August 8th 2013

Hola Familia,

This week has seriously flown by. I forgot my journal in my room so I will do my best to try and remember everything that happened this week. Or at least the important stuff! hahaha. Everyone in my district has started getting their visas! You have to go sign for them so you get a day trip to either Vegas, Boise, or SLC. Me and 1 other elder in my district are still waiting and hopefully they come this week! If not, I'll probably get reassigned to a state-side mission for a transfer. If that happens, I guess the Lord just needs me to make a pit-stop somewhere before I head down to Monterrey! I'm already starting to get "homework" for when I get to Monterrey. Since my teacher served in Monterrey East, he gave me a list of his areas and converts in those areas, he told me if I'm ever in those areas to check up on those people and then let him know how they're all doing! I also met a man in TRC (where members come and talk to missionaries in their language) that is from Saltillo but was a branch president in Monterrey! Tomorrow he is going to bring us names of family he has in Monterrey that aren'y members! So I'll have referrals before I even lleave the CCM :)

On Sunday I got to go to a devotional where Jenny Oaks Baker spoke....Elder Oaks' daughter! She's also one of the best classical violinists in the US, so she bore testimony through words and also song!! It was sooo cool, she was so good! She also had her family there and of course they're all musicall gifted as well. Her 3 daughters (ages 11,10 and 8) and her 6 year old son all played I am a child of god. The little boy played the guitar and he was actually quite good for a 6 year old! I always feel the spirit so strong through music, sometimes I wish I was musically gifted so I could just do that instead of trying to bear testimony in broken Spanish! hahaha On Tuesday Jay E Jensen came to our Marriot Center devotional and spoke all about how we can use the scriptures! He gave us tons of tips on how to read, mark, study, and use them. One of my favorite things he said was to ask yourself questions. When you have a question it provides a gateway to revelation. This applies to us asking ivestigators questions but also for personal study. I always love the Tuesday devotionals because there's just a mob of thousands of missionaries walking from the CCM to BYU, it's a pretty amazing sight!

Well, the Spanish is coming along fairly well, but then somedays I just feel like I forget everything because my brain is so overloaded! It's crazy to think I only have 11 days left here, the time has really flown by. I've tried to refine so many things about myself that need fixing. As cool as the name-tags are, it's a huge responsibilty to bear el nombre de Jesucristo on my chest. We're trying to represent the only perfect man to ever walk this Earth, what a great privielege but a huge responsibility as well. I'm so excited to go and actually get out to el campo. My brain is a bit scattered today so sorry if this email was a bit all over the place! hahaha. Since the temple is closed until next week, they choose a couple districts to clean the temple on their P-Day, so I get to go clean the temple in a couple of hours!  It'll be kinda cool to go to the temple when it's not a session. I miss being able to go to the temple as much as I did before I left. that was such a blessing to me! I know the blessings of the temple are real and impossible to number because there are so many!

I seriously love the opportunity I have to be a missionary and to learn the best language in the world. There are actually mandarin-speaking elders studying next to me....I'm so glad I'm not them haha it sounds so hard! I know that Mexico is where the Lord wants me to go and where I need to be. Im grateful for all the support you guys are and the examples so many of you have set for me. I will keep you guys updated on the whole Visa situation, but just know that whatever happens that it's what the Lord wants and needs! The Lord sometimes works in very mysterious ways and I guess we've just gotta roll with it. Yo se que esta Iglesia es verdadero y el Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios. La Obra misional es un gran bendicion en mi vida y estoy muy agradecido por la oportunidad de ser un misionero ahora! 

Con Muchisimo amor,

Elder Connell 

August 1st 2013

Ohhhhhhh we're half way there!! Just kidding "KISS" is definitely part of Babilonia so no need for it here haha. "Babilonia" refers to anything outside of the MTC besides family and the prophet pretty much. I guess other general authorities too hahah.

          First off, Feliz Cumpleanos Meghan!! Hope you had a rad time and are enjoying the life of a real person with your big girl job and all.

