Week 1 at the CCM (Sorry this is over a week old)

(Alyssa sent me a couple of emails replying to all of mine so I have meshed them all together, also anything in red I added)

 1 week down 77 to go!

 The first week was really hard, it was a lot of Spanish overload! But the nice thing is that I can understand almost everything everyone says in Spanish, which is really nice. I just suck at speaking it but that’s okay, practice makes perfect!

The CCM is really interesting, it is a huge campus and so we walk a lot. We have our own casa and there are 4 rooms but as of right now only 3 of them are occupied. There are 4 girls in my room, Hermana Latu (from Salt Lake) and I and then Hermana Howe and Hermana Barth. They are all really nice but it is hard to share one bathroom so we have started using the bathroom that isn’t occupied yet. It makes it a little less crowded. I’m not too tired but I do wake up tired because my roommates like to wake up early to get ready and so I don’t really get any sleep after 5:30. But oh well. I’m doing pretty good,  it was hard at first but now I’m having fun (:

Yes I have run into Hermana Johanna Pullens, Elder Adam Millet, Elder David Diaz, and some others that you don’t know. Oh and Elder Parker Burton! There were 11 of us from Jordan (Jordan High School) here this week so we got together after the devotional on Sunday and took a picture (:

My P-day is also on Tuesdays (: And I have run into Hermana Morales a few times. In total there are 10 girls going to Panama, but no boys! Hermana Latu, Me, Hermana Pula, Hermana Smalley, Hermana Morales, Hermana Curtis (LOVE HER!!!!), Hermana Johnson, Hermana Scott, and then two who`s names I can never remember. We have 4 girls in our district, the 4 in my room, and then 8 elders. They are nice and pretty hillarious! We like to get together as a district to play volleyball for gym.

Um it’s pretty rainy here and it’s cold in the mornings which stinks because I didn't bring a jacket. But oh well, I bought an umbrella at the Tienda (store) too. I'll be fine (:

um btw I used the debit card to buy a small predicad mi evanjelio (PMG) and an ice cream and some cookies haha...It was less than ten bucks though. They give us $10 a week to use at the store but mine didn't work yesterday because they don't put money in it until Tuesdays which I didn't know until I got to the register. Just FYI.

So they had us teach an investigator already! It’s obviously not a real investigator but it sure feels like it because she is super intimidating and she will become our teacher soon. Oh did I mention we have to speak\teach her in Spanish... yeah on day 3!!!! It was no easy task, but it is slowly getting easier. We have two more lessons with her and then we get 2 investigators. We have two teachers right now Hermano Mu񯺠(ß something that gets lost in translation from the Spanish keyboard)and HMO (hermano) Hopoate. HMO Mu񯺠is from Mexico and Hmo Hopoate is from Springville, Utah! They are both really nice. Then we have another guy who comes in and helps us sometimes when the other two aren’t there. His name is Hmo Arevalo and he speaks absolutely no English which makes it kinda hard but it’s also really good because it forces us to speak in Spanish.

The food here is ehh... haha they feed us a tonnnnn of carbs! rice, tortillas, bread, cereal, pastries, noodles, etc. Some of the food is really good and some of it is really gross. For example, we had meatloaf one day that was good and taquitos one day. But then another day we had these tortillas with this orange stuff in it and the only way I can honestly describe it was cheddar flavored instant mashed potatoes.... yeah I didn't eat that.... They usually have fruit for us which is good so if all else fails I can eat that. I have learned not to eat the soup though... it’s weird. like carrot soup and potato soup.. yeah need I say more? They give us pancakes, waffles, cereal, yogurt or some Mexican dish for breakfast everyday. It is cafeteria style so you can choose what you want. I had pancakes the first day and soon realized I didn't like them because   A: they are as thick as my wrist   B: they put something in it to make it sweet   C: they are sooooo dry!!  So its cereal or Mexican food because the pancakes and waffles are the same... They seem to try to make things they think we would like but it just goes wrong, so you learn what to avoid. haha.

So sorry if my spelling sucks, there are two reasons behind this.   1. This keyboard is sticky and it isn't an English keyboard so yeah...   2. I have so much Spanish in my head that I try to spell things the Spanish way not the English way...

Okay well I hope you are having fun in Disneyworld! I miss you guys and I love you! Have fun! We are going to the temple today which should be fun (:

I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!! Hug my Abby for me please and tell her how much I love her!

Hermana Wandell (:

 BTW I forgot to mention in the other email that we found out what day we get home. I leave on the 3rd of February in 2015! I hope you are having fun and that you aren't being driven crazy! I'm a little nervous for Panama because they tell us all the things about how we have to have filtered water in Central America and we can't wear jewelry because we will get robbed  and how we are likely to get parasites and so on and so forth. Yeah not helpful... oh well. It is what it is! BTW I can totally tell who Lucy belongs to, she looks a lot like Brent. I don't know if I can send pictures or not. I think I left the cord home that connects to the computer but I will figure something out. You might have to find it and send it to me when you send something for Christmas. Until then I will use the 4 GB card so that I can mail it to you so you can see any pictures I take. You will have to use your imagination until I can send it to you which probably won’t be until I get to Panama. I would say send the cord here, the only problem is that by the time you get home it will be too late to send it because mail takes forever to get here. Oh and by the way we can only take pictures on Pday.. haha yeah.

 Oh and it is so funny how many people here are from Utah... we probably make up like 50% of the 900 people who are here. It’s really funny. For example all of the girls in my room are from Utah. 3 of us are from salt lake and the other is from the Provo area. So it is fun to talk to everyone and figure out if we know any of the same people. For example there is an elder in my branch that went to Hillcrest who knows Eli and was at his farewell.. haha oh and I found someone who knows Carlee. He went to high school with her. Yeah it’s interesting. Oh I forgot to mention, I am being eaten alive by mosquitos I seriously have like 10 bites. The problem is that they are everywhere! Including in our house! Okay I have to go, I'm gonna try to email Robert before I run out of time. Good bye I love you!!