MTC Week 9

Hola Familia!

Thank you for the package Mom. You are so thoughtful!I just got it and had a few minutes to try on the clothes. I love a couple of the items. We're not allowed to chew gum as missionaries though. How much time is on the phone card? Who shall I call- who will be home?

I received my flight plans on Friday so here it is-I will leave Provo at 6am on Wednesday, January 28th. I am flying directly from SLC to IAH (Houston Internt'l) on Delta flight 4580 that leaves at 10:04am and arrives at 2:12 pm. I received a letter from my mission president today saying that he will be there waiting when I arrive. There are 8 of us going to the Houston Mission that day and I am the travel leader. Hna. Hollenbaugh and I, as well as the two elders that were in our district when we arrived, are all Spanish Speaking and then there are 2 English speaking sisters and 2 English speaking elders. We have a goal to arrive in Houston with 5 referrals to give to our mission president when we arrive. I am so excited.

I would like to call and talk to everyone that is available. If Miriam, Emma, and Clarissa, or anyone else are able to arrange a phone conference or some other way we can all talk- Dear Elder me the plan- otherwise I will just call home and talk to Mom, Dad, Rae, and Ben and then try the other sisters as time permits. I hope to talk to everyone!

Half of my district is gone this week. Elder Johnson already left for Tampa and Elder Halls and Elder Bost leave tomorrow really early for LA. I will miss them a ton. We had a testimony meeting as a district Sunday night. The spirit was very strong and it was very obvious we had all grown very attached and developed a deep love for each member of the district.

I was at a teaching evaluation with Hna. Hollenbaugh and there were two elders waiting outside the door. One was named Elder Tryon. I asked if he had family in Arizona. He said yyyyess. He grandma is Clara Mae. Very weird. Also I looked and looked for Thomas all week and finally yesterday decided to go to the front desk and ask if I could have his classroom number. They said they couldn't give it out even though we're cousins. They did tell me that his lunch hour was just before mine so Hna. Hollenbaugh and I rushed to the cafeteria as soon as class got out and as I was going in the doors I hear the elder holding the door open say "Camille!... I mean Sister Blanco." Haha. It took his comp a few minutes and a few questions to understand how we could be related. Haha. He will do great here. A lot of people I know just left for Argentina.

Probably the biggest thing this week was our visit by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland again! We are so blessed. He loves the missionaries. He came Tuesday night and talked a lot about things that really struck me. He started by saying that you wi8ll never again do anything more important than the mission because the salvation of a single soul is more important than anything in the universe. Don't serve anything less than an 18 month mission. He said to think of your little brother (i thought of Benhamin of course) who doesn't know what you do as a missionary but probably imagines you to have a cape flying above the city of Houston saying "I see evil, I will go down!" Haha. We are angels, messengers of the covenant and the ward members we will become friends with have every right to thing that we are angels- perfect. Elder Holland said very powerfully, "Do it for them. Don't you dare disappoint them. Don't you dare."

Ben- I don't dare disappoint you. So I will serve my best. He said- Be committed. We owe it to that next generation to set a good example and inspire them to serve. Also he said we should work so hard that we are carried in on a stretcher through the chapel doors that are only used for funerals to give our farewell talk. If you run the perfect race you give it your all and have nothing left. You hit the tape and crash. He then proceeded to talk about how missionary life should be spent first in the scriptures and then in preach my gospel. He told a story of Elder Wallace in Toronto who did not accept no for an answer when knocking doors in Czechoslovakia. He was appropriately assertive like the Avon lady and taught to this one lady's needs. He said there are no memorized discussions about war torn Czechoslovakia. Just as Russell M. Nelson knows heart surgery. We should know the scriptures.- So people will trust us with their life- their salvation. He posed the question- why does it have to be so hard? (missionary work that is) He bore solemn testimony of the Atonement and the suffering that Christ did for us in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said salvation has never been a cheap experience and we will not even experience a fingernail of what Christ experience but how can we be witnesses of the Savior if we do not experience even a piece of what he experienced. In the words of King Benjamin- how can we worship someone that has never entered the thoughts of our hearts. As he gave it all- we can give a little and do it courageously without compromise.

I plan to come into the chapel on a stretcher- hit the tape and crash because I gave it my all and ran the perfect race. This is true for life too.

I love you all and miss you sisters, brother, Mom, and Dad, dearly.

Love, Camille