much much better, and I've found that I can understand some teachers perfectly, and others... not so much.  My comprehension is increasing, and I'm able to say most things that I desire to at this point, sometimes in a very roundabout way.  But it is going.  I look forward to seeing myself improve over the next several months.  If I have come this far in just one month, how much farther can Heavenly Father take me in 17?

Now, this is the best time to be in the CCM.  This Christmas as a center, we are doing a massive service project to provide blankets and meals to an old folks home (with only men) in the city of Mexico.  There are about 400 men there and many of them just sleep on the floor.  So we are cutting and tying blankets for every man there, as well as a sack lunch for Christmas. Everyone was asked to donate some of their weekly funds to purchase cookies to put in the lunches, and la Tienda has been packed since then. We all just want to serve so genuinely that we'll leap at any chance to do some real service.  So Christmas day we will be taking turns doing the service activity and making phone calls home.  There are a whole ton of devotionals too, and no class.  There's also some special meals being prepared for us on that day.  I'm very excited :) 

As a district though, we drew names for a secret santa, and I drew a Luck Dragon for our district leader.  There's only so much to get someone when you all have the same resources and funds at the same place, haha!  We also have a tiny Christmas tree, a stocking, and a hand-drawn fireplace that we have set up in the classroom, courtesy of us Hermanas. 

It will be lovely.  I look forward to it.  Christmas is such  a lovely time of year.  If you haven't yet, I would encourage you to watch the video put on by the church this Christmas: He is the Gift.

He is.  Discover the gift this Christmas.  When I was looking at the lit up Nativity they have in front of the Thomas S. Monson building with my district, Elder Stewart commented simply, "Isn't it incredible that he is the reason for all of this?"

Cristo es la razon. 

It's true. He is true.

Merry Christmas.

With Love,

Hermana Fletcher

My mind map for our leadership meeting (we discussed D&C 121) and our last with with our Presidente.  He is back in Arizona for the next 2 weeks for  vacation.

When we have a break during studying, and I finally learn how to tie a scarf properly.