Week 27 - Sister "RED HAIR" - 3/13/2017

This week has been super amazing and really busy. I feel like so much has happened and I don't even know where to begin. Sorry for such the long email!

Last Monday, after finishing all our P_DAY errands, I took a two hour nap and it was the best thing of my life. I haven't taken a nap in quite a long time. I didn't realize how tired I was until I knocked out for so long. Anyways, that was a totally insignificant story from this week haha.

Tuesday night I had an amazing experience! We went with this family to temple square and got to watch Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration movie. Now, I've seen this movie several times on my mission but this one was different. The Soria family has a deaf son and so we got to watch the movie with ASL interpretation! It was so beautiful and the entire time I was watching I was so enthralled and felt my testimony and witness grow of the truthfulness of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I have no doubt in my mind that he was truly a Prophet called of God to restore Jesus Christ's original true church back on this earth.

Wednesday, Sister Evarts and I had a member from our Deaf Ward help us learn how to interpret things we read from books to deaf people. ASL's structure is much different than English and many English words don't even have a sign which means interpreting something from a book is much more difficult and really hard for deaf people to understand. I'm trying my best to learn as much as I can. God has definitely helped me so far though.

Thursday we had Zone Conference and as always I love being able to spend time with my Zone as well as President and Sister Spendlove to council together and learn more about missionary work and the gospel of Jesus Christ. During Zone Conference we talked about Joseph Smith and it was a further testimony builder to me this week of the truthfulness of his calling. We always have some good laughs as a Zone with President so that's fun too. That night Sister Evarts was going to go to dinner with a former less active member she used to teach and her old companion, which meant I got to be with Sister Jensen for a couple hours! Sister Jensen was my first Sister Training Leader and helped me so so so much the first 4ish months of my mission so I was super excited to see her. Also since she goes home at the end of this transfer so I may not see her again for a super long time.

 It's Biking season which means President wants us ALL on bikes. I'm so excited! Even though we have a car in our area because the Deaf Ward is so big our other ward isn't that far from where we live so we'll be on bikes! I just now have to figure out how to ride a bike in a skirt now.

On Friday my district all met up at the City Creek food court for lunch before district meeting and right before, my District Leader and his companion got to meet President Uchtdorf! (He is one of the leaders of our church) President Uchtdorf was just walking out of Macy's and my district Leader just happened to be right there. We were so jealous.

Saturday we had a lesson with the family from Venezuela and it went really great! We had Sister Case (a member from our ward) come and as we taught she would then translate in Spanish and interpret in ASL.

It's pretty crazy but they understood so much better than they have been and they want to come to General Conference! Since I am still fairly new they were asking me what my name is and so I signed Sister McCammon. They were having a hard time recognizing my weird last name because they had never seen it before so Sister Case said they could just call me Sister Red Hair instead and they liked that way better haha so that's my new name. Maybe one day I can get a name sign and so people won't be so confused.

This weekend was Stake Conference and so we got to go to those meetings on Saturday and Sunday. Elder John C. Pingree of the 70 presided and I got to meet him as well. During the Saturday night adult session, President and Sister Spendlove were there and were asked to speak. President got up to talk and then called out all of the missionaries in the Stake. It's super cool because the Salt Lake Central Stake is one of the Stakes in our mission that has the most missionaries serving in it. We have 6 companionships in just one Stake. In our mission we sometimes have one companionship covering 2 or 3 stakes! The coolest thing about this weekend was that the Sunday session of Stake Conference was held at the Assembly Hall at Temple Square. It's the super pretty church building that is right next to the old tabernacle on Temple Square, which is like one of my favorite places ever!

Something pretty funny happened the other week and I totally forgot to put it in my email last week. We were at dinner and this little boy comes up to me and pointing at my face asks, "What happened to your face?" He was pointing at my acne and he thought that I had hurt myself some other way. He asked it I fell on my face and scratched it and I ended up just telling him, "just wait till you get older". We all got a good laugh out of it and I realized then that Utah has only made my acne worse but he I don't care because I'm doing the Lords work haha. The little boy and I are still friends so it's all good.

Well this email is already long enough but I love and miss you all. Oh and as of this exact day I'll be home in exactly one year. Crazy to think how much has already happened and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Love Sister McCammon ❤

 

 

 

When you live in the basement and have no reception to send text messages to our investigators.

 

When she wants to get tan and stay in the Sun while I hide in any shade I can find.

 

Stake Conference at the Assembly Hall.

 

Week 26 - "Today's Test in Tomorrow's Testimony" - 3/6/2017

Hi Family and friends!

