LAST DAY IN THE CCM...

Hola everyone! So it's our last week in the CCM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's so crazy! We leave the CCM for the airport at 2:30 in the morning on Monday, so that's going to be interesting. It's only a 45 minute flight to Veracruz so at least it won't be a super long flight! So yeah I feel so old now, we got the sticker meaning it's our last week here and our last lessons with our teachers were yesterday! Our schedule is basically a bunch of seminars this week to help us get ready for the field and about how to adjust to the mission field. We are all way excited! But yeah so here´s what has happened this week.... it was a weird one:

Weekly Disaster Report: So, we actually did have another earthquake here, it was tiny and nobody felt it but we were all getting dressed after gym time when the alarm went off. It was actually hilarious to see everyone's outfits. We all came out half dressed, these two guys peeked their heads out of their casa in robes and had no idea why everyone was standing in the safe zone. So that was funny. Personally I was rocking my usual dress shirt and slacks, but I had on my flip flops and my collar popped up with a toothbrush in my mouth. Twas quite the good look.

On a more serious note: Elder Duffin got really sick. He´s had a reoccurring health issue ... but it hit him hard on Sunday. Sterzer and Thorell had to carry him to the infirmary and he was sent to the hospital with Sterzer for all day on Monday. So Monday was really weird, we were all worried and praying for Duffin and Sterzer, and the class felt empty without them. But yeah, all is good with him, he needs surgery that they couldn't do at the hospital here so on Tuesday morning he was sent home to the states. He´ll have surgery, recover for a month or so, and then he´ll go straight to Quedataro where he will be serving. So that was way sad saying goodbye to him yesterday. Now we´re district leaderless and I am now companions with Sterzer for the last week, which is fun, cause Sterzer is awesome, but Duffin is definitely missed.

Elder Villalobos

Elder Wallace cheezin with his umbrella!

A more positive story: So this week we had a big group teaching exercise with two other districts... The exercise was that our three teachers were an investigator, member, and missionary and then they would pick, at random, one missionary at a time to help one of the teachers teach.... SO! Out of 40 or so missionaries, and only 5 missionaries chosen to help teach.... I was chosen..... I was sniped by my own teacher!!!!! So I taught about prophets and whatnot and it went pretty well, I only forgot one word in spanish and my teacher had to help, but that was it. So that was a confidence booster. Afterwards they asked a ton of questions, and out of all the missionaries there, only one guy that answered a question that wasn´t in our district. So basically our district owns the CCM! haha jk, but yeah we we´re all super proud of our performance in that exercise.

A fun story: So yesterday we we´re sweeping out our room cause it was nastayyy, and as we we´re putting the brooms away, Thorell turns around and pokes me with the end of the broom. So of course that lead to a jousting match in the hallway! (naturally) So Elder Thorell and I each stuffed a couple of pillows into our shirts and ran at each other with the brooms. Twas super stupid but way fun. The whole casa came out of their rooms to cheer us on when they figured out what was going on. I definitely won, but Thorell thinks he won, so Sterzer got a video which I will try to send when it finally downloads so you´ll have to be the judges! But yeah this week was way good and idk when my next pday will be so just stay tuned! Miss you all, love you all!

The Joust ... me and Elder Thorell! 

Love,
Elder Gurney

Weekly disaster update ...

Holaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!! So this week has been quite eventful.  We had another earthquake, and we were in the middle of eating lunch when it happened.  It was actually way good because we had an earthquake drill at like 11:30 AM and then an actual earthquake at 1:00 PM, so we were prepared! I feel bad saying this, but the earthquake was actually kinda fun, it really livened up the day... the whole comedor was shaking and twas wild.  I feel so bad for the greenies  (new missionaries) that were supposed to arrive yesterday.  Their flights got rerouted so some had to spend the night in Leon, others are in Monterrey, and the last group got rerouted back to Salt Lake, which really stinks. We also had a lil tropical storm here a few days earlier that took the bark off of all the trees and drenched us... we were stranded in one of the buildings watching the storm when a chair legit flew past us, it was way funny.  If I wasn't all dressed up I would've totally gone out and stood in the storm! 

