Merry Christmas 2016 from the CCM

FROM MARY:

On Christmas Eve some mystery angel text me this picture of Elder Wilcox and his companion Elder Bradley.  Things like that don't normally happen so it was exciting to receive. 

The missionaries at the CCM spent part of Christmas Eve watching a Christmas special with the Muppets on Temple Square, where the Muppets performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It sounds like he had a great Christmas. 

On Christmas Day Elder Wilcox called us.  This too was exciting because missionaries don't normally get to call home from the training centers.  With about 400 missionaries at the CCM you can imagine how difficult these phone calls were to coordinate.  He called from the computer with a headset on.  The room he was in had about 20 missionaries, all talking to their families, so it was really noisy and hard to talk at times.  But we loved every minute of hearing his voice! 

Brett sounds so happy! He said he is having an amazing time. 

Here is a recap of our call and the things he told us:

Christmas Dinner was turkey and all the fixings and it was good, which was a nice break from the usual food.  In the morning he opened the presents we sent with him.  Part of the morning was spent watching a special devotional broadcast from the Provo, Utah MTC.  One of the Church leaders, Dallin H. Oaks spoke and his family performed some songs. 

Other news:

The language is coming along slowly. All of the class instruction is done in Spanish and most of it goes over his head as he doesn’t understand a lot of what is said. Yet! But everyday gets better. 

He is feeling better, the stomach issues are pretty much gone.  The food seems to be the problem because it is cafeteria style food, he needed to adjust to it.  Most of the missionaries have some kind of stomach trouble the first couple of weeks, adjusting to the food, so he said he was not alone.  Not all of the food is really bad, but almost none of it is good.  Elder Wilcox found out that Monterrey is supposed to have the best meats in the country so he is very excited to get to his area and eat some good food. 

Most missionaries never get to leave the CCM during their stay, but the first couple of days Elder Wilcox’s companion had to go to the dentist.  During our call he described Mexico City and what it was like to drive in their traffic. He said that Mexico City is in the mountains so most of the homes are on the sides of hills/mountains, kind of stacked on top of each other.  The traffic is insane, organized chaos and super dangerous.  He told us that he understands why most missionaries walk in Mexico, because being on a bike would be dangerous and learning to drive there would be almost impossible.  

We asked him how he liked all the packages we have been sending him.  Elder Wilcox said that all the guys in his District have been making fun of him because he has gotten so many care packages. “I’m that guy” But he shares everything so they are reaping the benefits of “me being that guy”.  He was finally able to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the stuff he received and it was a welcome change from the cafeteria food. 

He has met a lot of people in the CCM who are friends and relatives of his brother’s and sister’s friends.  He talked to Lindsay and Jared about this.  It is crazy what a small world we live in. 

Elder Wilcox told us that the CCM is in a little valley.  In December there is a festival, Our Lady of Guadalupe Day.  There are a lot of fireworks that go off during this time and because the CCM is in this valley, not only can the missionaries see them, but they echo throughout the valley and it is really loud. 

Elder Wilcox told us that he plays soccer every day.  Their favorite place to play is a clay basketball court because it is enclosed with a fence.  The CCM staff don’t like them to play there because a lot of missionaries get hurt when the fall on the clay.  His companion got hurt so they were banned from the area.  But they still play there until “we get kicked out, then we go to the field.”

While we were on the phone, Lindsay told all of us some things that she had heard about Elder Wilcox.  Lindsay has a friend whose sister is in the CCM with Brett.  Kelsey’s sister told her that everyone talks about how good Brett is at soccer!  Brett just laughed. 

It was really good to talk to him! We might get another phone call in three weeks when he flies to Monterrey.