Week 5 - "I'm already freezing"- I'm not in CA anymore - 9/26/2016

Things in Salt Lake City are going great! Hows it going everyone?!

This week was amazing, as usual, and I look back on it and can't even remember everything that we did. Each day is so jam-packed with things to do from 6:30am to 10:30pm but it is so worth it. 

There is officially snow on the mountains and it rained for 2 days straight during this week, which means this California girl is already freezing. My rain jacket came to go use and tights for the win!

A couple highlights from my week would have to be I went to my first baptism as a missionary and I was able to attend the Women's General Broadcast at the Conference Center. 

Maryam was the one who got baptized. She was Sister Gibbs first investigator that she got to teach and all day Sister Gibb was so happy and excited for her. We felt a little rushed because we got the days mixed up and that it was this Saturday but got a txt from her asking if she would see us at 1pm (which was in about and hour from when we got the txt). We hurried and called President Spendlove because she was getting baptized outside of our mission boundaries, but he had not problem with us going. It was amazing to see her baptism. I literally got the chills and was overjoyed for her decision to follow Jesus Christ. Sister Gibb and I were asked to give a short presentation on the Restoration while she was getting dressed and I loved every second of being able to have that opportunity at her baptism. 

That same day we got to go to the Women's General Broadcast and hear from some of our leaders of the Church. For anyone that doesn't know what this is, it is a time when all the women in the church have an opportunity to gather, either at the conference center or at their homes or church building near by, to receive guidance and counsel that can help us get through the challenging times we all experience. It you have not watched it yet go to LDS.org right now and watch it! IT WAS AMAZING! President Ucthdorf gave an amazing talk on faith, and it really hit home for me. We went with a couple girls from one of the wards that we cover and it was great to get to know them better.

Our name tags overlooking Salt Lake Valley- Ensign Peak

Heres a direct link to the website: 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cid=HP_SA_24-9-2016_dPFD_fLHNA_xLIDyL1-C_&lang=eng

This morning was awesome. My companion and I hiked Ensign Peak, which is where Brigham Young looked over the valley and planned out the city. It was a beautiful view and so peaceful. We did our morning studies there and I felt the spirit so strong. 

I finally got some Ice cream!!!!! So my companion decided to sneak a picture haha

One thing that I really liked studying this week was who Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father really were to me. I went to the scriptures and studied about their nature, I prayed for guidance, and searched the counsel that our living prophets and apostles have given us. All in all I came to the conclusion that the Nature of God= Happiness. Happiness is one thing that He wants for us all and he placed us each where we are so that we can find happiness and progress. Before coming on my mission I thought I was a pretty happy person, but I literally am so much happier everyday being in the serve of my God. Yes there are the challenging and hard times that we all face but I cannot put into words how happy I am. THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST MAKES YOU SOOOOO HAPPY!!!!

Read Alma 41:11- it talks about the nature of man and the nature of God. Its pretty great.

I still miss everyone back at home so much but know that I am sending my love to you all.

Sister McCammon

Sister Gibb and I at the General Women's Broadcast

Sister Gibb and I at the General Women's Broadcast

Week 4 - "Follow your stomach!"- 9/19/2016

What up family and friends!

I found Boris!!!!

I made it safely to the Great Salt Lake City mission! It is so amazing to finally be in the mission field. I am serving in the Salt Lake Zone in the Bonneville YSA stake! We cover 4 wards and I feel right at home. When President Spendlove was pairing all the companionship's up, he looks at me and said, "How involved were you in your YSA ward?" and I said that I loved my YSA ward oh so much. He looks at Sister Gibb then back at me and says, "Sister Gibb meet your new companion!". We work a lot with the institute at the University. 

One of the best parts of my week was when I found out that I actually knew someone in one of the wards I serve in. We had dinner with some members and I told them where I had gone to school before my mission and they said oh didn't Boris go there! I freaked out and was so excited to find out that Boris was in my area. Its good to have familiar faces from back home. 

Besides having the University in our area we also have the high school that High School Musical was filmed! I was so star struck over a school. It reminded me of those middle school days!

My companion/trainer is literally the best! Her name is Sister Gibb. She is from Ohio and has been out for about 3 1/2 months. She is slowly finding out how loud I can get but its okay because she gets just as loud. We work hard and play hard so we balance each other out, My loud squeaky voice and laugh are coming out, and for all my friends back home you know what I'm talking about haha

My trainer Sister Gibb, me, and then Sister Gibb's trainer Sister Berrett

Right when I got here our area was split. Sister Gibb and Sister Berrett (her former companion) covered 7 wards but now we only cover 4 but because of this we are really low on our teaching pool. We are teaching a couple of people but there isn't much going on in the teaching lessons department. We have been praying a lot to find new investigators and on Saturday we got a referral from the Spanish sisters and then just this morning we received two more!! TENDER MERCIES OF THE LORD RIGHT HERE PEOPLE!!!!!  

