12.09.2014
by K Fletcher

Q&A Time!


The other two hermanas in your trio are going to Houston right?  So are there any other hermanas with you in the CCM going to Chesapeake?  Weren't there supposed to be four of you going in at the same time?
      There are actually 5 of us going to Virginia Chesapeake on January 6th. There was supposed to be 6, but my companion didn't show up. We never found out what happened to her, we just joke that she got married.

When I was in the MTC my district was all going to the same mission.  Is that true with your district?
      Yes and no. We have 8 elderes and 3 hermanas in my district. You know where the girls are going, and two elders are going to Washington Vancouver, but all the rest are going to New York, New York North.

Tell us more of what you get to do on p-day. 
       P-Day is really up to the discretion of the companionship.  We are required to clean our house, do laundry, and study in the morning and the evenings, but the rest is up to you.  We personally like to take a little nap, play some sports, e-mail family and friends, take pictures (we can only take pictures on P-days) and visit La Tienda (the store) and maybe get a snack or two, but otherwise we just study. You can never study too much. 

Do you ever get to go out into the city or are you confined to the church compound?
      We are confined to the grounds. Once or twice during our stay we are bussed to the Temple and get to visit the visitors center and the shops right around it, but I won't get to go until next P-day I believe.   keep you updated (lots of pictures!).  The compound is huge though, I never feel claustrophobic.

Are you getting good sleep, and are you feeling healthy?
       I sleep really well actually. It's surprisingly cold at night, so I steal all the extra blankets, and even though the beds are way harder than I'm used to, I'm tired enough that anything is comfy.  As for health, the last few days have been a little iffy, but I don't have it too bad. One elder in my district suffered from the flu yesterday and was out of commission, another one received a terrible spider bite and couldn't even kneel.  But we overcome.

Tell us more of what your day is like.  What your schedule is.  Do you also get exercise time?
      Every day we wake up between 6 and 6:30am, depending on how much we are doing to get ready.  We are in the classroom by 7, gym time (EVERY DAY :D), study for half an hour, then breakfast. More study for another hour and a half and then class time.  This ranges from learning spanish, to Book of Mormon study, to teaching 'investigators'.  This Thursday we start TRC (The teaching resource center) where we teach actual members, less actives, and sometimes investigators.  The pressure is on!  I'm very excited though.  We break for lunch, then a little personal study, and then more class until about 6:00pm. Dinner, personal study, TALL (technology assisted language learning), district meeting, bed!  Its a solid day, I like it.  However, as the saying goes, every day is a week, every week is a day.

Are all your Sunday meetings in Spanish only?
      They are not.  The only Spanish meeting is Sacrament meeting.  Almost everything else is english.  Sometimes it is more important to learn the gospel and be edified than to practice the language.  However, every  Sunday you have to prepare a talk in spanish on a given topic. You don't know who is speaking until after the sacrament!  Last sunday was testimony meeting though, and I got up! I read about half of it, and spoke the other half.  Something I've really come to know the last week is:

La obedencia es el precio (Obedience is the price)
La fe es el poder (Faith is the power)
El Espiritu es la clave (the spirit is the key)
Y Cristo es la razon. (and Christ is the reason)


Now, some things I wanted to tell you:
We just finished teaching our first 'investigator' Ivan. He was so wonderful, and he is also a teacher on campus. He was supposed to be ours, but was assigned to another district.  After our last lesson, we chased him down and got a picture with him.  We will never forget him... Quien es Ivan!? He stopped by our classroom a few days ago and one of the elderes asked him, 'On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad was our spanish the first day?' his response? 'I loved you guys so so much.' hahaha.

Our first investigator, Ivan, with my whole district!

Another great story: So we are the only hermanas in our district, and we have three to five other elders NOT in our district we have a tendency to 'talk to' during meal time.  Well our elders started noticing, and threatened us.  Well, obviously we had to see what would happen.  So the very next elder to walk near our table, we stopped and started to get to know him. ...this poor soul. All of our elders stood up and started snapping, west-side story like, straight faced, and gathered around this guy and started pushing him away. It was hilarious. And then when the hermanas got up to leave, they surrounded us and every time we would say "Buenas Noches, Elderes!" to anyone they would just glare.  I was laughing so hard.

This is Elder Grisham, the elder that got west-side storied (and Hermana Barrus).  We're friends now. It's cool.

Ah! there is so much to tell!  I've been doing well with Spanish.  I let myself get kind of discouraged there for a while, but then I taught a wonderfully spiritual lesson with mis companeras, and I realized I can do this.  I might not be eloquent, but I can testify, and that's all that matters at this point in my mision. 

The biggest thing I've learned this week: You need a good balance of humor and the spirit.  Living without either one on the mission would drive you insane.

Have a wonderful week!

With Love,
Hermana Fletcher



So this is my district leader, Elder Coombs. He does handstands during gym time and can breakdance. Also, he's a red-head. My district leader is cooler than yours.



And this is 'code 33' boy, who loves to yell out "Code 33!" when someone looks like they are flirting. (the portion on flirting in the white handbook is on page 33, if you were wondering).


My Spanish Scripture case!



The coolest kid in the CCM, Elder Kummerman (he's leaving this week) We became black brother and sister when we preached to each other in a black accent.


And I found that kid from the temple! Elder Rush was another boy that got 'attacked by my elderes for talking to me, and in a patty-cake fight between him and my Zone Leader, Elder Rush won!


Having fun at lunch time (that was some weird pudding)


Learning by osmosis





12.02.2014
by K Fletcher

First Week at the CCM (Centro de Capacitacion Misional Mexico)

Here I am at my first week at the CCM.  After leaving Phoenix at 8:15am I finally arrived at the CCM at 8:30pm. No resting here.  We immediately had orientation and I received my companion assignment when, lo and behold, she didn't turn up!  I am now in a trio with Hermana Barrus and Hermana Conrad, both heading to Texas Houston East mission.  They are both 19 and from Utah, it kind of cracks me up.  We all have very different personalities but work well together.  We taught our first investigator on Friday, then again Saturday and Monday.  The Spanish I already know has helped me exponentially.  I couldn't imagine coming here with no background in it.  It's strange though because all the missionaries in my district have the same 'investigator' and to hear the differences between each person is weird.  Our investigator “Ivan” asks a LOT of questions.  Do you know how hard it is to answer difficult doctrinal questions in another language that you can barely conjugate in?  Crazy stuff. 

It's actually really good though.  I'm understanding a decent amount of the language, and starting tomorrow mis companeras y yo (my companions and I) are doing a full English fast (meaning we abstain from English) for the rest of the CCM aside from planning, companionship study, and an hour before our lessons.  I am fluent in Spanglish.  I would appreciate any and all prayers for me to learn the language though.  It's the worst when “Ivan” gives a question and 
1: you aren't sure exactly what he said, 
2: you are not sure how to even answer in English 
3: you have no idea how to answer in Spanish.

I love it though.  The weather is lovely here, and the food is great.  It's a nice mix between American and Mexican.  And I have the best P-day possible, because we get devotionals. 

I'm not really sure what to write.  The people here are so friendly, and the senior missionaries are always willing to help, in English too! 

I'll end with a story.  So, after dinner one day, the hermanas and I decided we wanted to scare the boys in our district, so we waited in a dark classroom for them to finish eating and return to studying, and it was taking a while so we were whispering and giggling.  When all of the sudden we hear, "I thought so" in a man voice.  It scared us so bad!  Elder Scoville had heard us laughing through the open window and he called into the classroom.  We then explained what we were doing and managed to get a good scare out of the other elders.  Let that be a lesson to me, horseplay in the CCM backfires.

For a spiritual experience, it was actually a little bit of gift of tongues.  Our investigator was saying something and I could simply NOT understand.  He said it 4 or 5 times, when all of a sudden the word just came to me and we were able to continue onward.  It was a lovely experience.

I'll keep a great journal this week and have more to tell you next Tuesday.

With love,
Hermana Fletcher

Hermana Barrus, Hermana Conrad, Hermana Fletcher

The CCM Campus

My district

the classic 'in front of the sign' picture

 The hermanas


 Our gang sign (El Espiritu Santo)

Los Elderes

 Our casa!

 I always knew that sombreros grew on trees!



11.27.2014
by K Fletcher

First Day (November 26, 2014)

----
So. The first leg of my flight (to Houston) I was actually alone. The elder I met at the Phoenix temple last Thursday was on a different plane. At Houston I met up with 21 other missionaries, 5 girls and the rest boys. We were delayed about 45 minutes and we finally touched down in Mexico city approximately 6:30pm. Long story short we didn't get to the CCM until 8:15pm. Crazy right? We all thought we were going to die on the drive there. I've been in Mexico before, but it may have been a rude awakening to some of those elders serving there. One of them was wondering if it was safe to be out after dark! haha. 

No activities tonight, but tomorrow (Thursday) is chock-full. So far as I know there is nothing specifically Thanksgiving themed. I teach my first lesson on Friday morning in full Spanish. One day, ready-set-go!

Anyway. I am simply here to let you know I am safe and sound in Mexico and I am so excited. My Preparation day is on Tuesday, so sometime between 9:30 and 5:30 my family can expect an e-mail from me. 

I love you all a lot and tomorrow I get to work!

With love, 
Hermana Fletcher
11.23.2014
by K Fletcher

One Last Hoorah

"What did you do 2 hours before you were set apart?"
"Oh, you know, updated my mission blog."

That would be me.
In two hours I will consecrate the next 18 months of my life to the Lord.

I'm so excited.
I'm so excited.

The last few days have been incredibly difficult. It is as though Satan and Jesus Christ are physically battling inside of me. I can feel the spirit of each one so clearly right now. Luckily we all know who wins in this fight, if we allow Him to.

Trials have shaken, prayers have been answered, doubts have arisen, spiritual revelation has been received. And I know this is just the beginning.

For some reason this poem has really inspired my these past weeks.

 Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Oh, the stories I shall tell.

With Love,
Hermana Fletcher