Here are a few excerpts from Greg's letters and a few pictures from the Mexico MTC (or CCM in Spanish)
Well when the Lord calls you to the mission field he puts you to work! I am feeling no homesickness at all. This absolutely feels like what I want to do, and I´m actually having fun! I just have to get over my own laziness and work as hard as I´m capable of, rather than the minimum effort
Yesterday we watched an awesome MTC devotional by Elder Holland from January 2013. if you can get to it you need to watch it! he talked about how important our job as missionaries in the last dispensation is. He said that prophets and kings have looked forward to this day when Zion is being built to last. He also said that every person since the beginning of time who built up the church, knew that the church wouldn't last in their lifetime, but that they continued to give their lives for the gospel because they knew that they were preparing the way for the gospel to come forth for the last time to stay. Which is right now!! Now it´s our job to do the work that so many others gave so much for. that makes me want to work that much harder!
Weather: I feel like I´m getting the best weather out of everyone. definitely not too cold, and not too hot, just a nice warm glow in the afternoon. Every day in the morning is a clear sky with almost no clouds, and then sometime between 3:00 and 6:00 the wind picks up, the sky gets dark and it rains!! Every day, no matter how sunny and clear it is, It rains. Annie should´ve sung "the sun´ll come out tomorrow, then it´ll rain, bet your bottom dollar" The worst (but also coolest) rainstorm was on Thursday. we had just gotten done with gym and were getting ready to go to our class when the rain started, and this was a lot of rain! It flooded the street so much that you couldn´t see where the sidewalk ended and the road began. It was about enough that you could make an attempt at swimming in the middle of the road, but we had to get to class. I put on my oldest pair of slacks and rolled them up to my knees, wore my sneakers, put on my rain jacket with my shoes and an extra pair of socks in a cinch bag under my jacket, and put my nametag on the outermost layer of clothing as per mission rules. I was planning on booking it to our class not caring how much I got wet, and just when we were about to take off, a worker in a van with a wake behind him that you could ski behind, comes up onto our lawn and tells us to get in. this nice guy gave us a ride up to our building. It was truly a tender mercy. (although I was a little excited to weather the storm, and it would´ve been the closest thing to swimming I´d get in 2 years.)
I got a haircut today and when I walked in, the lady looked at me and said "you don´t need a haircut", but I told her "yes please" and so she did her best. I had to really bargain with her to get her to cut it at a #2. she was nice and did a kind of fade thing, but I would´ve been just as happy with a #2 all over.
I got a bag of peanut MandMs the other day and opened them up and found a prize inside! its a little pop up soccer thing. (it may not sound cool, but when you´ve been in a compound for 3 weeks it´s pretty amazing) our district has gone back and got more, and we´ve been putting them on top of a light in our classroom, and so far only one of our teachers has noticed them.
everything is going fantasticamente! I´m feeling more and more ready to share the gospel everyday! Next week I´ll be at the halfway mark of my stay here at the CCM! WOW! It’s really flying by now that I look back. Every day feels like a week, and every week feels like a day.