February 20, 2014

¡Hola! De el CCM!!

¡Hola, mi familia!

     It´s so good to hear from you guys. After I sent the emails last week I was kinda homesick, mainly because I knew that you guys were probably reading my email right at that moment and I wanted to know what you guys thought of my first week. But it was all good because we went and got ice cream as a district and then we played kickball! So this week has been just as busy as the last week but now i´m more used to the level of stress that is about as constant as the spirit here at the CCM. That investigator that I told you about last week is now our night teacher and she is the most wonderful teacher ever!!

     Every Sunday each member of the zone has to write a talk, completely in Spanish, and then Presidente Suasté will pick six missionaries to speak for that day. So far I´ve dodged the bullet each week but I´m pretty sure that I´ll have to speak this Sunday. On Sunday I was having a rough time, I don´t really know why, and I was praying all day for the Lord to help me overcome my discouragement. And God is so good to me, he answered my prayers in the most perfect way!! On Sunday nights we watch a church movie all together in the Auditorium and on Sunday we watched the Testaments, which is like my most favorite church movie ever!!!! The spirit was so overwhelming and it was really cool to watch that movie as a missionary. All my bad feelings instantly vanished and just amazing.

     One of our districts left this week and so we needed to get new zone leaders. And I was thinking in Church on Sunday that Elder Grow and Elder Williams would be great zone leaders and guess what.. I was right!! Their our new zone leaders and I´m so lucky to be in a district that has so many worthy priesthood holders.

     The Spanish is coming, still not as quickly as I would like though. I can now pray and say my testimonio completely in Spanish!! As well as anwser simple questions in leccións with the investigators.

     Now to answer your questions, first up is mom!! :) Yes I met Hermanas Best, Chugg, and Christensen on the flight to Mexico. On the first flight there were about twelve missionaries and on the third flight there were probably 35-40 missionaries, they said that this was the largest group of missionaries that they´ve had since Christmas time. The days are long here with a ton of work to do but we always manage to have a good time. And my companion is good, at times she can drive me nuts but the Lord knew that I was going to need practice getting along with people like her, that´s why I´ve had to deal with so many dorks in my lifetime. :) But in all seriousness she is a wonderful example to me. And no I haven´t recieved any cards or packages, expect from aunt Lisa. She sent me a DearElder and it was so wonderful to hear from someone in the middle of the week and it was a wonderful pick-me-up and please tell her thank you for me!!

     Sammie: My favorite part about being in Mexico is the weather!! It´s the perfect weather and It´s so gorgeous here. My most favorite part of the day is about 5:45. The sun is setting and the sky looks so beautiful and you can really see God´s influence all around you!!

    Megan: I´m doing great here at the CCM! There are times when life gets hard but those moments don´t last too long. I´m sleeping great, but you should be glad that your not here because the dogs bark like crazy at night and the Mexcians like to party all the time.
Dad: Oh my Gosh you totally had to mention TWD didn´t you!!!!! I read that part out loud to my district and all of the guys were groaning and saying "don´t say anymore or I´ll have to fly home and watch it !" Yes I´ve been taking pictures but only on P-day because that´s the only time that were allowed to take pictures here. Oh, and way to be amazing!! That so great that you´ve lost that much weight. By the way do you know if we´re related to a Steve and Paul Kammeyer? One of the couple missionaries daughter married a Paul kammeyer and we were wondering if there was any connection.

    Luke: Hey dude! Why didn´t you write me?? Are you just to cool for that ?!?! Anyways good job on your basketball game you stud!! So last week I told you about the Elders in my district. I think you would love Elder Mamea. He´s from Hawaii and he acts just like Ryan Higa!

    So enclosing I love you guys so much and I am so blessed to have you as my family! All is well in Zion talk to you guys next week!!

Love,

                                       Hermana Kammeyer

PS: The pictures are of

me and my companion and of my district

Februray 13, 2014

My First Missionary Week!!!

!Hola, mi familia!

      I´m loving my time here at the CCM, that´s stands for Centro do Capacitacion Misional Mexico aka MTC but in spanish. The CCM is like a paradise!! It´s always perfecto weather here, like like 75 degrees, and there´s plam trees and tropical birds and flowers everywhere. I´m pretty sure everything I step outside I say something like "Mexico is so beautiful," or " I can´t believe I´m in Mexico!!" And then i´ll hear the semi-constant police sirens and then I realize that the CCM is pretty much like a bubble protecting us from the real Mexico city! :) 

So sad news the Mexico city temple is closed for the next year and a half due to construction, apparently its sinking into the ground. :( But there still going to take us to the visitors center so I guess it´s okay.

