MTC Week 3

Hello Family (and whoever else is blessed with my emails ;) ),

First of all, thank you for all your letters, love, and prayers.

We are currently learning the second lesson, which is the Plan of Salvation, and I am truly grateful for my family and bear testimony of that every time I teach.

This week has flown by as well. Bien hecho (well done) to Ben on bearing your testimony. Our second day in the MTC we learned to bear our testimonies in Spanish and were challenged to share it a certain number of times. Each time I do, my testimony grows. Ben, I am glad that you are looking forward to serving a mission. I have never before felt so uplifted and blessed. This is truly His work.

Congratulations to Emma on the engagement. The blessings of the temple are real. Today as I sat in the celestial room, I felt Heavenly Father's love so strongly. There are challenges being here, but the frequent presence of the Spirit put things quickly back into perspective.

Last week at the Tuesday Evening Devotional we heard from Bishop Richard C. Edgely of the Presiding Bishopric. He had a great message that even if we just plant the seed as missionaries, the Lord's work will go forth and though we may not see the fruits that seed will reap, they are many. Sister Edgely also shared a story that I loved about Joseph B. Wirthlin- the catchphrase is "don't worry Joseph, you'll go into it". I don't have time to tell the story, but search www.lds.org for it.

Oh, weird thing happened last week- I went to the copy center to have something done and the girl at the desk was Kelsey Brems- Paul's younger sister that I had bonded with while in Arizona. That was a little awkward.

We had our first TRC experience- where we are evaluated in a teaching assignment with simulated setups and volunteers that pretend to be investigators. It was a little nerve-wrecking to do the door contacting but it went smoothly. (That was in Spanish) We taught the first lesson and had practiced that so many times that it went very well. My district likes to spend time at the Referral Center which is an inbound/outbound call center where you can process investigator's requests for a free Book of Mormon or Lamb of God Dvd or whatever it was on the commercial. It is a great opportunity to share your testimony as you ask if they'd be willing to have the missionaries deliver it. Just two days ago I talked to an Evangelical man that wanted the Finding Faith in Christ DVD. I got him to agree to the missionaries after bearing my testimony of the Savior's role in my life and the special message they will bring that He Lives.

We continue to have fun experiences in my class/district. My teacher from Honduras used the word "bamboozler" once because he had found it in the dictionary. We tease him about it daily.

Fast Sunday was great. We watched the First Presidency Christmas Broadcast- I know that mom said you guys couldn't make it but did anyone else see it? It was wonderful. I also especially enjoyed Elder Maxwell's talk in this month's Ensign. Everyone, read it.

After Sunday evening devotionals we have movie night. You get to choose from a random selection of 4 movies/talks. This week we went and saw the Testaments. It is better and better every time. It is like our Friday night of fun because we get to go out to the movies.

Haha. My zone leader that just left for San Fran was from Chantilly and he was excited to hear about Rae going to the Oakton dances because he was the DJ for the dances up until 9 weeks ago when he reported to the MTC.

Unfortunately I am not allowed to call home for Christmas because the MTC does not have the means to have 2000+ missionaries call home. I hope everyone is getting in the Spirit of La Navidad. Christmas is a nice reminder that we should have Christ at the center of our lives.

I hope all is well- Dad, how are you?! Mom keep working hard. I appreciate everything you do. The Lord will provide a way if we have faith, work hard and do our part. I am working hard. Let Sister Gaskin know I write in that missionary journal every night. It is great to look back on all of the Spiritual experiences I have had over just 3 weeks. Miriam, Clarissa, Emma, Rae, Ben- I love you guys, the scriptures are wonderful and prayer is always the answer. I have come to know that and am very thankful. I am so happy for all of the missionary work in the ward, it sounds like there is much going on. I will try and write as many letters as I can. Oh, and I have pictures this week so look for them in the mail!

I love you all,

Your missionary-

Camille