          This week flew by, it's been kinda crazy! I got the package, thanks so much!!! The Mexican flags are a hit and of course the goodies inside were a hit too! We also got the Sour Lovers from the Porter's and everyone is constantly asking me for them! haha the teaching is going so well and I'm learning so much about how to teach the people and not lessons. Yesterday we taught Antonio and we went in planning to talk about the restoration but then he had a bunch of questions about the Libro de Mormon so we just talked about that for the whole time we were there. The spirit was so strong and my mouth was definitely filled. All those brutal years with Mrs Ocampo and Mr Castillo are paying off. The Spanish is coming along really well, at least when I talk to fellow gringos. In response to your questions mom, we have Preach My Gospel in Spanish and English and I have a mini Spnaish one too. We have a bunch of textbooks and workbooks for language and then a bunch of the missionary "folletos" in both languages also. They are so helpful and everyone should have some for when friends have questions, it makes them so easy to answer! I also have my white bible in Spanish and English as well. We received the Standard works in Spanish and Ive already got a few Scripture masteries down, and the primer vision and Doctrina y Convenios Seccion 4. The scriptures definitely help with language a lot. I asked my teacher to talk full speed and I caught maybe 25% of what he said hahaha.

          Me and my companion taught a lesson on Sunday about the spirit and I was able to talk about receiving a witness through the spirit and it was just way cool and I feel a lot closer to my district members now that I've bore really personal testimony to them. I remember in one of Elder Robbin's (Parker) email, he talked about that one companion who he struggled with but was able to feel Christ like love when he counseled a fellow missionary about this same companion. I've had a similar expereince with a kid in my district. He is struggling with some parts of his life before the MTC and I know what he's going through so we've been able to help each other a lot and I've truly come to love him and love serving with him.

          The tie-trading is going well and I've acquired some gems. It's really fun because we sign ties whenever we trade them so I'll have a token of my favorite missionaries here! My district is still the youngest district in our zone, and we are down to just 3 districts because we haven't gotten a new one in 3 weeks! Hopefully we get one next week! I should get my travel plans next Friday so I'll have a bit more info on that, but my expected date is August 19th. I should be able to call home if I have a layover! I'll let you know more when I find out more.

          Another cool spiritual thing this week was our Tuesday devotional at BYU. A former 70 spoke and I just wanna share a bit of what he said. He talked about why missions can be so difficult at times. Why is it difficult? Salvation is not a cheap experience. It never has been and it never will be. Why should we believe it would ever be easy for us when it was NEVER easy for Him whose name we bear on our chests. We're representatives of Jesucristo, and so we need to walk in just the most microscopic amount of his difficulty, in feeling rejected, spit upon, or mocked.  We're also not the first to ask if there's an easier way, Christ asked the same exact thing. We need to realize how much easier our mission is than His was. Elder Ah Hoy in my district shared a quote that said, "ALWAYS be grateful to suffer in the Lord's name. I know that parts of my mission will be difficult but I am so honored to be able to give 2 years of my life 100% to the Lord. I've already had struggles here and I know it will be harder in the field, but I have also had some of the best times of my life here. I've grown so close to people after just 3 weeks and I have come to feel so much closer to my Savior.

          

          Well, I love you all so much and I'm glad to hear everything is going well. I love all the mail and packages and love from all of you. Yo se que esta obra es lo mas importante en el mundo. Estoy agradecido por la oportunidad de servir un mision. Les amo mucho!!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Connell

July 25th 2013

Hola Familia!

Como Esta??

This week has been way rad and it's been a blast learning more about the gospel, the language and myself. Every week we celebrate Espaniernes (Espanol + Viernes) which is where every Friday we try to not speak a single word of English all day. It's hard but I can tell that it helps so much! The language is actually coming along really fast and it's not nearly as much of a barrier in lessons as it used to be. Of course, our teacher speaks very slow but still, it's getting better! I asked my teacher to speak full speed and I understood maybe 10% of the words he spoke! hahaha It's cool having a teacher who went to Monterrey because he has been teaching me and my companion stuff about the culture. He shares little stories about the different types of people and taught us how to whistle at people politely. For example instead of saying "what's up" to caminojeros (which are basically cholos haha) you do a certain kind of whistle at them as you walk by.

We have a new "investigator" this name y se llama Santiago. Things are going way good with him. Me and my companion are learning how to be more short, sweet and to the point which helps a lot! In the second lesson with him we challenged him to read, pray, come to church with his family, be baptized, and teach his family the lesson we just taught him, and he accepted all of them! Another cool thing is getting to break down all of the lessons in English first and then learning the necessary phrases in Spanish. The devotionals here are also sooo awesome! We've got to hear prom Richard Hinckley, not sure if I already told you that but it was way cool. this week we heard from an emeritus general authority and he talked all about missionary work! He had some really cool insights to share. On Sunday we had a devotional about the pioneers but it was pretty boring to me hahah but I did get to watch the Character of Christ after which is a devotional Bednar gave to the MTC a few years back. If you haven't seen it I encourage you ALL to watch it. It'so powerful! A district in our zone left this Monday so on Sunday their district sang in our sacramnet meeting and it was so cool.

