Somewhere in Mexico!!

Mom's Questions

So...

1- How was the ride to the mission home?

2- Tell me about your mission president and his wife.

2- What area are you headed to?

3- Do you know who your companion will be yet?  Name?

4-How far is your area from the mission home?

5-Where are you living?  House? Apartment?  With members? (Take lots of pictures!!!!)

6- What is your address? 

7- Don't drink the water!!!!  Only drink bottled water if possible!

8-  What else have they taught you about staying safe and healthy?

9-  What is the area like?

I hope you are doing well and I can't wait to hear from you!  I love you!  Keep up the good work!!!

xoxo

MOM

Brant's Answers

Hey Mom, 

I made it and have met my companion Elder Ayala. He is really cool and has been here in 9 months. He doesn´t speak any English which is really hard. This is a huge culture shock for me. There are so many dogs everywhere and there are people all over the street. I know that it is going to be hard but the Lord is watching over me. 

1. We actually didn´t go to the mission home, we went to the stake center. It was about an hour and a half ride and a tight one. 

2. Presidente and Hermana Mann are extremely nice and were extremely welcoming. I think they said that they are going to send you a picture. We are in Arboleda, I think that is how you spell it. It is going to take some getting used to. 

3. Elder Alaya is his name.

4. The area was about an hour from the mission home. We took a taxi and the whole time we were teaching the taxi driver about the church, he had so many questions. It was a really cool experience and we already set an appointment with him. We ar proselyting tonight at 6. I can´t believe it is here, it is crazy. 

5. I am not even sure what we are living in. I think it is a house but I am not positive. 

6. I don´t know my address but to send things to me you have to send it to the mission home I am pretty sure. 

7. I have a filtered water bottle that they gave me. 

8. Just to the clean the house regularly but I walked in and the house is a mess. There is stuff everywhere. 

9. The area has a lot of poverty and street homes. It is a cool place, I haven´t really seen much of it yet though. 

I love you Mom, hope you are doing well! -Elder McCain 

Here are pictures of my house, my trainer, and Elder Cloward at the CCM (the bowdens cousin).

The Restoration of the Gospel

Hola,

This week has definitely been crazy for sure. I am not sure where to start. I´ll start off with what I learned this week. This week I learned and studied a lot on the Restoration and thought to myself why it is the first lesson that missionaries teach. I read more about Joseph Smith and this week I was able to watch the Joseph Smith video for a devotional. I can not believe everything that Joseph Smith had to go through. He was tar and feathered, beaten, spit on, and no one believed him. For a boy to have the faith at the age of 14 to go into the woods and ask of God which of the churches are true. I know that most 14 year olds would just go to the same church as there parents did and not worry about if it was the true one or not. After watching the Joseph Smith video I thought myself I have no room to complain about anything. I have gone through nothing compared to what Joseph Smith and the saints had to do. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet, he translated the Book of Mormon, the keystone of our religion. He suffered and never gave up to restore this church. I am so thankful for Joseph Smith because if it weren´t for him, I would not have the opportunity to be here serving the Lord and to be an instrument in his hands. I can´t wait for my relationship to grow with my Heavenly Father even more. I am so amazed by the many prophets in the Book Of Mormon that stick strong to preaching the gospel because they knew that what they were teaching was real and the Lord had their back. I admire Abinadi for standing up to King Noah. That was definitely not easy, but he stayed faithful to the Lord. As I get ready to head out into the field this upcoming Monday at 10 am I know that the Lord has my back and is watching over me and my family. I can not wait for the field, and to teach the people of Mexico City!!! It is going to be awesome, I already love the Latino people so much! This week I had the opportunity to do some service in the comedor this week with Latino´s. I can not believe how hard they work and they do this job every day. They have so much fun doing it too and are the happiest people in the world. We were all having like a water fight while doing dishes, it was so much fun! Oh I am so excited to get out there! I know that my Spanish may not be there yet but I am still so excited and I know it will get there. I truly have learned so much here in the CCM and am grateful for all of my teachers and the spirit that I felt here. I can´t believe I am getting ready to leave.

The Lord definitely watches over his missionaries. This week there was a bad earthquake in Pueblo I think. My district was in the middle of playing volleyball and I was taking my shoes off when the building next to me started to shake. I was really confused at what was happening but then the ground started to shake. We all ran to the safe zones here and everything was fine. The main chapel was damaged a little bit but everyone was fine here in the CCM. I pray for those who were harmed by the earthquake and there families. 