One thing that I have noticed so far from being in the mission field is that its absolutely nothing like the MTC! Its a lot different but in some of the best ways possible. Sincere pray works. Your Heavenly Father will answer your prays if you just exercise a twig of faith. He knows you and the things of your heart. Please please please go to your Heavenly Father in  prayer during hard times. He will help you stay strong because he won't give you anything that you can't handle. Prayer has worked for me and I have seen the blessing of it in my life and the people that I have got to teach so far. Its so simple and effective but all that we are required to do is ask in faith!

Parts that I really like from Hebrews 12:1-2 "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"; "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.." Look us these verses and study them! They are amazing. 

Love you all so much!

Sister McCammon

The weather is amazing and the picture does not do the sunset justice

Week 3 - Headed To The Best Mission Ever - 9/13/2016

Hi Family and Friends, 

I've got to keep it short today because well, I leave for the mission field in literally less than 3 hours. I am so beyond excited to finally get out there and share a message about Jesus Christ with the people in Salt Lake City. Plus, I will finally get to meet my mission president and his wife!

This past week has been amazing! I finally got over my cold which was a tender mercy from the Lord. That one bad day last week turned into an amazing week overall and I got to hear from two apostles of the Lord within 5 days! On our Tuesday night Devotional Elder Christofferson came to speak to us and then on Sunday Night Devotional Elder Ballard came to speak to us as well. They were both amazing talks and it was so amazing to feel the spirit from them. 

The hardest part of this week was this morning. As I am preparing to leave for my mission this afternoon, others from my district left this morning to head to Logan Utah. All the sisters except me left and we all became so close. It was so hard to say goodbye. One elder was leaving as well and it was just as hard to say goodbye to him. They all became my family over these past 3 weeks. 

During one of my class times this week my teacher wrote a quote on the board. She said, "Have a testimony of a testimony" #SisCarlcred . How cool is that! We need to build a testimony of the importance of having a testimony. This have been so true to me personally while here at the MTC. Getting prepared to leave the MTC and essentially head back into the real world is kind of frightening but one thing that I know that will help me in the rough times is my knowledge or testimony of this Gospel. Having this knowledge I don't want to keep it for myself. I want everyone to feel the joy that it has brought to my life and what better way to do that than to dedicate my life to serving God and sharing his message. 

I love this church with all of my heart and I know that it is true because of the experiences that I have had all throughout my life. I have an amazing family who is willing to give me up for 18 months just so that I can help other families be together for eternity. 

Goodbye MTC... Hello Salt Lake City, Utah!

Love,
Sister McCammon

PS. The Minion picture is for my dad hahah

Week 2 – A Roller Coaster of a Week! 9/6/2016

Hi All!

The food here is just like any other cafeteria food except they brought “CHICK-FIL-A” the other day!!!! It was seriously the best day of my life! I love “Chick-fil-a <3.” The laundry room is always chaos on P-Days and I feel so accomplished when I finish all of my laundry because finding a washer and dryer is seriously like trying to find Waldo in the “Where's Waldo” books. We are in class all the time with our teachers, learning and studying from 6:30am to 9:30pm every day. It's long but so rewarding and worth every hour.

This week was ummm... interesting to say the least. I have never prayed and studied the scriptures so hard in my life. There were a lot of high moments and unfortunately some really low moments. But good news first:

"My district also known as my MTC family!"

My district has easily become my family here in the MTC. We all love each other so much and we are constantly learning from each other. I got my travel plans for next week and will be heading to my actual mission in Salt Lake City in exactly seven days. Good news for me was that I didn't have to change residence halls. Some of the Sisters had bats in their rooms so they had to change buildings. I felt so bad for them because the building they were moving to didn't have an elevator. Chad Lewis, who played for BYU football and the NFL, was our speaker for our Sunday night devotional and he got me so pumped to love and serve the people in SLC. I wanted to leave the next day to go out in the field, but I need a little more training haha.

The not so good news is that I got sick this week, I had some rough appointments with my investigators and I really miss my family.

