Here is a portion of Hermana Zimmerman's first letter from the CCM (Centre de Cultivicasion Missional or something like that.) PS, I took the liberty of correcting her spelling, haha!
"This week has been amazing but it seems so much longer than a week. My leave date for the mission field is April 8th and because I don't need a visa, that date is for sure. There atmosphere here is just incredible. I feel like I have special powers or something for remembering things. I am learning so much about the gospel and language. The first few days were really hard because I was focusing so much on speaking Spanish, adjusting to having a companion (who turned 19 last week), and realizing that I would be under the direction of both a district leader and a zone leader who are both 18. I feel so old here!! It's a good thing though. I have a lot of opportunities to teach and guide. The Spanish was very difficult at first. I could understand everything I was hearing but I couldn't talk back well enough for me to have the confidence to open my mouth. most of the people here just speak in infinitives and with horrible grammar but I can't let myself do that. Eventually, I realized that I am not here to learn Spanish. I am here to learn how to teach the gospel. I am also not here for me. This is not my mission. I am here for the Lord and to do his work. Este es mi proposito. Mom, you were totally right about my mouth being sore for the first few days! Spanish is such a different way of talking! I am used to it now though. My dreams have even started being in Spanish! I lay have awake all night trying to translate them!
I am tired all the time. 8 hours is a lot of sleep a night and more than I have ever gotten before in my life but getting up at 6:30 am and being in class all day until 9:30 at night doesn't help the situation. They push you hard here. That is the best way to learn though. On day 3, we taught our first discussion in Spanish. My companion and I were scared out of minds! It went well though and we got a baptismal commitment! My district consists on four elders and six hermanas. We are the only intermediate district in the whole CCM because did away with intermediate districts the week we got here but then realized that we all speak too well to be intermediates so they bumped us up anyway. All the other beginning districts are afraid to talk with us because they know we already know the language. We are also the first district in our zone and I think the CCM where the Hermanas out number the Elders! It is a pretty cool title to have. Things are way crowed here now that the age has changed. There are six of us living in a dorm built for four. We all share closets and it is a little hard to move around in but we manage. It is pretty fun in the morning when six different alarm clocks all got off at 6:30 but you all know me and that I probably wouldn't get up if not for all those alarms. It's pretty funny. We all lay in bed until the sixth one goes off and then we get up. My P-days are on Thursdays which is why I have be able to write until now. I am glad it is today though because we are all running out of clothes!
The lessons and devotionals here are incredible. It feels like this place is just saturated with the spirit. It is present all the time. Because of this, when you can recognize the spirit's presence, you know you are really experiencing something special. I have never felt the spirit as strongly and as frequently as I do here. it is truly a treat to be here. My companion's name is Hermana Mckay (a distant relative of David O.) and as I mentioned earlier, she turned 19 on Feb. 18. She has only attended one semester of college and is still getting her legs under her. She is a joy though. She has so much passion and excitement for the gospel that she wants to tell everyone all about it right away!! She has such a strong testimony. Here at the CCM, there is a leadership position that is called the "coordinating sister" (essentially the female version of a Zone leader) and on day 2, Hermana Mckay was asked to fill this position for our zone!! She was so worried and scared and I couldn't blame her but she is excited now and grows a little more confident every day. It is fun to watch her change and mature. She has come a long way even in just a week. This last Sunday, the MTC Branches 66 and 67 were formed. Can you believe that! 67 branches in one square block! 800 missionaries reported on my day alone. By June, they are expecting to house 8,000 missionaries here. It is just insane. Everyone used to complain about how strict the schedule is but now we are all realizing how important it is. If we don't follow it, everything gets backed up because the cafeteria, gym, mail room, and other facilities can only handle so many people for so long. Everything has to be done on a very strict clock here or it would all implode!"
Sus missionaria favorita,
Hermana Zimmerman
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