I am officially in my new area with my new companion and I absolutely love it here! It's pretty funny because I live right across the street from my old area and so I really didn't go that far.

Who knew that a decision I made 7 years ago would affect me today. I was a freshman in high school and thought it would be really cool to take American Sign Language. I took it for two years in high school and then didn't really think anything of it. But now, 7 years later I have the amazing opportunity to serve as a full-time missionary in a deaf ward! I understand a lot more than I thought I was going to but I am still needing to learn so much more. I try and make small conversation and most of the deaf members are very understanding and patient. Just being at church yesterday I was able to pick up new signs to add to my vocabulary. At church, I got to sing the hymns by signing them and I felt the spirit so strongly. Although I don't catch everything they are saying I know that as I practice and put my faith in God to help me I will be able to get there one day.

My companion and I cover one other ward that meets in the same church building. It's not a deaf ward but English family ward and I love it there so much too! The kids are all so cute. I do have to admit though that it has been a little bit different than a quiet YSA Ward where everyone is between the ages of 18-30, like I'm used to. We've got ALL ages and I love it!!

Wednesday was exchanges and so we were just trying to get settled into our new apartment and figure things out and then off to our area we went.

Thursday we went out tracting and didn't find anyone that was interested but we did get to invite people to learn more about Jesus Christ and sometimes that's all people are ready for. Recently the
sisters started teaching a Book of Mormon class to some deaf members since it's hard for them to understand it. Today just happened to be the day that the class is held. My companion Sister Evarts isn't fluent in ASL either and so we were nervous on how we were going to be able to teach it. Only two people showed up and we had practiced as much as we could. By taught 1 Nephi 4 and they actually understood us and said we did a really good job! Sister Is carts did most of the signing so she deserves way more credit than me. I just know that the spirit did most of the teaching and helped us to know what to say. We then had dinner with the bishop of our hearing ward and he went to Cal
Poly Pomona. His wife is even from Glendale and so they new exactly where I was from.

Friday we had what we call Zone training meeting and I got to meet my new Zone. My district is really cool and pretty funny so I have no doubt that this is going to be a great transfer! This is also my
companions last transfer before she goes home so we've got a lot to do.

Saturday night we had dinner for the first time since I had been in the area with a family from the deaf ward. The husband was deaf but his wife and 2 sons were hearing. He and his wife are both from
California and they had a picture of the LA temple in their home and it reminded me so much of home and how my mom is a temple worker there. Arturo, was so nice and I was able to communicate with him a little bit but he asked me to say the opening prayer which means I needed to sign it. I was a little terrified and it was a prayer that a 2 year old could give but I tried. Since then I now try and sign all my prayers which has helped me learn a lot more.

Heavenly Father has truly prepared me for this area. I have had much anxiety as I am trying to get to know my new area and how to communicate with the deaf members but in the times that I feel over
whelmed and wanting to have a slight panic attack I turn to my Savior and ask for help. As I have done that I have truly felt His enabling power to help me see my potential and know that as I try my hardest he will make up the rest.

In one of the programs yesterday at church there was a quote printed on the front that says, "Today's test is tomorrow's testimony"

Heavenly Father gives us opportunities to learn and progress so that we may learn and grow. And that is exactly what I have seen in my life. All though I have had harder tests on my mission, being in an
area where I can't readily communicate with the members has shown me how to exercise patience (mostly with myself) and a reliance on my Savior. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me. As I continue on in my journey called life this scripture has become a part of me and I want you all to ponder it in your hearts as well:

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Love Sister McCammon ❤

 

I'm gonna miss Amanda! She started crying when I left. I'll be back in a year!

This is Kortney! She is literally the most amazing human being I have ever met.

 

These girls have easily become some great friends of mine. We're just missing Kassidee.

My stuff all ready and ready to be transferred. It's my first transfer on my mission!

 

The most amazing Sisters in the Cannon Zone, also my companion loves food and sleep just as much as I do so the picture was not a priority HAHA!!

 

Dinner at Bishop Dennison's house

 

It's kind of hard to tell from this picture but we were driving and got caught in a crazy snow storm. The power kept going out from the lighting and we both got a little scared when we couldn't see the lanes on the road. We made it home safe though!

Week 25 - Happy Belated Valentine's Day 💕 - 2/20/2017

Currently sitting here emailing you all from Dolcetti Gelato while eating mango banana gelato! It's so good!

 It's been a great week filled with miracles and blessings all around us. Had a great Valentine's Day celebrating the love my Savior has for me and each one of you!

