Almost three weeks out! (September 6th, 2019)

   I don't have a lot of time so I'll make this a quick update! 

 Not a whole lot that´s new in the CCM but I'm still having a great time! Since I don't have a lot of time, I won't be able to send pictures this week. Hopefully I can next week! There's been more intense lightning and thunderstorms here! It gets really exciting. The language is coming along and I'm getting a better grasp on it. There's so many things to memorize haha. We just got back from the temple so that took up most of our day. We were told it's the biggest outside of the U.S.! 

 I'll just give a quick testimony before I go but I want you all to know I miss you!!! 

 I absolutely love this work and the gospel. I've never wanted to do something as much as I want to be out here. The Book of Mormon is truly the word of God and I love learning more and more about the scriptures every day! I really wish I would have been able to read more of the scriptures before I got out here because I'm so caught up in how much I love the words of our ancient prophets. It's incredible what a mission can do to the missionary only after a couple of weeks. But of course it's up to the missionary to have an open mind and an open heart to receiving the teachings. My advice to anyone who would be struggling to decide if the church is true or not would be to first pray for strength, and then read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon. It might sound like a bit much, but with making a decision such as that, that would at least require an equal effort to find out if the Book of Mormon and the church is true. It's through faith and a diligent effort that you can receive your answer. You don't get the answer just because you have a question and then you don't want to work for it. At least start with reading Moroni 10: 3-5. That is the most popular scripture around here right now. 

 It is my testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on this earth. I feel the same way that Joseph Smith felt when he said that he could not deny the church is true. I know that if we keep the commandments we will receive added blessings. There's a longer road ahead than just what we have here in mortality so keep going! In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

I'll try to say more next week!

-Elder Markham

He is very busy! (August 30, 2019)

Family and Friends,

It's been a wonderful experience so far out here in the field. But it's also been very packed with things to do haha. I don't have a lot of time right now so I have to make this kind of short. 

The MTC here is called CCM since it stands for the name in Spanish. The city is wonderful and it's huge!!! I'll try to send pictures later when I get everything figured out. My first companion, Elder Xanthos, is actually from Portland Oregon!!! We got along really quick! The food is great and of course it's very different than the States. I already got a new full experience on the drive from the airport to the CCM. There were a lot of stray dogs and there were natives just standing in the middle of the road holding baskets of fruit trying to sell them. The space between them and the cars only had like half a foot or less! And the roads are going in every direction. So that's pretty crazy. The training center is an old school campus and it's actually really nice. The gates and walls surrounding the CCM are covered in massive barbed wire and spikes so we're pretty protected. I think the Provo training center is more like a really large building with other buildings too but here at the Mexico training center, i'ts more flat and spread out. So there's a lot of walking. The language is coming along and I'm able to understand quite a bit. It's a lot easier to understand than speak it. As the schedule and responsibilities go, it's very packed. I was called to be district leader on day two so it's been even more chaotic for a little over a week. But my missionaries are pretty obedient so that makes things easier haha. The CCM feels like a small community where everything is great, well organized, and peaceful. And then looking outside the walls, you can see how much of a difference the city has. There are constantly sirens going and random explosions, that I think are fireworks, They're definitely not gun shots. But they aren't loud enough to keep me up at night and plus my casa is close to the middle of the area anyway and not close to the wall.

I love you all,

-Elder Markham

Here are some pictures of the flight in! There are also pics of the smaller part of the city outside of the walls, at night and during the day. Also a pic of the kinds of food I get to have. There's also my companion and I! And a picture of where my casa is. In that same picture there is this shelf like thing with water supplies. That's our drinking water, we can't get any out of sinks since it's not clean to drink. There aren't water fountains anywhere either. It took a while to get used to the water but now it tastes normal. 

He arrives in Mexico City! (August 20, 2019)

Momma- I made it and it's incredible! It looks awesome here! I'm sorry that I had to send this to dad but my journal is in one of my luggage bags, it has the emails. But this place really is amazing, even though it's filled with barbed wire and run down buildings with homeless people. And by the way I got all my luggage back at the airport and I was able to get it loaded in the moving van. It should be here soon if it hasn't already shown up. There are stray dogs everywhere and it smells haha. But I will get used to the new change! I know I will have an incredible time. I don't have a lot of time and I should be able to send better emails in the next few weeks. We're about to eat and get to bed. I'll keep you updated, love you!

-Elder Markham

Dad- I really do like it here in the MTC and I made it without problems. Everything seems to be in order but I'll let you know if there's anything else that needs to be checked. My p days are Friday, not Tuesday. But it's just not as organized quite yet so I can't say a whole lot. They are just giving us time now to let our parents know we made it. I'm looking forward to the new place and I'll keep you updated as often as I can! I love you and tell the rest of the family I love and miss them too and I wish I had more time to say more things but I'll talk soon! 

-Elder Markham