Semana 3

Hola to my beautiful family! This week at the CCM (which, for my lady MICHELLE, means centro capitación de misioneros, or AKA MTC) has been quite like every other week here, though things finally feel  like they are clicking! I´ve found that I love personal study time and get a lot of inspiration through that. We did a group "personal study" with our district in which we asked a lot of questions and then searched for the answers. There´s something about starting with a question that gets the spirt flowing. There has been some good stuff that has happened, too! Me and my companions have been teaching Raquel, and we´ve finally started to get the hang of teaching "people" not "lessons." We taught her about how the gospel can help her to become clean from her sins and change her life. I didn´t know if I would invite her to be baptized or not but all of a sudden the spirit was so strong that I asked (in perfect spanish :)) and she accepted! It was the best feeling I almost broke down and cried right in front of her. We left the lesson feeling so good, but almost feeling "now what?" haha we teach her again tomorrow, so it will be good to continue to see her progress. We also had the opportunity to teach some natives from here in Mexico in what's called TRC. We taught 3 young women about prayer and it was a great experience :) I felt so excited to actually get out in the field and start teaching real people!

 

The weather here continues to be surprisingly cold. Lots of rain. Last week I had left some clothes out to dry on the line and a huge rainstorm that night left them not so dry... haha It was a funny experience, even if I had to re-wash them all. It's funny some of the things you miss. For example, I went to the tienda the other day and they had a bag of laundry soap that smelt SO GOOD!!! I had to buy it just to put it in my closet to make my clothes smell good. It reminded me of the smell of our house. The other soap here is just kind of blah (a little like the food.... haha) I love being here in Mexico though. The culture here is so different. Last Saturday they were having a HUGE street concert just outside our boundaries that kept us up all night! It was fun at first though because we haven't heard actual music for a while. My district was outside playing a game for language study and we couldn't help but dance around to the Spanish style music.

 

Typical day here at the CCM. Wake up at 6:30, try to talk in spanish but end up just not talking, breakfast at 7:15am, Personal Study for an hour, then depending on the day we´ll teach a progressing investigator, then we´ll do Language Study as a class which usually just ends with the district having their brains fried and being unable to focus... haha, then it's coaching where our teacher helps us with specific things we need as a companionship (if you didn´t catch that, it´s a 5 hour block where we´re in a classroom.... kind of rough!) After lunch (finally...), we do TALL which means technology assisted language learning where we can record our voices and play it back and then listen to native spanish speakers say the same thing. It´s helped a ton with pronunciation! After that we have a 1/2 hour of additional study and then more language study.... Which usually means me and my companions go outside to sit on the grass and do some grammar work and then read the Book of Mormon out loud in Spanish. Then we have a glorious 50 minutes of gym time!!! It helps to run or cycle after sitting for so long. After that we have Dinner, another progressing investigator (or TRC), a lesson from our night teacher and more coaching.... Then back to the casa for shower, journal and then bed at 10:30!!! Quite the day no? But it´s nice to stay busy. It keeps my mind off of missing my loved ones back at home too much! Though that part is still hard.

 

Me and Hermana Barney are still on our parasite pills. We should be done taking them within the  next few days. I haven't felt too sick, just a few waves. I've dropped 5 pounds in the last week which  isn't that much, but considering the way they feed us I was surprised! Hopefully once we´re done with the pills we´ll be back on track :) Hermana Barney has also had a pretty bad cold on top of it, but the elders in our district were able to give her a blessing. It was awesome! It was the first time some of them had ever given a blessing, yet they did it all in Spanish! And, they even said some things that didn't relate to her sickness that had been weighing on her mind. It's amazing how the spirit works.

 

Some crazy news that I just received in an email.... I will now be serving as the mission nurse for BOTH the san pedro sula east AND the san pedro sula west missions...... WHAT????! Crazy.... crazy.... crazy..... I'll try not to get overwhelmed, but that's almost 500 missionaries combined (if not more). I'm definitely going to be needing some help from the other side! It'll be nice to actually get out in the field and see how it will work. I haven't even had much chance to think about the nursing side of things, except for on the few occasions I go on splits with Hermana Berrett and her companion Hermana Lyman and go talk to the doctor about different medical stuff. I'm ready to get out there!

 

Well family, I love you all. I hope you´re doing well. I miss you, love you and pray for you every day! Until next week!

 

Hermana Angilyn Bennett

Angilyn's District - Mexico Temple - Pday

Para mi familia - Semana numero 2!

Buenas dîas mi familia! I hope you are all doing well. Just want you to know that I think about you daily and that I pray for you morning and night! It's weird to say I've only been here for two weeks... It feels like months.... but it`s been an amazing experience already with lots of ups and downs. I promise this email won`t be as long as last weeks.... haha

 





With Hermana's Barney and Despain



Mexico City Temple

So last P-day my district was able to go to the Mexico City temple and do a session completely in Spanish! It was an amazing experience. It was a little intimidating to have to understand and do everything completely in Spanish, but the cool thing is that the church and the ordinances are the same everywhere in the world. The workers were very patient and helped us all along :) Something funny, a native companionship asked the driver if they could go to the temple store and were told that they didn't have enough time. They went anyways... so the mission president gave the bus driver permission to leave them there! So.... they had to catch a cab home! That goes to show how important obedience is here. President said that if it happens once, the word will spread, and no one will ever do it again... haha It was incredible to get to leave our little sanctuary here at the CCM to see how Mexico City really is. The roads were crazy like before. This city is jam packed full of little huts, buildings, cars, and people. I`m not sure what the population here is, but someone was saying that it is around 24 million???? Holy smokes! That's like 8 times as much as the whole state of Utah! It was definitely so much different than home. The other night during our last class of the day, there were what sounded like cannon shots/gunshots every ten minutes or so that kept getting closer. It was so loud and hard to concentrate. This happens frequently. Sometimes it}s fireworks, sometimes it`s not.... But at times it wakes me up in the middle of the night. My teacher, Hermana Powell, was telling us an experience she had with one of the workers here. They were walking and talking and she said, "isn`t this place beautiful? it really is a paradise in the middle of chaos. If Mexico City really wanted to get in here, (which they probably do) these fences and barbed wire wouldn`t keep them out" We are definitely protected and safe here. The Lord protects his servants!

The Trio

 



My District

 

 

I still love my companions mucho :) and my district too. We are able to focus and feel the spirit, but at the same time we have our doses of laughter and fun. The other day, we were in the bathroom and I heard Hermana Barney burst out laughing. It turns out that she had put on her skirt over her pajama bottoms in the morning and had forgotten to take them off. She went through half of the day without realizing that she was wearing both a skirt AND pajamas at the same time.... haha we could not stop laughing! It`s moments like that that help us to get through the rest of the day. The days here are super long, but the week seems to go by fast. Also, one thing that has been weird to adjust to is that lunch in Mexico = dinner in USA. Their lunch is the biggest meal of the day!

 

