1st letter from the MTC

Wazzzzzz up America!!!!!!!

This is Hma Hirschi coming at you from MEXICO CITY MEXICO. the land of Zac Quists dreams. it has been a crazy week. So rewarding, so amazing, so trying, but so incredible.

I have no idea where to start, thus, my organization will be somewhat insane. Just go with it please.

So I arrived to Mexico last Tuesday night around 10 pm. That was a tiring day to be sure. The next day was orientation, and it was, without doubt, the LONGEST 16 hours I have ever lived. it was nutso, and I was perty tired. The second day followed suit.  It was so loooooooooooong.   I maybe started to feel a little sorry for myself. But then I remembered reading about the Jews in Exodus (hahaha) and I was like, this is so easy.

  Mexico City is psycho.  Seriously psycho. But it rocks too. The ccm, or mtc, (Missionary Training Center) is right downtown in the middle of the city. We are on 90 acres of land surrounded by big fatty gates. They are super comforting and induce feelings of safety. Ok jk jk(just kidding).  We hear gun shots, cannons, and dogs AROUND THE CLOCK. Alright Mexico! The campus is pretty small, and I will be here for 6 weeks to learn Spanish. The campus has about 1000 missionaries in training. half Latino, half Americano. My goal is to become the most beloved American of all the Latinos and I am well on my way. I talk to every. single. one. Mostly to improve my Spanish but also because I love the Mexican people so much.

 It rains every day, and not like Seattle rain, like THE EARTH IS GOING TO FLOOD AGAIN THE APOCOLAPSE IS COMING type rain. For real. Every day around 5 pm. It’s actually pretty sweet. But it is cold here. I had no idea it would be cold!!!

There are 8 elders and 4 sisters in my district. My comp ( short for companion. The missionaries are always in pairs)  is Hma Stucki, and she reminds me so so sososososososo much of one of my best childhood friends CJ which is pretty awesome because I wanted to have a transfer with all of my friends who are out in the mission. The sisters are all 19. I AM A STRAIGHT UP GRANDMA OUT HERE. I have met two other 21 yr. olds in this entire establishment. What the heck????????????? Whenever I tell people that they are like, ´oh we never would have guessed, you do not look it´ and I’m like, ok that is kinda funny. One, because I’m not super concerned about looking my age at 21.  My crow’s feet are a little embarrassing but I have learned to love them. Also, hahahah does that mean I act super immature??? Maybe I don’t want to know.

 
After day 2, we started getting into our normal schedule and I love it with all that I am. 16 hours awake and working each day. It is intense, absolutely, but I love it. I love studying and learning all day. I love the language, and it is coming at an INSANELY FAST RATE. I can speak quite a bit after one week. Granted it takes hard work, and I have never worked so hard in my entire life, but still, it is amazing to see the progress. FAITH IS REAL. THE GIFT OF TONGUES IS REAL.

I have two Latina roommates with me and Hma Stucki. One speaks 0 English, the other speaks good English. It is so cool. Hma Riviera is the one who only speaks Spanish, and she is so hilarious. She loves talking to me and I love trying to talk to her. She is for real the sweetest person I have ever met. Here is something very important I have learned this week.  There is a universal language. Maybe that is love but I am speaking of a different one. Body language. When in doubt, body language. hahahahahahahah  The Latinas eat it up. They think I am pretty funny because when I cannot say what I want, I express it through facial expression or charades. It works. EVERY. TIME. Loooooooove the latinas in my casa. so much.

The first night the Latinas got to our casa, some came into my room and start freaking out saying, ¨Taylor Swift Taylor Swift!!!¨ while they were looking at me. I was wearing my hipster glasses and my hair was curly but I was dyyyying. I do not look like T Swift!! I think that is the first and last time I will ever be told I look just like Taylor Swift.

The food in Mexico, dicey. hahahah It is the worst because I starve and I want to eat but then I eat and I get sooooooooooo nasty feeling. It’s a battle and every night I go to bed I am so hungry. Also, they serve pastires in the cafeteria and I was having one bfast, lunch and dinner, but I decided I didn’t want to get diabetes (pronounced die-uh-beet-us) in 6 weeks so I quit that practice. No worries. Instead I go to the store after lunch and get a candy bar. hahaha living the high life.

 

 So my district is a gem. A true genuine treasure.  I convinced my district to play volleyball every day. It is soooooooooo fun. sosososo fun. hahah I seriously love volleyball so much. The other day during our gym time, the torrential downpour began and we just played it out. I was so soaked. Probably more wet than I have ever been in my entire life. I couldn’t see it was raining so hard. But the game went on. At the end there was a huge puddle of water in the middle of the court and Elder Mapusua laid down in it exclaiming that that opportunity would be the closest he would have to swim for the next two years. I get you elder. You gotta do it.

 

Hma Patterson is another sister in my district, and she and I are cut from the same humor cloth. We  die laughing every day. The other day we were at the ccm store and we saw this hilare Mexican perfume called meow and we just could NOT resist. So we bought it. We were dying laughing and we wear it. You bet your bottom dollar we wear it

 The spirit is awesome in the ccm. I love speaking Spanish with people. It blows my mind to think how much I have learned in one week.  I think the best thing about the mission, is this time that I have to fully devote myself to the lord. This opportunity is sacred and like none other. I have all day, every day, to consistently work on coming to know the Savior and Heavenly Father better. This is truly a sacred privilege. I am also incredibly grateful for the chance to wear the name of Jesus Christ on my nametag each and every day. That is a holy name, and I feel honored and blessed that he trusts me enough to allow me to be his representative. This is Gods church, restored in fullness by the proper authority to the earth. I am so grateful for this time to be here, to draw nearer unto the Lord and to share this amazing message with all who will simply listen. God loves his children so much. More than we can comprehend. We watched a few devotionals this week given by apostles of the Lord, and my testimony was exploding.  I understand that Alma wants to make people read the book of Mormon. It is so good and it fills us with such light!!! I want everyone to have the happiness that comes from this gospel. So yes the work is demanding. Absolutely. But, it is even more rewarding and I love being engaged every day.

