Nicole and her companion getting ready to head out to Sao Paulo, Brazil - 1 more week left in the MTC.

Sister Missionaries....they are the greatest!!

Can you believe that I will have been here for a whole month tomorrow? NUTS. I don't even know how time has flown so fast. Two most weeks and I'll be outta here.

Mouse(s): So one day this past week all the elders came to classes going on and on about how there was a mouse in their room. They all screamed like little girls and then threatened that they were going to throw it into our dorm window that night. Well the next day. Sister E and I were getting ready for gym and I see something scamper across the room and underneath the bed. I've never screamed so loud in my life! Who knew I was afraid of mice? So we were trying to find it underneath the bunkbed when it darted out (more screaming) and ran under our door and out into the hallway... never to be found again.

Sunday Devotional: We have devotionals every Tuesday and Sunday. And guess who came last Tuesday... ELDER RUSSELL M NELSON. I mean, no big deal, he's just AWESOME. Seriously though. He is so funny and he really pumped me up about missionary work and the lives that it can change. He truly is called of God. No doubt about it. THEN, this Sunday, A sister in my district, Sister E, played her own rendition of Called to Serve on the piano. She is the most gifted person on the piano I have ever seen. She arranged the song herself, so she had no music with her and I swear her fingers were moving at lightening speed. All 5,000+ of us missionaries LOVED it. And she was able to get me and Sister D front row seats to Devo too. SCORE! Afterwards, everyone came up to her and shook her hand like she was a celebrity!

Progressing Investigators: We are still teaching I. and B.. B. is a progressing, punk of a 16 year old, and I think our teacher, Brother M. gets a LOT of joy out of giving us troubles. I think he feels a little overwhelmed with every thing as well. Funny story, yesterday Sis D and I were talking to him about the commandments and she said something about being "trische," but Bonno thought she said "xixi" (pronounced very similarly) and started busting up laughing. So we both looked at each other so confused and he was like "xixi?? xixi??" so he grabbed one of our Portuguese dictionaries and looked it up. turns out, "xixi" means urine. awesome. haha In other news, we had a really great lesson with Iris this past week as well. We taught about families and both brought in pitures of them and told her about what they like to do and all that jazz and she LOVED it. I really felt like we related and then afterwards, she came up to us and told us that we really found our teaching style this week and that our Portuguese sounded GREAT. YAYY!!

TRC: This week we taught a woman in TRC who was actually from Brazil! It was awesome! We taught her about prayer, which was great, but that's not even the best part. TURNS OUT she's from the SPS mission! And her family still lives there and they're not members. So as she was getting emotional she quickly wrote down all the names and contact information for her family in Brazil and told us to work hard! Such a cool experiance. It finally felt real!

Reassignments: So next week is our last week in the MTC! AHH! We will be getting our reassingments on Wednesday or Thursday, so GUESS WHAT. I'll get to call you on one of those days to tell you where I've been reassigned. I'll only have five minutes, but I was thinking that I could call dad first and then he could add mom in on the second line. yes? Also, I've forgotten your phone number, dad... so yeah. I'm going to need that por favor. ALSO, I can't be reassigned to a mission that touches my home mission... sooooo I could totally get called to Seattle, or Spokane or something. So weird, right? That would be CRAY.

Sister Training Leaders: This week we welcomed in our new district. We have 12 missionaries going to the Portugal Lisbon mission. They are GREAT. We got to have a mini testimony meeting on their first day and give them a tour and all that fun stiff so it was really cool. I felt so... old. haha They come and ask us questions all the time. I feel so experianced hahah

Brazilians: Our district has met 4 Brazilians in the MTC so far. And we talk to them ALL the time. It's the greatest. Our whole district just fawns over them and their perfect portuguese. I cannot wait to go to Brazil. I am going to fall in love (in a completely sister missionary appropriate way) with every single on of those Brazialians.

Well love and miss you guys. Love all the DearElders and letters and emails. Keep em' coming!

- Sister Hargrove

PS I need grandpa's address. They sent me a pie this week! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Hi everyone! It´s officially official. I´ve finished my second week at the MTC! YAY. This week was great, obvi. Didn´t get any emails from ANYONE this P-day sooooo hinthint. My email is nicole.hargrove@myldsmail.net for anyone that wants it...

I looooove getting the Dear Elders from you, mom. ALSO I found Matthew's letter and I responded to him a couple days ago. I can't remember when... oops. The MTC is like a time warp. Everyday feels like Sunday. I feel like I've been here for a year, but also like I just got here yesterday. it is WEIRD, to say the least. Also, in the world of MTC I completely forget about anything happening in the world. It's weird to think that life goes on outside the MTC grounds.

