Soy vivo en México!!

Hola hola Familia y Amigos!!!

 Todo está bien en la Ciudad de México!! Ok, apologizing in advance, prepare yourselves for the brain dump I only have less than an hour to give to all you people I love. I also have to resist the urge to write in Spanish.

 My missionary adventure started with a early morning flight last Tuesday (the 8th) from Chicago. The plane was late leaving and my sister Anika(who flew with me) were pretty nervous about making my connecting flight in Salt Lake, headed to Mexico City. We both prayed and I made it onto my flight less than ten minutes before departure!! That´s only the start of the missionary blessings. On that flight in Salt Lake were probably 50 other incoming missionaries, obvious in their classy dresses or suits. In talking with a few of them, I quickly realized that most of them were 18 year old Elders just out of high school. (LDS missionaries can serve starting at age 18 for young men and age 19 for young women). It was really interesting for me to realize just how much difference a year makes in maturity or experience. At first that made me think I was pretty ready for the whole mission thing, but I had to learn some humility! Sure I had many experiences that prepared me for a mission, but I don´t think anything can make you really ready. More on than in a minute.

  I got some international experience thanks to the bus window on the way to the CCM. And the plane window. OH MY Mexico City is soooo big! I can´t even describe it, sooo many buildings, concrete houses and tiendas painted in all colors squished together. Its the first time I´ve been in Mexico and I felt so uncultured. All us American missionaries were gawking out the bus windows. Its a busy city, but I get to live in a beautiful sanctuary, the Centro de Capacitación Misional México. Or the Mexico Missionary Training Center. It is so peaceful and beautiful, and I feel like the city is all around us, climbing up the mountains. 

  Anyway, so my companion is Hermana Lindsay from Boise, Idaho who is headed to serve in Las Vegas! She is so sweet and perfect for me. We have a lot in common, and we got each others backs when the other is having a hard time. Also this is so exciting, Hermana Williamson, my roommate from my freshman year at BYU, is my roommate again!! We are in the same district, stay in the same room with our companions! What a blessing! Love her! 

  Ok, so about missionary life: HARD! Everything we do here in the CCM is hard. We work hard, we cry hard, we laugh hard, we have difficulty speaking a new language and teaching practice lessons and I can´t even describe it all. There´s a phrase missionaries say that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. But I would say my first five days felt like a week each and the whole time like a month. It´s an emotional roller coaster because we are talking about such important things, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and there´s a lot of responsibility! I know what I believe and I want to share it with others, but I have to learn 1) How the heck to speak Spanish and 2) How to teach people. In Spanish. Lol our teachers had us teach our first pretend investigator on the second day IN SPANISH. But putting all of the feelings of inadequacy and being overwhelmed aside, I can tell you this: God is behind this work. If the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not true, inexperienced young adult missionaries who speak slow gringo Spanish could not communicate things of the heart to God´s children. But somehow, we improve dramatically each day and are able to communicate with teachers and pretend investigators who speak little English. God works miracles with those who are willing to serve him! 

 A little bit about my district- sooo fun! We have two pairs of Hermanas and I think four pairs of Elders. Just to give an example, so here at the CCM our teachers really push us to Hable Su Idioma, or Speak Your Language, so that ends up with us speaking a lot of Spanglish. Which results in our Elders trying to mold American phrases into Spanish.

1) Qué wow! 2) Boom! Está frito! (aka Roasted) 3) Oh my gatitos! 

 I am so running out of time but a cool thing I should mention, we got to hear from two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the past week! The Provo MTC broadcasted Elder Ballard and Elder Anderson live. Those men are servants of God! They talked about being focused during your mission and keeping your light of faith aflame. 

 I wish I could share so many details but I really can´t! Not even how good horchata and tamales are! I only have an hour every week to respond to emails on my Preparation day, which is Thursday right now! But please please write me, I can´t even describe how much mail means to a missionary. Don´t send packages, but I can see emails I receive on my tablet every day and there´s also this cool website called missionarypackagemx.com kind of like Dear Elder. You can send me something and I´ll get it in paper form. Or email me: adison.alley(I can´t figure out the at sign) myldsmail.net Trust me, it will make my day!

  Oh, also, shoutout to the Mitch and Jodi Alley family, I met Hermana Alli Biggs who asked me if I was related to Alleys in Prosper, Texas. She got so excited and sends her love to you, especially Sydnee! 

 I gotta wrap up, so I am sooo grateful for this challenging yet rewarding opportunity to learn how to be a representative of Jesus Christ here in the CCM. Yo sé que Dios nos ama y por eso, Él les dado a las familias el Evangelio de su Hijo, Jesucristo. La restauracion de la verdad está aqui en la tierra hoy, y hay profetas en el mundo otra vez. La evidencia es el Libro de Mormón y podemos saber la veracidad de estas cosas cuando le pedimos a Dios en oración! Yo sé que Jesucristo es mi Salvador y este es Su iglesia!! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Alley

the CCM bus

Hna Alley's district receiving lessons and instruction. The MTC/CCM is where LDS missionaries begin their missions, where they receive training, often learn another language, and practice teaching gospel lessons to others. Hna Alley will be there for another five weeks.

Hermana Alley and her companion at the Mexico City LDS Temple

From the Mexico MTC/CCM Mexico FB page, new arrivals on August 9. Hna Alley is furthest on the right