Week 5 - Last week in the MTC, Getting ready to fly to Chile!

Last Week in the CCM.  So like my title says, it’s my last week here :( I feel like the time has gone by so fast!  But I’ve loved every single second here!!!  This week we have so many meetings about travel plans, continuing goals in the mission and things like that, so it’s finally real! CRAZY!  Does it feel like I’ve been out for over a month to you guys? Cause I feel like this should be my second week…

So really quick, this is my talk that I was going to give on Sunday if I got called on, but I didn’t so I’m just going to share it with you!

Yo quiero leer les la storia del hombre sabio y el hombre imprudente. (Matthew 7:25-27). I want to read the story of the wise man and the foolish man.  La Apostacia personal es mismo siendo el hombre imprudente. The personal apostacy is the same as the foolish man.  Tenemos un pía en el Evangelio, pero cuando el viento de la duda y la llubia del temor aparecen; nos damos por vencidos, porque es muy dificel. We have a foot in the gospel.  But when the winds of doubt and the clouds of fear appear we give up because it's difficult.  

Entonces, se no somos como el hombre imprudente, tenemos que ser el hombre sabio... cierto? Therefore, I know we're not like the foolish man.  We need to be like the wise man.  Right?  Bueno, buscamos algunos atributos que los profetas dicen que los haran sabios. Hense, we look to develop the attributes the prophet's tell us we should be.  El dicionario de la Biblia dice "teniendo paciencia, siendo amable, amando, serviendo a otros, y teniendo el espiritu con nosotros."  The Bible Dictionary says we should have patience, charity, love, and service to others and have the spirit with us.  

Cuando yo pienso en estos atributos, yo pienso en Capiten Moroni. When I think of these attributes, I think of Captain Moroni. En Alma 48:17 dice... Como podemos ser como Capitan Moroni y ser un hombre sabio? In Alma 48:17 it says, how can we be like Captain Moroni and be a wise man.  Como podemos evitar tener una apostacia personal? How can we avoid having a personal apostasy?  Necesitamos ser firmes en nuestros creencias y construir noestro fundamento en el Evangelio de Jesucristo. We need to be firm in our beliefs and build a foundation in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Uno camino nosotros podemos hacer esto es leer dilijentemente las escrituras. A path that we can take is to read diligently the scriptures.   And then go on to bear my testimony!

Anyways, something cool I didn’t know that I now do is that once someone is baptized as an adult, they can go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead!  I didn’t know that, I thought they had to wait a year!!! For guys, they have to wait until they receive the aaronic priesthood, but still, that is soo cool!

This week has been really hard for me emotionally because I’m pushing myself even harder than before, so I’m memorizing one scripture a day about an attribute of Christ (patience, love, charity, faith, etc) and then I’m memorizing 30 words, reviewing a tense that has been previously taught and trying to master one new one. Write a loving note to someone, volunteer for everything, speak solo espanol for every word I can, and if I don’t know a word, look it up or change my sentence to a different word, and read out loud from El Libro de Mormon 1 chapter, along with all of my classes, regular scripture study, and all that jazz.. it’s been crazy! I’ve had a couple different breakdowns, but usually only at night.  But I haven’t been hungry lately and I haven’t been sleeping well, and I’ve been close to tears for about... the past week so I’m talking with Hermana Burton (the counselor here) tomorrow to see why I’m like this! Cause I’m not really more stressed than I usually am.. But I also got a blessing yesterday so that should help too!

One thing that my district has started doing this week is "The hot seat" which is.. one person is it for the time being and we start with a prayer, then people go around and talk whenever prompted and say something that we’ve noticed they are really good at or something that we admire about them and it has been such a good experience!

I HAVE MY FLIGHT ITINERARY!!! I leave The CCM Monday at 4 pm, and then board the plane for Chile, Santiago at 6:55... if you want my flight itinerary Email me and I’ll send it to you so that you can track me! But after getting to Santiago, after a 9 hour flight, we have an hour or two layover and customs and such, then we fly to Concepcion!  That’s so crazy!!!  I’m gonna be there so soon!!!

