Week #2 at the CCM (Training Center)

HOLA!

WHAT? How is it my second week almost my third week already?? Time FLIES here. The first week was actually the longest 4 days of my life but now it feels like I just left. But I’m LOVING it here. 

Before I left I would always get asked if I’m gonna miss my phone, my laptop, tv, etc. all that good stuff. But seriously I had such an easy time adjusting. I miss all of that stuff but hardly at all. They are right when they said it distracts you because I have never been more focused on something in my entire life. Seriously. I love it. 

Every Tuesday night is COSTCO PIZZA NIGHT. Soooo I basically love where I’m at.

Something interesting here: in the bathrooms when you go to pull the toilet paper out, there is only one square at a time that comes out. It’s a weird system. We joke about how we get super lucky when 3 come out at a time. 

I LOVE THE NATIVES HERE. We had a group of natives that we fell in love with but they left last week! They came in with us but they only stay here 2 weeks because they already know Spanish. They would always make fun of how we say words and how we can’t roll our Rs. We taught them tongue twisters like ´she sells seashells by the seashore´ and they teach us Spanish tongue twisters that are nearly impossible to say. Its soooo fun. They are the nicest, sweetest, most humble people I have ever met in my life. It makes me SOOO excited to go into the field and teach them the gospel!

So I think I talked about our investigator Carlos in the last e-mail and how we had to teach him 4 lessons all in Spanish? Wellllllllll - on Monday we were sitting in class and in walks Carlos in a suit and tie with a TEACHER NAMETAG ON. He is our new teacher!!!!!!!!! He was just pretending to be an investigator and now he is one of our teachers. Coolest thing ever! Speaking of teachers, I hate to brag but I think I have the best teachers in the whole MTC. They are soooo good at teaching, they are so funny, so honest and spiritual and the best people. One of our teachers (Hermana Vergara) has to write a paper in English for school and we have been helping her. She is the best and I have gotten super close to her. Her favorite English words are ´blank´ and ´puddle´. She is so fun! We have both decided that we are going to be best friends after my mission.

I had the hardest day of my mission this week. Saturday. It wasn’t a good day for me. Spanish was super hard for me that day-  I don’t know why. My companion and I had a first lesson with an investigator (another one of our teachers). I prepared and everything but during the lesson the words would not come to me. I would start to say a sentence and the words would escape my mind and I would just stop. It was so awful. I was so discouraged. After we were done with the lesson I came in and just bawled. It was a moment where I felt like I couldn’t do anything. I felt like I wasn’t learning the language and felt like I couldn’t do what I’m doing now for 18 whole months. After the lesson, hermana Vergara hugged me so much and gave me a scripture that has helped me so much already. D&C 100: 4-8. Look it up! Sooo good. The next day after that I was so scared to teach and speak Spanish. But I prayed a lot and really pondered that scripture. PRAYERS WORK! The next day, I woke up and decided I was going to be the best that I could. And you know what? I taught one of the best lessons I have ever taught. I felt like my Spanish was 10 times better. I knew what to say and I was so comforted. I know that the power of prayer is real and that the gift of tongues is real. Trust the Holy Ghost!

Another powerful lesson that I learned this week: hermana Vergara was teaching us about baptism. She got back from her mission probably 5 months ago. She said ´imagine your first investigator getting baptized´ so we closed our eyes and imagined. She said ´imagine them coming out of the water full with joy on their face´ and we imagined. Then she said (the part that really hit me) ´imagine them coming out of the font and saying THANK YOU´ it hit me soooo hard! I was crying. It was soooo powerful to me. It was so motivating. I thought, I really need to stay on top of studying and learning the doctrine so I can have plenty of those experiences! I have never felt the Spirit so strong before in my ENTIRE LIFE. I know this is what I need to be doing!

Anyone: please watch the Book of Mormon video by Elder Holland. Truly amazing and soooo inspiring.

So our teachers are taking Spanish super seriously now that it is our third week here. So every time we say a word in English, we have to do a 1 minute wall-sit. Let me just tell you that my abs and legs have never been more toned before in my life. 

So we were eating and one my teachers walk by with his girlfriend and we were like ´awwwww! So cute!´ and it looked like his girlfriend was embarrassed with all of the attention she was getting. So I said ´are you embarrassed??´ Like I yelled it. But instead I said ´are you pregnant´? Yeah. In Spanish. Yeah I’m never saying those words in Spanish ever again. Thank you everyone for the prayers and e-mails! I LOVE hearing what’s going on in your life. Sorry I don’t respond to everyone but I do READ all of them! Thank you again! I wouldn’t be on my mission if it wasn’t for all of your support! I love you all!

xoxoxoxoxo

Hermana Garner

The cutest little car wash place I ever did see.The cleaners had towels and buckets of water and the people whose cars were getting washed were lounging reading a newspaper under a canopy.

