9/24/2017

Hay YALL!
Love Y'all tons, we fly out tomorrow, they are letting us send this really quick. Can't believe we are heading out already, don't feel anywhere close to ready haha. Will talk to y'all later.
LOVE YALL!!
Elder Fox

Final week in the CCM 9/20/2017

Hola Amigos y Familia!

How are y'all doing? Thanks to everyone who has talked to me so far! Really love reading about what y'all are doing! Because I feel like I'm in this little safety bubble and really wanna know what is happenening in the real world, haha. Any ways, this week has been really interesting, and quite a bit has happened, so I'm just going to get right into it.

First off, this is my last week is the CCM! This means we get to go to a ton of meetings and "workshops". I love them so much...! (I have no idea how to type sarcastic enthusiasm). In all honesty they are not bad, but I feel like they are kind of redundant and I just wanna practice my Spanish more, but if they think its important, there must be some reason...right? Anyways, other than that, we are finishing up on our class lessons and learning some wierd advanced spanish like "passive voice". We also finished up our lessons with our practice investigators. I feel like they were useful and stuff, but I just didn't like doing them, because they just felt fake and like I was just being tested on how I say stuff, but I guess in a way that is what will kind of be happening in the field, so not super bad.

Other than that, 100% spanish (more like 90%) has been really neat. Although it has made me realize that they do not teach you nearly any nouns that you would use in normal life, so its been useful to realize things I say a lot and find out how to say them in spanish. It has been super fun talking to latinos and stuff though and actually feeling like I understand what they are saying very well and not taking a solid minute to form every simple sentence I wanna say! I mean, I do not feel any where near ready to be dropped into a latino's home and feel like I am not making a fool of myself as I talk to them, but I'm improving. Wouldn't be anywhere near this point though if it weren't for the Gift of Tounges though. I've known that spiritual gifts are a thing, but I've never full on experienced the power and miracle of one daily. Its insane!

Since it is my last week in the CCM I wanna talk about some interesting stuff that I have refrained from talking about to spare my mother XD. One funny thing is that the CCM is literally down the street from a Mexico State Prison, haha. We are also surrounded by a ton of houses and we hear party music every bight for like hours, its awesome. We also hear between one and three gunshots a day, so thats fun. They also really like fireworks down here, so those go off a ton. The fireworks they usually use are more like firecrackersthough, just a bunch of loud snaps in row. Pretty neat, also the wall around us in like 10 feet tall concrete with 5 foot of barbed wire stuff in the top, pretty gnarly. There is only one entrance/exit and it is gaurded by two security booths with big metal gates. I think its all really neat.

I also figured out I missed both labor day and 9/11 while I was in Mexico. Which was funny because I didnt find out until a few days after both times. I did get recompensation though! We all found out that the 16th was Mexico Independence Day! We found out when we got a ton of really cool super traditional food all day, and than at night where there were fireworks and music blasting all around us! It was incredible! Sleeping was pretty hard that night XD. There is also a rule that none of us can step outside our dorms after 9 because another common tradition is to shoot pistols in the air...and I think thats more American than America. The only downside is that the balls have to come back down. There is often some car dents and stuff, but we were told no-one has died from it (on record), but it would really heart and likely require a trip to the hospital. 10/10 would witness partying in Mexico again.

Last point is kind of a downer, sorry. Y'all remember that 8.4 mag earthquake that was 650 miles to the east a few weeks ago? Well (for any who haven't heard), we had a 7.1 mag 70 miles south yesterday, it was pretty neat to really expirience an earthquake, but I feel super bad for all the people who have lost their houses, loved ones, or lives. There is actually a really cool story along with it though. In 1985 there was an 8.3 mag right in the middle of Mexico city, and it was (as you can imagine) terrible. Thousands died, and the city was basically destroyed, so every year on that day (Sep 20) the city does an earthquake drill at 11:00ish to remember that tragedy (kind of like our 9/11). Earthquake drill at 11:00 and suddenly at about 12:00 real earthquake. I like to think of it as a blessing that so many people were just so much more prepared because of that "coincidence". The epicentre was down in Puebla and there was also a wierd spike in power right in Mexico city, but where we are, there is a little blue safety circle (we are the black dot in the corner in the picture below) where the power suddenly dropped, its crazy! I do not know anything like death counts, but I was told 30 buidlings collapsed in Mexico City alone and 4 had people inside. Please send your prayers to them and their families. They are not just a number to tally up, they are people and its crazy how much realler that is when I am closer to it. Sorry for the that, but its really sad to think of all the times I have seen a "death count" on a news story and just kind of gone like "oh wow, thats a lot" or "huh, not too many, thats good", so please dont do that, thanks.

