MTC Week 6 + Mission Week 7

Hey everyone! Yes, I am still alive, Oaxaca has not ended me yet! It has been a crazy two weeks so far and it sure to be another crazy few months as I continue to learn Spanish.
To Start! The MTC (CCM)! What a crazy experience, those 6 weeks flew by so fast. I had a lot of good times and a lot of less than good times, but in all, it was really awesome. I absolutely loved my district and hope they are all having the time of their lives in California and Mexico. I really grew so much closer to my Savior and more in tune with the Spirit during the MTC as well. It was a great time and it ended with everything coming together. I really felt prepared to get out there, until it actually happened…
Next, the mission field! My plane flew out to Mexico City early Tuesday morning and had another flight to Oaxaca after a pretty long layover. The trip was actually a blast though because a bunch of other missionaries (12 in total) flew with me on the same plane to Mexico City, with all of us even sitting by each other on the plane too! My MTC comp, Elder Payne was also part of the crew which was really awesome! After some lunch and some shenanigans at the Mexico City Airport, we split up into the Veracruz and Oaxaca crews and went our respective ways. We flew to Oaxaca and met the Mission President, had dinner at the mission home, then went to the Oaxaca Mission Office to sleep for the night. In the morning, transfers happened and all of us newbies met our trainers and went to our areas. It was a little sad to see all the people from the Oaxaca Crew go their separate ways, even knowing them one day made it feel like we had been brothers for life. (And they were some of the only people who spoke perfect English, haha).
The Language! That morning, I met my trainer, Elder Sifuentes, and, as you’ve probably guessed, he is a native that only speaks Spanish! He was reassigned to Oaxaca from another mission, but he is super experienced and is definitely trying to help me along. But man is it tough! I speak so terrible Spanish that even getting simple phrases across is hard. I know it will come in time, so I’m just trying to have fun with it right now. But that still doesn’t mean awkward situations don’t happen.
The Area! My first area is called Valle de Etla, and it is a series of small towns about half an hour from Oaxaca City. This location means that it gets the weather similar to the main city, so low humidity, normal temperatures, and a decent climate. It actually feels really good here, but nights are kinda bad when the sweat just doesn’t go away, haha. And something really cool about my area is that we are the only area in the Oaxaca Mission that gets bicycles! And that has been quite an experience. Our bikes are pretty nice mountain bikes, but are just very worn out because the gears do not change and the parts are just worn down in a lot of places. But they are necessary because Valle de Etla basically is a bunch of small towns that are spaced out along a highway, so we need to ride from place to place.
So yeah, in all, everything is going well. I hardly understand anything that is happening, but I will in time. Hope you are all doing well!
Sorry for the lack of pictures this week, we still need to figure out cameras and whatnot.
-Elder Ord