First Week.

Hello everyone!

It has been a crazy week here in the beautiful Mexico City!

Mexico has been something totally different than what I expected. I only got to see a small part of it while we drove from the airport to the CCM, but holy moly it´s different! First, the drivers here are CRAZY. I´m pretty sure I almost died a few times. I don´t think the people here understand the concept of yielding.. they just go and hope other cars will stop. I will never complain about Utah drivers again. People will also try selling things inbetween the lanes on roads similar to highways.. they are pretty gutsy since the drivers here are kind of sketchy haha. 

The city is so crowded and pretty poor. All of the building are so colorful and happy though! And the people are AMAZING. All of the workers at the CCM are natives to Mexico, and they are the nicest people ever. I am lovin' my people already. It rains every single day here. It usually starts out sunny and beautiful outside, then out of the blue gets super cloudy and stormy. 

The CCM is pretty cool. It used to be a school owned by the church until they made it an MTC after the mission age change. It is really just like a little fenced in village. All of the sister missionaries get to live in houses, so that is fun!

I have an AMAZING companion. Her name is Hermana Hemmingsen and she is from Iowa. She will be serving in Mcallen, Texas. She is super funny and down to earth, but most of all she is so patient with me and my lack of Spanish. I also have a great district! There are 8 elders and 4 sisters and each are so incredibly spiritual. I am learning so much from them. 

So let's just get this out there.. I suck at Spanish. Its been a week and I can catch and understand some things, but can't speak it for the life of me. I literally just smile and say bien to everything, hoping it makes sense haha. Our teachers are all natives and don't speak english to us unless it is completely necessary. It really is total immersion. 

This past week has been the longest, hardest week of my life. I don't think I have ever felt so overwhelmed or inadequate. I have taught 5 lessons in Spanish, and in each one I haven't been able to speak the language very well or understand what the investigators needs are. It is frustrating when all you want to do is tell a person how much God loves them and you can't because of a language barrier. With that being said, I have never felt God's for me love more. I constantly find myself praying to God for strength or help, and not long after my prayers are answered. The Lord has shown me countless tender mercies while I have been here.

God expects us to do hard things, but never anything harder than He knows we can handle. A girl in my zone put it perfectly: "The title of our church has the name of Jesus Christ in it. What Christ went through for us was hard. We cannot expect to be a representative of Him and for it to be easy." I know that God is aware of us. When things are difficult, he wants us to turn to him and he WILL hear us. He loves us and wants us to be happy. 

I love the gospel and I am so grateful to be a representative of Christ. 

I love and miss you all! 

Love, Hermana Rupp