Excessive bathroom and drinking fountain usage is a sin :)

Provo Temple

Dear Family,

It is great to hear from you! You guys should send more letters though! It is like getting some sort of extra bonus at the end of the day and everyone hopes they get one! Use Dear Elder while I am here and it’s printed off the same day! If others want to use dear Elder make sure they include their addresses so I can write them back!

 As for your questions, do I have my visa? No, I have not and I don’t know if I’ll have it by my leaving date which is the 23^rd of February. They will send people to my class once they have information about it or if I need to meet with someone about it.

 I get to go to the temple on Pdays which are Friday and our first official one is this coming Friday. But I am hopping we are going to get to go because Elder Reynolds forgot his temple recommend and hasn’t got a new one yet. He only has tomorrow to get it too because we have got to be at the temple at a 6 am session.

 I have seen quite a few people I know! I saw Connor Andreason a lot but he left today. I have seen Kevin Hales a lot and he’ll be here just as long or longer than me. I’ve seen Nicholas and he is only here until Tuesday.

 I’ve seen people I don’t know quite as well like Brianna Lago, Cassidee Steadman and another Elder whose name I can’t recall at this moment. Also I got the great opportunity to see Mason today, he just got here! I can’t wait to catch up with him!

 Edgar was an investigator of our teacher Hermano Wood. He is playing the part of Edgar based on his experiences with him and how he thinks he would respond. We actually got him to accept our invitation to be baptized! I was very excited and the Spirit was very strong. It’s incredible how you can feel the Spirit when you are teaching a fake investigator. It has been an extra cool experience because we haven’t had Hermano Wood as a teacher yet, only an investigator. It will be weird when we start teaching Hermano Tidwell because he has been our teacher this whole time.

 That’s scary that Emily is driving, just stay off the sidewalks! Haha j/k! That was a great story me and my companions laughed about it.

 I am so excited to hear about Jarom and Alex having a baptism date!!! You will have to congratulate them for me! That is amazing news!

 I thought I would tell you about my companions a little. Elder decker is very soft spoken for the most part. He knows ALL the scripture mastery. He played soccer and was in choir. Elder Reynolds is a thespian. He was also in choir. He is extremely good at Spanish. One of my companions is a stickler for the rules. Sometimes too much, like when he announced he was going to start keeping track of mine and my other companion’s bathroom and drinking fountain usage because he thought it was excessive. (I guess using the bathroom more than once a day is a sin or something, ha ha).

Since it has taken so long to write this and tomorrow is Pday I will write more in my email! Thanks for the letters and love you guys lots!

 Elder Pickle

Elder Pickle and Elder McMillon 

Elder Pickle's District

Elder Pickle and Elder Andreason

 

 This is Cameron’s email he sent us on Friday. We need a translator!

 The Phil'sosophys were great! The people in my District thought they were great too! That is so funny that Foster says that he is extra tough because he has an extra rib, haha that sounds exactly like something he would say! You'll have to ask him for me if that makes it so that he has extra styles now. That is awesome that Asher and Gavin had a great time with getting the tickets! I remember how you would spend all your tokens trying to get a lot of tickets to get something cool but they were all in the 100,000 or so range, haha

Aprendieno el idioma estaba bien. Yo apreniendo mucho coso, sabe? (Apperently in Argentina they end a lot of their sentances with coso, sabe?, haha) Yo se que Jesucristo es el salvador y redentor del mundo y sufrio por nuestros pecados. Yo se que Jose Smith es una propheta de Dios. Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es la verdad. Yo he visto el espiritu santo testificar a investagadores la verdad de esta evangelio!

That is awesome that Nathan got the Terrific Kid award! He is a pretty terrific kid! And tell Emily that she has to break 30sec tomorrow; I know she can do it! Tell her she can go Jackal style and then since she will be invisible start from the other side of the pool and only swim a 25 and have the fastest 50 time ever! She might want to try to do so on a not-Thursday though.

That is awesome to hear that Harmony is pregnant! I can't believe that I'll have to miss out on meeting two of my cousins now though! hijelo! pero esta bien, esta la trabajado de Dios que esta muy importante. You will have to let me know what she is having when you find out!

