Week 4

The weeks are just flying by here in Mexico!  It seems like I just got here, but it also seems like such a life time.  2 more weeks to go then I'm on my way to Maryland!!!!  I cant wait!!  I'm tired of being in a class room all day.  I love it here though.  Latinoes are crazy awesome!    There is so much organized chaos in the city you just can't help yourself to laugh and smile.  They party all night long here on the weekends. We are kind of in a valley and there is this huge stadium about a mile away, but they blast like this dubstep mariachi band all night long!!!!  It sounds like it is right outside your window!!  They play it until about 4 in the morning so loud that if I had earmuffs I could probably still hear it!!!!  Mexico knows how to party, but they don't know how to stop!! Then just as your about to sleep this big ole mac truck starts up and this is right outside our window.  It is so loud and it just sits there growling for 20 minutes!  By the time it leaves it's about 5:30 am and you are like ahh finally I can sleep.  You close your eyes and before you know it, your 6:30 alarm rings....great... I love Mexico... But seriously if it wasn't so loud at night it would be awesome!!  You see crazy stuff here...like there is this dog that chills on the roof and just stares out over the city for hours.

There are certain places in the city where you have to jump your car over a bridge to get to work!  And let's not forget the cuetes that blow up every 5 min!  They love bombs here. It is awesome!!!  Well we had a small earthquake this week and we all had to exit our classes and go to the street cuz the way Mexico is built the school would tumble down upon us if we stayed inside!!!  I love Mexico!! The machine guns are the best!  

I am doing super good!!  Gave a blessing to an Hermana in our district this week!!!  IT was sooo awesome!!  I felt so honored she would ask me for a blessing!!  I'm so stoked for Beau!!!  I love them!!  

Well spiritual experiences that happened this week... pretty similar but I recommend all to look up Elder Hollands testimony of the Book of Mormon on you tube or Lds.org.  It is logical, it is spiritual and it is powerful.  It is about 2 minutes long but it is soooo amazing!! 2 minutes of your time to search it, that´s all I ask.  Anyway that's about it.   It is amazing the blessings we have and we don't even know it.  Just take a moment, think of all we have been given and thank Him.  For we are his work and his glory.  Have a great week!  I love you all!  

Elder Cornejo

Hermana Harston is heading out to washington this week.  She is on my left.  She drew sharpied a white tie for me to wear.  It is sick!!!

We got our sweet ties but after the devo it was soooooo hot!!!!! Then everyone in the auditorium was looking at us when we take this pic cus we are the last ones in the auditorium and there are like 50 ppl just starin at us cuz the guy didn't know how to use the camera!!  It was so hot with our suits!! Great times... hahaha

  Chillin wish our homie Estaban!! He made us horchata!!!  Like real mexican horchata!!  He is the coolest!!!

My buddy Johnson is leaving.  He got a sweet tie too but different hermanas drew it!  Everyone here is huge!!! Notice the spoon on my left shoulder... ya we spoon a lot here....  people walk around with spoons in their belt loops hahaha

Just chillin on the Monkey bars 

Week 3

Ok so this week went by pretty fast. We can't normally go out of the snow globe, but we did get to go to the temple today. So that was pretty awesome!!!  It's a 35 minute bus ride to the temple and the city is just crazy!!! Adam is lucky.  But I'd also be sketched out.  There are a bunch of cops with bullet proof vests and machine guns just patrolling the streets.  And there are so many people!!!.   I'm pretty excited to get out in the field tho.  We pretty much do the same thing here everyday but its good.  We are super busy and the weeks go by fast but the days go by super slow!!!  I am also super happy to serve the lord.  He is so great!!!  There are so many things and evidences that i didnt even know that make me think how is it possible no one wants to believe this!!!!  Oh and they call my companion Mr Incredible.  He is huge!! I hate it!! haha he is really like a military straight to the point military blunt kinda guy but we get along most of the time. 