Last Monday our entire zone got together and just played sports and had what we called a Top Ramon cook off. We got together with the companionships in our district and tried to make our best Ramon. My companion Sister Latch is from Malaysia and Ramon is a huge thing there. It's way more fancy and better than what I have ever had in my life. The judge was a student they found in the institute. My district thought we had it in the bag since we had our secret weapon (Sister

Latch) but nope... we didn't win. That's okay maybe next time.

Tuesday we had Zone Conference and talked a lot about our purpose and what we have been called to teach. We went over the new daily missionary schedule and our mission President challenged us to just go out and be out the entire day and see the miracles that come from it!

Sister Latch and I have taken this very seriously and are going to be out and just be the best missionaries that we can be!

Our investigators are doing great and we even found a couple more people to teach. On Sunday we had 3 investigators come to church which was so shocking but so amazing! They all really seemed to like it.

This week some our wards changed times and buildings. We used to have one ward start at 9am, two start at 11am and another start at 1pm. We have about 7 hours of church and we're able to at least attend one hour of each ward. But now, we have one ward that starts at 9am and three wards that start at 11am! Two meet in the same building which makes it a little bit better but it's just a crazy day for us. It went really well and the new building the two are meeting in was built in the 1950's! It's such a beautiful building!

At Zone Conference President Spendlove shared this acronym with us: (WITH)

Wanting an

Individual

Testimony of

Him

How do we obtain this? Through so many tools and guides God has blessed us with. One way that I have gained an individual testimony of Him is by reading the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ! It allows us to receive answers to questions we may have and to come to know Christ. The Book of Mormon is a complementary book that goes hand in hand with the Bible. It's a book that has changed my life and is one way I a have come to know my Savior better. I encourage you all to find out what the book is for yourself. Rely on my testimony for just a little bit and exercise a particle of faith to come to know of the truthfulness for yourself.

 I love you all!

Love Sister McCammon ❤

 

 

 

This was dessert top Ramon. Plus this picture explains all of our personalities.

 

Sister Lakaj and I. She's from Albania and is an amazing missionary!

 

Our STL's surprised us on Valentine's Day... we'll kind of. We caught them in action running from our apartment haha

 

I wish I took this but I didn't. I took this from Elder Weymouth. It's just so beautiful.

 

Week 24 - "My mom has that dress" 😬 - 2/13/2017

Hi everyone!!

First things first! Shout out to one of my bestest friends, Cheyenne De Vera aka Sister De Vera, who is now officially a missionary! She is in the Provo MTC and will be heading to the Boise Idaho mission! I'm so happy for her and can't wait for her to get out in the missionary field and experience the joy that comes from bearing your witness of Jesus Christ.

So funny story of the week: We get to our dinner appointment and are waiting for them to finish cooking everything and one of their roommates walks out of the kitchen to say hi to us. As she is walking back in to the kitchen she turns back around and says, "My mom has that dress". I sat there for a second and honestly could not think of anything to say, so I was just like "oh awesome!" I'm still trying to figure out how to react to the situation and if that's a good thing that I have a matching dress with someone's mom but hey I'll just embrace it for now hahah.

Also, disclaimer from last weeks email. I really need to start reading through my weekly email so I don't accidentally put 'decimated'

instead of 'dedicated' disciple of Jesus Christ hahaha if you saw that last week just know that autocorrect takes over way to often.

This week was so great!! It went by so quickly and our area is picking up. Our area goes through periods where we have a ton of work and then like no work at all but it really is picking up this time. With the sun finally coming back out from behind the gloomy and dark abyss we have been just going out and walking around our areas (which are not that small) and visiting members and encouraging them in their own missionary efforts. There has just been a ton of walking! I love it!!

Our investigators are doing great! Yun is progressing so well and is praying about baptism. We walked out of her lesson and I said the Sister Latch that I truly am seeing her countenance change as she learns and build a relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. It's one of the best feelings as a missionary. Before her lesson we got Cafe Rio for lunch which means it's going to be a good day.

 On Saturday a miracle happened. Sister Latch and I have been earnestly trying to find a new investigator to teach. We are finding new ways to work with the members in our congregations and just going out and talking with everyone we meet. We were getting ready to go out for the day and we got a text message from a set of sisters that we work closely with. They said they had an investigator for us he wanted to meet that same day! I was so happy that I started bouncing around the house just being my weird overly excited self. We set up a time and met with him that night. His name is Jin xhi and he is from China. He is getting his PhD in Biology at the U and has gone to church several times. He asked the sisters that gave us his information if there was a young Ward with students that he could go to and it just happened to be our ward. He ended up coming to church yesterday and is already starting to make friends in the ward. He is so awesome and I can't wait to teach him again this week.

