The closing of a chapter

Hola! I am writing on Saturday rather than Tuesday to give you a quick update about travel plans. I report to the Reception Building at the CCM at 9:30 Monday morning and will be picked up around 10 A.M. along with the 6 American missionaries going to my mission, along with 2 Latina Hermanas and 7 Latino Elders. There are 15 of us total, 7 Americans and 8 Latinos. Every one in my CCM district leaves early in the morning before I wake up so I will be saying goodbye to all of them Sunday night except for my companion -- I will be waking up a little before 3 A.M. to walk her to Reception and someone else will then walk back with me to my casa. Those of us going to the Southeast Mission will be picked up by someone from the mission home (hopefully Presidente and Hermana Stutznegger!) in a van (or something like that). After that I have no idea what will happen, but that´s the information I have for now! Super exciting!

I love my district so much. We have had the best of times and the worst of times, as to be expected when you spend 16 hours a day in a classroom with them, but they are great and I love them a lot! One of the many things I have learned here is that everyone has something to offer, no matter where they come from, or what their personality is. The fact is that they all made the choice to serve the Lord for 18 or 24 months. I am looking forward to keeping in touch with them and will see Elder Mabey and Elder Helvey at BYU in 2017. Elder Mabey lived in B9 in Helaman Halls this last year and I didn´t even know it! Small world. I write in my journal every day and look forward to sharing more with you about the many wonderful things that I learned here in the CCM as time goes by. The history and Spirit here is incredible.

Quick response to your question about the blue thing on my tag. Starting week 5 in the CCM we start "solo español" where we can only talk in Spanish during class. We did pretty well...haha...it is easy to forget to talk in Spanish all the time and my brain was fried after the first 3 hours of it but it was pretty fun! Anyways, the sticker just said "solo español" on my name tag.

Our last day with our awesome morning teacher, Hermano Hurtado. He was our first "investigator" Jesús, before he was our teacher. After he became our teacher he also became our second investigator, Gabriel. Gabriel was very difficult which taught me a lot of patience and helped me realize that not every person that I teach is going to just smile and accept the Gospel in the first lesson. I had some great experiences with him though. In fact, it was during a Friday morning lesson with him that I followed the Spirit and recounted the First Vision by memory and Spanish flowed from my mouth. I could see the change in his face as I did so. Since then whenever I talk he pays close attention and smiles when I share my testimony. It was an amazing experience. I will miss Hermano Hurtado but he lives in the East Mission right next door to my Mission so maybe I will see him!

Goofing around. We are such an attractive bunch. More about Hermano Hurtado -- he served in northern Mexico, has been back for a little over a year, and is married to the girl he baptized before his mission. He laughs and rolls his eyes at us Americans a lot but I think deep down he really does love us.

I wish I had better pictures with her but this is our afternoon teacher, Hermana Perez. SHE IS AMAZING. Oh my goodness I love this lady! She has been our teacher from the beginning and has been our other investigator, Estefania. I have learned so much from teaching her, especially how to comfort and use the scriptures when teaching. I have had some very special experiences with her. Hermana Perez served in Mexico Torreo, I think, and has been back for probably a little over a year. She is so spiritual, but also very fun, and I love her to death! I am about to go say goodbye to her which I don´t like :(

This was taken earlier this week but, sadly, today was our last day of sand volleyball. Boy have we had some good times out there. The sand has helped burn off some of the athlete´s foot on my feet haha which, by the way, I have been treating lately with the spray and powder you sent with me. It is getting better. The mixture of rain and wet shoes are the perfect recipe for a little athlete's foot fun. TMI? :)

Giant moth outside the front door of my casa, just chilling. It was probably a little bigger than my palm.