Week 15 - Officially done with training!! - 12/12/2016

First things first. It was my Mom's birthday yesterday so go make sure
to tell her happy belated birthday and how amazing she is.

Anyways, this week was crazy busy! From transfers happening this past
Wednesday to just missionary life in general, I felt like Sister Gibb
and I were all over the place this week. But as always it was great!

Saddest moment of the week was when we got a text from Andres saying
that he is going back to Colombia. We are so happy that he is going to
be able to be with his family for the holidays because he was having a
really hard time being away from them. We went to lunch with him and a
member and he said that he will never forget us and said that he is
our Hispanic uncle and to call him Tìo Andres. He asked if he could
still meet with missionaries there and we were so ecstatic. We are
working on sending missionaries to his home in Colombia! I truly love
him so much and he will always hold a special place in my heart.
Sister Gibb and I are already making plans to go visit him after our
missions. So a sad moment really turned into a great moment.

On Wednesday, the Bonneville Stake put on a live nativity. They have
been doing this for years and it's pretty legit. They have a live
camel and sheep! And yes, the baby Jesus was casted for the role and
had to be under the age of 2 months. The camels name is Cosmo, just in
case you were wondering. The YSA missionaries got to help with the hot
chocolate and although I was freezing to death it was so amazing to be
part of something so special. They have it it this park where a little
creek runs though and they make it really seem like you are in
Bethlehem. Over 5,000 people came to see the live nativity! It was so
spiritual being there and then being able to walk through the entire
thing and just see the nativity and listen to the music and narration.

Our investigators are doing great. Many are in finals and planning to
head home for the holidays so we're trying to plan some visits with
those that are staying in town. One of our investigators, Charlee, is
so amazing! I truly love her so much. She has great questions and I
feel like I am learning so much from her even though I am the one
supposed to teach her. She is on date to be baptized January 14th.

Christmas is coming up so quickly!!!!! So crazy!!! Also this Wednesday
I will have been on my mission for 4 months. Time sure is flying by
out here in the mission field.

One thing that I studied that really stood out to me this week was
actually from this morning. I was studying for a lesson we are having
tonight and I felt impressed to study this conference talk by Carole
M. Stephens called The Master Healer. There was a part that really
stood out to me. She says:

"You don’t have to continue to carry the burden of sorrow caused by

sin--alone. You don’t have to carry the pain caused by the unrighteous

actions of others--alone. You don’t have to experience the painful

realities of mortality--alone.

                        The Savior pleads:

                        “Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be

converted, that I may heal you?

                        “… If ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine

arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come … will I

receive.”

                        “[He] would do anything to take this from you.” In fact, “[He] already has.”

With our focus on the Savior this holiday season go to him and rely on
him for all that you may be experiencing. I have never had to rely on
my Savior more than on my mission. I have battle feelings of
inadequacy and just bad days that come but as I have put ALL my trust
in the Lord I have been okay. I have been given strength to go and do
my calling and I have found comfort in knowing that His arm of mercy
is always extended out towards me. Pain is only temporary because He
has already taken this from you.

Love always, Sister McCammon

Week 14 - #LIGHTtheWORLD 🌏 - 12/5/2016

Hello Everyone! 

Happy first week of December! 

The Holiday season is upon us and miracles are happening each and everyday! 

So transfers are this Wednesday and Sister Gibb and I just found out that we are still going to be together for at least another 6 weeks, which means we get to be together for Christmas and New Years! We are very excited. I love her so much ️ 

On Wednesday I got to go to temple square with an investigator and her friend. The lights and nativity at temple square are absolutely amazing. I love the beauty of the holiday decorations all over the city. Earlier that day we had a lesson with our investigator Matt. He is a student at the University and has so many great questions. He has a true desire to learn and grow closer to God. At the end of our appointment with him, he told Sister Gibb and I that he is very serious about meeting with us and that he has a sincere desire to learn. It was so heart felt for him to say that. It made our day. Thursday I had exchanges with Sister Jensen. As always it was a great day and so many laughs with Sister J. This past Friday was the last Friday of the transfer so all of us sisters in the zone decided to go to lunch. We got Thai food and my new favorite restaurant called Sawadee!!! If you are ever in Salt Lake and craving some good curry go to Sawadee. Saturday Sister Gibb , me and our investigator Charlee went to a baptism. The spirit is always so strong when someone is getting baptized and choosing to follow there Savior. Charlee is an amazing investigator and she has such a deep desire to know if this is truly the church God has established on the earth. She grew up going to girls camp and church with her LDS friend back home but feels that now she is ready to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