My time is very limited today so I have to wrap it up but I love you guys and please send letters, we always say it's like getting gold or winning the lottery here when you have them!

Love you guy’s lots!

Help the bed or bless the house? (Ayudo el cama o Abendigo el casa)

Hey! how are you guys doing? As it turns out we got a half Pday today to do laundry and we can use the email while we are here. So after I sent my letter we were interviewed by our Branch President, President Dennis. He selected the District Leaders for our branch and I was selected as the District Leader for our district and Elder Hobbins was selected to be the District Leader of the other district in our branch. Yesterday was a good day overall, It started out not so great. In the morning we went to class for three hours and we were speaking in only Spanish. This was quite difficult especially because we have two people who are really good at Spanish in our District. Elder Reynolds my companion and Hermana Thomas. I was starting to get discouraged with the class for the day and rather tired. After class we were able to have gym time but the gym was closed because a fire alarm was pulled in the main building so we had to do personal fitness in our residence hall. After this we went back to class for personal study time. We have a lot we have to do in our personal study time like we were challenged to read the white bible by Sunday (which our companionship has finished) and we have to prepare a talk in Spanish in case we are called on to speak on Sunday. This weeks topic is rather difficult for me in Spanish we are assigned to speak on enduring to the end. I hope that I don't have to speak this week.
After personal study we had a little time longer to prepare to teach our first investigator which we had to do in Spanish. It was rather difficult and I felt like I wasn't able to say that much especially with Elder Reynolds there because he knows it so well that he just spoke most of the time. I think at one point I said by accident to help the bed instead of bless the house. Ayudo el cama, instead of, Abendigo el casa, haha. I have a lot of work to do with Spanish but I am learning a lot everyday. I definitely know more than I thought and we speak only Spanish in class unless we start talking about really complex things then we switch to English for a few sentences to explain those things. It was after this that the day started to get good.
Hermano Painter started talking to us about how teaching Edgar went. We told him that he didn't really open up and that we needed to work harder to that. Then Hermano Painter told us to think of the movie Hitch. He said that just like in the beginning of the movie Hitch tried to ask out the girl and he said that she would never give him the time of day and so they would each go on with their live and be just fine but then as he got to know here his feelings changed. By the end he throws himself on her car to try to be with her and tells her that fine isn't good enough, that he wants extraordinary. He told us that we need to get Edgar to get a taste of the gospel because right now he is fine in his life and happy with that but once he finds out about how extraordinary his life could be with the gospel he will start to seek it out on his own and want to learn more on his own. Hermano Painter is very smart and eloquent. He seems to have a lot of analogies that can really put things into perspective. He told us that President Hinkley said that there was something wrong with the missionary system that we had. He said that Elders were going and and being human recording devices and memorizing the lessons and regurgitating them back and a high number of them would become inactive after their missions. He said that because of this we need to focus on three things in the MTC. The third being the language and the teaching skills, the second being learning and planning, and the very most important thing we need to learn here is to have a greater conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He told us that we shouldn't worry about struggling with the language because that will come to us as we progress. He said that the only thing we need to focus on is becoming more converted to the gospel every day. He said that We shouldn't worry about how much Spanish we know but to learn more each day and that is what we need to do. I think that that really helped me because I was starting to wonder how I was going to do because the others seem to know Spanish considerably better than me.
I have prayed to Heavenly Father to help me learn Spanish better and I know that he hears and answers our prayers and I feel as if I can already recall the correct verb or conjugation that I am looking for much more quickly. Today we are teaching Edgar again and I hope to be a bigger part of the lesson and talk more so that I can practice my Spanish. Hermano Noltemeyer told us to think of a foreign exchange student who has first come to the United States. For the most part they are very nice and sincere but their language may not be perfect. While they may not have proper grammar or sometimes use incorrect verbs they can still easily make friends because they are so kind. He said the key to making people open up isn't to speak the language perfectly but is to be sincere and open up to them. He told us that in the last area of his mission he was talking to an investigator for a half hour on all the medical and just secular reasons why he should stop using cocaine and was unsuccessful but when his companion said to stop using it in his broken Spanish the investigator said he would. This was because he was very sincere and he had the spirit with him when he said it.
I am so grateful for you guys and love you all very much. I miss you very much. I know that this is where I am supposed to be but it doesn't make me miss you any less. I can't wait to hear back from you guys! I should be able to email you again next Friday, I believe that is our next Pday!

