Two Called To Serve: HOLA MIS AMIGOS!!

My Comp and I in front of the CCM

These first nine days have been agony waiting to email all of you!!!!!! Thanks so much to everybody who sent me an email! The missionary letter/email hunger is real and it is insatiable!

Day One: I felt really good, but tired. Arriving at the CCM was awesome. We stay in casas which are basically just 4 bedrooms with four people in each of them. My room is Elder Rasmussen (mi compañero), elder Eliason, and Elder Harrison. We are all headed to Fresno. At the end of the day we met our district which is made up of ocho Elderes and tres Hermanas. Elder Hill, Elder Burwell, Elder Garbero, Elder Anderson, Hermana Henderson, Hermana Warner, and Hermana Porter all joined the ranks. We bonded as a district so quickly! We were all told that we would be teaching our first investigator on Friday and that we needed to prepare talks in spanish because we may or may not have to give them on Sunday. Wow. We kinda stressed.

Day Two: Our district leaders were chosen today and Elder Burwell and Elder Hill were chosen for the job. They are great and are doing a great job! We went to a bunch of meetings about safety and crap today so Im not gonna talk about that dia.

Day Three: We started class this day and we taught our first investigator, Fernando, all in español. It was hard but it went pretty good! Elder Rasmussen has no background spanish so he is struggling a lot with the language barrier. I started getting moments of homesickness this day and I kept shaking them off by working harder at the language.

Day Four: Same sort of stuff as day three. We had classes again, taught Fernando, ate food, and went to bed so yeah. Lots of homesickness this day. I missed la familia so much.

Day Five: Sunday. This was such a spiritual day! We woke up did personal study then went to priesthood and learned about the prophets then we went to Sacrament meeting. Sacrament meeting was all in Spanish and I understood about half of what was being said. Luckily I wasnt called up to give my talk and I was able to relax and try to feel the spirit. We had a huge lesson on Chastity this day too and it was kinda scary. Lots of spiritual experiences this day! I loved it but I still missed home.

Day Six: Monday. We heard we started getting onto a routine by this day and they were right. From this day on we have been in classes all morning and into the afternoon and then teaching Fernando at night. The lessons are slowly getting better but the language barrier is so frustrating. I missed everybody from home so much on this day!

Day Seven: I got the virus that has been going around the CCM this day. Diarrhea to the max! I hated it. My compañero probably got so sick of running to the bathroom at random times for me. Ugh. It was the worst. I had a fever and I was so tired. Instead of teaching Fernando on Tuesdays we have a devotional. I was so physically drained from being sick and so emotionally drained from holding in all my emotions I couldnt focus. It didnt help that Hermana Baum was so nice. Haha. She waved at me and reminded me of home. I started to cry. I was sick. I wanted my bed to be sick in, I wanted my medicine, but most of all I wanted my mom. I knew I needed help so I said a prayer. My first thought I had after I asked for help was "I need a blessing." I looked around at my district and I knew that Elder Garbero was the one who needed to give me it. I asked him after the devotional if he would when we got back to the casa and he said hed be honored. He gave me the most beautiful blessing!

In the blessing he told me of the infinite love that the savior had for me. He told me that because of mortality he could not convey the pureness and amount of love the savior had for me. He said that Christ wanted to let me know that if he had to go through all his suffering again just so I could be saved he would do it without hesitation. My comp and Elder Harrison stood in for the blessing and I gave them all hugs after and I felt so much better. It has been the best thing to have happened to me while being here.

Day Eight: I felt so much better after having had the blessing and a good nights rest! I was a ball of fire! I went crazy! I learned the language with gusto, I taught Fernando a great lesson with my comp about El Plan del Salvacion, and overall had a great day!

Day Nine: Today. It has been so great to get your emails! I love you guys so much and remember to rely on the Savior with everything!

Love you all and always remember to pray!

Elder Frame (Here in the CCM its pronounced Frah mae)