On Friday (a little out of order I know) we have our district meetings and this week it's just really stuck with me. We were talking about why it's important to invite people to church and how can we better teach and invite our investigators about the importance of Sabbath day observance. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the sabbath is a day of rest. It's a day to worship Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ and to recharge spiritually in a world that can be physically and spiritually draining throughout the week. We go to church for 3 hours every Sunday (unless you're a missionary in certain areas and go to 4 different wards which adds up to be about 7 hours of church). I grew up going to church almost every Sunday it's a day that I have always looked forward too because it's a day that I have to reflect back on my personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

 Here is what Bishop Dean M. Davies, First Counselor in the presiding Bishopric of the church, says about sabbath day observance from his General Conference talk called The Blessings of Worship:

 "Every day, but especially on the Sabbath day, we have the extraordinary opportunity to experience the wonder and awe of heaven and offer our praises to God for His blessed goodness and overwhelming mercy."

 "We ponder God’s word, and that fills our souls with light and truth.

We comprehend spiritual vistas that can be seen only through the light of the Holy Ghost. And thus, we acquire faith.

As we worship, our souls are refined and we commit to walk in the footsteps of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. And from this resolve, we acquire charity.

When we worship, our hearts are drawn out in praise to our blessed God morning, noon, and night.

We hallow and honor Him continually--in our meetinghouses, homes, temples, and all our labors.

When we worship, we open our hearts to the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Our lives become the token and expression of our worship."

The blessings of going to church are innumerable! Try to make it a part of your week to show your love for the blessings God has given you throughout your week. The Sabbath day worship isn't something for just Sunday but will spill over into your week as we follow Bishop Davies counsel and make our lives a token and expression of our worship.

I love you all so much and miss you tons!

 

Love Sister McCammon ❤

 

 

We were walking around and this lady drove by us. We waved at her and continued walking on when all the sudden she comes back and stops her car gets out and says, "Sisters! Let me take your picture so I can send it to your moms!" I love people like this haha so my mom got this picture during the week from a complete stranger while I was out workin' in the mission field.

 

My favorite dog and one of my favorite members ❤️🐶

 

 

 Classic bathroom selfie.... because why not.

 

Oh ya know just doing that missionary work on a beautiful sunny day!

 

 

 

 

Week 23 - Daily, Continuing, Ongoing - 2/6/2017

Hi Everybody!

The weather is getting warmer and the snow is melting which means that I am starting to feel much better haha At least I have survived this winter so far. It's not over and I probably jinxed myself but I'll risk it.

Not too much happened this week. We didn't teach a ton and didn't really find anyone new to teach so it was kind of sad but hey sometimes that is what happens in missionary work.

This email is going to be super short!

One thing that was cool was that we got to go to a fireside at the institute Sunday night and the cellist, Stephen Sharp Nelson, from the Piano Guys was there and played with the institute choir. They would play songs and then share some spiritual thoughts. IT WAS SO GOOD!!!

Here is some of the things that really stood out to me:

The words daily, continuing, and ongoing are all words that should describe our relationship with Christ.

 

"You just show up and I'll do the rest" - the Savior

"God is in the details"

Differences are meant to be celebrated NOT calculated

Their is even deeper purpose in the detours.

Nature is God's monument to show His love to man.

Sorry I didn't write more but just continue in striving to be better and more decimated disciples of Jesus Christ. I love you all.

Love Sister McCammon ❤

 

Sisters P-Day!

 

Just lying on our beds after a long day!

 

 

Selfie! Because why not.....  haha... 

Week 22 - 2 Sister Missionaries teaching in front of 250 people... 😳 - 1/31/2017

Hi Everyone!!

I feel like this past week was sooooo long... or maybe that's because my Pday got moved to today.

 

We got to go to the Salt Lake City temple this morning and since the temple is closed on Mondays we got to go this morning and have our Pday today. It was so weird getting everyone's emails and not being able to respond but I managed haha.
 

What even happened this week??

 

Well to start off, on Wednesday there was the Worldwide missionary broadcast. There were some changes made to the missionary schedule and depending on what part of the world you are serving in might depend on your schedule. For all you returned missionaries out there you might be a little shocked. There is no more nightly planning, we now have morning planning for 30 minutes and personal study for an hour.

 

Companionship study is done whenever you have time throughout the day.

 

Lunch went from an hour to only 30 minutes, which means I can't really take an afternoon nap anymore but that's okay. Pday's now begin at 8am instead of 10am so we have a couple more hours to get things done that we can't normally do throughout the week. All of us missionaries are excited to see these changes and to see what blessings the Savior has in store for us because of them.

