The Skinny on the Skinners: we are alive

I am sorry it's taken so long to update the blog! It has been so crazy. New students got here a couple of weeks ago and there are 55 of them! That's almost double what we had last generation. Then we have 30 night students. So we have been very busy. I am going to include some of the writings that I have done for the daily reports.

So the week they got here I wrote:

On Monday a new generation of students arrived to the Academy with a lot of excitement and hope. Their faces were that of other students who had come before them in previous generations. They were filled with excitement, though not quite sure of what they were about to experience for the next six weeks. Eury (our Recruiting Leader) had been working day and night to recruit students over the past month. Her hard work paid off when all 55 students that she had talked to showed up. It is the first time that every single person came that said they were going to come.

With almost twice as many students as the last generation, it is also by far the biggest generation in the history of the Academy. I must admit, it was a very humbling sight to see the students fill up the classroom. There are students here from every part of Mexico.

Throughout the week the students continued with the same excitement they had when they arrived here. On Tuesday the students went out for the first time for their AGI (income generating activity). Each group was given a lime and told to make at least three trades before returning to the campus. The groups returned full of enthusiasm. The majority of the groups returned with about 200 pesos (about $20 USD). For some of them this is the first experience they have had with sales. Many of them commented on how surprised they were that they could start off with a small lime and then return with over 200 pesos! Jeremi taught them about the importance of starting off small but with big ideas.

The students had the opportunity to hear from two very successful businessmen who followed the rules that are taught here at the Academy to become prosperous. The first man was named Benjamin Hinojosa, a current stake president in Mexico City. Benjamin started AYM Sports which is now the biggest sports channel here in Mexico (the ESPN of Mexico). Benjamin also talked to the students about the importance of starting off small and then growing from there. He testified that, “I know that the hand of God has been in this work and I couldn’t have done it without Him.”Especially after the debate, it was great for the students to hear from a very successful stake president that was living righteously while being successful. He challenged all of the students to accomplish their dreams and promised them that it is possible. He said, “If you follow the rules that are taught here at the Academy and are diligent then you will succeed.” Benjamin’s business started from humble beginnings. His last words of advice to the students were, “Persevere, persevere, persevere.”

So that was from the first week that the students were here. I will try to post more pictures and more posts. It is very cool to see lives changing. The students are great. We have a really fun time interacting with them. We can't believe that we have just a month left here. Time is going by so fast. WE are enjoying the time that we get to spend together. It has been raining sooo much here. It literally rained 2 weeks without even stopping. And I've never seen it rain so hard. Calvin's mission trainer is here as a student. That has been really fun for him to have him here. His name is Carlos. He has 2 kids. When he came here his daughter was only 2 weeks old! Calvin has been teaching alot lately. I created a cleanliness class on the importance of having a clean business. Alot of the businesses here in Mexico City are pretty dirty. So we talked about how that is one way they can have a competitive advantage over their competitors. Anyways we are loving it. I think we are going to Morelia this weekend to give a training. It is about 5 hours away from here. That should be funnnn.