Love you all, I’ll write more if I can think of what else happened!

Dios le ama,

Hermana Williams

So the colorful skirt I’m wearing, yeah, those slits were too high so This Seamstress fixed it!  I’m going to add pockets to a lot of my outfits too! I LOVE sewing now and I wish I had learned more!

So today we had hamburgers for lunch and it was so yummy!!!  My casa is casa 6 and its teal and super cute!  The stickers on my nametag means its my last week. . . and today we had to pack everything and take our suitcases to get weighed so we are now living out of suitcases for the next half a week.

And don’t mind my messy face and hair, I just got done working out for an hour and hadn’t showered yet!

Here is my flight information for my flight to Chile - Latam Airlines LA 0621 Leaving Mexico City at 6:55 PM Lun February 19, Arriving in Santiago, Chile at 6:15 AM Mar, February 20.   Latam Airlaines LA 0203 Leaving Santiago, Chile at 8:33 AM, Arriving at Concepcion, Chile at 9:40 AM that same day.

I need more lavender, I only brought one bottle with me and is already almost gone.  I would love wild orange, vetiver, more clear skin and Immortel, the slim and sassy pills, (the oil tastes nasty) umm.. I think I’m good for peppermint, and all that stuff, but I do have a question about lice.. what oils would be good for 1 getting rid of them or to not getting them in the first place.  Would terrashield be okay to put in shampoo?  I don’t know what else to do to avoid them.. any ideas?  Also, ticks are apparently huge in Chile so I’m praying I won’t get any, because I cried last time I got one!

The food is amazing, but Im really sick of the meat. I’ll usually have a bowl of cereal or a sandwich for breakfast, a salad with something for lunch, and the same for dinner, the meat has gotten to the point that if I smell it I get a little sick, so I’m taking the Digestzen pills now to see if that will help.  But Im still eating, so that’s good!

Usually there’s only half an hour for daily planning..

My suitcases are good, but the red one broke. The handle doesn’t come out anymore, so its kinda a pain, but I’m making it work!

My talk isn’t anything super impressive, it’s just talking about personal apostasy and characteristics we need to develop if we want to stay strong. It’s gotten easier to talk in front of people.  Was my farewell talk really okay? I felt like I didn’t say what I wanted to and I talked with my hands and was funky!

I didn’t know that a newly baptized member could go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead either, but you can! And a new convert who goes to do baptism for the dead and takes their own names are 70% more likely to stay active!

I got a blessing from them last night and I slept pretty good so hopefully that helped!  I also cried for half an hour though, so I was literally drained.  But I slept good!

That’s so cool that Hunter is switching to psychology and wants to be a doing that, Have I told you my thoughts for when I get home?

Thanks :) I’m trying to make my last week better than my other ones and hopefully God will bless me for my efforts!

Also, I just got your letter today!

One of the elders in my district (Elder white) and Hermana Wonnacott LOVE the lord of the rings and hobbit books!

Okay, so Mom, can you tell Sister Bingham in our ward thanks? She wrote me a letter and you labeled it "when you’re having a hard day" and last night I was really struggling, but I was also packing and I read it and it was so amazing! It was exactly what I needed to hear! She was a blessing to me!

Also, there was another lice outbreak in one of the Latina houses so that’s going to be an adventure to avoid again! I’ve heard I’m going to get lice at least once while on my mission.

Bus ride to the temple, our Elders are the best (and we are the best Hermanas because we saved them those spots)

Our district is the best (this is our maestra Hermana Aguirre

There is an Elder Judd, he thinks he is hilarious.

In my district, so in the CCM each new week there’s a new generation.   My generation we had around 40ish new missionaries come to the CCM.  Out of those, my district is one of the biggest.  We have the 5 elders and 7 hermanas, most only have 2 or 4 hermanas and the same number of elders.

Okay, I love you all and I’m signing off!

Next time I email I’ll be in Chile!

Love you all!!! Dios nos ama

-Hermana Williams