Week 4 in Mexico

Hello everyone!

So far, if it’s even possible, we’ve gotten into even more of a routine. But here is what has made the week interesting thus far:

Apparently, the MTC president down here in Mexico, President Pratt, is best friends with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. For those of you that don’t know, Elder Holland is one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  For those of us in down here in the CCM, that was pretty crazy. Elder Holland is an excellent orator and never fails to inspire everyone. When we discovered he knew our president on a personal level, it was an interesting topic of discussion for the next several days. Also, he (President Pratt) is the great (maybe great great) grandson of one of the first members of the church, Parley P. Pratt. Presidente Pratt never ceases to amaze us.

Also down here in our little bubble in the CCM, we have a fair number of parrots that live in the palm trees down here. It was surprising to see little green birds flying around in the trees.

One of the things that happens in the limited social lives of elders in the CCM is a tie swap. It sounds just like what the name implies. A bunch of elders all gather in the living room of a casa and set out their ties and walk around bargaining for different ties. It looks like a sad attempt at a swap meet. It is (for me at least) kind of comical watching a bunch of elders try and sell ties. A lot of them were bad imitations of salesmen. I myself didn’t trade any because all my ties either mean something or I like them too much but it was probably a good thing I didn’t take any because the ties there were the definition of ugly.

Mom you’ll appreciate this. This week someone came around to check our houses for cleanliness and our room was the best in the casa. They even rewarded us with candy! and by candy I mean 1 Hershey's Kiss. But you can now live in peace and comfort knowing that you have prepared me well mother.

And now for you Spanish word for the day. The Spanish word for 'handcuff' is “esposa.” For those of you that don’t speak Spanish, esposa is also Spanish for wife. I’ll just leave it at that.

That’s about it for this week. I am now in my fifth week here in the CCM and my Spanish is progressing quite well. I can understand a lot of what the natives are saying (they sometimes have to repeat it once or twice) but I am learning a lot.

Until next week,

Elder Kupferer