MARCH 12 - MARCH 20 CENTRO DE CAPACITACION MISIONAL MEXICO (MISSION TRAINING CENTER)

Hey, mom and dad and friends!!

Sorry for taking so long -- it's my first P-Day!!! Finally! I'm so in need of doing laundry!! I don't think I've ever been so excited for laundry hahaha. The P-Day's are staggered here at the CCM and our district (District 13A ...Hunger Games wink wink) doesn't get ours until Thursday. I didn't know until after I sent my first email, so I'm sorry to keep you waiting!! Everything is going real well here at the CCM. It is a BEAUTIFUL place! Mexico City is a lot different than Orlando. Even though we are within the walls of the CCM for the next few weeks (at least until we get to visit the Mexico City Temple and Visitors Center - the temple's closed but we still get to go see it sometime in our last two or three weeks!), we can see the mountains around us and the cities built right on the steep inclines. It is SO pretty. Mexico City is cramped and crowded but it is really colorful! There is a big mountain (I say mountain because I'm from Orlando and it is a mountain to me lol) that stands above the CCM with a big B on it and cramped, colorful houses below. I'm going to send a separate email with pictures after this one. We only have an hour to email, but I'm hoping our district spends a little more time today, especially on our first P-Day. ;) I was SO EXCITED to log into my email and find so many amazing emails from home! I read every single one (and there we more than 20!! Gosh I love you, my family and friends), and I'm going to try to respond to as many as I can. THANK YOU for writing me!! Ok, ok, so one more thing about Mexico City before I tell you about this week. The Mexicanos here LOVE fireworks and there shoot them off in the morning, during the day, and all throughout the night! They're not the beautiful, colorful kind, but just loud and booming. The first few days I didn't quite believe the CCM because they sounded like canons hahaha and I couldn't seen any visible fireworks, but IT'S TRUE. My companions and I have been trying to go running every other morning (waking up at 5:30, an hour early!! Oh, and not Sunday. Mostly to not let the food get the best of us haha), and when I was walking around the gravel track I could see these crazy Mexicanos launching them into the air and seeing small little bursts. It's really funny hahaha. They even set the hill sides on fire!! We were watching the big B mountain (which stands for Benemerito, by the way) burning at its top the other day (just small little fires, but from the fireworks!! lol). Ok, so THIS PAST WEEK. Well, my companions are awesome!! I'm in a trio and my two companions' names are Elder Archibald and Elder Kemner. Elder Nathan Archibald is from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada (made me think of the Bevans!!), and Elder Ryan Kemner is from Blanding, Utah. They're both really nice guys and we've been having a lot of fun. We've taught FIVE LESSONS so far, in just a week! Two days after we got here, we had to give our first lesson to an "investigator" in complete Español!! It's been a really neat experience to have to pray for guidance and go in and give our best lessons in a language we definitely aren't fluent in. I've been loving speaking Español and I'm really picking it up fast! I'm so thankful for everything that I learned at Boone and all the opportunities I've had to learn it at home. Our investigator's name is "Ivan," by the way, but he becomes Hermano J. Vargas tomorrow when he becomes our new afternoon teacher! We've been kept so busy in our classes and throughout our days. There is seriously no free time in our casa. We are constantly moving and our home is practically our classroom. Each district has their own classroom, and ours is where we spend all of our time. This past Sunday we had our first Sacrament meeting, entirely in Español, and EVERY SUNDAY we have to prepare talks, entirely in Español, because we don't know who the branch presidency will call on!! I managed to evade a talk this Sunday, but I'm actually really excited to give one and use as much Español as I can. Our branch presidency is really cool. Presidente Suaste is our branch president, with Presidente Flores and Presidente Alvarez as his counselors. Presidente Flores served his mission is Orlando from 2000 to 2002, and he remembers serving in the Conway Ward!!! It's absolutely crazy how small of a world it is. There is an elder here, Elder Bennett, who is from Cardston, Alberta and he knows the Bevans family! Elder Arista, the other missionary who is here at the CCM from OUR STAKE, is IN MY ZONE! It's awesome!! That made me so happy and I'm so glad I have a friend from home here! He's going to Scottsdale, Arizona. Also, Hermana Terranova in our district knows Sarah Cunningham from SUU. It's just absolutely awesome how we can have so many connections and how the world can seem so small. I'M IN MEXICO OF ALL PLACES! Well, gosh, there is so much going on here. I miss home and I miss my family and friends, but I'm so happy to be here and to serve the Lord. We had a devotional Tuesday night by the Mexico Area President, which was really good, but I think the thing that hit me most was seeing over 300 young elders and hermanas together who are all sacrificing 18 to 24 months of their lives to help others find true happiness and joy in their lives. I'm so inspired by all of the missionaries here. We all come from different backgrounds and places but we're all here, together, for one important purpose. Our objectivo is, "Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo al ayudarlas a que reciban el Evangelio restaurade mediante la fe en Jesucristo y Su Expiación, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, la recepción del don del Espíritu Santo, y perseverar hasta el fin." That is my purpose for the next two years. I know the Gospel is true and if I didn't know that, I wouldn't be out here in such a foreign place. If I didn't know that, I wouldn't have such a great impression to share it with people on another face of the Earth. 

I love you, mom and dad, and I miss you. Thank you for such wonderful emails of love. Dang it, I really can't type this without breaking into tears, but man have I been blessed with two amazing, loving parents. Also, Cris, my bread Travis, my cousin Mitchie, and all of my loving family and friends, I love you and I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your week. :) 

Con mucho amor por todo,

Elder Sellers

P.S. My companions and I made a joke how the two hardest things here in the CCM are speaking Spanish and going to the bathroom hahaha. It's TRUE!

CENTRO DE CAPACITACION MISIONAL MEXICO

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS MEXICO MISSION TRAINING CENTER

ELDER TRENT SELLERS OFFICIAL MISSIONARY NAME TAG

CHILE'S NATIONAL FLAG

NOW YOU CAN PRACTICE YOUR SPANISH TRANSLATION

HOME SWEET HOME, AT LEAST FOR 6 WEEKS!

ELDER SELLERS' "ORGANIZED' CLOSET

TRENT'S COMPANIONS, ELDER NATHAN ARCHIBALD (MEDICINE HAT, ALBERTA, CANADA) AND ELDER RYAN KEMNER (BLANDING, UTAH)

DISTRICT 13A (NO IT'S NOT THE HUNGER GAMES!)

READY TO LEARN SPANISH

LEARN, LEARN, LEARN

HOLA

HOLA, COMO ESTA?

DISTRICT 13A POSTER FOR GOAL OF THE CCM "DO NOT SPEAK WITH FEAR".

SPANISH SCRIPTURES

CCM HOUSING

BEAUTIFUL CCM GROUNDS

THE "B" STANDS FOR BENEMERITO

LOVE THE CCM CAMPUS