January 6, 2017

So we didn't get to the CCM until like 7:00 last Tuesday but it was pizza night so we got a good dinner. Wednesday was quite possibly the longest day of my life, it sucked. The first week was pretty rough, I haven't been home sick or anything, the days were just so long and you work so hard, it's exhausting. This last week was good though. It's pretty wild down here, new years everyone was shooting fireworks like crazy all day and all night, all over the city. In the morning there were lanterns and dud fireworks all over the lawns here. We joked about it being like a prison in here because we aren't allowed to leave and there's a ten foot fence all around that's topped with razor wire. We were supposed to go to the temple today but they're rioting in the streets about gas prices so the roads are all blocked off. I guess thats what the fences are for. But the riots mean we can't go to the temple, so that's stupid. Theres no news in here so we didnt know what was going on, but there were alarms going off like crazy, and sirens, and helicopters with spotlights, and we had to wait until we saw our teacher the next day to ask what was going on. Also, it's Elder Oldroyds birthday on the 22 (he's one of my roommates, he's also the kicker for BYU). So we were trying to get someone to bring us in a cake if we paid them, we asked like 4 people, but the aren't allowed to take anything in or out  (again prison). They said the closest thing to cake they've ever seen in here is donuts. Then last night these two elders knock on our window at like  10:455 which is after everyone is sposed to be in bed, and the gave us a death by chocolate cake. We have no idea how they got it, but we were soooo excited. And my companion got 2 dozen donuts yesterday so we were pumped. There's like 8 guys here, including my companion, that are going to guadalajara and they are super fun. We call ourselves the guadalahomies or the guadsquad and have a handshake and everything, they're fun. They left a note in our classroom that said "roses are red, violets are blue, don't tell the mission president that I love you" and our teacher saw it and was concerned, it was super awkward. My district is so awesome, there are 6 elders and 2 Hermanas and we're all pretty close. My companion is elder koyle and he is so weird I love it, he isn't like socially awkward weird, but the way he views the world is ridiculous, and he always shares his weird observations and they are so funny. I write his funny quotes in my journal. He worked as an electrician and he talks about it all the time, one of my favorite quotes is "if I got sent home for an injury my dad would say 'welcome home you stupid idiot, I hope you remember how to wire a switch. Your but better be in the truck at 6. If not, you're sleeping in the truck tomorrow night. Oh, and it's cold'" and he talks like napoleon dynamite. Everything he says is like a 6 funny, but elder Oldroyds laugh is so funny  that it makes everything way more funny. We also have elder Whiteman in our room, he is super smart and knows a bunch of stuff. Our district is the only intermediate Spanish district right now, so we all have the best Spanish in here, and we have ipads while we're in the CCM.  I'm the district leader so that's cool I guess. They spelled my name tag wrong, I have new ones now but by the time I got them everyone already knew me as elder koening. There's green parakeets flying get around like pigeons here. Our Casita is next to the road so we always here gunshots at night but we just pretend they're fireworks. We have a Latino friend and all he knows how to say in English is "high five" and then after you high five him he says "don't touch me". It's pretty funny. It's crazy how spiritual it is here, I am speaking Spanish so well, I can hold full conversations in our lessons, it's like I can remember all the Spanish I've ever learned. But one night our zone leaders told us to go over to their room during language study and we asked our teacher if we could go over there and he said it was okay. So we went over and they were being super crazy and out of control so we left, then we were trying to do language study and it's like I forgot all my Spanish because I didn't have the spirit. It was weird. My district is super focused and spiritual and on topic. We hardly ever goof off, we have a good time but we still have sweet spiritual discussions all the time. It's pretty cold in the morning, like 50 maybe, but it gets up to 80 during the day. The food is alright, I just eat everything. Everyone always complains about the food, but I think they're going to die when they get out in the field.  And tell Andrew I'm angry he didn't email me. What's going on around home? Tell me things.  Hope it's all going well. Much love.