Priesthood blessings, Apostles and Temples

Bennett:

HEY FAM! This week was awesome! The whole CCM got to hear from Elder Christofferson which was amazing considering the size of the CCM. I was right up at the front next the pulpit and soaked up every word! Elder Christofferson gave some very profound answers for the questions given especially the questions on the atonement. My Spanish is coming along nicely but still having trouble understanding the Latino brothers and sister THEY SPEAK SO FAST. I’ve given up on the breakfast food here and just stick with cereal. I’m tried of guessing if the food I’m eating is eggs or not. Elder Smith had another amazing week of comments, Elder Smith was asking if he could send himself a package during our TALL time on the computers (Tall is language study) Elder Fenstermaker said ´´do what you want just remember god is watching´´ Elder Smith replied ´´Well, I hope God doesn’t steal my pin number.” 
This week Jackson and I have been in a prank war. I found a moth that had a foot long wing span and woke up in the wee hours of the morning and turned on the lights and let that thing lose and turned the lights off, They thought it was a bat and I’ve never heard so much crashing and little girl screams!!

 My favorite parts of the day are personal study and gym time. I finished all of ´´Our Heritage; in one day and was touched by the spirit our early church members had.

Gym time is amazing cause I kill everyone in ping pong except Elder Solari who is amazing. On Tuesday I went 12-0 games and beat everyone! So awesome. It was sad to watch Carter leave but, excited to see that he is going to serve out in the field.

 I’m starting to love prayer more and more just from how much we pray everyday! My companionship is becoming more fun everyday as we start to get a long more and joke around and have fun.  It’s crazy how this Sunday is already my half way point till I leave for the Amazon! Time here is flying!  It's funny to me because I just think two years is short and  it’ll go by fast and it really is. I’m trying my best to be kind and loving to everyone. Today we got to tour the new Mexico City temple before it’s re- dedicated. Man, is that temple HUGE. They have so many rooms in it! That’s it for me.  What else it happening at home? How’s the wards and I wanna hear from em! ALSO AARON OBORN GOT HIS MISSION CALL LYON FRANCE!!!!!

 

Jackson:

What an eventful week! On Sunday night walking home to my house, I collapsed from dehydration. I started to shake and have twitches and I knew immediately what was coming. Back in July when I got my wisdom teeth out a combination of dehydration and anesthesia caused full body muscle spasms every few minutes for a few days. Here at the CCM I was dehydrated.  After I came to, I was carried to the infirmary and tried to get immediate medical attention. I started to have the muscle spasms within 20 minutes of passing out, Luckily, I was in a bed in the infirmary already and had already received a priesthood blessing. I tried to drink water but the muscle spasms were random so we didn´t want to risk having water in my throat while I had a spasm and have the water go into my lungs. The spasms happened every about every thirty seconds give or take ten seconds, so they could´ve been every twenty seconds or every 40 seconds and they would last from 5 to 10 seconds. They were unbearably painful, I think I pulled a few muscles while this all happened. After about 20 minutes of spasms the doctor and I decided that we needed to risk water or try an IV. The doctor gave me electrolyte water and thankfully I had enough time to gulp it all down before another spasm. Things immediately got better from there. The spasms happened less often, I kept drinking the water, and eventually after an hour they stopped all together. I know that the priesthood blessing I received from my companion Elder Hobbs worked. Last time it took several days for the spasms to subside, this time it took an hour. These last few days have been extremely painful because of the soreness of my muscles. I have huge knots in every muscle in my back and legs and arms and a huge kink in my neck. My core burns every time I stand up or sit down, and my legs burn every time I walk. Other then the first morning, I still make it to all of my classes and I still wake up at 6:30am. During meals I´ll eat quickly and go back and sleep until my next class... Although my weeks here at the CCM have been spent in sickness, I am still learning as much as I can and doing the best I can. I´ve lost about 15 pounds and I look like a body builder because of those muscle spasms, I should be pale and tired and angry, but the Lord has given me the strength to go to all of my classes and continue learning the language! Other then the sickness, I’m having a great time! 

Elder Hobbs and I play Futbal every day for gym against a Latino district! At first they creamed us, but now we are creaming them! Elder Hobbs has lightning feet and all of the Latinos call him Messi! They call me Lebron because I just muscle my way through to the goal!

 During lunch we sit next to the other districts in our zone and have contests to see who gets the most desserts! There is no official rule that you only get one dessert but there is a lady who stands right behind the dessert table and if she sees you taking another one she will make you put it back! On Saturday we had Magnum Ice cream bars! Those are the Holy Grail of all foods served here. I went up and got an ice cream bar and ate it super fast and went back for another but, the lady had seen me take one already and made me put it back! Some other elders tried to get seconds but we were all caught! I gathered up all of the ice cream wrappers, put them on my tray, walked up to the lady with a huge smile, grabbed three ice cream bars and walked away! The lady looked at me, just laughed and let me go! I had set a table record by grabbing three at once and the overall record by getting 4 desserts. But then Bennett showed up. He had an ice cream bar in his mouth and walked up and grabbed one! He brought it back, and then went back FIVE more times WITH an ICE CREAM BAR IN HIS MOUTH. If any of you have seen the Seinfeld episode with the soup nazi, the dessert lady is the real life version. Bennett is a living legend at the CCM. 

The language is coming along slowly but surely. I missed a ton of studying these last few days because of doctor visits but I´ll find a way to catch up. Elder Hobbs and I are best friends. We always talk about our girlfriends and share hilarious stories with each other. The other companionship in our districts all get along really well too. I love spending time with them. I don´t have a lot of responsibilities in my calling! I get the mail everyday, I get to welcome new missionaries, and I assign talks! I see Bennett all of the time. We eat lunch together, play sports together, talk at night before bed, and occasionally get to study together! It´s awesome! 

Carter left the CCM this week! I’m glad I got to spend sometime with him before he left. Carter is going to be a great missionary. I Love you all and miss you!