"MY sister training leader Sister Doolittle. She leaves tomorrow (Wednesday)"

Here's the catch though. It doesn't matter what I'm going through. Yes I may be sick and yes I may have had a rough week but I am in the service of my God and I would not want to be anywhere else. Missionaries always talk about themselves being their biggest convert and so far I can 100% agree. True conversion requires you to be fully converted unto Christ and before my mission I thought I knew what that meant. I thought I knew how to love people like Christ did and how to be charitable toward others but I'm not going to lie; I look back and feel as though I was so selfish. My Sister Training Leader, Sister Doolittle, shared this quote with me, "I can't, God can, so I'll let Him." I love this because so many times I have tried to figure things out on my own when really all I needed to do was to have faith in Him and everything will be alright.

So why do we have hard times like I have had this past week? We have these hard times because we need to have faith growing experiences. My faith has grown so much in 24 hours. In the Book of Mormon in Alma 32:41 is says, "But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life."

"Got to love candids with your Companion!"

I went to the temple this morning and literally met two women I have never seen before in my life and they told me exactly what I needed to hear. It was exactly what I need to hear from my Savior Jesus Christ. I know they were put there to share their love with me. When I hugged them I felt the love they had for Him and the love my Savior has for me and honestly I felt like it was a hug from my mom. Shout out to the best mother in the world!

This gospel is amazing and as trying as it may get sometimes our Savior is never too far away. He literally carries us when we are in need and sits there crying with us when we are crying. "Jesus doesn't make up the difference. Jesus makes ALL the difference".

Well I love you all!

Love,
Sister McCammon

Week 1 – Mission Training Center

Hi family and friends!

"Map picture for Mom...Pointing to SLC"

Well its official! I am a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have the name tag and everything. Hope everyone is doing well. This week has been amazing. There have been some ups and downs but I am so excited to see what happens in the next 18 months of my life. I got here last Wednesday along with 700 other new missionaries. We are all going to separate parts of the world and it’s amazing to see where God needs each one of us. You are constantly hearing people speak the new language they are learning and sometimes I am not too sure what they say so I just smile and say thanks!

"My Companion, Sister Anderson and I"

My companion is amazing! Her name is Sister Anderson and she is pretty cool. She is from Texas and went to a year of college before her mission and studied English (which I love because she always compensates for my lack of vocabulary words haha). We laugh so much and never seem to have a dull moment together. We both got called as the music coordinators for our zone, which means we get to pick the music for sacrament on Sundays. Sister Anderson is also very musically talented so I just kind of tag along. My district is amazing! There are four Sisters and eight Elders and all of us are either going to Salt Lake City or Logan, Utah. I never knew that you could come to love people so much within six days.

The MTC is great! You are surrounded by 2400 missionaries who all have the same purpose that you do. We all are representatives of Christ and go out to invite others to create a relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. There is always an over whelming feeling of peace because of the spirit that is present. No matter how stressed I feel because me and my companion are late to class or are trying to miss the long lines for dinner, it all goes away because I have the love of my Father in Heaven just as all of you do.

"All of us going to the SLC mission and Sister Anderson going to Logan Utah"

Missionary work is not what I thought it was. I came to the MTC thinking that I had a lot of experience with going out with the missionaries and my knowledge of this church was pretty good but oh was I so wrong. These past six days have been so humbling and I have come to know that missionary work only focuses on the love that God has for children and the love that I have for His children as well. I challenge you all to love those around you because it truly can make a difference in your life and the others that are around you. Coming into the MTC I had so many fears. I wouldn't admit that I had any but I did. I had feelings of being inadequate and messing up, but I’m human and I am going to mess up. Learning and starting to teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ has already blessed my life so much and I am so thankful to be a member of this church. I have so much to learn still on my mission and even when I come home but when we know that Christ loves us we can overcome anything. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me". Humility is so important and I have come to realize that, that is something I need to strive to be better at every day. I have never prayed so much in my life or had the time to study the scriptures as much as I have this past week but it is changing my life one day at a time and I cannot wait to get to Salt Lake in a couple weeks. There is a scriptures that I heard the first night I was here, its Moroni 8:16 and it talks about how a perfect love casteth out fear. There is no need to fear as long as we have love. I am so happy to be here and just cannot stop smiling. One week of adventures down and so many more to come.

"The sisters in my District- (left to right) Me, Sis Anderson, Sis Shultz, and Sis Ricketts"

I would love to hear from you all! You can email me or use this thing called Dear Elder. Dear Elder is pretty cool because you type a letter, they print it, and I get it that same day so that I can read them the same day.

I love this Church so much and love all of you. Talk to you next week!

Love,
Sister McCammon

"Me the Provo temple. It's beautiful"

"Sis Roberts on her last day with us. She's in the middle with the red shirt"

"The District at the temple walk on Sunday"

"The District Sisters at the Provo Temple"