  A lot of the people that I met here are leaving and it saddens me to see them go.  It's so nice to make friends but so weird that I won't see them till either after my mission or never again!!!  We practice teaching investigators everyday except Sunday and pday.  It's fun but hard because it is all in Spanish and I know the lessons and I try and follow the spirit but when you don't know a word, it can't just automatically pop in your head!!!  I've been trying to work out everyday.  So far so good.  I miss the gyms shakes!!!!  I need protein!! haha  but I guess I should be more focused on the work.  This Sunday the MTC president gave a sweet devotional!!!  We learned so much!!!  If you ever feel like you wanna give up you need to press on forward because before anything gets better, it has to get worse first.  And when you put your mind to something!!  everything is possible!!!  Just stick to it, with persistence.  Our president also talked about the power of sincere prayer and told us a couple of stories not to share with anyone but they were soooo awesome!!!!  Then he told us this crazy story about how he and his family had tredged miles to get to this ancient pyramid historical site through the rain and when the finally got there it just started dumping rain!!!  The guy at the gates said sorry the rain is too heavy you cannot enter the park.  Pres says ok well what if the rain stops.  They guy says no way the rain is never going to stop.  Pres says ok give it 15 min.  If the rain stops will you let us in.  The guy says yes but assures him that the rain is never going to stop.  So pres takes his family and says to God - God we have a big problem.  We just hiked many miles to get here and it is too rainy for entering the park.  He then thanked God for all his blessings and said please have the rain stop and specifically today.  The pres had to exersice great faith in God to ask of these things and he was sincere and specific.  Within 10 minutes the rain stopped!!!.  HE showed us pictures.  By the time they were done exploring the rain started back up again just as they were finishing!!!  But the Lord does answer sincere and specific prayers.  He then told us more examples even better ones which are too long to write, on how specific prayers can be answered.  Now some of this may seem far fetched but what is the harm by believing in this.  Jesus commands us to be as children when we are accepting his gospel but what does that even mean?  God cares about each one of us and knows each one of us by name.  Think of what children do when they are curious.  They ask questions, and when they receive an answer from their parents, they don't question it, they believe.  Why do they believe?  Because they have faith in their parents, that their parents wouldn't lie.  Why?  because if their parents never gave them any reason to question it, why would they?  It's not until their friends tell them that their parents are wrong, that they begin to question their parents motives and thus they grow up and lose faith.  But I can testify that if you ask God with a sincere desire to learn.  What does a sincere desire mean?  It means that you are willing to act upon the answer in which you receive from the Lord.  The Lord may not answer our prayers on our time, but he will answer them eventually.  Our job is just to be patient.  Jesus says, look and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.  The Lord promises he will answer our prayers but first we need to trust him and truly seek his guidence.  He is there.  I know it.  I have felt it.  And I love him and would not be dedicating 2 years of my life to him if I hadn't.  This gospel is his true and ever lasting gospel, but in order to know that we must first trust and have faith in the Lord.  I love you all and miss you!!  Hope you have a great week!  

Sincerely,

Elder Cornejo

I met Elder Holland in the temple today... not! 

Bentall is heading to Provo utah mission.  He loves basketball.  I wonder if Ryan will see him!!

It was a sad farewell to my friend Knuth!One of the 5 temples in the world where moroni holds the platesMy teacher was happy i took her picture haha  this is maria, the one we practice teach the lessons to!  she is so coolCops with bulletproof vests and machine guns!!!our district at the temple!!its super windy here!!!Our cold asac was flooded aboout 1.5 feet tall with the rain!!Most of our district at the temple!!!

and a couple of buddies hiding from the rain!!!  Rain here is crazy!!!

Week 2

So we literally live in a snow globe.  We watch the outskirts of Mexico and hear bombs go off all the time.  They are called cuertes and people use them to throw at people for fun!  They explode huge though so everyone has to run.  The teachers say it's fun!  hahaha  Also my teacher was telling me a story about how they get these giant bombs and roll them at people to scare them but they are just smoke bombs so it doesn't do anything.  They put them on the bus and all the people scatter haha... They love their fuegos artificials!!!  

This week I got pretty sick, like sicker than I have been in a long time,but I was blessed to be over it 90% within one day. .. I decided I need to eat tons of salad and tomatoes here to feel awake and healthy!!  

This week we watched an Elder Holland video when he gave a devotional in 2013 at the Provo mtc.  It is long but you should youtube it. 

 I love the Latinos here!!  They all talk so fast but this one calls me cumpeñero and screams that across the hall.  There is another one named Carlos Castillo that went to the boarding school here before it was the MTC.  I wonder if he knows David.  Carter what is Davids last name  --the one I stayed with when I came and saw you in Idaho?  And Carter ask David if he knows a Carlos Castillo or a Charlee Castio cuz that's what they called him!!!  Oh and Como friega is super slanging in mexico for annoyance.  The teachers here freak out when I say that and when I say no manchas! hahaha.  I love my teachers though.  They are so cool!!!  One of them calls me ese!!!! I'm all about that slang.  I'm sure they get annoyed with me but I'm becoming friends with all the cooks and the teachers.  All the Mexicans are so awesome!!!  I kinda wish I could stay in Mexico, but then again I cannot wait to get out of this giant snowglobe... We can't leave our little 90 acre square to go into the city, so I'm getting island fever!!  4 more weeks!!!  I can't believe it ... it seems like I've been here a life time.... 

