Elder Tanner Berry: First week at the Mexico MTC! 12/09/14

Hola family and friends!

So far my experience has been awesome! When I showed up we ate and then checked in and everything and then met my companion! He´s awesome. His name is Elder Bliss and he is from Oklahoma. We make each other crack up and he is like the perfect companion. He is super into fitness so he is always doing push ups and different exercises at night We live in a casa that has I think 5 rooms and 2 bunk beds in each room. Elder Bliss and I are roommates with Elder Young from Oregon/Utah. He is funny! ( mom he was the twin i showed you on insta that one day) he came with a carry on full of pills that he claims heal anything. He says they heal arthritis, they grow back your hair and they can fix almost any disease. But he is a hilarious kid. Elder Hillen from Alaska. He is an awesome guy. He is 21, went to BYU this last year and was converted 3 years ago. Its pretty cool to see him out on a mission. In the room next to ours there are 4 other missionaries and all of us are going to Osorno Chile! We all got here the same day and are all in the same district. Elder Davis-Temecula Elder Linton-Wyoming Elder Coulson- north Utah Elder Weyand-Arizona. We also have two hermanas in our district but they are going to Pocatello, Idaho. They are awesome. I don't have a problem with anybody in my district.

The weather here is awesome! its about 40's in the morning and then about 60's to 70's during the day. The MTC campus is pretty sweet. When we were coming in from the airport it was crazy. I thought we were going to get in 20 accidents. When we got to the MTC we drove through a security gate and saw all this green grass. Its really nice here. Its pretty wild because just on the other side of the security wall is what comes to your mind when you think of Mexico city... I feel very safe though. I was told what we hear are not gun shots... I don't know about that. Just kidding! This whole week is the celebration of the virgin of Guadalupe, which is like the biggest celebration in Mexico. Its pretty much where they just blow off fireworks all week, that kinda sound like bombs... I guess the big night is supposed to be the 12 of December. Last night one of the fireworks went wrong and lit a hill on fire that we could see from the MTC. I tried to take a pic but I didn't have my camera.. Overall the MTC is way nicer than I was expecting and so far I love it!

The food... The food is alright.. not bad, but not the best. Its a mix between Mexican food and American. One day last week I had chips and salsa and cheese for breakfast.. Every single meal has bread in it...and if its a sandwich that already has bread, then they will give you more bread. Also, beans and rice.. I kinda had to lay of those for a little if you know what I mean... Other than that the food isn't bad! Every meal I get grapefruit soda which might top a Mexican coke... Elder Davis is probably the funniest kid I know. This last week his mom sent him Krispy Kreme doughnuts (off of this missionary website or something where you can order things from Mexico city and it is supposed to take only like 3 days) but Elder Davis walks into our room and says "mom knows how to do it right" and he was just holding a whole box of doughnuts. It was hilarious. and then he gave us all a doughnut which was heaven. They have this store here that pretty much has everything. but its tiny. They have 100% real pomegranate juice for like 10 pesos which is less than a buck US. I get one everyday.

Espanol... The Spanish is tough and hard but i feel like i have learned more Spanish in this last week than i have my whole 2 year sin high school. Everyday we are in our classrooms after breakfast preparing to teach our investigator in Spanish. Our 3rd day here we met our investigator and taught her a 30 min lesson in Spanish.. It was tough but we have taught her 3 times now and its getting better every time. Even though I don't know the language very well i feel the spirit every time we teach her. My classroom is my district and then our maestro. Hermano Carranza. He is Hilarious! such a funny teacher but a great one. Always gives his testimony and the spirit is always there. I can say my prayers in Spanish and also give my testimony in Spanish so its coming along.

Sundays are definitely the best day of the week. Its just a break from all the learning and we just got to church, study and have a district meeting. Our district meeting was pretty much a cry fest. Ill be honest that was probably one of my top 3 most spiritual moments. We all went around the circle and gave our favorite scripture and a piece of advice we received before we came out. It was awesome.

I love it here and I love all of you!!

If you have any questions let me know and i will try to answer them next Tuesday! ill try to be on the computer at 11 my time..

Also i know my grammar is horrible, but i only have an hour and I'm a slow writer...

p.s. I forgot my paper with all the emails on it so mom feel free to forward this to anybody

Love you all!

Elder Berry