 

We met with a few of our investigators this week and even found another person to teach. His name is Hasan and he is from Pakistan. We didn't have an appointment set up but we stopped by to see if he was home and he was so he said that we could share one now. We had another girl with us so we went in and taught him the entire Restoration lesson. He had so many awesome questions and really wants to know of what we are telling him is true.

 

We had some other lessons and did some tracting but the most exciting thing was that I took public transportation on my mission for the first time. Yes my companion and I do have a car but we live so close to the tracts and a bus stop so we decided to go talk to some people and see if we could actually make it to the institute and back home without getting lost. WE DIDN'T GET LOST AND MADE IT HOME. We were so proud of our selves!

 

Sunday was the highlight of my week. We got asked to speak about missionary work in one wards and then in another we got asked to teach a lesson during the third hour of church. I love speaking in church and it was the first time I have actually spoken in sacrament meeting on my mission. Before my mission, I was asked to speak almost every month as I was preparing for my mission and so I felt right at home when I got to speak on Sunday. In another one of our wards they were having a visitors Sunday where they encouraged the members to bring a friend along and so we got to teach their 3rd hour. There was about 250 people staring at us as we got to teach them all the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was awesome! A little nerve-racking at the beginning... but so awesome! We got a lot of complements about our lesson and so that made us really happy.

 

One thing I have been thinking a lot about is the word change. A lot of things are changing/ have changed in my life. I've been on my mission a little over 5 months, I just got a new companion, a new missionary schedule just happened and I myself am changing everyday.

Change can be scary but it can be a great experience as well. Amongst all the struggles we have everyday if we allow the Gospel of Jesus Christ to change our nature from that of the natural man in all of us, we can become a more Christ-like person. We become someone who God wants us to be rather that what the world expects.  Be open to change.

 

We never know what God can mold us into one day.

 

Mosiah 5:7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.

 

Favorite Quote from the week:

 

"How cool is it that the same God that created the mountains and oceans and galaxies looked at you though the world needed one of you too"

 

Love always, Sister McCammon ❤

PS- I slacked on the pictures this week. Sorry!

Week 21 - So much SNOW!! - 1/23/2017

Transfers happened, two snow storms, a Californian driving in snow and me becoming Senior Companion.

 

This is my week in a nut shell. It was a little crazy!!!

 

On Tuesday, Sister Whitehead and Gibb had to go to a STL training meeting, so I went with Sister Jensen and cleaned their apartment.

 

Sister Jensen was packing while I tried to find a ride for Sister Gibb to her new area. Sister Gibb and I had a "member message" (a lesson that we share with an active member to help them spiritually or to ask for referrals)...  and so Sister Jensen came with me to that. We go to see this woman, and we're not sure if her husband is a member or not, so I asked  if her husband is LDS and she says "No... but neither am I" and we about fell out of our chairs, because this "member message" just turned into a lesson with a nonmember. I asked her about her concerns with baptism and it turns out that she won't get baptized because if she gets married to her boyfriend then she loses money that she's getting from the Government. We talked about faith and we asked her if she knows that God would always provide a way, and she said that she knew he would! So we invited her to be baptized and now she's praying about it! It was such a good lesson and I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father gave me that opportunity to see that I could really lead the area as Senior Companion.

 

Wednesday my new companion, Sister Latchumanan, came into the area and right when she got here we headed to the institute to hear a devotional by Elder Jeffery R. Holland and Elder Dallin H. Oaks. It was amazing! We got to sit so close and their messages were so powerful.

 

Woke up on Saturday and a huge snow storm just dumped on the city. The roads were so bad and we were stuck inside for more than half of the day. The roads started getting cleared and so we were eventually able to make it to dinner with a member and then contact 3 referrals.

 

Sunday was great as usual. It's was Sister Latchumanan first Sunday here and so she was so fascinated with the idea of YSA wards hahah We went to a little ward activity that night and then to another ward for ward prayer.

 

At the devotional on Wednesday Elder Holland talked about making Christ more a part of our lives. He asked the question, "Is Christ in every square inch of our lives?" It's a great question to ask ourselves. He said that trials, tribulation and agony will come. It's the way of the gospel! It's the way to make Christ more present in our life. He blessed us all with the strength in our hard times. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

 

Ponder this quote I found from President Monson:

“So much in life depends on our attitude. The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference. To do the best we can and then to choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment. … We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude.”

 

I love you all! Have a fantastic week. Thank you for your constant support and encouragement. It's truly been such a blessing to receives emails from so many of you.

 

Love Sister McCammon ❤

Our "Last P-Day" together so we had to go to Temple Square!

 



Sister Latchumanan and I.



 

Kyleigh!! We love her so much. She's working on her mission papers.