️️️️️️I LOVE THE PEOPLE OF SALT LAKE CITY SO MUCH️️️️️️️

Its so interesting to think of the decorations we use at Christmas time and how the main things is Christmas lights. Just as Christmas lights brighten. All that is around them we too are lights of the world. Each person ever born on this Earth was born with the light of Christ in them. "The Light of Christ is the divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things." (Light of Christ- LDS.org). The #LIGHTtheWORLD campaign for this holiday season explains how we all have this light and how we can shine it and make the world brighter. By serving and uplifting others around us not only does our light brighten, it brightens the light of those you are helping. This light is real. I see it in everyone I meet. Some lights are brighter than others only because they may not know how to brighten it or may be struggling with certain challenges in their life but it is ALWAYS there. As a missionary I am blessed with the opportunity to help that light grow as they come to know who their Savior is. 

At church yesterday someone posed this question: If the goal of Christmas is to grow closer to Christ, are we doing it right? I want to pose this same question to all of you. If you think you could work on it, great! It's not too late to start serving everyday, as Christ did, leading up to Christmas.

 https://www.mormon.org/

Matthew 5:14 "Ye are the light of the world."

Love Sister McCammon 

Me, Sister Gibb, Monkia (from the Czech Republic) and Rob (he served his mission in Czech)

Week 13 - "I need goggles" 😎❄

I am finding out more and more everyday that I am from California. I am not made for the snow. Its has been snowing all day today. I'm not as cold as I thought it's still so different than anything I have ever lived in. We were walking on the U campus today and the snow was legit going in my eyes. I needed some goggles or something just to see where I was going. 

Any who, on a more spiritual level, this past week was so great!

My companion and I have been blessed to be able to find more people to teach. We have been so busy teaching and finding and the days are just flying by. 

Tuesday my zone got to go to the temple. It was much needed and it helped me to recharge and receive revelation on things I need to improve on. Its still crazy to think that I am serving my mission in Salt Lake City and that I got to go to the Salt Lake City temple as a missionary. I love this city and these people with all my heart and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. 

It was my first thanksgiving away from my family and it was kind of rough but I was blessed to be able to go to a members house and spend it with her and her family. It was our p-day that day so we were able to spend it relaxing, eating food, and reflecting on all that we are grateful for. 

We have been teaching this guy from Colombia named Andres. He wanted to learn English originally but we found out that he wanted to learn more about our church. So solution.... we help him learn english by teaching him the lessons we have as missionaries. Andres teaches us Spanish and we leave him with commitments and he leaves us with homework. He is literally the greatest ever. He didn't know why he came to Salt Lake but he said that we were angels sent to him. He always love getting to see him! We went to a Spanish ward yesterday for church and Sister Gibb and I had no clue what was happening. 

So something really cool happened this week... 

The day after Thanksgiving the church released their Christmas Initiative. They have done this the past couple years and this year the campaign is called #lighttheworld. I will attach the link to the video below! It shows people serving just as Jesus served while he was on the Earth. There is a calendar with ways to serve 25 ways over 25 days for the days leading up to Christmas. Go watch it, share it with everyone, put it on your Facebook page, and share how you are going to light the world. The scriptures have promised that we are the light of the world. I can promise you that as you serve just a Christ did and serve those all around you, you will find true joy and happiness that comes from becoming more like your Savior this holiday season. 

https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_FR_25-11-2016_dMIS_fmorg_xLIDyL1-A_

Love you!! 

Sister McCammon

My Zone

My District

My Sisters in the Salt Lake Zone ️

Un-planned polka dot day

Sister Gibb and me in the snow. Snow day!!!! (1st time I've worn jeans in 3 months)

Me contemplating throwing this snow ball at Sister Gibb

Her kicking the snow ball

The aftermath of it hahah 😂

Week 12 - Snow ❄️- 11/21/2016

Hello Family and friends!!! 