So last week I had to say goodbye to my Latino companion. I miss being around him, he was a good missionary and I knew he will do great in the field. We also had to say goodbye to Hermano Gonzalez our morning teacher. He was a good man and I have learned so much for him. The new missionaries are lucky to have him. I will definitely keep in touch with him if I can. 

This week I also was playing a game with the district and my hand came down hard on Elder Thompson´s watch. I shattered the glass on his watch and cut my finger open pretty bad. I had to get one stitch. When I got to the doctor I had already lost a lot of blood at first and he took me back and started to stitch me. The problem was that he stitched me while I was standing up. My head started to get really light headed and I was trying to fight myself from passing out. I started to say a prayer and then as soon as I said amen I dropped. Thankfully, Elder McGinley caught me, somehow he saw and knew that I was about to pass out and threw a light out of the way and caught me. It was all such a weird experience. Sometimes I always wonder why these things always happen to me, but I asked for help from Heavenly Father. My finger healed in less than 4 days. I have truly seen the Lord´s hands in my life especially more as a missionary. I felt comfort after my prayer for help and I knew that everything was going to be okay. My finger is healed now and I have no problems. I also fell in the shower this week, it was a fun week for me. I still love what I am doing though

I love missionary work so much and am so excited for the field if you can´t tell!! Oh it is going to awesome to see all the mountains and the volcano. I love the Lord and my opportunity to serve full time. I´m excited that I only have an hour bus ride to my mission, I should be there around noon on Monday the 25th! This is totally worth it and I can´t wait for the experiences! Hope all is well love you guys!

-Elder McCain

Plan of Salvation

Hola,

This week has been busy for sure. This week I have been thinking a lot about the amount of Spanish I have learned since I have been here. It is crazy. I have learned a ton being here. I still have a lot more to learn that is for sure! 

Last week I had the opportunity to go to the temple for the second time. It was awesome because it was all in Spanish and I understood most of it. Today is my first full Pday, it is awesome! Feels so nice to have a full Pday. 

This week I have definitely learned so much. It has been so cool because I have gained even a greater knowledge of my Savior and this gospel. We have had several devotionals on how to be a successful missionary. I have definitely learned the importance of studying as I have gone through the CCM. It feels like I study 24 hours, it seriously does. I memorized D&C Section 4 in Spanish this week and read the whole book titled Our Search For Happiness. Elder Ballard explains this gospel perfectly and simply. One thing that I have gained a greater testimony on is the Plan Of Salvation or the Plan Of Happiness! It is truly a perfect plan. We had the opportunity to have President Bennett study with us Saturday night and it was so cool. Every time he talks I learn something new. He talked about the Premortal Life and how important it is. The Premortal Life literally shaped the choices we made in this life. Satan was trying to distract others from this other plan but it is such a perfect plan that it can not be beat. Satan likes to use discouragement and wants you to think that you are not as good as others. That is what he wants you to think. I have really learned to not compare myself to others and to have a vision. Everyone needs to have a vision and goals and stick to them. Don´t get discouraged, that is what Satan wants. The coolest thing that he said that hit me with the Spirit hard was when he quoted Brigham Young. He said, "After this life the most surprising thing will be how familiar the Savior and Heavenly Father look." That is so cool to think about because we become so close with our Savior and Father that they become familiar. We look to them for help. They give us so much more than we could ever give back to them. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve as a full time missionary for the Lord, to build his army and to be an instrument in his hands. That is so cool to me and I want to be the best missionary I can so I can help others to have the opportunity to come unto him. it is so cool to think about especially as I get ready to head out into the field. 

This week has been pretty much the same everyday but we got to teach with our Latino companions. In fact they actually taught us this time. My companion´s name is Elder Pedroza. His spanish is amazingly fast and hard to understand sometimes. It was funny because we were teaching Elder McGinley, my actual companion, and he was talking so fast and McGinley´s jaw dropped as soon as he started talking. I could not help but laugh. It was so funny! He looked so lost. I love teaching with the Latinos though, they are so funny. 