 My awesome district! We have soooo much fun together! Pointing to our mission - the smallest in Mexico!

I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY EVER! Thank you again! Such a nice and yummy surprise!

Love wearing this name tag everyday! Such a great reminder of why im on a mission!

Here's my cozy little room! It is actually super nice and the bathroom is super nice! I love it and I'm comfortable! I'mthe bottom bunk. It is only me and hermana C! We will probably get another companionship though soon in there with us.

Yep. This is exactly what it looks like. There were about 11 mosquitoes in our room one night and this is how I woke up the next morning. Love missionary work!

If you make your bed the day the cleaning ladies come, you get a nice surprise on your pillow!

First week in the MTC!

Hermana Garner and Hermana Crichton

Hi everyone!

Below is Megan’s letter for the week. She sounds so upbeat and excited and we are thrilled for that! It is great to hear from her. She only has 1 hour to read and write emails on Tuesdays so please be patient with her if you don’t hear back from her. I told her to try to write a lot in her main letter since so many are reading it but that means she doesn’t have a lot of time to write everybody back. BUT!!!! She still loves getting letters – it’s the best day for missionaries to hear from friends and family. SOOOO.....if you don’t hear back from her, PLEASE keep writing! I promise she will write soon!

A few terms for this week:

District: A group of missionaries – usually going to the same mission. She has 6 missionaries in her district – 4 girls and 2 boys.

Branch Presidency – The leaders for several districts.

Thanks so much for your love and support of our sweet girl – hugs!! ~Leslie

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Aahhh!! I’m a missionary!! I still can’t believe it. The first few days felt like a dream because I have been waiting for this day for so long! I’m SO happy. You know older missionaries who say they don’t want to come home because they love it? Well that’s me. I MISS ALL OF YOU SO MUCH but I know I’m supposed to be here. I love it!!!

This will be the most random letter. Just a warning. 

My luggage made it perfectly! No problemas!

My teachers are AMAZING. They are both from Mexico and it is so fun. We help them with their English while they teach us Spanish. I love learning Spanish! It is coming so quick and easy for me...I’m so grateful for that! (Thank you to Mrs. Bernstein)

The food here is mostly Mexican. A lot of rice, beans, chips, salsa I’M LIVIN’ THE LIFE. Sometimes they will throw in a hamburger or pancakes. The fruit here is DIVINE. We had mangoes and I think I smuggled like 6 to my room. Sooooo good. (you were right mom)

My companion is Sister Crighton. She is from Houston Texas. She is super bubbly and positive. We get along super well! We are very similar. We are both at about the same level in Spanish so that’s nice. She is going to my mission! 

My district is all going to the same mission! It’s so nice! There are 2 hermana companionships and one elder companionship. We all get so much done together but we all have so much fun together! In my district: Hermana Crichton, Hermana Jones, Hermana Wolferts, Elder charrington and Elder miller. 

My branch presidency is also all from Mexico. They are the nicest and most supportive people!

The MTC has a private well for water so we don’t have to worry about not drinking the water here. It is safe. They said that the people of Mexico don’t even drink the water here. Just coke. 

Soooo here’s a funny little story. So light are supposed to be out at 10:30 right? So the first night we were still unpacking and still getting settled in. We weren’t paying any attention to the time. It was probably 10:50. All of a sudden someone started banging on our window sooooo loud and ringing the doorbell at our house. it was THE SCARIEST thing. We had no idea why they were doing that until we looked at the time. We definitely learned our lesson to be exactly obedient. 

I’m not allowed to have a backpack here......haha. Good thing I brought my semi big purse..?

We have gym time pretty much every day. The Hermanas in my district usually play tennis....we aren’t very good so it’s super fun to make fun of each other. 

Another funny story: I can’t remember what I did but it was something embarrassing. I was with a native so I said. ´estoy embarassado!´ because I thought that meant I was embarrassed but it actually means that I’m pregnant. Story of my life.

We watched Meet the Mormons on Sunday night and boy was I a mess when I saw the missionary hugging his mom. MOM: DONT WATCH IT FOR 18 MONTHS. IT’S ROUGH. I was homesick that night.

Another funny story: My companion and I went to the wrong meeting and everyone thought that we were like super big leaders in the MTC but we actually just showed up at the wrong meeting.

Every night I come home and take off my shoes and it is the best feeling. Being exhausted after a day is such a good feeling because you know you worked really hard. We work SO hard here. It is almost impossible not to. I will send you a picture of my schedule next week and you can see what we do. It’s crazy how tired I am but how focused I am. I have never been able to be that way.

On the more spiritual side of things:

The Spirit here is so strong. Everyone here is soooooo welcoming. Especially so we are just practicing with him. Our THIRD day here we had to teach a lesson EN ESPAÑOL. Third day. Yeah. It is intense here. It is the coolest thing though! Yesterday was my favorite day on my mission so far. We were teaching the lesson and he just had a ton of questions that were hard to answer even in English! But I can now testify that the gift of tongues is real because I answered all of his questions in Spanish and my companion and he both were like ´whoa´. We have our 4th lesson tomorrow with him and we are going to invite him to be baptized! I can’t wait. 

I know the Savior lives and as long as I do my part He will do His. I love the gospel and I’m soooo lucky to be here as a missionary.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!

Hermana Garner

First Letter from Mexico!

Hi everyone!

Below you will find Megan’s first letter. She sounds happy and excited! We are thankful for that. Thanks for all your love and support for her and our family.

She uses some terms that might be unfamiliar. Here’s what they mean:

P-day. Her Preparation day which is the day she can read and write emails, do laundry, run errands, go shopping and plan out her week. That will be the day we’ll be getting her group email and sending it out. If you’re writing to her, that will be the day she’ll be able to read it!

Discussion: A religious lesson

MTC: Missionary Training Center. She will be here for 6 weeks learning the Spanish language, Mexican culture and traditions and how to teach people about Jesus Christ.

Companion: Each missionary is assigned a companion that you are with 24/7 and you teach and serve together. She will have many different companions on her mission.

Mission: Megan is in the Mexico City Southeast mission. There are 7 different missions in Mexico City alone and 34 in all of Mexico. Her companion will be going to the Mexico City Southeast mission with her. There will be missionaries in the MTC going to missions all over Mexico and central America as well as to U.S. missions that are Spanish-speaking. There are about 1500 missionaries at one time in the MTC so she will have lots of company there!

Nametag: Each missionary has a nametag. Megan’s says Hermana (Sister) Garner. It’s exciting when they get them for the first time!

She would love to hear from you. Her email address is megan.garner@myldsmail.net. Thanks for being a part of this adventure with us! ~ Hermana Garner's mom

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HELLO!!! Im alive and well!!! I love it here already. My flight from St Louis to Salt Lake was fine. I was a little worried when I was trying to find my terminal to go to Mexico City...I didnt know where the international terminal was. BUT I TURNED THE CORNER AND THERE WERE 4 ROWS OF MISSIONARIES ALL GOING TO MEXICO CITY ON MY PLANE. it was seriously the most comforting sight. i walked up and was like ´umm...im guessing im in the right place!¨ it was great. I sat next to a sister on the plane who is from Jamaica which was super cool. probably the most beautiful human being I ever did see. we taught a discussion on the plane!!!! we were sitting next to this guy who wanted to know who we all were! crazy! mexico is so nice. actually its so dirty but the weather is beautiful. when we were driving to the MTC i thought i was gonna die in the bus. they dont drive like they do in America. they dont use blinkers, they dont signal whatsoever and they have THE BIGGEST SPEEDBUMPS so everyone is just honking and yelling at each other. i saw a guy get out of his car, push his car a little bit so it would go, and then get back in. the MTC is right smack in the middle of mexico city. literally IN THE CENTER. it feels like temple square though. so quiet and peaceful.

my p-day is tuesday!!!!!!! i will email more and send you pictures on tuesday! my companion is sister crichton and she is in my mission! i love her and she is so sweet. we are very similar! 

the food is interesting.

I LOVE YOU ALL! XOXOXOXO

thanks for the emails!

Hermana Garner

p.s. I HAVE A NAMETAG!! AAHH! ITS REAL!

It's time!

Tonight, I will be set apart as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I couldn't be more excited to be a representative of Jesus Christ in Mexico. I know my life will be changed and the people that I teach will find greater meaning in their life through the gospel. I know that it will be the hardest thing I ever do in my life but I also know it will be the most rewarding. Thank you for all the support! Please e-mail me!

megan.garner@myldsmail.net