So this week we were able to teach an actual member instead of just each other and our teachers. That was way fun because our investigator was actually one of my sister´s former companions in Peru.  I don't know how she was able to work that out to be our investigator... but she did and it was way fun.  At first I didn't even recognize her but then I connected the dots and half of our lesson was just me shouting,"Oh Erin!!!!!!!!! Yo recuerdo, yo recuerdo!!!!!!!!!" the other half of the lesson went pretty well too! She also hooked me up with a ton of Mexican candies so I am very grateful for that! (She also somehow snuck a sweater to me through one of the teachers, so thanks mom!!!) 

Erin texted Brianne this picture!!

Goodbyes- On a sad note, our latino amigos, Elders Porras and Cribas, left on Monday and it was so sad saying goodbye to them!  They were in the classroom next to us for fluent Spanish speakers.  But we have new lation neighbors!  They're no Porras and Cribas but they are way fun too.  We´re going to go play soccer with them after this so pray for my ankles plz!  Two of them are actually coming to Veracruz with us so that's way fun.  I have a deal with one of them that I'll teach him English in the field if he teaches me Spanish, so hopefully we end up as companions.

??, me Elder Porras, Thorell, Sterzer, Cribas, Larsen, and Duffin

Me and Elder Thorell on the way to the temple

Volleyball- we still play volleyball every morning and we´ve literally been playing it all morning today too. But on Monday, all us five weekers had a big meeting with the presidency so our shedule was changed up so we had gym in the afternoon... which meant volleyball with Elder Worthington! The man, the myth, the legend! He didn´t almost kill anybody with his serves this time but it was still super fun! He´s pretty dang good.

Volleyball time!

Spiritual note- We had a lil district scripture reading/testimony session one night and it was so powerful! It was during one of the Mexican Independence days and we did it outside so it was so loud and chaotic with sirens, yelling, and fireworks, but the Spirit was still super powerful and tears were flowing. Also Elder Cook gave a devotional yesterday and it was so good. It was all about missionary work and the steps we need to follow to do our best. So yeah, on that note I´ll finish up, love you all, and miss you all!!!

Me, Elder Taylor (the nicest kid in the world), Thorell, and Larsen

Our last temple trip

Love, 

Elder Gurney

Week 3

Hola!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MR KYLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!! HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah this week was good! I survived two earthquakes! The first one...we were just in the casa changing for a devotional when the earthquake alarm started going off.  It was so quiet we were not sure what it was at first.  But then we figured it out and went to the safe zone even though we didn´t even feel a thing! The second one was the 8.1 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Mexico that we barely even felt here at the CCM, most of us just slept through it and heard about it in the morning. We are all usually extremely exhausted at the end of the day so we just knock out. Plus we are used to sleeping through a ton of noise because I swear Mexico City is crazier than New York City! They really never sleep! There are always fireworks, sirens, gunshots, yelling, honking horns, and loud music at night.  It's pretty insane. Friday and Saturday nights are always karaoke nights and we get some good laughs from that. They were singing Despacito the other day and the guy singing was actually pretty good! But yeah there is always a ton of noise at night, and its only going to get worse this week since it's Mexican Independence this weekend! I´ve never been more grateful for being partially deaf in one ear. I can just roll over to the opposite sight and there isn't a sound, so I'll be doing that a ton this weekend! 

Last week we went to the temple and it's gorgeous.  It was so nice to go through it and feel God´s love.  There's a little store nearby and I went and bought a tie which I wear all the time.  I'll get some pics of it for next week! We are going again for the last time today so I'm excited for that too!

Mexico City Temple

Not much else happened this week, I got to teach with a native Latino this week and that was so hard, they talk so fast! I'm just lucky that my Latino comp is from Texas and speaks fluent english.  Some people in my district had companions that didn't speak any english and they were so lost.  Oh and also, the cereal bowl record was broken by a kid in my zone... he ate 18 bowls of cereal.... he´s inhuman! Granted, they were salsa debil bowls and they weren´t completely full but they were approved by the judge.  It's still insane no matter how big the bowls are!

with Elder Barnum

pre haircut with Elder Barnum and Elder Byrne

Hanging out with Elder Neilson

One super funny thing that also happened this week was that one kid pointed out that Elder Sterzer kinda looks like Shrek when he turns human in Shrek 2... which he totally does. And so now a ton of random missionaries, including the Latinos, come up to him and call him human shrek.  It's way funny! But yeah not much else really happened! But I HAVE PICTURES THIS TIME!!!!!!!!!! 

My casa

My room

Funny sign!

My district (left to right) - Elder Duffin, me, Hermana Woodard, Hermana Perry, Elder Sterzer
Elder Byrne, Elder Barnum, my companion - Elder Larsen, Elder Parsons, my other companion - Elder Thorell, and Elder Wallace 

LOVE, 

Elder Gurney​

I found some pictures of B on the Mexico CCM facebook page:

HOLAAA pt. 2

Hooolllaaaa everyone,

So last week I kinda just gave a summary of the people and a little bit of what is going on because that was all I really had time for, so today I´ll share a little more about what is going on.  So our schedule is pretty packed, we wake up at 6:30 and most days we have gym time from like 6:40 until 7:30ish.  It took some getting used to at first ... I would be too tired to do anything in the morning but after the first week I adjusted and now I have plenty of energy.  We have gotten way into playing volleyball in the mornings.  We still play basketball in between games of course but volleyball is our current passion.  An Elder in our casa was the one who sparked this passion.  The one time we had gym in the afternoon, we went and played with him... he is INSANELY GOOD!! His name is Elder Worthington and he played volleyball at BYU for a year before the mish.  He´s way fun, his first serve nearly beheaded this one kid so he calmed a lot down after that ... but we still crushed everyone.  I'm kinda disappointed that we don't have gym with them everyday but playing with our district and zone is way fun too.  So it's all good.

  

After breakfast, it is basically all classes and study time until 9 pm with breaks for lunch and dinner of course.  We are all starting to get really sick of our classroom... we have a bunch of lil jokes and whatnot  to keep us sane.  Like, we found out how to say highfive in Spanish, it is chocolas, so we´ll just shout that out whenever someone knows something that the rest of us don't, or if someone gives a real good answer.  Also, we´ll shout out "salsa debil" or "weak sauce" if someone messes up or something like that.  Idk why but little things like that just crack us up.  There is a little sticker of Jesus on one of the little water refilling stations and Elder Sterzer got like five random people to smell it by saying that it is a scratch and sniff sticker that "smells like Salvation" that one had us dying! So yeh we have little jokes like that to keep of sane.

Speaking of insane... Elder Sterzer went for the cereal bowl record the other day. The record is 13 bowls.  It used to be 12 which was set by two missionaries in our zone, Elders Allen and our zone leader Elder Jacobson.  So those two were egging him on to try it.  He was cruising along and downed 12 bowls and was halfway through his 13th bowl when he coughed mid mouthful... and he had to run outside and let it all out.... so yeah that was disappointing... it was total salsa debil. But it does make for a good story so we forgive him. 

On the more spiritual side of things, we were able to watch a devotional given by the Apostle Dallin H Oaks and that was way good.  He talked a lot about the Spirit and how God blesses us for our service.  In the beginning through, he threw in a pretty horrible prank on us! He got up and started talking about how we miss President Monson dearly and whatnot, and since we have almost no connection to the outside world we thought that our Prophet had died! But then he said a little later how we are so blessed to have him as our Prophet today.  And we all let out a sigh of relief. One elder literally shouted "Oh thank goodness!" It was pretty funny. 

So to finish up, I´m doing great! I've had a cold for the past couple days because it pours literally almost everyday here.   It is actually way fun.  There have been a few pretty bad storms.  My cold isn't bad at all so I'm surviving! We get to go to the temple later today so I'm super excited for that. I love what I'm doing and the people I've met.  I´m having a great time! I miss you all though!

Love,

Elder Gurney

Weekly Update!!! Finally.....

HOLAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! So this has been the hardest thing I´ve ever done... I've missed you all so much! Sorry it took so long to respond but they pushed back our Pday this week from Wednesday to Friday. They chose our district to be guinea pigs for a new lesson that they are thinking of adding to the curriculum! I've been dying to email home all week, so lucky us... Anyways, I have so much to tell you all!!!! So I will start with the flight! The flight to Atlanta was super uneventful, I just slept the whole time, and when we landed in Atlanta I met up with 3 other missionaries - Elders Parsons, Reid, and Braza. They're all super awesome! Elder Parsons is in my district! He´s from Maryland and went to BYU for a year and lived at Heritage Building 25 so we were basically neighbors. Elder Reid lives in the same casa as me and he's way fun too. He´s super enthusiastic. Elder Braza is like the nicest kid ever. He´s from Georgia and his mom is a flight attendant so he got to fly sky priority while the rest of us had to scour for space for our carry ons. Regardless, he´s going to serve in Provo Utah while Elders Reid, Parsons, and I are all going to different parts of Mexico. So a fun story, while we were boarding the plane, one of the flight attendants stopped us and said, "Hi! I'm Paul's mom" so yeah apparently Elder Braza´s mom surprised him and was working our flight. He got a shout out from the pilot and everything. It was also funny to go through customs when we landed and to see just a horde of like 50+ missionaries just huddled up. After checking in, we went and met a few of the missionaries. I met one missionary named Elder Neilson from Sacramento and he´s hilarious! He talks a ton and he´s going to Tampico. He´s also in mi casa just right across the hall. He always comes in and tells me and my companions about his life and what not. It's crazy! There could be a reality TV series about him and his family and it would probably be more popular than the Kardashians

Anyways, so about my district and my companions. I'm in a trio and my companions are Elders Larson and Thorell. They're super fun. Elder Larsons is from Syracuse Utah. He is kinda intense but funny. He loves extreme sports so he likes snowboarding and rock climbing and such. Elder Thorell is super fun. He´s always smiling and laughing. I love it. He´s from Salt Lake Utah and he´s way into rugby! He´s amazing at it. He´s travelled the world for different competitions. In fact, if he hadn´t decided to serve, he´d be in Dubai right now training for some under 20 Olympic-type rugby team. So he´s way good. I also love my district! Basically all of them are from different parts of Utah except for Elder Parsons, myself, and the two Hermanas. The Hermanas are way fun too. Hermana Woodard (Flor) is a friend from BYU who was roommates with Maria. It was awesome to see a friend in my district. Hermana Perry is from Georgia and is hilarious. I´ve gotten the closest with Elder Barnum. He´s also going to Veracruz and he loves sports and movies. He played baseball all through high school and he can quote like any movie he´s seen. His companion, Elder Byrne is hilarious and he´s amazing at the piano! He can play like any song by ear. It´s super fun when there´s a piano nearby and we´re tired of studying all day. Elder Parsons companion is Elder Wallace, and he´s way funny. He loves soccer and he´s going to be studying biomedical engineering at the University of Utah after his mission, so he´s way smart. Our district leader is Elder Duffin and he's awesome. His dad is a Green Beret and he is a good leader. He´s like the youngest pilot in Vernal, Utah (?). He flies helicopters mostly, but he can fly a few regular planes as well, so that's awesome. Lastly, there´s Elder Sterzer who is way hilarious, he´s companions with Elder Duffin and he´s just an amazing athlete. He played football, volleyball, and basketball in high school and he´s committed to go play football at Utah State after his mission. He'll be playing either defensive end, outside linebacker, or tight end. He´s way fun. So that's my district! We all love our zone leaders too! They´re Elders Jacobson and Cook. I actually met Elder Jacobson at BYU. He was on the BYU track team and he´s super nice. Elder Cook is more quiet but he´s also super funny when he does talk.

This week and a half has been super hard but I love what I am doing and the people I am with. Learning a language is difficult, but I'm super grateful for taking it in high school because that knowledge has been extremely helpful! I can understand my teachers super well, but as soon as I try talking to the kitchen staff or the janitors, I can´t understand a thing because they talk so dang fast! Regardless, I love my teachers, Hermano Vazquez is hilarious. He´s always willing to answer our questions. We taught him how to dab and whip and he taught us how to say square up in spanish. He´s just hilarious. He loves Star Wars. He walked into class one day with a stormtrooper backpack. He´s just way fun. Hermana Velazquez is like the nicest woman ever. She does talk a little fast but it´s not too bad. Anyways, I want to have time to respond to you all individually so I'm going to end this here. I miss you all and I promise I'll have pictures next time! They only allow taking pictures on Pday and we were in the city all day doing visa stuff this morning so we didn't have time! Anyways, love you all!

Love,
Elder Gurney