ALSO GENERAL CONFERENCE PEOPLE. I am psyched for that! This is the word of the LORD, for us, now. Today. I am so embarrassingly excited for General Conference. I am going to listen to one session in Spanish. I am praying that the lord will help me understand by then.

 Oh also, I have become best friends with a the little old gardener here named, yes, Jose. I always say hi and he is so sweet and then he talks at me one million miles an hour and I have no idea what he is saying ever. Seriously the first two days were long, but after that, I have enjoyed every day. I love my mission already. I love devoting myself to the most important cause possible. I love you all. I think of all of you every day, and then I get back to studying Spanish and the gospel. I love you. Stay sweet. Email me please bc dear elder does not work. Thanks for all your support and love and friendship.

(Over a dozen letters were sent to her via Dear Elder in the last 10 days, and she hasn't received any of them.  It looks like email will be the best way to contact her.  Let me know in the comments if you need her email and I will get it to you)

 

Stay cool. Be righteous.

 Love,

Hma Alaina Hirschi

 

Mailed on Tuesday, Sept 16th, right after landing in Mexico City.

hola!!!!

 

ok juuuust a heads up this keyboard is straight up CRAZY so please excuse my less than accurate grammar. THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS GOING THROUGH MY HEAD RIGHT NOW AND THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER. I cannot believe that I am actually in Zac Quists beloved land, Mexico city. I had a great day. Seriously it has been so fun and the absolute epitome of adventure.

 

I have just been out of my mind excited today. I got on the plane to Dallas, and nothing terribly eventful happened on that flight. I sat next to a really cool guy who was way chill.  I just read PMG (the missionary handbook) like no body’s business because I wanted to finish it before I got to the mtc (missionary training center). Goal accomplished. anywayyyyy. I got to Dallas, dad thanks for the tram tip bc I knew exactly what to do. no sweat.

 

I immediately checked the flight board to see if my flight was delayed because KYLIE HIRSCHI (cousin and college roommate who is also going on a mission and is heading to Portugal today) WAS GETTING TO DALLAS AT 540 PM AND I WAS LEAVING DALLAS AT 535. Alas, there was no delay. My heart broke a little bit when I had to board that plane. I stared at the stairs to my gate as long as possible to see if she would come running down. to no avail. That was maybe one of the hardest moments bc I knew we were so close!! But it is ok. I met two lovely Elders (male missionaries) at the Dallas airport. hahahaha they are sooooooo funny!! We have been cracking up all day. Elder Christofferson is from Fresno, and Elder Manning is from southern Cal. 19 and 18 respectively.  We have been chatting away and so excited and just loving this exhausting day. The three of us were the only lds missionaries and we grabbed a bite and got on the plane.

 

The second flight was a little different than the first. I got on the plane, and this is what I heard, ´aspdiufhañekfioludhfioasduhfoiuashdfipuhawiaeiu´ in other words, the language of spanish. FULL IMMERSION FIRST DAY PEOPLE. WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY IS GOING ON HERE????????

 

Additionally, some tips for the human race. Don’t open lotion in a pressurized cabinet. And after you do that anyways, and learn that it will explode all over you, don’t open your water bottle IN YOUR FACE and have it spray you in the face bc the Mexican lady next to you will NOT laugh and you will not know how to handle the situation. Instead you will awkwardly wipe the water off your face and muffle embarrassed laughter.

 

The plane ride  was so awesome.  Every time I would look at Elder Christofferson I would crack up laughing bc he always had this bewildered look on his face. He is sooo good though. He is really energetic and loves the mission already.

 

Oh and a girl in front of me lost something and was asking me to help her find it in Spanish. I got the general idea and I tried to help but I kept saying, “uhhhh lo siento!!!”. We flew over Mexico city after a quick flight and it is gigantic!!! I had no idea and the lights were soooo pretty. We landed and we went through customs, made some friends. Mexico. What a place.

 

We found the MTC personnel and guess what folks??? no ingles!!!  Perfect!  hahah. We had no idea what was going on. They asked us some stuff, we tried to respond. They took us to a van and we tried to make exchanges in Spanish. we did pretty well actually. so that was fun. Mexican drivers are que loco fyi.

 

So we are here. I ALREADY LOVE THIS SO MUCH. I love it. The spirit is strong here and I know I am not alone. I feel so great and just keep laughing and smiling. Bring on the challenge.

 

Let the games begin!

Sis Hirschi

Let's get excited about these REAL LIVE mission addresses!!!


MTC Mailing address:
Sister Alaina Nichole Hirschi
El Salvador San Salvador Mission
Mexico Missionary Training Center
Ave 510 #90
Colonia San Juan de Aragon
07950 Mexico City, Distrito Federal
Mexico

In-the-field mailing address:
Sister Alaina Nichole Hirschi
Mision El Salvador San Salvador Oeste/Belize
Apartado Postal #81
Correos Mulitplaza
San Salvador, El Salvador