KNOXVILLE HERMANA: October 3, 2013 -- Last week of Training at CCM

October 3, 2013 -- Last week of Training at CCM

Don't know why I can't get these pictures to rotate... send any advice.

HOLA!! Como Estas?? Estoy MUY bien! I loved all your letters, Dad sounds like its going awesome--praying for you, Mom I miss ya keep up the great work! I looovveedd the email and all the pictures, Jonny! ESP the rent a puppy one! :) Tell Bri thanks for taking them :) Oh and my teacher is moving into Glenwood next week so if you meet a Hermano Wolfe, tell him hello! (haha I dont know his first name)

The last week at the CCM de Mexico has been great so far. First of all, its been sunny with a high of 75 cada dia, which has been sublime for frisbee and volleyball! But other than that, Spanish has been coming along better, especially in lessons. And we have been getting to know a lot of the native workers around the campus, it is soo fun to get to know them (And doesnt hurt when our amigos Alejandro y Fernando dar nos el helado despues almuerzo!) Also a new district arrived this week that our district immediately bonded with, so thats been great. I will miss it here, I feel so blessed to have the oppurtunity to come train for the mission field in Paradise :). By the way I am going to call you guys sometime on Tuesday on my way to Knoxville, so look out for an email on Monday telling you what time Ill be calling! Gracias!

One of the cool experiences from this week has been finishing with our investigators... Luz was one of them. When we first started teaching her, she was a very depressed soul who didnt believe anything we told her, and at least I as a missionary was not exactly the best either--Literally, in one of the first lessons I'd told her that we'd answer her questions after we were finished with our message!! HA and looking back, it seems crazy I did that, but I was just learning I guess. As our lessons became more from the heart and we started going in without notes, SHE decided to trust God more, and find out for herself if our message was true. Even though Luz is really our teacher, every time we went into that room it felt SO real. Before we went into our last lesson with her on Monday, I wrote in my journal "I am about to go teach Luz. It is a moment like this where I feel the gravity of my calling. My calling is to bring others unto Christ, but it is so hard and yet so amazing BECAUSE everyone has Agency." I then ran across a scripture, Ether 12:41, about coming to Christ. Then I wrote "Am I really coming to Christ for myself though? I want Luz to experience El Evangelio, but am I Converting myself? Am I coming closer to God every single day?" I concluded that I could do a whole lot better, but then I went in to teach her trusting in the Lord. As we began to teach the spirit filled the room and we were able to feed off of each other, and when she accepted a baptismal date for a week later, it was so strong! Like I said, even though she wasnt a real person in that moment, it felt so real that we'd made a change in someones life, and so I can't imagine how it will feel out there in the actual mission field--I bet that x10.

Today we had the oppurtunity to attend the temple. This was my third session in Spanish, and I was amazed at how much I understood! And the temple is amazing as well in the way that we can realize things and recieve revelation while there. The Spirit is real! I want to bear my testimony to you that I know this church is true, and I know God lives! Striving to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ will bring happiness. I am brought to repentance so often, it seems, but thats part of being human, and keeps us humble. I have to constantly being willing to change, and repent, and change again. Change is hard but it makes us grow, so I'm glad I get to experience changing my whole life by leaving this lovely place to the real campo misional next week! Keep being amazing, I love you all!!

Con MUCHO carino,

Hermana Collier