Oh my okay, the funniest thing happened this week. So Elder McGinley was going through the stuff he didn´t unpack from his suitcase and he found a jacket. He was so excited because he thought he did not have a jacket. He puts it on all excited and it was so small. Oh my it was so funny, I thought he was going to rip it open. Turns out that he bought a kids XL instead of an adult. It was so funny! He was running around trying to rip it. Not only does he have a tiny umbrella, he has a tiny jacket haha. 

We started teaching each other in the district too this week. We have taught a lot but it makes me so excited for the field. Oh also, every Saturday we get to teach TRC. TRC is where we get to teach actual investigators, so we taught this grandma and hr grandson. It was so cool because we actually taught a real investigator and I could understand everything she said. Oh my it was so cool, I can not wait for the field. These people are awesome!!

This week was really good and I have learned a lot but still got a lot more Spanish to learn. There is so much grammar in Spanish I feel like and different tenses. The CCM is so nice but I keep looking out thinking how much I can´t wait to get out there. 

-Elder McCain

The Atonement

Hola,

Hey guys! This week has been busy and I have learned a lot. This week I have truly learned a ton about the atonement and my relationship with my Savior was greatly strengthened. I can not express how much the Savior has done for me and for everyone. Promising every investigator that God sent his son to the Earth to die for our sins make me feel so much gratitude for my Savior. I am so greatly for repentance and the opportunity to promise investigators that if they will repent and recognize those sins that they have made they will be forgiven of their sins and be able to be baptized. What greater blessing than that to be able to return with our Heavenly Father again!

It has been a busy week with a lot of learning. I am currently teaching Sheila and Victor here in the CCM. They are both interested in the gospel and they have both agreed to be baptized if they pray and find out for themselves if this church is true. That is where the conversion process starts, you must first have a testimony yourself that this church is true. We had many opportunities to listen to several general authorities this week in devotionals. The main message has been the same in each of the devotionals. Elder Oaks Tuesday night talked a lot about the Atonement. It was such an awesome message! I have spent a lot of time this week studying and getting to know my Savior better. I have tried to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father every day. Elder Bednard talked about the importance of putting out the middle man. Turn outward not inward! How important is that? Heavenly father is always lending a hand in our lives and the adversary wants us to stray away from that helping hand. It has been such an awesome week getting to know my Savior better in all that I do. 

The days here are fairly repetitve but I learn something new everyday! My days consist of a lot of class, gym time, and more class. The food here is actually pretty good. There are some things though that are not the best but you will find that everywhere. It would be so awesome to learn how to cook some of these things!! Have been playing a lot of sand volleyball, it is a ton of fun! I have made so many friends here that I will definitely miss when we head our seperate ways. The CCM is awesome, I have learned so much and the language is coming well but I am so excited to head out into the field! 

This Tuesday my spanish was definitely challenged as we did splits with the Latinos. We had a latino companion for about 3 hours and taught an investigator with them. My companion was Elder Pedroza, super nice kid. Let me tell you though, it was so hard because he did not speak a single lick of English. Yeah you better believe it was hard haha especially at first. We were trying to prepare a lesson and he spoke so fast!! I felt like he was barely saying the words just mumbling. I kept having to say.... mas lento por favor. That is definitely going to be my most used phrase in the first few weeks of the field haha. It was starting to get frustrating that I could not understand him so I knelt down and offered a prayer and asked for help. It was the best part of my week as soon as I said Amen to that prayer. As soon as I said Amen, everything after that prayer I could understand almost everything he said. We got our lesson prepared and our lesson went fantastic. I understood everything that was going on in the lesson and actually contributed to the lesson a lot. It was such a cool experience and I want to do it more often. I felt like my spanish got a lot better after that split. The GIFT OF TONGUES is a real thing. I can testify that it is real if we are willing to put in the work ourselves. I have made a goal to try and speak 75% spanish the rest of my stay here in the CCM. My teacher Hermano Gonzalez and Canaales think that I will be super prepared for the field if I continue to speak spanish. Thankfully I have the opportunity to go on another split with Elder Pedroza later tonight and teach our second lesson. I am also going to the temple again today which I am super excited for!

More in my learnings this week about the Atonement. I encourage you all to read the talk The Room by Josh Harris. Please go read that talk. I learned so much from that talk! The spirit was so strong reading it. When you read it think about the files that you still have to make not the ones you have already made. I am so glad I chose to serve a mission, one of the absolute best decsions I have ever made. I am so excited for the field! Hope all is well!