     My district is the best!! We all get along so well. We are always joking and laughing and just having a great time being misioneros! But don´t worry we still study like there's no tomorrow!! Our teacher is Hermano Sanchez and he is the best teacher we could ever ask for! He is a total goof ball just like us but he helps us stay focused on our purpose as misioners! Mi companera es Herman Jennings y ella es de Vancouver Washington and she is a good companera. Here´s some more about her because I know that Sammie wanted the full run down. She loves to sing, all the time, and she almost cried when we could buy our Himnos until Monday. She is a total dork/geek. She loves Superheros, she has a Batman robe, and she´ll mention Superman every time that Kansas is brought up. She´s super excited to be going to kansas because her favorite animal is the buffalo, kansas state animal, and her favorite song is carry on my wayward son, Megan you´ll know why the is funny. She doesn´t know any Spanish just like me which is nice because we kinda go through the same struggles. But every now and then I have to play mother hen and encourage herand help her out because she gets down, like really down, super easily.

     There are six Hermanas y four Elders in our district. All of us Hermanas are super tight. Hermana Seumanu and Hermana Jackson room with us. Seumanu is Samoan and is one of the most fun people you will ever meet and Hermana Jackson es so sweet and she is a pro at Spanish. She speaks better Spanish than the missionaries leaving our zone next week, which does tend to get annoying because I suck at spanish. The other two Hermanas are May y Steel. They are also very good at Spanish and are a hoot!! The Elders are Mamea, he´s our district leader, Kist, he is the only other missionary in our district that had no experience with spanish before coming here, and Elders Gow y Williams, also pro at spanish!

     The days here are crazy busy!! The first day we were here, thursday, we, all the new missionaries, taught two investigators in english and the second day we taught an investigator in Spanish, as in absolutely no English!!! It was so stressful but somehow I made it through. And since that second day we´ve taught that investigator everyday except for Sunday. I was really afraid at first because I didn´t want to ruin these investigators experiences with the church if I said something wrong but after that first lesson in Spanish we were told by Elder Thompson, Lindsay McCormick went to school with him, who´s in our zone that they are really just teachers who work here at the CCM, so that really calmed me down.The dedication given by Elder Oaks was pretty cool. Every part of the dedication was in Spanish except when he spoke. So with the first speaker I tried my hardest to understand what he was saying. With Gods help and with me using all of my brain power I was able to understand his talk!! (Well at least the gist of it) I was so proud of myself.The locals here are so amazing!! Our Branch presidency is so cute, all but one of them are shorter than me, and super funny!! Our district has come latina amigas and they are so much fun to be with and talk to, in very bad Spanglish :) They can´t say my last name so they call me Hermana Barbie because they like the way I look.

     I´m so glad that you are all doing well!! I opened your package today mom because I would´ve had no time to enjoy it tomorrow. The package was wonderful!! But I´m not used to eating candy anymore so I could only eat a few pieces before it was too sweet for me to handle! Oh, side note the food here is really good and all of us Hermanas have fun trying all of the different and interesting foods that they offer us! Sammie I knew you would do amazing in your cheer competition, and I prayed for you so there was no way you were going to do bad!! Luke I drink naranja soda and I think of you every time I drink it, just like you asked!

     I´m doing well so don´t worry about me!!! The Spanish is not coming as easily as I would like, but Hermano Sanchez has really helped me understand what I need to do for me to recieve the gift of tongues. Everyday here is a blessing and I am so grateful to be here at this time with the people that I am here with. Other side note I did meet Hermana Chugg, Hermana Best, and Hermana Christensen. Anyways, I may get a little frustrated that I can´t speak very well but I know that if i work diligently with faith that god will bless me!!!

     I love you all so much and it is easier being here knowing that you are all praying for me back at home!!

Love,

Hermana Kammeyer

P.S. Sorry for any spelling mistakes and all of the random Spanish. English and Spanish are having a war in my head over who gets to come out. :) Oh and I´ll try and send you some pictures next week!!