WEEK 2: CCM PIZZA NIGHT CHAMPION

Open House at newly renovated  Mexico City Temple

Hi Mom, Family and everyone else!

I am sure you're wondering about the title of my email this week, but there is a story behind it. Tuesday night here at the CCM is Pizza Night. It is everybodys favorite night because it is all costco pizza! In our Zone, the long standing record for slices of pizza eaten was 9, and this week I managed to eat 11 slices! I am the pizza champion!

Anyways, this week was a great one here at the CCM. It seems every week is getting easier and flying by sooner. All I can think about is getting out to Ecuador...I am so excited. I guess one of the biggest Volcanos in the world is in Quito and it erupted about a week and a half ago! I think its called Volcano Cotopaxi. I hope it does not disrupt getting out to Ecuador September 22nd! That is the day I will leave to fly down to Ecuador with Elder Barba and Bolen, who are also both serving in Guayaquil South.

Today we got to go through the open house of the Mexico City Temple before it is rededicated! It is the largest temple outside of the United States because Mexico City has a population of over 21 MILLION people! We loaded in big buses this morning and took a half day trip to the temple. I will go ahead and attach some pictures. It is a HUGE temple. The inside is so new and the celestial room is beautiful. 

This week we started something new called TRC. It is when members, less actives and investigators come to the CCM to be taught by the missionaries. We have a 20 to 25 minute lesson with them without preparing before hand what we are going to teach or say. We got to teach two sisters this week and it was an amazing experience. They both happened to be members but they give us evaluations to let us know how we did. It is a great way to train because it definitely helped my confidence grow with teaching the doctrine in Spanish.

Highlight of the week: Elder D. Todd Christofferson came and gave a devotional yesterday (wednesday). He talked about charity, humility and answered some awesome questions from Elders and Hermanas here at the CCM. He offered insight on how to help those who may be struggling that you know of back home. He made me think of prayer in a whole new way. It was really profound... He said that when we pray we need to specifically ask God to give them some of our own blessings! That really hit home and is something I started doing right away! He also said the best thing we can do for others back home, and to bless them is to SERVE MIGHTILY. This week my knowledge was deepened on the power of prayer, and how sometimes we may take it for granted...when it really is the most important thing we can do to feel the spirit and receive answers and revelations for our own lives. 

Someone asked a questions about what Christ really meant when he was on the cross and he said "Why hast thou forsaken me." He gave such an inspiring answer to this questions. In DC 19:18 he told us that Christ was afraid he could not see the Atonement to the end. He pleaded three times but ultimately succumbed to the will of the Father. It was the time the spirit and connection he had always felt with his Father truly ended and he was ultimately alone. Elder Christofferson went on to say: "Christ did this alone, so we can accomplish anything because he will never leave us without help" Definitely the highlight of my stay at the CCM so far.

Glad to hear about the family theme you guys started! I think that is a great idea. Everything is great here at the CCM! Enjoying the food, the district and the teachers. I love you guys so much! Thanks for praying for me and writing me!

Alma 26:12 is what I would like for my plaque scripture. I could not find Bro Barneys email so can you pass that along to him please? Thanks!

So There is this cool website where you can send Elders or Hermanas at the Mexico MTC packages and goodies. I think its called Missionarycarepackagemx.com or something like that!

Love,

Elder Solari

WEEK 1: MEXICO CITY MISSION TRAINING CENTER (CCM)

August 20, 2015

Elder Solari's first letter and pictures from the Mexico City CCM

Hey everyone!

The CCM is an amazing place. Were right in the heart of Mexico City on a campus that used to be a church ran school here. When they lowered the mission age it was changed into the CCM. Every Missionary who is going Spanish speaking in the states or south of the border comes and learns spanish here. They usually have 300-500 elders here, but have capacity for over 1200. Everyone that works in the campus here is a member in Mexico and we have so many opportunities to talk to members about the gospel in Spanish!

I absolutely love it here. The first couple days we had orientation and met the CCM presidency. They all used to be previous Area 70s and they make meetings and lessons so much fun. We are at around 7400 elevation or so in a valley surrounded by some mountains. It is so pretty, and all day and night long we can hear hear the cars and buses honking, and the noises of the parties they are having outside the wall. The weather is great...the mornings and nights are pretty cool and during the day it probably does not get much above 80 degrees. The food is pretty good. Breakfast they have yogurt smoothies, milk, cereals, and some kind of egg dish or pancakes or french toast. They have a lot of juices and fruits with every meal as well. Lunch is always some kind of meat with beans and rice and they always have tortillas. So lunch is always some kind of tacos and a popsicle. And dinner is great too. Sometimes leftovers, sometimes more tacos, it just depends from day to day. But the food sure is good....especially the beans!

So funny thing about my companions...I actually have two. One of the elders I am rooming with had a companion that did not show up. Elder Barba, my assigned companion, is from Mesa AZ. He is a really funny kid, and loves sports so we get along very well. My other companion is from San Clemente, CA. His name is Elder Sheppard. Its pretty cool because he lived right next door to the Oborn's when they lived there. He also knew the Lenzinger's. He is your stereotypical Southern California guy. Surfing and catching big waves is his thing and he has that laid back attitude about everything which is great. The Living quarters are great, we actually lives in houses here. There are 50 casas, each of them have 5 rooms, and 4 missionaries to a room. Each room has a bathroom and each casa has a huge living room and a small empty kitchen. 

I absolutely love my district. Usually each district here gets atleast 2 hermanas but we lucked out and just have 9 elders. We have 4 Elders going to Chile, 1 going to Peru, 1 going to Texas and then Elder Bolen, Elder Barba and myself are all going to Ecuador Guayaquil South. We have so much fun as a district because whenever we have class or study time it is always together. We get an hour for GYM time everyday which is very nice. We usually play volleyball or basketball as a district. Our teacher is a Hermana who served her Mission in Mexico a couple years ago. Her English isnt the greatest but it is definitely enough to teach us. She has the spirit so strongly and we learn so much everyday from her My Spanish is progressing so quickly. I read the book of mormon out loud in Spanish everyday and say all of my prayers in Spanish now. We also try to talk in Spanish as much as possible with eachother so our language is growing so much everyday. 

We have devotionals on Tuesdays and Sundays. Both times we watched previous Devotionals David A Bednar has given to missionaries. He really stressed and challenged us to study the character of Christ. And that when we go through trails and believe that we are deserving or prideful that we need to "Turn Outward like Christ did." It was a Christmas Provo MTC devotional from several years ago...but I think it applies to all of us. He talks for about 70 minutes but it is the most powerful talk I have heard. I think you should try to watch it. I promise it is not just for missionaries...you will be able to feel the spirit so strongly. 

We have been teaching an 'investigator.' The third day we were here we had our first lesson with Daniel. It is crazy that the CCM has you teaching in Spanish after only being here for 3 days! You really have to rely on the spirit but he is progressing so well. After our 4th lesson last night we committed him to be baptised!!! He said yes but he just has to talk to his wife about it and will let us know later tonight. We are so excited for him!!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers! I love you all!