I'm at the Halfway point here.....E Z Life en the CCM

YOOOOOOOOOOO life is crazy here in mexico city! Earthquakes on the weekly it seems like, falling asleep to the sound of dogs barking,fireworks,gunshots, possibly some bombs in the mix too and rain. All good stuff you know. Sprained my knee last thursday so i got to use crutches for like two days. It was supposed to be longer but crutches are the spawn of satan so i just took it easy for a while. All is good inside the walls though.

Sadly, our Zone leaders Elder Arbon and Elder Gaston left yesterday as well as Elder Blaisdell, Elder Horman and some other awwesome missionaries. They will definitely be missed. They all were some of the best influences we couldve asked for as new missionaries here as well as just amazing friends.

The food is still interesting, breakfast is usually my favorite meal because its the most normal. Other than that my spanish is getting so much better here and the schedule is usually them same every week here so until next week

Loving it here and the people ive met have been so good for me. My companion is absolutley the best and i do believe the Lord ccalled us to be companions for a reason. We had the most spiritual and bonding experience last night that i wish everyone in the world could have with their comapnions.
Other than that here are my journal entries and some pictures from the week! Also thank you everyone for the lettes and the packages! I love every single one of them!

CIAO mis amigos. Me encantan mucho
Elder Connor Ryan deCocq

Spiritual Awesomeness, Soccer....and Terremotos!

Hi Everyone!
This week was filled with crazyness. Earthquakes,Soccer with the latinos and just all out spiritual awesomeness.

Anyway, week two was another one for the books. Yes i am okay and so is everyone else here at the CCM. The earthquake was a 7.1 yesterday and was 70 miles from us here. Thankfully the lord watched over us and we are all good! I was spooked but its all good. Part of the wall inside of our gym is cracked but again we are all good here.
Food is pretty good here minus the pizza. Worst thing ever and every tuesday is pizza day for dinner so we all dread that.
Classes are all going well and the spanish is picking up alot so im very thankful for be being blessed through obedience. Everyone here is awesome including our zone leaders and their district! WE  ALL LOVE THEM but sadly they are leaving next week to Idaho and other parts of mexico.
Woke up this mroning at 550am to play basketball with some guys and I tried my best, you know, but I'm not good at all at this sport.

Choir!  The spiirt truly does dwell in hymns and himnos. I joined the choir this week and it is the best decison of my life. I absolutely love it. My favorite song by far here is still 'I Need Thee Every Hour'.

I love my comp, Elder Lake. We had the best devotional ever last night and it was perfect for both of us.

Anyway the days may be long here but the weeks are short that´s for sure. okay here´s the journal entires for the week and some pics. Sorry didnt have any of me really this week. We can only take pictures on Pday so I'm obeying that rule! Deuces, familia!

I love everyone.   . CIAO

Elder Connor Ryan deCocq
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From Dad:No photos from Connor this week of him (he was reprimanded by us for this!), but these are some exceprts from his journal

Another Big Earthquake....closer this time

From Dad:
So another earthquake struck in Mexico, this time a 7.1 near Puebla which is about 100 miles south of Mexico City.  I immediately messaged the CCM/MTC and got a fast response back.  All is well and they are back to to biz-as-usual

CCM First Week complete. I was called as a District Leader

First day was probably the funkiest and craziest day of my life. Many emotions but still awesome. I met my companion elder Lake and he is awesome. The mexico city CCM is so sick. Every one here including the latinos are so friendly and are just amazing people in general.
Spanish is coming along well and its crazy how fast im picking up the language. The people in my casa are also super tight . Elder Cope,Lake,Allred,and I are all in a room together but we have 20 people total in the entire casa. Also your boy got called as the District Leader for my district the second day i was here so im pretty stoked about that. We have all grown so close to one another and i love each and every one of them. P.S. sorry if my grammar or the punctuation is off, this spanish keyboard is muy diferente.
This week has gone by really slow but ive learned so much. Day 2 was definitely the hardest for me but i keep reminding myself on why i am here and my purpose as a missionary. Food here is super bomb not gonna lie. Still havent gotten diarrhea so i take that as a personal accomplishment for the week.

6 of the people in my district are going to Bolivia, 2 to paraguay and 4 to texas.from left to right ​Elder Talley and Elder Johnson(Paraguay), Elder Patton,Elder Hustis(Texas),Elder Cope and Elder Allred(Bolivia santa cruz), Hermana Eastman and Casaday(Texas), Elder Lake and me (Bolivia santa cruz), and Elder Rustad and Elder Weech(bolivia santa cruz).