All the sisters in the zone at Savior of the World 

Most exciting week ever! On Thursday I woke up to snow. I love the snow and it was so beautiful. It melted within the next couple days but it should snow again soon. I also didn't freeze nearly as bad as I thought I was going to, so that's a bonus. 

Snow outside our apartment window 

On Thursday night we got to go to a musical put on by the Church at the Conference Center called Savior of the World. Our entire mission got tickets to see the preview dress rehearsal and my zone got to go on Thursday. 

We also have two new investigators. Katie is just awesome and is so willing to learn about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are meeting with her again tomorrow and will hopefully have date picked out for baptism. The other investigator is Andres. He is from Columbia! He love his family so much and just wants to be with them again but is here for business the next couple months. 

Pday is cut short today because we have Thursday as pday also. Sorry there isn't more but God bless and have an attitude of gratitude this week! 

Happy Turkey Week 

Love Sister McCammon

Snow on the mountains 

Week 11 - I learned Mandarin... sort of - 11/14/2016

Just in case you were wondering there is only 40 days tills Christmas and there is officially an aisle in Walmart that has all the holiday goodies! We went shopping today on our P-day we got super excited so we took a picture as well haha 

Sister Wu and I on exchanges 

We had exchanges on Tuesday of this week and so Sister Gibb stayed in our area and I got to go to an area called the Married Student Stake. This entire stake covers the villages which is the married student and foreign housing for the students that attend the University. A special note about this stake, since they do house several foreign students many Chinese speaking students are interested in learning about the gospel. While on exchanges we got to teach several lessons but two of those were only in Mandarin and so I really had no clue what was going on. It was so cool though because although I couldn't understand what was being said, I was still able to feel the truthfulness of the message that my companion for the day, Sister Wu, was sharing with them. Plus it was pretty cool because I got to learn some phrases in Mandarin. 

This week was very slow when it comes to lessons. We did not have one lesson and currently our teaching pool is dwindling faster than we can replenish it. We went out everyday trying to contact and find as many people as we could but it felt like there was no one walking outside or answering their doors. We had this one lady answer her door who was Yugoslavia. She wasn't too religious but said she has read several religious books such as the Koran and even the Book of Mormon. We talked with her for a little while and she shared with us that her mother had passed away a few years ago. We shared the knowledge and the truths we have found from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how we know that she will be able to see her mother and live with her again. She really wanted to believe but she couldn't let her self. We gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet to read and encouraged her to sincerely seek and ask her Heavenly Father what is really the truth. She didn't feel too comfortable meeting with us but decided that she would talk to her coworker about it. We hope that she may be able to have her questions as we're but it was an amazing opportunity to meet her. 

As the week went on and we tried finding  more people we ended up getting a referral from the Elders that cover the family wards in the same area as us. And GUESS WHAT?!?!?? We have a lesson with her tonight! We are very excited and blessed to be able to find someone to teach. 

As missionaries we are very limited on the books that we can read. We typically stick to the standard works which simplify refers to the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. However, there a couple others books that we get to read as well. One of the is called Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. It goes through the course of Jesus's life and references the New Testament. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! I have really trying to gain more understanding and knowledge about Christ and this book has taught me so much, so far, about my older brother, and Savior, Jesus Christ. Also as I am reading the New Testament I feel like I have never had a stronger relationship with my Savior. He suffered for me, making me be able to become like Him one day. He came into this world to do His Fathers will and in so doing showed His love to all those around him. I love Jesus Christ, and as I heard someone say on my mission one time, He is my best friend. I found this scripture in Matthew 24:14 which says, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;". I am so honored to be able to help fulfill this scripture and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Salt Lake City. Who is Jesus Christ to you? 

I love you all ️

Sister McCammon

This was my district from last transfer 

After exchanges. I love these sisters!!! 

Tyler, Sister Wu, Nyen, and me. Nyen is investigating the church 

Lunch with Erickson. He served his mission here a few years ago. 

Dinner with some of our favorite members of the Foothill YSA ward. 

Sister Gibb and I taking some selfies in a church parking lot this morning.

Christmas aisle in Walmart