There are also some funnier parts of the MTC. I came into my room this week to find the creepiest baby doll ever tucked into my bed. Apparently my companion found it outside and thought it would be funny to terrify me...it worked haha but now it's kind of our zone mascot. There's also a tie trade black market hahaa. Every few days teh whole bottom floor is covered in people with their tie racks. They are so funny in trying to convince each other that their tie is "totally a 2-for-1 caliber tie" haha. I also ran into my cousin Landon Ball! He's a Spanish teacher here and we accidentally went into the wrong computer lab but he was just sitting there so we got to talk for a bit!! I'll send a picture of him later. It's way fun being able to see people I know, especially Elder Blume and Purcell!!! I also got to see a ton of other kids from my school. Elder Frost, Elder Line and Elder West got here yesterday and I got to see all of them! The food is getting really old and sometimes it's a bit risky. Everyone knows there are some foods you definitely don't eat unless you wanna be suffering for a couple days.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Chase Connell

July 18th, 2013

Wow! It's so weird sending my first email home from the CCM. I've got a little timer in the corner that's clicking down so this might be a bit short haha. But seriously the CCM is the best! It's actually way fun, even though the first few days were ridiculously long. When we first got here our teacher spoke only spanish and it was wicked hard to understand him. My Spanish has definitely gotten a lot better already though because we try to talk in Spanish as much as we can. My companion is a kid from Oregon named Elder VonStrahl and I'm definitely learning how to love all the people I'm working with even though we are all very different. He is also going to Monterrey East with me!

Our schedule is pretty much the same every day which consists of wake up at 630, in bed at 1030. with ~10 hours spent in the classroom each day!! The days are long but if we stay focused they go by pretty quick. I think one of the the coolest things we have done is teach a fake invetigator, his name is Victor. We taught our first lesson on Friday, 100% in Spanish, which was after only 1 full day of class. It was frustrating because I knew exactly what I wanted to teach him but I couldn't think of how to say it in Spanish. But our next lesson went way good, we just went in praying for the gift of tongues, and it was definitely with us! I said some things and had to look up in a dictionary after the lesson what they meant because I had no idea, it was way cool and a huge testimony builder for me. The lesson after that he asked us about what made us want to change and become better people. I told him I didnt want to share but that if he prayed about it that God would help him. That wasn't a good enough answer for him so the spirit prompted me that it was ok to be open with him. So, in Spanish, I gave him a 1 minute story of my past year and the changes that have come by the power of the spirit. The spirit was so strong and I could see the spirit working on him by the look in his eyes. It makes me so pumped to be able to actually go down and teach the people of Mexico!

Today is P-Day obviously and it's a nice break from the grind of all the studying. Since the Provo temple is closed we have a 3 hour time period where we have nothing scheduled so it should be a pretty mellow day. Sorry if my email isn't as stellar and fabulous as the Robbins' boys, they've set a prettyy high standard!!! But I love this work and have had multiple witnesses that this is EXACTLY where the Lord wants me and where I need to be. The spirit at the CCM is so unique and "poderoso". Oh and we had a devotional broadcast at BYU this Tuesday and I sang in the choir! It was broadcast so maybe you guys can find it on LDS.org and maybe look for me! They also broadcast it to all the MTCs around the world so maybe TJ saw it in Guatemala! Richard Hinckley and his wife spoke and it was way cool. It was also cool seeing the mob of thousands of missionaries crossing the street to get into the Marriot center haha. Well my time is running out, but I love you all so much! And want you all to know that this church is true and that Christ lives and loves all of us, even if life can be hard sometimes. Hope to hear from you guys soon!

 Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Connell

Meeting Larry Bird- say what??

On June 14th we had the amazing opportunity to meet Elder Connell's future mission President Larry Bird and his wife. Elder Connell reports to the Provo MTC on July 10th to begin his training to serve in the Mexico Monterrey East mission.

I, Chase's mom, will be posting his weekly emails and select photos he sends to this blog whenever we get them. I'm new to this blog thing and also new to having a missionary out so just bear with me! I'll do the best I can and maybe recruit some of my teenage kids for some tech-help. ha ha

Much love to all who have helped Chase get to this point. It's greatly appreciated.

¡Viva Mexico!