Elder Spencer Stokes - Mexico Ciudad Juarez

I do not know if I will be able to call today. But I made it here about 3 hours ago and I am back on Utah time. I am so excited to be here and serve. I understand a lot of the Spanish they speak but then they say one word I do not know and I kind of lose track of the conversation. It is so much fun and my brain already hurts with this much Spanish that I am speaking and listening to. I still do not know who my companion is yet but I am excited to meet whoever it is. All the latinos in the office know English because as they teach us Spanish we are supposed to be teaching them English. So I should have a companion who knows a little bit of English which will help me learn the words I do not know easier All new missionaries arriving with me at the Mission Home with President and Sister Henke.

What I have learned most from this is how important setting goals are and how having a plan for that goal will make it a lot easier to achieve it.  Now the ¡Que Lastima! Part. I definitely have an eye infection. I have no idea how I got it, one morning I just woke up and I tried putting in my contact and felt pain. So I just wore glasses, I got through most of the morning but most of my district was saying how red my right eye was so I went to the enfermeria and they gave me some eye drops right one they saw. They hand out prescribed medication like taffies during a parade. Most of the time we think they are just placebos though, we never can be sure. My eye is starting to get better so that is really good, I am just praying it gets better before I get in the field. English fasting. Monday, Wednesday, Friday this week we are fasting from speaking English. Every word we speak in English we have to do one push up. My shoulders and chest hurt sobad because I will just say a ...

My first week at the CCM is complete. It has been so great. The district I joined added me to their family right when I got here. It has been so great to get to know everyone so quickly and become such good friends with all of them. The schedule here is a lot similar to the one in Provo. 6:30 - I go run 1.5-2 miles with Elder Enclewski and Elder York 7:30 - Breakfast 8:15-11:00 - Class with Hermana Canneles 11:00-12:30 - Teaching/study time 12:30-1:15 - Lunch 1:15-1:45 - Study time 2:00-2:50 - Exercise Time 3:20-4:00 - Language Study 4:00-6:45 - Class with Hermana Saucedo 6:45-7:30 - Dinner 7:30-9:00 - Grammar/Teaching/Study It is still a packed day but I enjoy it more everyday that I am here. I am starting to get in the groove of things. This last Monday we had a ¨senioritis¨ meeting on how missionaries tend to not excel as much in the last two weeks. So I am trying to make sure that I wake up with the right mindset every morning to improve. That is...

I only have a couple minutes. But today is my preparation day in the Mexico MTC. I will have to figure out how to send bigger emails because they gave me an Ipad but everything google is blocked so I do not know how I can get all of my contacts. It was really rough leaving my district behind in Provo. I miss all of them with all of my heart. But the lord sent me here for a reason. I just do not know what that reason is yet. Shout out to Elder Baker because he would definitely not be short if he came out here. Probably 70% of the people here are under 5.7. It is kind of weird actually being tall here.  My new district is good still. Just not the same. They are very friendly and have been letting me get involved with everything. There was a trio so now there is 5 companionships of Elders and a pair of sisters. My companion's name is Elder Reusch. He is from Arizona and is going to Maryland, Baltimore mission. I have only been here for only about a day so I do not have much ...

Three more days. That is all I have left en Los Estados Unidos for 23 months.  It is pretty crazy to think about to me. But I will be leaving to the Mexico City MTC on Tuesday September 17 at 4 am. What would a mission be without some early flights?!?!? I am excited and nervous at the same time. I am bummed out that I am going to have to leave my district and who knows what situation I will be put in with my district and zone in Mexico City. I will put my trust in the Lord and I know everything is meant for a reason so it will be alright. Our missionary purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Repentence. Baptism. Receiving the Gift of The Holy Ghost. And enduring to the end." In so many of our meetings, they have been telling us how we should be trying to do this with our families on preparation day as well. So I am going to share a quick great experience I had this week. ...

How is everyone going?? My life at the MTC has been so much fun most of the time. There is a lot of classes everyday so days can be long. But at the same time I feel like days go by pretty fast. This week was weird for me because everything finally started to hit me that I would be be out of this wonderful country for two years. I am so excited but at the same time I am nervous and maybe a little homesick. My district has been so good at helping everyone adjust to becoming a missionary though so I am getting better every day. I am still only in English classes so that means it is only going to get harder once I start learning Spanish. Every day is the same. Wake up at 6:15, breakfast at 7:00 then start studying at 7:30. Our first classes start at 8:30 and usually go until 11:30, which is when we have lunch. My morning teach is Brother Tanuvasa. He was inactive in the church growing up, but something happened in his life that made him realize how much God has done for him, so he worke...

Hola mis hermanos y hermanas, The MTC has been great for me so far. It has only been 2.5 days so I do not know if I will have much to talk about about. But I will start off by saying everyone that told me I just get thrown in the deep end for Spanish and will start everything in Spanish right away and learn about Preach My Gospel right away was wrong. The only reason you guys are wrong is because there is a pilot program in the MTC right now where a couple new districts that are learning Spanish will do the first 10 days in English instruction only. We still have an hour of language study a day because we will have that our whole missions. But right now my teachers do not even know Spanish, they are some of the best teachers in the MTC. It is a great experience and I have been loving it so far. I cannot imagine trying to learn everything about the Gospel while having to learn a new language. It is great to just focus on teaching different people and the different Gospel Doctrine ...