I Made it safely to Guadalajara

Hello Everyone,

I hope all of you have had a great week this week! It has been crazy for me! In the CCM this week we worked on packing all of our stuff and getting ready to head into our missions. It was full of a lot of stuff. The biggest challenge was getting my suitcases to stay under the weight limit for my flight. President Pratt the MTC President had his last week along with us, and the CCM will be getting a new president. It was cool on Sunday because they had a special devotional where they talked to us and they shared some wonderful experiences. He shared about how it happened that they opened the new CCM in Mexico that was once the High School and the way it came to happen. It was a very neat talk. Sunday night for the video I said the opening prayer in front of the whole CCM and it was kinda scary but I think I did a good job. We watched the Testaments movie which is one of my favorites. It reminded me of the importance of Christ's life and Ministry to the entire world and made me thankful once again for his great example.

We went to bed a little late that night because we were doing last minute packing. It was hard saying goodbye to Elder Anglesey my companion and the other elders in my district, Elder Anderberg, Elder Adams, Elder Bartlett, Elder Crowley, Elder Parrott, and Elder Stringham. We got up at 3:00 in the morning to get ready because we had to leave the CCM at 4:00 to get to the airport.

I made it safely to Guadalajara. It was a quick like fifty minute flight from Mexico City. Guadalajara is similar to Mexico City, not quite as crazy but still pretty crazy. It is pretty here. I am still super tired I was up pretty much the entire time from 3:00 AM until 10:30 yesterday. We went to the Mission Home and met President and Sister Camarillo, they are both very kind and I am excited to get to know them all better. After that we went to the Mission Office and learned about how stuff kind of works. After we learned a bunch of stuff we went to a Church building and had a devotional with President and Sister Camarillo and our future trainers. We found out who would train us there. My trainer is Elder Ventura from here in Mexico, I still can't understand where. He doesn't speak much English at all, but I am sure it will help me learn Spanish more quickly.

We got to our house around 8:30, it is definitely not as nice as the CCM and all of the other arrangements that I am used to, but I know it will be fine. I am definitely grateful for what I have at home and honestly it kind of makes me miss home a bit more than usual. I know that it is going to be hard adjusting to being here but I am excited that I have this opportunity to come and see a new place and learn about a different culture and way of life. I will definitely have to pray a lot for help but I know that the Lord is watching out for me!

Today has been our preparation day, but we still had District Meeting this morning, it was good and my district leader is from Draper, so he talked to me in English a bit. It was good and we learned better what to do when teaching a lesson. After that we went back to our house and dropped off our stuff and then went and shopped for food.For lunch today we went and ate with our Ward Mission Leader I cannot remember his name. He made us some good food and we had a good message with him and his wife about the liahona and the things in our life that can be a compass for us.

I am excited to be here in Mexico and I cannot wait until I can get better at the language so that I can be a better missionary and teacher! I am grateful for all that the Lord has done for me and I cannot wait to share his message with all of his children. I cannot wait until I get to meet our Investigators and see who they all are and what they all like! I am in an area called Buenas Aires, it is here in Guadalajara we are only about twenty minutes from the mission offices. I think it will be a good area. Elder Bartlett from the CCM was sent to the furthest area which is ten hours on a bus away and I am glad that I didn't have to do that ride! I am grateful to be here even though I am away from all of you! I appreciate your messages and prayers! You are all in my prayers and I love and miss all of you! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Mitchell J Condie