Hermana Rebecca Blazzard: Last week in the CCM!

Not actually, the MTC is a pretty chill place, but I just wanted to start my post off with more enthusiasm.

First off, I almost ended up going to the fattest city in America. That's right, McAllen Texas. I was checking my missionary portal earlier this week, and McAllen was listed as my mission instead of Ecuador. I set off a bomb as I got all the missionaries going to Ecuador to check their portals. Everyone got reassigned to various places in the states. However, a few days later, most of us received our visas and our missions switched back. Entonces, I'm not actually going to Tayhas. Ecuador here I come!

I finally broke the girls 3-pointer record here. I've been trying for weeks. The previous record was eight and I got ten...still pretty pathetic considering the guys record is 22. But, the gym is closed now so I don't have time to try to break that one...bummer;)

The gym is closed because we have a special devotional happening this Sunday. The new mission presidents arrived this week, so that means all 15 general authorities will be here on Sunday. I'm sooooooooo pumped! It's going to be exciting! Having the new mission presidents here has been fun as well. My district got to talk with some mission presidents and their wives yesterday. One was going to serve in Colombia and the other one was headed to Peru. They were so kind and sweet and hilarious. They were helping the elders roast our teacher who served in Argentina. Argentines pronounces double l's like the "sh" sound. For example, "silla" would sound more like "sisha." I was dying. The conversation was so loud and irreverent I loved it. Then at the end one of the mission presidents was like "Let's all go to Cafe Rio!" (But in spanish) I died again. Literally I was crying laughing because of the timing and just the way he said it. And I think he just said it because it's the only hispanic thing here he recognized. Ugh, you had to be there I guess.

There's been many many many times of laughter here at the CCM. My district is hilarious and I'm going to miss them so much. Lots of goodbyes are going to be happening tomorrow:( Yuck. Goodbyes. Crying. No me gusta folks.

My time here at the MTC has had its ups and downs, but overall I'm grateful for the time I got to spend here. 2 Nephi 4:16-35 kind of sums up my experience. It's about how Nephi was sorrowful because of his iniquities, he wrote, "my heart groaneth because of my sins." In the beginning of my time here, I was always down on myself because I felt like I was always falling short and not doing enough. I was hyper-aware of my weaknesses and it slowed down my progress. However, in this chapter Nephi then writes about how he will always trust in the Lord, because he remembers how much God has blessed him. I remembered that as long as I'm trying my best and doing my part, God will make up the rest. God loves us and wants us to turn to Him and ask Him for help. Verse 35 says, "yeah, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yeah, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness..."

Verse 28 is also one of my favorites - "Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul."

The Gospel is here to bring us joy! God's plan is a plan of happiness! We can't get distracted by our flaws, we just need to focus on the bigger picture. God is always there to help us.

Love you all!

Hna. Blazzard