So this past week was a rollercoaster of emotions. I was expecting a mission to be hard, but I wasn`t expecting it to be the degree of difficultness that it has been! One thing that I have noticed is that every little insignificant weakness or insecurity that I had before coming has been magnified 100 times! For example, I`ve always been  my own worst critic, and I have a hard time not being super hard on myself while I am here. Even though its hard, I know that the Lord is giving me an opportunity to really better myself and become the person that he wants me to be. I pray every day for opportunities to practice those things that I am weak in. The last lesson with our first investigator went well, she seemed to open up a little bit, but still not much progress. Once it was over, she actually became our night teacher. (Just as a side note, she is SUPER pretty. It`s fun to watch the elders swoon over her... haha) She took our companionship aside and started discussing with us how the experience had gone from the investigators point of view. She told us that as a teacher, she could tell that we had really prepared and that we were really trying out best, but as an investigator, she felt like we were just coming and reciting a rote presentation and that we hadn`t really connected to her. Because of this, she wasn`t progressing. That was really hard for me to hear, and very humbling. I realized that because of the language barrier, we had been focusing so much on making sure that we knew how to say the things we wanted to say, that we weren`t taking the time to get to know her as a person, and teach her specific to her needs. We would try to take some time at the beginning of the lesson to ask her questions and try to get to know her, but eventually it would turn into an awkward silence because we wouldn`t be able to understand her responses as well. So we would just pray and start the lessons. We`ve been able to have a fresh start with two new investigators now, Raquel and Fernando. There`s a lot more to teaching investigators than I thought! I am learning more and more every day different  principles of teaching that I can apply and it makes me excited to teach again. The hard part is just translating those skills over to teaching in Spanish. Every lesson seems to go better and better. We`re improving, but it`s a slow process. I`m used to picking things up pretty fast at home, so I`m really getting a taste of what it`s like to really STRUGGLE. A lot of times I find myself getting discouraged and thinking, "if i could just tell you the feelings of my heart in ENGLISH!!!" But one thing that I am trying to remember is that the language of the Spirit is universal. Even if my Spanish is broken and mediocre, if I bear sincere testimony of what I know to be true and invite the Spirit to guide my words, then the Spirit will be able to convey to the investigator the things that they need to feel and hear to become converted.

 

So something crazy this past week, everyone has been getting sick! We don`t know if it is that water or the food or what, but it has not been fun. It hit Hermana Barney first and then it hit me a few days ago. SUPER bad stomach pains that would almost make you double over. That night, it just exploded in the CCM. A lot of other Hermanas were telling us that it hit them around midnight. Being the nurse that I am, I decided it would be best to go see the doctor. He thinks it`s most likely a parasite.... Glorious!!! Two weeks in!!

He took some "samples..." (haha) from me and Hna Barney and then some anti-parasite pills to hold us over until they get the results back. It will be interesting to see what exactly is going around.



 Well - I love you all mucho. I love being here and I`m excited to see where the Lord will take me for this next year and a half! It will be hard I`m sure, but I know that this is where the Lord needs me. I hope you have a fantastic week!

 

Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Bennett



Mi casa

The view in front of our Casa

Me and Hermana Knight from my ward at home!
Her mission is Ecuador, Guayaquil West

 



First 10 Days - First email

 



Mexico MTC

   

                      

Church News
Angilyn and other new missionaries checking in
 

Para mi familia bonita   

                                    

Mexico City

Hola mi familia!! I cannot even express how much I have been looking forward to this P-day! This had been the longest 10 days of my life. It feels like it has been months. Thank you for the emails. I`ve really needed some contact with home! Wow... I don`t even know where to start. I guess I will start with describing this BEAUTIFUL place that I get to call home for the next 5 weeks. So... Mexico City is crazy! It seems pretty mellow during the day, but at night it comes alive with sounds of sirens, dogs barking, loud music and the sorts. It is such a busy city. On the bus ride here i was just waiting for our bus to smash into the little cars that drove inches away from us. The roads are really narrow but they still seem to pack as many cars onto them as possible. Here at the CCM we are surrounded by mountains. Crazy, huh? And halfway up the mountains there are houses JAM PACKED together. It`s quite the sight. We have our own little community here, with lots of little houses that we live in. The CCM is on 90 acres of land so we get to walk a lot! It`s been surprisingly chilly here. In the upper 60`s and 70`s. And it RAINS every day around 5-7pm. The first night we got here it was a torrential downpour! I didn’t even think about packing a jacket or anything. The only thing I was thinking about was packing for Honduras, but I wish I would have packed some more cardigans and a jacket. But all is well. I just bundle up with the blankets before I go to bed :) The first week that we were here we had FREEZING showers. As much as I need practice for having cold showers in Honduras, it’s hard to go from cold weather into a cold shower. Luckily they have fixed it since, so I can enjoy some warm showers for the last time! It’s also not as humid as I expected it to be. But it is very lush and green. Lots of flowers, shrubbery, and palm trees. The grass is a little weird. It`s rougher and has these white soft stringy things that grow out of it, and it gets itchy if you sit on it too long. The food here has been interesting. I think they are trying really hard to accommodate for all of these Americans so you can tell they are trying, but some of the concoctions are a little different. For example, they made spaghetti the other night and it had big hot dogs in it. And all the salads have the leftover fruit from breakfast. I`m getting a little sick of cantaloupe.... haha They’ve served tamales and ham sandwiches for breakfast too. But I don`t complain. It’s actually quite good and they feed us well. (but don`t worry Amy, I`ve been very good at not getting any desserts!) Oh and mom.... you were 100% right about papaya.... There was a bright orange fruit that I had never tried, but the second I put it in my mouth I remember what you said papaya tastes like. Yuck! Never again!



                 

                                                                         So, my companions! 

Hermana Despain - Me - Hermana Barney

The first day I got here I got put with Hermana Despain from North Carolina who is going to Honduras SPSE with me. I had been in contact with her for a few months before we left so we were both excited to be companions. After the first day, Hermana Barney from Sacramento, CA joined us to make us a trio! She is going to Provo, UT spanish speaking. Her companion was far more advanced in Spanish so they transferred who to the accelerated class that only stays for 2 weeks. I LOVE my companions. We get along very well and have very similar personalities. We can talk and laugh and be ourselves, we can be really spiritual and learn from each other, and we can cry and be frustrated and not feel judged. I feel like I can be myself around them and we have good communication. The other night, we were trying to say our companionship prayers and we all could not stop laughing. It reminded me of the many family prayers that we have had like that. Where we try to be serious and stop laughing, but the second someone giggles or lets out a chuckle it sends the rest of us into a laughing fit. It made me feel right at home :) haha We also are all similar with our goals in staying healthy. We motivate each other when we are in line for dinner not to get the desserts... haha Some of them are tempting, but others are pretty easy to pass over... haha We also all like to exercise so it`s easy to find something we all enjoy doing and still feel satisfied afterwards. They give us an hour every afternoon to exercise! We always go cycling for the first little bit and then we walk out to this old football field with a track and run. The track is made up of really loose rocks and pebbles so it`s almost like running on a beach. Its a great time of the day for us to really clear our heads and be refreshed. Since we are a trio we get a room and bathroom to ourselves and it`s a lot less crowded.  I also LOVE my district! I`m in district 15E. We`ve all gotten pretty close in this last week. The thing I really like about us is that we can be serious and focused when we need to be, but we can also have fun and laugh together. Those moments are essential for keeping our sanity! The elders in my group are more mature than most, so that is something I am VERY grateful for. We also love to sing Spanish Hymns together acapella style. We sing at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day and it is beautiful. We aren`t allowed to listen to any music whatsoever while we are in the CCM so the hymns have become our only source of musical comfort. I love singing in Spanish. It seems like all the words are more poetically written when translated to Spanish. I`m extremely surprised with how well I am doing with Spanish! It has all come back so quickly. We are in the intermediate spanish class as a district, so the teachers only speak to us in spanish (and sometimes spanglish if we need it). I can understand pretty much everything that they say and I’ve done pretty well with speaking it. My companions and I have made a goal to only speak in Spanish from 6am to one in the afternoon. Every week we are here, we will increase an hour of speaking time. The best way to learn is to speak it! We also read the scriptures and preach my gospel out loud to each other in spanish to help with pronunciation. There is a computer program called TALL that we use for an hour each day that allows us to record our voices and play it back so we can hear ourselves speaking it. Then we can compare it to a native speaking the same sentence. It has been very helpful. We even say all our prayers completely in Spanish. At first they were pretty basic, but now I feel more comfortable in expressing myself fully. I even say my personal prayers in Spanish and so far I haven`t had any trouble with saying what I want to say. I`m telling you... the gift of tongues is so real! As long as we do our part.  





