WELL... After a week, I regret to inform y'all that I still don't have a temporary reassignment or my visa. I should be getting news about the temporary reassignment tomorrow, so I will get to call and let you know! I'm excited to go wherever the Lord would have me.
It's been another great week here at the good ole MTC... three Elders out of the eight of us left in my district got reassignments last week and Hermana Simonson got her visa and left! Elder Adams and Elder McPherson were called to Portland, OR, and Elder Frehner was called to Seattle, WA. They all left at the beginning of this week, so Hermana Norton is back in our companionship as a trio and Elder Bowler is Solo for the time being. It's just the four of us left as super-seniors! At first we were sad to not get reassignments, but a week later we have all realized that staying an extra week has been for our good. We have learned so much and had great experiences that I believe are preparing us for the field. Lately we've been helping the 'younger' districts with Spanish and teaching and it's really helped me too. There's always people to help wherever you are!
Last Friday we had In-Field Orientation and it got all of us pumped to leave the MTC. There were some great lessons and speakers and I got to meet/shake hands with Elder Christensen from "The District." Hermana Weller and I were pretty starstruck... this is what our lives have come to here... ha. Then on Saturday we had a great testimony meeting and lesson all together as a district for the last time with our teachers Hermana Sherwood and Hermano Wells. Sunday was Fast Sunday, so we had Mission Conference, then later we had a Departure Devotional and then a regular Sunday Night Devotional-- it was so good, Chad Lewis and his wife spoke to us and since they're both athletes, they spoke with so much...pizazz and got us more pumped to go to the field. By this time I was so ready to leave!! Haha. We had a testimony meeting and I got up and bore my testimony in SPANISH! It was crazy. It's a tradition in our branch that the departing district do the musical number in sacrament meeting and we were fortunate enough to have had Hermano Wells translate "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" into Spanish for us. We sang the closing song and it was sweet! I learned SO much that day from all of the meetings that I wish I had time to share!
Monday morning, we all got up at 5 to bid farewell to Elder Adams, Elder McPherson, and Hermana Simonson. It was hard. It was even harder to go back to sleep afterwards, so all of us were pretty tired in class that day. It was rough. I was SO thankful to get a package from Sadie and to get a sweet Dear Elder from the whole fam that day! Love you all so much! All of the stuff in the package was exactly what I needed and the sweats fit perfectly! I wore them all this morning :)
That evening, I asked Elder Frehner for a priesthood blessing before he left Tuesday morning. He is the one going to Lima East too (eventually). It was just what I needed because I've been worrying about what's in store for me (we all have). Some things that he said were that I would have difficult times, but I would have success and also that my time on a mission is short, but I have the opportunity to bless many. It surprised us all, including Elder Frehner, when he said that I would bring thousands back to the fold. Thousands! Obviously it's more of a chain-reaction thing... but how cool is that! There were a lot of other great things that I can't get into right now, but overall that blessing was exactly what I needed.
Yesterday it was just the four of us left and we were really missing the rest of our district. We had some amazing and deep discussions as a little district and it was so cool. Elder Bowler is such a good sport about being with just Hermanas and we have all learned so much from each other in the time we've all been together. Elder Bowler really reminds me of you, Dad. He is going to Colombia, he is super funny (can quote any movie super well) and also a really spiritual person. He also always has candy in his suit pocket that he shares with us during church meetings and devotionals, haha. He's the dad of our district. The Hermanas take turns being the motherly one, but it's me a lot of the time... I always have mints or a Tide-To-Go Pen when my babies need it! Haha.
Today was a great P-day! We did laundry first today and went to the temple in the afternoon. We got to eat at the cafeteria and not have MTC food and it was great! I had veal for the first time (kinda weird) but I had this AMAZING pie. I loved it. It's things like that that make your day when you've been at the MTC for 7 weeks!
So far this email seems more like the large plates, so let me leave you with a spiritual thought... We learned yesterday that the song "Nearer, My God To Thee" is about Jacob in the Old Testament. Ya know, like Jacob and Esaw (sp?) It's cool when you read the words. Also, "Come Thou Fount," the part that says "here I raise my Ebenezer" is a reference to 1 Samuel 7:12. President Nally taught us that and that God raised a stone to save the Israelites in their time of need. Christ's atonement is the same way, "here to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood." We are so blessed to have this incredible gift of the atonement! I know I need to use it every day. I'm so glad I get to share that message with so many others!!
Les quiero!!
Hermana Bledsoe
How cool is this? Captain Moroni is on top of the mountain!
Trio :)
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