Don't cry for me Argentina. My mom already does that!

When Cameron gave his farewell talk a few Sundays back he said, “My mom loves to cry.” I don’t know if I love to cry but lately I sure cry a lot. The day we dropped Cameron off at the MTC was no different. We took him out to lunch before dropping him off and he chose Cafe Rio. This was a mistake, every other missionary being dropped off that day must have had the same idea and so there were 10-12 missionaries and their families there eating their last meal together for a while. Then as each missionary got up to go you could see out the window in the parking lot where they would spend time taking pictures and saying goodbye, A very emotional thing each time. So when it was our turn I was already a wreck, we spent some time talking and hugging because I knew when we got to the MTC it would be quick. As we were pulling into the MTC it was so great to see all the missionaries there. They were cheering and just so excited for these new missionaries to arrive. As we pulled up to the spot designated for us to drop Cameron off, there was a missionary there waiting for him. This missionary opened the door for me and then Cameron and then helped Dave unload Cameron’s luggage. I gave Cameron a hug and told him how much I love him, then it was Dave’s turn to do the same. The sweet missionary who was there to help Cameron kept giving me words of encouragement the whole time, “This is where he is supposed to be, This is the hardest part it will get easier.” Then it was time for Cameron to walk away, I wanted to give him one last hug but I could see that he was trying to keep his tears in check so I decided I would be a good mom and just let him go. When Dave and I got back in the car and drove away neither of us could restrain the tears. Dave called this drop off the band-aid. Quick short and painful. 
I wanted to share with you the realization that I came to this week. We dropped our oldest son Cameron off at the MTC this week where he begins his two year mission serving the Lord. This was a very difficult experience for me, I love him so much, I am his mother, I can’t imagine spending the next two years of his life and my life without each other. I know this is what he should be doing and where he should be and nothing else will give him the same experiences and help his testimony to grow more. The days leading up to this event were very difficult and I found myself having a harder time each day. I went to my Heavenly Father in prayer and asked Him to help me to have peace. Right away I felt this overwhelming love and understanding from my Heavenly Father. The love I expected but the understanding wasn’t something I had expected. Then I sat and pondered what that might mean. I thought of how much I will miss Cameron the next few years and how worried I am that he will be safe and happy. I started thinking how our Heavenly Father must feel as He sends His children to earth. I am sure He feels the same way I do each time. He knows this is where we need to be and where our testimonies can grow but He knows how much He will miss us and worries that we will be safe and be good. I know that exchanging letters with Cameron on his mission will be my life line in keeping us close and  I know if a letter is late or he can’t write for some reason that week it will break my heart and I will worry more. Our Father in Heaven must feel the same way, when we don’t take the time to communicate with Him in prayer I am sure He is worried and broken hearted. I have also seen other parallels in this experience. I am sending Cameron to Argentina trusting that his mission “Dad and Mom” (Mission President and wife) will take care of him and when they are not around the good people of Argentina will be there for him. I know when we are sent to earth our Heavenly Father is entrusting us to our Mom and Dad and hoping that if they can’t or won’t take care of us that there are other good people along the way to do it. I am counting down the days, already, until I will see Cameron again and be able to hug him and just be near him. I know this is how our Heavenly Father feels as well, He is waiting for that time again when He can give us a hug and be with us. This experience has helped me to realize just how much our Heavenly Father loves each of us. I love this quote from President Benson. He said, “Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and familiar his face is to us.” (Jesus Christ-Gifts and Expectations in Speeches of the year 1974 Provo)

And so it begins!

Cameron opened his mission call on October 31st. His entire extended family was there to support him. We were excited to find out that he was going to the Resistencia Argentina Mission!