Texas Airport

First companion at the MTC Hermana Despain!
Later we became a trio with Hermana Barney!!

Rain!! Wind!!

So, now I should probably tell you everything that has happened this past 10 days (the loooongest 10 days of my life). When we got to Texas, I met up with a lot of other missionaries for the plane ride down to Mexico. When we got into Mexico there were SO MANY MISSIONARIES!!! Everywhere you turned there
were ladies in skirts and blouses and guys in suits and ties. It was very exciting. When I got to the CCM we headed to the auditorium for a devotional in the pouring rain. Everyone was soaked to the bone. I saw Elder Dial right away and was able to give him some things from home. I also saw my friend from nursing school, Hermana Berrett! 


Hermana Berrett and Me

Even though this place is big, if you know someone here you WILL see them. Either at meals or devotionals or walking on the streets. The first few days here were pretty overwhelming. You get up at 6:30am and hit the ground running! As a district we met our teachers Hermano Clark from Idaho and Hermano Montes from here in Mexico. They are very great! Hermano Montes is so good at bringing the spirit and helping us learn. I was surprised at how much we really dictate our own learning experience while we are here. Even though the schedule is structured, most of the time we are on our own have have to decide for ourselves how to use the time we`ve been given. At first I really struggled with this. I had no idea where to start or even how to start with my studies. As I have prayed for guidance and really tried my best, I have started to notice a pattern and have gotten more comfortable with getting some effective studying in. We prepared to teach our first investigator on Friday! They just really throw you in head first... haha Her name is Andrea and she is from Chile. She didn't believe in God so that was what we focused on for our first lesson. It went really well and I really felt the spirit. It was hard to try and get what you wanted to say across in broken Spanish, but when the Spirit is there is really helps. The next few lessons were tough!! She didn’t seem as receptive and it was really hard to understand her because she is very soft spoken. She just seemed really skeptical and it’s been hard to get through to her. This aspect of the CCM has been the hardest for me. As a companionship we are still getting used to each other’s teaching styles and still trying to get used to the language. Everyone in our district is teaching the same investigator (she’s really just a teacher acting, but it`s amazing how realistic it feels and how much I have really come to care about her). It`s hard because all of the others have already committed her to baptism... yes that’s right to BAPTISM. Yesterday we invited her to be baptized and she turned us down. Holy cow, I have never felt more devastated in my life!! We are all taken aback and didn`t really know what else to do but ask her to pray and see if this is what Heavenly Father wants of her. I walked back to our casa feeling extremely confused, inadequate, and frustrated in myself. But I remembered a quote in preach my gospel that talks about how it`s okay to be devastated when someone doesn’t accept to come to Christ because we love them and we know its true. But at the same time, if I can’t get a fake person to accept baptism than how am I going to get a real person to?!! What are we missing? I feel like I have been praying my guts out  to try to have the Spirit with us while we teach and I feel like the spirit has been guiding me when we prepare for our lesson and while we are teaching, but it just doesn`t work out the way we were hoping. Another part of me feels like we`re doing something wrong. How have all the other elders committed the SAME investigator to baptism and she still hasn`t opened up to the idea with us?? In a way, I`m grateful for this experience because I know that this is going to happen a lot out if the field, but at the same time it’s just a teacher so shouldn’t she be going easy on us?? haha I`m looking forward to getting feedback from her to see why she was being so open to the elders but being so hard on us sisters. I have been praying for humility... so maybe that`s why this is so hard.... whoops :) We shall see. Our last lesson with her is tonight. I need to remember that our purpose as missionaries is solely to INVITE others to come to Christ. Whether they choose to do so or not is up to their own agency.

 

When people say to make it to Sunday, they are SO right. Sunday was just what we needed to make it through another day! You`d be proud of me to. In Sacrament Meeting with my branch, they randomly choose people to give the talks over the pulpit. They give us a topic before and we have to be prepared if we get picked. my companion compared it to the reaping in the Hunger games... haha but since it was my first week I didn’t expect to be chosen. So when they said, "the first person we will hear from is Hermana Bennett," I think I may have gasped out loud.... haha but it went really well! I gave a whole talk about repentance completely in Spanish with little notes :) The spirit here is amazing. It’s incredible to be a part of something so important and so necessary. One of the elders in my district said something that I really liked, "This mission is not MY mission, it`s the Lords. He`s just letting me be a part of it." I think that attitude is something that has really helped me this past week. Yeah it`s hard, really hard. I feel like I`ve had a lifetime jam packed into these past 10 days but I’ve already learned a lot about myself and my testimony has grown so much. I still have such a long way to go, and I feel extremely inadequate.  But I know that I have been called here for a specific reason and that I just need to be myself. I keep telling myself that I don`t want this mission to change who I am as a person, just help me to become a better version of who I already am. The person that Heavenly Father wants me to be. I also get to go to the Mexico Temple today and do a session in Spanish! That will be a little nerve wracking but I need an extra dose of the spirit today.

  

Thank you all for you love and support. I can feel your prayers and they are immensely appreciated! I pray for you daily and miss you like crazy. But I know this time will fly and it will all be worth it! I love you!!!!! I`ll talk to you next week!!

 

Con Amor,

 

Hermana Bennett

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mexico MTC

CCM - Centro de Capacitacion Misional Mexico
Translation - Missionary Training Center Mexico

Angilyn would love to receive letters - she'll be at the MTC for 6 weeks!

New address for the Mexico MTC:

Hermana Angilyn Bennett - Rama 15 Distrito E

Carr. Tenayuca-Chalmita No. 828,

Col. Zona Escolar, Deleg. G.A. Madero,

C.P. 07230, Mexico, D.F.; Mexico

 

 

You can also send a free letter through www.dearelder.com

     Select "Write a Letter"

     Select Mexico MTC from the drop down box

     Fill out complete your complete return address -

     Write your letter

     Hit "Send"

 

 

Set Apart as a Full-Time Missionary

Angilyn was set apart as a full-time Missionary and Nurse Specialist

by President Tate and given a beautiful blessing

August 5th, 2013 

 

 

 


 

Finished packing... 

went to bed by 1:00am and back up at 2:45am

We had to be to the Airport by 4:00am

 Tuesday August 6th, 2013

 

 

 

 

 



Saying good-byes to the family

 

She's on her way!

Angilyn will arrive at the Mexico City MTC
later this afternoon. She'll spend the next 6 weeks
training and studying the Spanish language
before heading to Honduras in September

It has been a blessing to watch Angilyn grow and prepare for this time in her life. 
As we watched her snake through the line before going through security I found myself flooded with memories of Angilyn throughout her life and felt an overwhelming love and gratitude for her - for the beautiful woman she has become and the opportunity to be apart of her life.
We love her and know that this opportunity to serve the Lord
and the people of Honduras for 18 months will be a great experience!
We look forward to hearing about her experiences and sharing them with friends and family. 
As her mother, I am new to this whole blogging experience...
it doesn't come natural to me so I hope I will do it justice for her.

"Missionaries leave their families for a time,
so others may be with theirs for eternity"
 

 

 

 



The Mission Call

My decision to go on a mission didn't come over night. In fact it has been several years in the making! It all started after I had graduated High School and moved away from home to attend college. I've always had a testimony of the church and had spiritual experiences that helped to strengthen that testimony, but after pondering my life and the direction I wanted it to go, I decided that I wanted more. I wanted to be directed more by the Holy Ghost to do those things that my Heavenly Father wanted me to do and be the person that He wanted me to become. I started praying for more opportunities to be an instrument in His hands and to be guided by the Spirit.