My district is the absolute best and they have all taught me something about myself in these past 8 days.

Crazy how slow the first week went. Learning the new everything, getting used to the life as a missionary was tough the first two days but definitely has gotten easier. Life here in the CCM has been a journey in itself and I absolutely love it. My companion Elder Lake is super cool. He is from Idaho and he love college sports, basketball in particular.  He has been an awesome companion thus far for sure. I MET ELDER COPE from Instagram. We literally share the same room so thats cool. He is awesome and his companion Elder Allred is cool too. Both of them are from Utah. We live in Casa 33 with 20 total elders in 5 seperate rooms, 4 elders in each room. My room is elder cope allred me and lake. 2 bunkbeds woooooooo.

Food here is really good, but today im fasting for my district, district 14B here in the CCM.  I love everyone in my district. They are all amazing people.

You can read my journal entries and i promise they explain my thoughts,actions and everything that has been going on here at the CCM. My disctrict is super rad, and so has everyone else here. President Bennett and his wife are the best MTC presidents ever. So kind and just all around good people. Im trying my best to get pictures for you all so youre welcome!
Anyway thats all for this week. Ask my mom or dad for journal entires or follow the blog my dad is keeping for me! Chao amigos..
Elder Connor Ryan deCocq

My Companion, Elder Lake

FROM DAD:

The following are excerpts from Connor's daily journals this last week.  Some things were personal thoughts and trials that he preferred to not be in the blogosphere for various reasons so I edited them out at his request, but if you'd like to see the full entries I can send them to you.

First Photos of Elder deCocq at the Mexico City MTC/CCM

From Dad & Mom:
While looking through posts from the Mexico MTC / CCM Mexico Facebook page, we found these photos of the new group of missionary arrivals from last week. This made our day!

8.1 Earthquake in Chiapas

From Dad & Mom:
Hello everyone,

You may have heard that there was a massive 8.1 earthquake off the coast of Chiapas in southern Mexico.  Fortunately, this was over 450 miles away from Mexico City where Connor is; however, it was felt in the city and did cause some localized power outages.  We recieved an unscheduled email from Connor about 15 minutes ago letting us know all is well and that he is doing great (see below).  Now they have Hurricane Katia headed in that direction this weekend, but Mexico City is far enough inland that it should just be really bad wind and rain without the destruction.

Here is his email from a few minutes ago:

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Sept 8th, 2017   8:42am

Hola familia!!!!
So my casa didnt feel the earthquake at all surprisingly. We were all super tired and luckily it didnt wake any of us up but some of the other missionaries felt it. The mission president told us we can email you all and let you know that we are okay. The Lord is watching over us right now and I cant wait for my p/day on wednesday to send you my journal entries! so much has happened and I love it here! Thats all for now sorry i promise i will email you more on wednesday. I love you all and i hope everything is going well with work and college! MUAAAAHHHHH te amo
P.S. My spanish is coming along so well i am so excited!
P.P.S. i havent figured out how to use the apostrophe on the spanish keyboard yet so sorry for that! CHAO

Elder Connor Ryan deCocq
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Hola from Mexico City MTC!

I made it safe to the Mexico City MTC. My p-day will be on Wednesdays from now on while i am at the MTC but i won't have one until next week. Love you and i will keep you updated next week!

-Elder Connor Ryan deCocq

Getting Ready to Head Out on my LDS Church Mission

Well everyone, it's finally that time. Tuesday September 5,2017 I report to the Mexico City Missionary training center for 6 weeks to learn the Spanish language(a basis of it) and also learn what's expected of me during the time I serve in Bolivia. On October 17th of this year I will get on a plane and fly to Bolivia, where I will be until the end of the summer of 2019. I know that the Lord will watch over and protect me as I am serving the people of Bolivia. I know that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is here on this earth today. I know that the Lord has a plan for me in my life and he has put the people that I have met thus far in my life for a specific reason and I would just like to thank each and every one of you for your examples that you've set for me. If I've ever spoken to you I can guarantee that you've taught me something that has shaped me into the person I am today. So thank you very much each and every one of you. I will not have a cell phone or social media for these two years but  if you would like to get in contact with me or be put on my weekly email list (which is basically a weekly summary of what's going on in my life) it will be posted here by my parents, or you can message me or send me an email  to: Connor.decocq@myldsmail.net

-Elder deCocq @ Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia