#1 Carta de México!

Hola Familia!

¿Qué pasan? holy cow, first thing i have to say is this keyboard is way different than american keyboards so its hard to get everything çórrèct.... haha

wow.........haha its crazy. well i dont know where to start. ¿the airport? or ¿CCM? or the ¿mission office? haha. es loco, estoy finalemente aquí!

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I'll start on the morning of the lunes (monday).  I got up at 4:30 to get my companion off at 5, I left at 6. I was literally running all around the whole MTC making sure I had everything, I left some stuff in my classroom, like my camera charge! I would have been sooo mad if I forgotten that. BTW I'm soooo mad, I forgot my SD card connector, I have sooo many pictures to send home and now that I finally have a computer with Firefox webbrowers and no restrictions to send pictures, I forget it!

 

 Monday! Monday is my P-day. Anyways, get to the airport, my carry-on was a cardboard box ha, with all my books... it was fun to talk to whoever I got to talk to at the airport! I tried to use my TracFone thingy in Mexico City but it didn't work.... and the stinkin' payphones were as old....I can't think of a comparison, but really old ha. Waited for an hour or two, get to Merida! I was going crazy... like what am I doing here??  Then it only gets worse when I get to the converbelt for my luggage.... and my big bag doesn't come... yeah we were just talking about how sometimes workers in Mexican airports take your shoes or other valuables from your bag... how about if they just take your whole bag???  (holy cow this keyboard is really different, I'd have another 5 paragraphs done if I would't fix all the errors( ha)

anyways, long story short, it was in Mexico City, so I got it the next day... phew!

We met the mish pres at the airport with the 3 APs, went to the mission home, way different than I expècted. but cool. I don't think anything was what I expected. The pres left, and the ap's took us upstairs and we ate and then they handed out our HAMMOCKS! haha it's so dope. Mine is red, yellow and orange. but then they took out the ceiling tiles above us, tied out hammocks to the ceiling and we ended up sleeping in that room, it was a memory. That night was probably the funnest night of my mission. It was the last time I was with all my mtc district(slash...)zone, the homies I was with for the past 2 straight months, and now we are all over the Yucatan peninsula somewhere, some like 6 hours away. It was sad to say goodbye to them. The room had AC and Pres. Salinas said enjoy it because its the only time we would have AC our whole mission ha, so we had it on high, and EVERYONE woke up around 1:30am in the morning shivering hahaha! It was sooo funny, we all put on sweat shirts and stuff, except me cause my big suitcase with all my clothes wasnt there.... so I froze the first night... and how I wish we had an AC last night... haha. We also met some native new missionaries that came from the Mexico City MTC, they are really tight.

okkk  I'm skippin' ahead because I don't have much time. First off, I am getting fed VERY well here, holy cow. MEMBERS our SO AMAZING HERE! They just keep dumping more and more and more and more...oh by the way, you don't know where i am yet haha....

Real quick, TJ (or Emily?), you know Sam Cannon? He's your age right? Well I don't know the chances of running into these people, the husband is from Provo and the wife is from Mexico, they live on the other side of Mexico, the west side, where Sam served, he was a missionary there. Anyways they are staying at their daughters house and we were over there. they are hilarious, just way chill people, they are retired, but anyways, what I was getting to is they will take and bring packages to and from here for me. they really enjoy doing it. I get them your email mom, they said they were gonna email you. Their name is McFarlands. but someone ask Sam Cannon about them ha, I'm sure he´ll know them, they took packages to and from Mexico for him when he was serving.

OH my area... I'm in Mérida, and my area is Brisas. Our house is pretty sweet. My companion is a native from Oaxaca (I know Dave would be proud!) ha, Elder Chavez, he's the district leader and has been out a year and 1 month, his first time being a trainer. I'll put some pictures on here next Monday. My Mish Pres. is way tight. I have learned a ton of Spanish, my companion can speak a little English, but not much. ALL the missionaries from the provo MTC got put with natives, no gringo to gringo goin' on ha. I am forced to speak spanish all day and its helping. I know alot more than I thought I did. I met our bishop here yesterday. He's way chill ha, and the people here are soo laid back and nice-- and the houses are soo small-- like 1 room, or 2 rooms. We did laundry this morning, a member lets us use their washer, It's pretty ghetto but it gets the job done haha. and it is VERY HOT and HUMID here, wow.... I walked off the plane and was sweating. The only thing I wish is that the shower water was colder!!! Never thought I'd say that... ha and I'm being serious...

Well today was a Pday obviously, just for new missionaries so we could get food, do laundry, write home.... ya know.. whatevs. I did my laundry, went shopping at WALMART... hahaha, side note: DAVE CONNOLLY, those like 170 Pesos you gave me saved me, I get any money from the mission for like a week for some reason... and I'ts the only pesos I have right now.

Also at Walmart I spent like $450.... in pesos!   I am curious mom how much american $ that is, so look at the bank statement, I used my debit. We take the bus alot, apparently our area is pretty big, I haven't seen it on a map and I get sooo lost walking around. The drivers here are crazy- ha. It's just a different culture, cultural shock for sure. I saw two 3 foot long iguanas today haha, and there are horses, lambs, stray dogs and other animals just walking around.  Like 4 of our investigators got baptized either last Saturday or the Saturday before....right before I got here, of course!!!... ;) haha.  So we are teaching lesson 5 stuff to pretty much all of them (lesson about ordinances now they are members, like go to temple, missionary work, ward callings, etc.). I want to find new ones sooooo bad!

I'm ordering a new hammock that's double stitched and has my name is it tomorrow, a member here works at the jail and she says the inmates make custom Hammocks that are wayyy better than ones sold on the street and wayy cheaper. so I'm stoked about that. Dave:did you get like that biggest hammock you can make? like the one that married people get for 2 people in 1? haha.

Well I gotta go, we have our first appointment in about 30 minutes. just wanted to let you all know that Elder Connolly is safe and sound, doing well, stuffed at the moment with some of the best food I've had in awhile...(wow the MTC food got old suppa quick...) haha, and happy to be here. It has been an emotional rollercoaster the past 2 days, for real. but once I'm out walking around and meeting people and stuff, I love it.

This is the address of the mission office (my companion typed it from memory...I want to make sure I'ts it, so I will tell you for sure on Monday if that's 100% correct)

Mision México Mérida
Calle 45 #527 Q por 70 y 72
Colonia Centro
CP 97000
Mérida Yucatan, Mexico

Mom: did you get the package yet of stuff I sent home from the MTC? And thanks for the package fromIngunn at the airport, I know allllll about that book for missionaries haha, I've seen it a million times, he's been working on it for awhile. all my friends are in it as the people in the pictures and stuff. It's funny, but thanks.

Dave: I have some Q´s for you, I'll write you later.
Dad:keep up the golfing, I cant wait to go.
everyone else:..... God speed.

FYI- merida is only 1 hour ahead of SLC, I thought it was 2.

I better go, we have an appointment to get to in a half hour, and we don't have bikes :( .... esta bien, its chill. walking good for you!

¡Tengan buena semana!
Con mucho amor,

Elder Connolly