Letter #2 - Zona What??

Hola Familia,

yes, that is right, I am no longer a district leader, I am a zone leader. Our branch got a new district this week which means we needed zone leaders. Elder Jorgensen and I are the Zone Leaders.

Thank you, mom and dad, for the letter and care package. Thank you, James, for the letter. I like receiving mail. Brother Yuen also sent me donuts. I loved it haha.

Things here are good. I realized this week that my description of the CCM was very poor. So I will try again. The CCM actually use to be a High School campus. It must have been a private school because it is a giant open space in the middle of an enormous city. The CCM is on 90 acres of land. It also isn't just one building. It is multiple buildings. We also all live in houses instead of dorms. There are 5 rooms in a house with 4 elders in each room. I will include a picture of my house.

Mexico city was actually built on a lake. There is this whole story behind the emblem on the Mexican flag. Apparently, the city is sinking pretty rapidly. It sunk 4 centimeters last year.

Saturday: Not much happened. There are a lot of spiritual experiences in the CCM. Every single class I am in, I feel the spirit. I love it. I never felt the spirit this much back home. sometimes I have withdrawals from not having a phone. Sometimes it is my instinct to check my phone for the time... but I do not even have one haha. But I

definitely like being separated from it all.

Sunday: Sundays here at the CCM are so awesome. Sacrament meeting is so quite because there are no babies or little children. Elder Jorgensen and I were asked to teach Priesthood. It was on Faith and Hope. It went well. I ended up telling the story of Hyrum and the snake again and relating it to Faith and Hope. They seemed to like it. Sunday night Elder ******* pulled me aside and basically told me, I was a horrible district leader. While it may not have been the way to tell me, It definitely opened my eyes to what I needed to change. Things are better between us now. I ended up praying for guidance and asking Heavenly Father for challenges I could give my district to make us more effective. For the first time in my life, I did not receive revelation for one thing, but I immediately started feeling impressions for individuals. So I decided to write letters to each member of my district and I extended very personalized challenges to all of them. A lot of them came to me and said thank you and that it was what they needed. It made me appreciate Heavenly Father and the power of prayer more. I also learned on Sunday that Elder ******** went home... He was the very first missionary I met at the Salt Lake Airport... After everything I have been through, It makes me feel a deep love and sorrow for him. I hope he can work on his needs and get back out soon. Sunday night we watched a devotional from Elder Bednar given a few years ago. He talked about how the natural man is like the cookie monster. He talked like cookie monster and talked about how he wanted cookies NOW. It was pretty funny. He also talked about how when cookie monster finally gets cookies, he devours it, crumbs fly everywhere. I relate it to the story of Gideon and how he weeded out the weak. He only chose those who were not afraid and who also cupped their hands with water instead of drinking of the water face first. Those three hundred men that Gideon chose defeated an army that could not even be numbered without drawing a sword. amazing. 

Monday: We spent a lot of time talking about revelation. We got some time to go sit alone in a wooded area and seek personal revelation. I have always known that God was there, but I never really asked Him if He was there... That was the revelation I prayed for and I felt and an enormous amount of peace and happiness. I felt the spirit for a straight three hours after that. Nonstop. I loved it. It made me know without a doubt that God is aware of me and that he loves me.

Tuesday: At the devotional on Tuesday night, we learned that President Russell M Nelson will be coming to the CCM in two weeks to talk to us. I am SO excited. He could be our next prophet. The devotional that night though was by and area seventy named Miguel A Reyes. It was pretty good. it was about worthiness. something he said very briefly stuck with me, though. He mentioned the concept of "Exact Righteousness" I really pondered on that and I personally believe that Exact obedience is just a step to being exactly righteous. I feel like Exact Righteousness is when you are exact in all things... Exact obedience, Exact hope, Exact faith, Exact love. I really liked that concept.

Wednesday: That was the day that I found out I was becoming a zone leader. Honestly, at first, I was a little upset. In the CCM the only thing that zone leaders do is plan sacrament meeting. District leaders do so much more. I liked being district leader because I felt like I was doing something. I felt like I was inspiring people... But then I realized it doesn't matter. It was the spirit that was inspiring, I was just listening. Now it is Elder Rowe's turn to inspire. And if he needs help from his zone leader, then I will be there.

Thursday: Elder Jorgensen got three bloody noses. I felt so bad for him. He has been getting a lot since we have been at the MTC... We also committed one of our "Investigators" to baptism. It was awesome. Especially because preaching in Spanish is hard.

Today I get to go to the temple! I am super, super excited. I am not excited for the hour drive each way though. 

I love it here. I learn new things every day. It is really cool just focusing on the basics of the gospel. There is always more to learn, but if you only know the basics, your life will be blessed.

I love you all so much. Write me letters! I love receiving them. We check the mail every day. 

Love, 

Elder Bullough