I feel the spirit the most when I read the scripures... It amazes me because I have been reading thru all of 3rd Nephi this week and we I read it I don't know how people can't believe it.  There is so much prophesy in this gospel and so much truth.  The Lord just must be so saddened when people don't accept it...  I have come to the conclusion that you would have to discount the entire bible for the Book of Mormon not to be true.  I keep finding new things that support the Book of Mormon. In Mathew 5, Christ says "I come not to do away with prophets"!!!! Right there in Mathew !! I couldn't believe it.  This church is so true and we have it!!! So many people can't believe but its right there in the scriptures.... It also talks about how we should pray and Jesus is there teaching the people how to pray, but he says no vain repetitions...  I find these little things and It's like so clear to me and I just have this love for the scriptures.  No man could have made me believe in this gospel the way I do.  My answers come strictly from the Lord and if we have a sincere desire to know, we can ask Him and He has promised us that He will answer.  I love the Lord so much and miss my life at home, but hey 2 years is the blink of an eye in the sense of eternity.  I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Elder Cornejo

Me studying when I was sick!!  I felt like death!!

A mural in the reception room

Me in front of our casa

The path we walk everyday with the city in the back

Weird lookin lego hand architectural  structures

Week 1!!!!!!

First off- I would love if anyone wanted to send letters to the MTC. We check the box everyday!!!  Just letters tho...  You can also use Dearelder.com -pouch mail and I will get it a week. 

Wazzz up!!

So crazy stories for this week, not really any,  When we got to Mexico and on the bus, the bus driver was crazy!!!  Everyone who drives here is nuts!!!  I can't believe it.  I swear we almost crashed 50 times!!!  But when we get into the MTC it is so beautiful.  The air here sucks but the food is good, just doesn't make you feel that great. We watched the movie Testaments this week and it reminded me of Travis and how we watched it at his house!  I missed shake night so much this week!!!  I love the scriptures because they remind me of home.  And hearing Elder Hollands voice is the sweetest thing you can ever hear.  I never realized how amazing the conference speakers are and how powerful they speak.  I love them!!!  I wish I could just look them up all day long!  It is such a drastic change.  The language is crazy!!  We wake up at 6.30 and I am not kidding, you study, teach investigators all day long, non stop until 10.30 at night!  I have seriously never been so happy to be in bed in my life!!!  But when I get into bed, I can't sleep cuz spanish runs through my head constantly all night long... We are not allowed to leave the MTC except to go to the temple and idk when that will be.  You constantly hear sirens, gun shots, fireworks and horns all night long.  Saturday night was crazy!!!  But it is cool and I love it.  The air is terrible, so not really good to run in, but they have a weight room and an indoor basketball court and ping pong. So it's pretty cool when we get to play.  I love my district and my companion.  He is 23.  He is the district leader of our district, which is cool because he conducts all the meetings and I have to go to all the leadership meetings. So I get lots of experience.  Everyone looks up to him and us.  We find ourselves having to step up to be strong and help those that need it.  It helps with my own homesickness.  The spirit is allowing us to recieve the spanish language pretty well.  Yes we are terrible at sentance structure and conjugation, but our investigator understands us!!!!  She is a pretty easy investigator but the language is a huge barrior!!!  Yesterday, we taught Hermana Mercedes, our investigator, the first lesson and she was so happy and laughing with us!!  When we got there, she was so tired but while we were there, she got so excited!!!! I was trying to say - thru the atonement of Jesus Christ you can be forgiven of your sins but instead of sins i said pescado!! not pecado~!  which means fish haha. So she laughed so hard and started reeling in an imaginary fish!!  It was funny...she is so cool. But the hermanas in our district said she was so tired.  My companion said that oh our lesson was awesome!! The Hermana was so sad that she started crying and ran out of the room because the language is so hard!!!  My comp is kinda blunt and the gym helped me with working with women so it then became my job to comfort her and we felt bad.  It is a great district though and for the most part, we are so busy that it feels like I have been here for weeks!!!  but it will speed up.  Just need to get the language!  What is the best way to learn the language Carter and Shelby? and how do I get the sentence structure!! Cuz I can remember words, but sentence structure and conjugations are so hard.  I think I need to stop trying to directly translate words from english cuz that just doesn't work!  But how!! Anyway I miss everyone and I love you all.  Hope you have a great week!  Count just how many blessings you have because sadly when you don't have anything, it really makes you have an appreciation for the little things in life, such at conference talks... or music... or the scriptures!  Hasta luego

Elder Cornejo

The last pic is for carter.