Hey Everyone! Week 4 of the CCM down and I’ve got two weeks until I’m out into the field. It is really exciting to know I’ll be serving the people of Oaxaca so soon! I just can’t wait! This week was a lot of fun so here we go!
To start, most of my district actually got together in-person! Fortunately, over half of us live in Northern Utah so a fantastic sister named Hermana Ence scheduled a meetup with those of us who could. Everyone from Utah came, and even one hermana from Texas was in Utah at the time so she came too! It was super fun! We had pizza, chilled out, played pickleball, and generally had an awesome time. But it was crazy! I could not believe what everyone actually looked like. Only seeing the top 1/3 of a person through a camera on zoom does not do justice compared to real life.
Well, I would save the funny story for later in the email but it goes best here. This week, I get to stay and my Grandparent’s house again because my family is on vacation. Except for this time, they went to MEXICO! They beat me there! Hahaha, it’s a little crazy because they get home and I leave a week later. I think that it makes me want to get down there even more! I love all the funny pictures they send, it seems like a crazy experience. So yeah, I’m at my grandparent’s house again for a week and it’s kinda like my very own MTC experience. It is a lot of fun and definitely a different experience than being at home, but still a really good one.
Next, the 4th of July! We were given the whole Saturday off because of the holiday, which was super awesome. My family didn’t do anything that day, but it was still really cool to have the day off and see how the CCM respected such an important holiday. But for Sunday the 4th, it was awesome to still see some fireworks going off despite the less fortunate conditions with the dry weather.
However, my extended family did have a barbeque on Monday the 5th! Since I was already at my grandpa and grandma Smith’s house where the party was hosted, I just finished up my day at the CCM and walked down and saw everyone. And I got to see two faces I haven’t seen in a long time: My cousins who just got home from their missions! It was so cool. I was overjoyed to see them, which was super lucky too because had I been at the in-person CCM, I would have missed them getting home by 2 weeks! So you could say that the Home MTC was a blessing on that front. The funny thing too is that they both grew on their missions, while I haven’t grown at all in the past few years… so I almost had to stand on my toes to hug them! Love ya Brandon and Scott!
For P-day today, the three of us went out to lunch and just talked and caught up for a while too. It was really nice to talk to them and learn a little bit more what the mission experience will be like. Obviously every mission is different, but it was comforting to know how some things might work. Man, I am just so excited to get down there!
Spiritual Though.
This week a lot of things happened that I could talk about individually, but a common theme seemed to emerge when thinking of it all. Challenges. Last week, my home stake had Trek, which I didn’t attend to but my sister and many of the youth in my ward did. Even though Sunday was the 4th, many of the testimonies were about Trek and the incredible experiences they had during it. I love this. Ever since I went on Trek a few years ago I learned how difficult challenges are one of the best tools for spiritual conversion. However, the condition on spiritual growth during these events is *how we react to these challenges.* Taking Trek as example, whether a person complains the entire 20 miles, or tries to feel the spirit and work with all their might, will determine what happens to their testimony. We can take these bad situations and look at them as a way to fulfil our purpose, to become closer to Christ.
Pictures!
1. We met with some missionaries in the field, Elder Solís and Elder Yost 2. District Photo! From left to right: Elder Reading, Elder Payne (my comp), Hermana Hulse, Elder Price, Me, Hermana Ence, Hermana Curtis. 3. We played a kahoot to practice our Spanish and this was the picture we took after!