Pretty neat-o final week in the CCM so far. Oh yeah, one more thing, I keep forgetting, but when we got here, my favorite hymn, suddenly popped back into my head, and I have thought about it basically every day. I would really appreciate it if y'all could find some way to really use the lesson it gives, because helping someone out, is the best way to feel happier, promise :D

Have I Done Any Good?

Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need?

Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?

If not, I have failed indeed.

Has anyone’s burden been lighter today

Because I was willing to share?

Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?

When they needed my help was I there?

[Chorus]

Then wake up and do something more

Than dream of your mansion above.

Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,

A blessing of duty and love.

2. There are chances for work all around just now,

Opportunities right in our way.

Do not let them pass by, saying, “Sometime I’ll try,”

But go and do something today.

’Tis noble of man to work and to give;

Love’s labor has merit alone.

Only he who does something helps others to live.

To God each good work will be known.

[Chorus]

Then wake up and do something more

Than dream of your mansion above.

Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,

A blessing of duty and love.

Sorry if that was wierd for any of y'all, but I felt the need to share. Anyways, yeah, awesome week with lots of crazy stuff! Thanks you all for your continuing love and support! Y'all mean the world to me! Talk to me if you wanna :D Talk to y'all next week!

<3 Elder Fox

9/13/2017 A MONTH!!

Hola Amigos y Familia!

How have y'all been doing? Still waiting on some updates, haha, would love to hear from y'all! I've been doing really well lately, hasn't been a super eventful week, which is good and bad. I have felt a lot more confident in everything lately, which is neat. I just really can't believe its already been a month, feels like I got here a few days ago. Its really wierd time wise in here, haha, the days feel like a week and the weeks feel like a day. Its been awesome though! I've loved it (even all of the super difficult junk).

I feel like I'm going to spend at least a paragraph talking about food every week XD, guess its just super important for me. This week though, I decided to go to the Tienda and buy about 10 different wierd candies (all the candy is like 5-9 pesos so like 40-80 cents, love Mexico). Some were really funky tasting but were not bad, like one called Flippy&Mammut, it had some like strawberry "jelly" covered in a marshmallow on a graham cracker. There were ones that were just nasty like Bubu Lubu (I asked its Boo-boo-Loo-boo), that was really nasty chocalate covering a...thing, I thik it was a marshmallow that they forgot to add sugar to, I don't know, gross. Some were okay/pretty good like the Krankys that were corn flakes covered in chocolate. But the holy grail of that adventure was the Choco Retas. They are like bb sized balls of really good chocalate with about a pound of mint flavoring. Each one is like an Andes mint and there are like 50 in each 6 peso bag. I have bought many. I have no regrets.

Oh yeah, there was an 8.1 mag earthquake on Thursday, that was interesting...to hear about. It happened at 11 pm, so we all slept through it, because we are like 650 miles away from the actual source, so there was a gentle rocking here. I feel super bad for the people closer though. It was really bad for them, and I really wish they would let us go down and help them, but no, so that sucks. I kind of understand because bus gas all the way down there would be expensive, but I wanna help.

We started TRC this week, and that was super fun! Essentially, we practice teaching with our teacher everyday, but in TRC you teach a real person not acting! It was awesome, we taught two ladies from upper Mexico City about prayer. I ended up talking with one of them a lot about cooking (because she mentioned she really likes it too) and she gave me a really neato traditional recipe for the good-good corn tortillas that I am super excited to make! It was really neat to actually be talking in 100% spanish to people who know no English for so long, I am no where near fluent, but that really helped raise my confidence in it!

Speaking of Spanish, its 100% from here out basically. During your last two weeks in the CCM it is 100% spanish 100% of the time. They give you these little dots for your nametag which mean "only speak Spanish to me" and "make fun of me if I speak English". Its been really tough, but really fun. I feel like I am learning so much so quickly, its crazy! The Gift of Tounges is 10/10. 

My district has been playing a ton of soccer lately for our gym time. We actually played for abount an hour and a half this morning (sorry for the delay in the email). The latinos are all super fun to play with, some are super good, but they dont ever get competitive like most Americans do with sports, so its always just super fun.

Not much else, pretty calm week. Been loving it here though! The people are awesome (some are a little on the "aggresively mormon" side XD, but they are still pretty chill). I really like my district, they are super cool. Being a zone leader has been interesting. The districts in my zone  are all awesome though, so its been a lot easier. The Spirit here has just been amazing. I knew that it would be strong, but I honestly feel "spiritually exhausted" basically every night. One verse I came across explains it pretty well from 1 Nephi 1:7 "And it came to pass that he returned to his own house at Jerusalem; and he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the Spirit and the things which he had seen". Its been really fun though. I love all of you and thanks again for all of the things y'all did to help me get here! Love Y'all! Till next week!

<3 Elder Fox

(My sister Ellie wanted me to send some stuff in Spanish every week to help her practice, so I will try to explain a small story every week in Spanish, but heads up, I'm still learning, so there may be mistakes, sorry in advance)

Como lideres de zona, mi companero y me necesitamos asignar un leccion para la Reunion del Sacerdotio. La semana pasada fue nuestro primero semana, entonces, nosotros no tuvemos el coraje para pedir cualquier otra persona a ensenar. Pues nosotros dicidemos a enseñar. Nosotros no se preparamos hasta la noche anterior, pero hacemos bueno :D. Fui muy nefvioso, pero fue muy divirtido, y yo siento como mi testimonio fue fotalecio mediante la oportunidad.

Pics:

-Some of the candies I had

-The drawing of me and me posing that my teacher drew (she says I look like/act like and have the facial expresion of a cartoon character XD)

-Some really bad pictures of the really cool green parots that are everywhere here

-Table soccer tables in our gym

-The feedback cards from our TRC friends (sorry, to lazy to translate) (One is super sweet)

Earthquake 9/8/2017

Hola Familia,
They are letting us send a really quick email to home to let you all know that we all survived the 8.1. In fact the news probably didn't say much about the actual location, but it happened about 650 miles west of where we are, so for the most part, we did not feel anything. I am actually really upset that I slept right thru it XD. I have always wanted to feel an Earthquake, but I guess I was just too tired. No one in my district felt it, we are all bummed about it, haha. The teacher aid said that I needed to end it so I love everyone of y'all and I am all good (maybe a little angry).
Talk to y'all Wednesday.
Love Elder Fox

Mexico CCM is awesome 8/30/2017

Hola Amigos!

How is everyone doing? Please send me updates on anything if yall want, I would love to hear about anything and everything!

The CCM is amazing! I really do love it here. The food, the people, the view, the setup, all of it. It is a really fun and cool place. Also, everything is super cheap here, so I have bought quite a few candies and drinks that were pretty wacky but really good for the most part (for any NDPA Spain people, they got Kinder Buenos here, and I buy one almost every day XD).

My companion is a pretty swell guy. I'm super lucky I ended up wih him, because he keeps me in line really well, haha. He's really nice, and has an incredible work ethic, and since we have to be by each other all the time, I have to study when he does. He's super smart and has a ton of real useful study tactics that are real useful. He has a pretty sad background: mom and dad were basically never home due to work (dad traveled a ton, mom was a CEO of a few things, 6am-10pm was the norm. They had to move around quite a bit (6 states in his 18 years). About a year ago, his mom cheated on his dad, so they got a divorce. His dad did get a work from home job right after, so he finally got to see him often, which was awesome. I feel pretty bad about it all because I am so incredibly blessed with not only all of my amazing family, but friends who might as well be too. He has a super strong testimony though and is a real cool hombre.

The spanish has been going super well. I definatley dont feel ready to try and actually go just talk with anyone fluent, but I feel like my grasp of it has just skyrocketed. Other than the Basic Core words and phrases, it is all just in class grammer lessons and "make a goal" word memorization. Currently I am doing ~60 a day. And trying to memorize a scripture every 2 days. It is really fun honestly to just keep progressing so fast. Our "investigator" lessons are getting exponentially better as we learn more spanish, more doctrine, and more ways to teach. Its crazy just having to go full spanish for 20-40 minutes of teaching, but super fun.

Im going to have to keep this one short, so I have some time to respond to as many personal letters as I can (so if you want some special treatment, dont be afraid to write). This week has been a little more mellow in all than last. Getting used to the work load (and having to wear fancy clothes everyday) has happened pretty quick. I wish I could write more, but my companion would beat me if I went over our time limit XD. Emails should become much better for the rest of my P-days though, because we will not have to leave for the 5-hour temple excursion (you get to go twice, and we got both on our first two weeks, go fig). Still super awesome experience though and really beautiful (found out it is one of the five from all around the world that has the angel Moroni holding the plates too, pretty neat). Sorry for the short update. Also, I will send more pics next time, havent had any time to take many (pics only on P-days) LOVE YALL!!!

<3 Elder Fox