Soon came the opportunity for me to work at Oakcrest LDS Girl's Camp for two summers. I was a counselor one year and a first aid specialist the next. These were two of the best summers of my life! This experience gave me the opportunity to spend all my time getting to know my Savior Jesus Christ, my relationship with Him and what He has done for me. Not only did I do that, but I had the amazing opportunity to share that testimony with young teenage girls and see how that knowledge changed them in one simple week. I also got to practice relying on the Spirit completely, because He knew those girls better than I did, and He knew what they needed to hear. 
 

 

 

 



 

Throughout those two years, I also had several experiences in which I felt the Spirit was guiding me in my own life. Who to date and who not to date, changing apartments at the last minute, turning down a job offer that I had been waiting MONTHS to get, etc. These experiences were sometimes really hard, but Heavenly Father always provides a way when he gives us commandments! They helped me to recognize exactly how the Spirit talks to me personally. So, when I started feeling like I needed to serve a mission after my last summer at Oakcrest, I recognized immediately who it was coming from! That doesn't mean I listened right away. In fact I resisted the feeling for several months, justifying that I had just started nursing school and that not every girl is supposed to serve a mission.

 

 

Finally one night, after I had been struggling over this feeling that I was having, I started praying to Heavenly Father and asking for His help. I told Him that I recognized what He was asking me to do, but that I had no idea how it would be possible. I needed Him to show me. A very peaceful feeling came over me and I felt like He was saying, "just keep doing what you're doing, and I will take care of the rest; I will show you when the time is right." So, that's exactly what I did. Except this time around I stopped resisting the idea of actually going. A few months later, I was put with a nurse in a clinical who had just returned from a mission in which she had served as the nurse. I had no idea that sort of mission even existed! Then another 6 months later, President Thomas S. Monson made the announcement that the mission age was being lowered to 18 for guys and 19 for girls. Even though this announcement had nothing to do with me (I'm 22), I felt overwhelmed that now was the time for me to start working on my mission papers. So that's what I did! I made an appointment with my Bishop and got started!

 

Just when I thought I knew the direction my life was supposed to go in, I got thrown another curve ball... However, this curve ball was highly welcomed :) I met Michael in January on a "blind date." One of his best friends, Xander, took my sister Amy on a date and wanted to make it a double. So, he brought Michael and Amy brought me. We had an awesome time on the date and really hit it off. We hit it off so well, that I started questioning whether a mission was really in my cards.

 

 

My papers were all ready to turn in, I just had to give the bishop the "go ahead." When I finally told Michael of my mission plans, we both decided that I would put off the papers to see where things could go for us. It quickly became apparent that I wanted spend the rest of my life with him. After a couple months, the feelings of needing to go on a mission returned. "WHY??" I thought. But I have never ever been disappointed by following a prompting. I knew that Heavenly Father knows what's best for me and that this is what he was asking. So, next came telling Michael. It was hard for the both of us, but we decided to take a day to fast and pray about it together. Whatever answer we both got, we would move forward and not look back. Obviously, we both felt like this was what I needed to do. I am SO blessed to have Michael in my life, and that he is supporting me in this decision. It's a sacrifice to be apart, but it will be so worth it in the end. So, all within the next week, I turned in my papers and put my two weeks notice in at the hospital I was working at.

 

The call came on April 11, 2013! 

Video of My Call

 

 

 

I was called to serve in the Honduras San Pedro Sula East mission as the Mission Nurse Specialist. Spanish Speaking. Reporting to the Mexico MTC on August 7, 2013

 

 

It has been quite the journey to get to this point, but I'm loving every minute of it. Since receiving my call, I graduated from nursing school and got engaged. It's crazy to see all of the incredible things happening in my life all at the same time.

 

 

I know with all my heart that these blessings come from my Heavenly Father. I never would have pictured my life the way it is right now, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I know that the Lord knows what's best for me and that if I follow the promptings of the Spirit that I will never be led astray. He can do more with my life than I ever could alone. This will not be easy. In fact it will be really hard... I just dropped Michael off at the airport to head back to Canada this morning and it was the hardest goodbye! But, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). I have a long way to go to become the person that He wants me to be, but I'm excited for this next step in the process.