Querído familia y amigos,
¡¡Hola de el CCM!!
Esta semana es mi ultimo aqui. Tres mas días. I´m so excited for Texas. I
may not be as prepared as I wish, but I´m definitely ready! I leave on
Monday at 3 a.m. No sleep for me! I´ll get to Dallas for a lay over, and
then an hour flight to Houston from there. I think there is a group of
about 23 missionaries that are all going to T.H.E Mission, so there will
be a lot of us to greet our new mission president. I´m so
excited-nervous. I can´t wait to apply what I´ve learned here at the MTC
out in the field. I´m so excited to work hard to share the gospel.
Since it´s P day we just got back from the temple, and I had such an
overwhelming feeling of the love of God for His children. I can´t wait
to let people know that they are children of God. That statement has
brought me more comfort throughout my life than anything. I can´t wait
to tell people the truth... en Español! Yikes :) Anywho, this last week
has been great! I got to be an escort yesterday, which was so fun.
That's basically where you show the new sisters that come in where their
rooms and classrooms are and take them all over campus. Some sister's
looked ridiculously excited and some looked terrified. It was kind of
funny, because after being here it's kind of a wake up call. The
sister's that looked scared will realize that this is the greatest
opportunity for them, and the ones that looked extremely excited will
realize it's harder than they thought, but that excitement really will
only get bigger when they start teaching and learning more about the
doctrines of the gospel. I was definitely one of those over enthusiastic
sisters when I had my first day, and I can honestly say that excitement
it growing each day. My experiences here have been great one. HUGE
testimony builders and I've learned so much. We got a new district in
our branch yesterday, so I got to meet with all the sisters and had a
meeting with them and the zone leaders. I really enjoy being the Sister
Trainer(used to be called Coordinating sister), because I get
the opportunity to spend a little more time with the Branch as a whole
rather than just my district. Well, one of the girls in the new district
is from Mesa Arizona and I recognized her as one of Haylee(my bestest
cousin)'s friends. Her name is Hailey Brown and she's super cute. She's
going to Lima West...the same mission as my other good friend Mitch
Howell. Small world!
The Elder's in my district gave us all blessings before we enter
the field. It was so sweet to see how much they've grown as well. Most
of them are 18 and very immature, but I'm excited for their growth as
well. It really will be sad to have to leave my companion and my
district, because we've all gotten so close.
Wasn't conference AMAZING?!!?! I wrote down a big list of questions
and they were ALL answered. Amos 3:7...so true! Conference in the MTC
is seriously the most bestest. It was cool to watch it with like over
3,000 other missionaries. Me and my girls had such a good time. I ran
into Brooke Koller! And Allyse Eldredge too! It's a reunion of
friendships all the time here ;) Thanks to everyone for your support,
letters, packages, prayers, and love! I love you all! I love the Lord
and His plan for my life. I'm so excited to share the gospel with the
AWESOME Latinos en Texas and Louisiana!!!!!! Whoot whoot! I love the
MTC, and have had some awesome time here ;)...
ONLY AT THE MTC:
- There are over 3,000 college students go to bed at 10:30pm.
- You can find teenagers singing the First Vision. In Spanish.
-
Sometimes people will walk up to you and say, "I have to bear my
testimony to you before I am allowed to use my email." Then they will
proceed to do so.
- You might get asked on a date for two years in the future.
- There are backwards peepholes on all the doors that look into the rooms instead of out.
- Some of the boys here like to sniff old envelopes that smell like their girlfriends.
- A shower is a musical experience, during which you will
be treated to the vocal harmonies of all the girls in the surrounding
stalls. And don't be alarmed if it is off-key, or if it is the same
line in a hymn over and over again. This is quite normal. At times you
may be lucky enough to encounter someone country-fying "Secret
Prayer."And you think...wow...my ears are bleeding.
- No water bottles in the gym...oxymoron...it's a fire hazard apparently?
-
Backpacks in the cafeteria are also a fire hazard. You are, however,
allowed to bring the entire contents of said backpack, as long there is
no actual bag around these items. This is entirely safe.
- It is possible you will happen upon the following conversation:
"Where did you serve your mission?"
"Hawaii."
"Oh, that's so cool!"
"Yeah, it was great. I would highly recommend it. Apparently the Lord didn't."
-If you want to eat "life" cereal in the cafeteria it's not called life here...it's "eternal life"
-If you have a question about ANYTHING some Elder is going to say..."pray about it"
There's nothing quite like the MTC.
A
spiritual thought for y'all: we are here fighting a war. A war between
good and evil. But we have already fought this same war once before -
we all fought together on the same side; we had the same Allies, and the
same foe. And we won. We will win again.
Well, I'm off to do some laundry! I love you all lots!
Love,
Hermana Salcido