¡Feliz Navidad!

I can't believe I'm at the computer emailing again. I'm super excited, don't get me wrong, but it's really weird knowing that I have passed the halfway mark in the CCM. I've made a lot of friends, learned a lot of things, spoke a lot of Spanish, and had a lot of spiritually powerful moments. I look forward to doing that much more over the coming weeks!

Let me see if I can remember what happened this week. If it wasn't for my planner (to remind me of stuff I need to do) and my journal (to remind me of stuff I've already done), I would have no mind. Let's go:

So this week, everyone has been sick. We're pretty sure it's the food. The Mexicans like to put several tons of chile and other spices on anything and everything--even on candy; instead of Americans dumping tons of sugar on our candy, the Mexicans put chile pepper on theirs. Everything is chile-flavored. The food is really good (I've only found a couple of dishes I haven't liked), but you pay for it afterwards, if you get my meaning. I think we are slowly starting to get used to the food, though. The rumors you have heard about the Mexican water are true. There are no drinking fountains anywhere. We have to fill up water bottles from little filtered water dispensers scattered throughout the campus. (You know, those things that make bubbles when you open the spout).

Anyway, as far as goings-on here, it's kinda becoming routine now. We have finished David (our fake investigator) and we are now teaching two new investigators (Sandra, played by Hermana Pérez) and Juan (played by Hermano Valencia, who played David). Juan is trying to find out which church is the real church, and he is pretty easy to teach since he is eager to read the Book of Mormon. Sandra, on the other hand, is super tricky. She won't commit to anything and most of the questions we ask her ("What do you think about this scripture?" or "What would you do if you knew this was true?" or whatever else) are answered with "Oh, no sé" (I don't know) or a variant thereof. I think Elder Stark and I had a good lesson with her yesterday, though. I'm not entirely sure what we did, but she engaged a lot more and she actually followed through on her BoM reading assignment. She even committed to going to church. Whoo, hoo! It's weird thinking that even though I know that these are actually our teachers, you still want the best for them as missionaries. It's really amazing how much the gospel can change people's lives, and I'm really excited to help people see that.

On Monday, we received news that Hermano Valencia was sick and wouldn't be here all week, so instead of teaching Juan, we would be teaching Francisco, and new investigator played by our other teacher, Hermano Barrera (the one that got back from the Monterrey West mission a year ago). Oh, yeah, and we would be teaching him in less than an hour. Luckily, the lesson we taught him went really well.

I have also started reading James E. Talmage's "Jesus the Christ". If any of you have a chance to read it, do it. There are so many great insights in that book. It is really awesome because I'm currently reading all about the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning His birth, which is perfect since this is the week before Christmas.

By the way, I still can't get over the fact that Christmas is on Sunday. It's really hard to think of things as Christmas when we aren't listening to Christmas music on the radio or that there is no snow. We are planning a district Christmas morning, though. We found a pine branch and stuck it in a water bottle. It makes Charlie Brown's Christmas tree look like a tree someone might put inside the Salt Palace, but hey, you work with what you got.

On Sunday we watched a movie about Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection. I believe it was called "To This End Was I Born". It was one of the most spiritual moments this week. I know that Christ loves each one of us, and that His Atonement is for all of us. It is the most powerful force in the universe because Christ has the power to heal all of us. His love is beyond comprehension, and we can all be made into our best selves through Him.

I'm also really enjoying playing for the CCM choir. I really missed being ward choir pianist, and I will never turn down an opportunity to play the piano, especially if it's Christmas hymns. The branch is going to sing "O Holy Night" as part of a Christmas devotional Sunday. I'm excited!

I'm almost out of time, so I'll end by saying that this work is God's work. I'm very excited for the opportunity I have to share His gospel with some of His children. I love this Church, and I love God. He knows each one of us and our needs, and He has a plan for each of us.

Mucho amor de la Ciudad de México!

--
Elder Jakob Schramm