-Elder McCain

Gift of Tongues

Hola,

Sorry my PDAY got switched to Friday this week, it will be Thursdays from now on in the CCM. I had to go to the consulate for my VISA this morning. Straight into the city I felt so out of place haha but it made me so excited for the field!

This week has been busy. Spent a lot of time with my district and really have gotten closer to them. Last Thursday on PDAY, I had the opportunity to go to the Mexico City Temple. Holy cow, what an amazing experience! I am not sure what blew me away more, the drive there and almost getting into an accident 20 times or how beautiful the temple is. It was so awesome! I am so grateful for the opportunity to have worked in the temple before the mission, I really have developed a love for the temple. 

Started to teach two new investigators this week. There is no greater feeling than asking your investigator to be baptized and they say yes! I love the feeling!

The language is really starting to come. I have set a goal to memorize 30 words a day and have memorized at least one scripture each day in Spanish. I can tell that it really has helped me to learn the language. There is so much to learn though still. The gift of tongues is so real! I was teaching a lesson the other day with my companion Elder McGinley and I was saying things to Sheila (our investigator) that I learned Freshmen year. It was so cool, it just felt so fluid. I still am by no means fluent but I am willing to work as hard as I can on my part in order for the Lord to help me with the language. 

3 Nefi 9:14 - Si, en verdad os digo que si venís a mi, tendríes vida eterna. He aqui, mi brazo de misercordia se extiende hacia vosotros. y a cualquiera que venga, yo lo recibíre. y benditos son los que vienen a mi.

What a powerful scripture! I have truly seen the Lord´s hand extended to me and my goal has been to look to him always. Something that I have realized that I did back home was rely to much on myself. I encourage all to ask the Savior for help in your prayers. You simply can´t do it alone. There is no way I would of made it through all of this without his help. I love my Savior and can not thank him enough for atoning for our sins. I am so glad that I chose to serve a mission. 

Hermana Canalees and Hermano Gonzalez are my teachers in the CCM. They are so awesome! They are so patient and kind. I don´t know how they do it haha. They are so funny too! We played volleyball with Hermano Gonzalez and he was like returning spikes with his head. Everyday we have 50 min for what is called gym time, where you can exercise. Our district has played a ton of sand volleyball and basketball. It´s awesome, I love sand volleyball I never realized how fun it actually is until playing here. 

The latinos here are awesome! They are so fun to talk to and make your Spanish so much better!

Sundays are awesome here! You get a day off from Spanish crammed down your throat and the devotionals are fantastic. Most of the topics have been change and how once we were set apart as missionaries we have changed. It´s so weird to think about but it´s true. I have never in my entire life prayed so much, studied so much, learned a different language, slept at night listening to sirens, taco shop music, and barking dogs. Seriously it is crazy, it sounds like there are hundreds of dogs all barking at once all night long. Sunday night was crazy, fireworks were going off everywhere. Anytime of the day here you will here a firework. 

The weather here is so nice but different. This week it has rained a tom especially in the afternoon and evening. It was so funny so one night I forgot my umbrella in our room so Elder McGinley and I had to share his tiny umbrella. The thing is tiny like he barely fits in it and it bends when the wind blows it is hilarious. Well we are on our way back to our room for the night and we are sharing this umbrella. It is doing nothing for us, we are both just getting soaked. So we decide to run and keep the umbrella over us at the same time. Well as we are running we hit this huge puddle and we were soaked from head to toe. Our district is just dying laughing at us. Here at the CCM we are called the MC Elders. Seriously, everyone calls us that. We had a random companionship the other day that I have never seen before go "Que paso MC Elders?" It is funny though we like it. We have gotten so close haha our teacher Hermana Canaales walks up to us and says "You know when I first met you guys I thought you were introverts but I guess I was wrong." Haha it was so funny we have good times for sure and are definitely not introverts. Seems weird to hear that I am not an introvert, I know. Hey like I said change is definitely is occuring here at the CCM. 

I love this gospel. I love the opportunity that I have to serve the Lord full time and be an instrument in his hands. We are building that army. It´s awesome, looking out into the city makes me so excited for the field. I know that it will be hard but I can´t wait to be immersed into the language and into finding those that are waiting to hear about the gospel. 

-Elder McCain

Hola-