SOOO we have three investigators so far. J. Our first investigator, from Sao Paulo, brother is a druggie, works in construction (or that's his 'story' at least. He's really a MTC teacher). ANYWHO, last week we had our last visit with him and he committed to pray about being baptized. it was AWESOME. Even though he's not a 'real' investigator, I just love him. Second Investigator. B. Immigrated to Brazil from Botswana. Has a very sad family story. 16 years old. Too cool for school. and lives with a bunch of kids. We taught him for the first time. It was also AWESOME. It was the first time I had taught a whole lesson with Sister Dixon without using very many notes. SO cool. We committed him to read the introduction and Moroni 10 (which I suggest you all do too :) it's good stuff) and he said he would. We haven't met with our third investigator I. yet (tomorrow), but we are excited to see her. All of the invesitigators that our teachers are 'playing' are based off of real investigators that they actually had in the field. So it's a really neat experience.

We got a second teacher. We still have Irmao Mateer (from Scotland) and he's still the greatest person ever, but we got a second prof for the second half of the day. She is Irma Petersen and is probably the sweetest person ever. You can just see in everything she says that she has a true testimony of the church. and GET THIS. she served in Brazil and is now getting married to a Brazilian (from Sao Paulo!) Elder that she met there. He moved to the states! :)

We got a new schedule that makes our breakfast at 630, earliest in the MTC, lunch at 11, and dinner at 4. NUTSO.

I've been sick with the missionary measles all week. It's nasty. And by measles I mean the flu that's slowly making its way around our district. No fun.

Some really weird things that I look forward to at the MTC:

- Gym Time (WHAT. but seriously, that 50 min every day is my saving grace because we get to get out of the cinderblock classroom they keep us in most of the day hah)

- Bedtime at 10:30 (if I can get in bed by 10, it's a DANG good day. that means like 7 hours of sleep hoollaaahhhhhh)

- Ice Cream (every Sunday and Tuesday the MTC serves ice cream at dinner from the BYU creamery. OH MY HECK. it is celestial.)

- Classroom Instruction Time (who knew learning Portuguese would be my most favorite thing ever?!)

- Temple Walks (Every Sunday we get to walk up to the the temple and walk around and take pictures and lay in the temple grass. soooo good)

- New Miss Wednesday (On Wednesdays the new missionaries arrive, so this past Wednesday we were finally not the newest people here and we got to bombard all the dork dotted, scared, new elds and sis with "BEMVINDOS a CTM!!!" (welcome to the mtc in portuguese) its so cool!!!

My companion is still awesome. I totally lucked out in that area because we get along so great! Her name is Sister Dixon if you want to look her up on fb.

The district is doing well, we get along for the most part, but we've had some struggles with a few things. Tuedo Bem (all is well) in the MTC though.

I'll clue you in about our district issues. :) So we have this one Elder, Elder B. He's from California, He's shortish, blonde. Anyways, he's got some social and communication issues, so it makes it really difficult to talk to him ever. He argues with everyone and the way he talks, he just gets louder and louder until he's yelling. scary. On three different occassions he's gotten mad about something and slammed his desk. yesterday he slammed his desk at me, sister Cox, and sister Empey, stormed out of the classroom and then proceeded to hit the wall in the hallway. Nuts. But the zone leaders and Bishop have met with us and him, so every thing is okay, no worries. The Bishop talked to us and told us that we're not the one's who need to worry about it and try and figure out what to change about ourselves. Because imagine if he did that in a discussion? to an investigator? NO good. But everything is good other than that. We've got some conflicting personalities, as every distict does, but the Lord is one our side so it's smooth sailing from here.

My Portuguese is still coming slowly but surely. I've been studying really hard though!

Tell Sister Benjamin THANK YOU! She sent me a journal this past week for which I am SO very grateful and excited to write in it!

No word on the Visa yet. The district next to us, going to Manaus, all just got reassigned to Spokane. They're even having some missionaries stay in the MTC for more time because there's just not enough room for the missionaries anymore! It's crazy. There are close to 5000 missionaries in the MTC right now. Crazy, right?!

I hope you guys had fun at GWL and dad in San Fran! Have you got the snail mail I sent you guys? There's that check in one of them, sooo watch out for that

Well I look forward to hearing from you this week. Have a great day!

Tchau, tchau

- Sister Hargrove

OLA! So, as you can tell, my P-Day for the next few weeks is going to be on Tuesday and I get one hour to write and update everyone. Let me just start out by saying I LOVE THE MTC. Seriously. Greatest place on Earth... most of the time. The MTC is such an emotion roller coaster though.

Let's talk about my first day. So there were FOUR other missionaries going to the MTC that were on the same plane as me. How cool is that?! And get this. One of them was going to the Sao Paulo Sul (South) mission! What are the odds?! So we finally get to the MTC, and I go check in and then... my favorite part... I got my name tag! It says... "Sister Hargrove, A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias." UMMMM SERIOUSLY? IS THIS REAL LIFE?! Probably the coolest thing. EVER. For real. So then, since I was part of the early arrival group, we watched the district, introduced ourselves (as SISTER HARGROVE!), and had lunch. Sidenote: The food at the MTC is... "good." But dang. It is HEAVY. They are totally trying to fatten you up before the mission field.

We then met in our classroom and I got my companion! Sister Dixon! Uhh funny story, I was already Facebook friends with all the girls in my District before I got here... HA. Anyways, then the teacher attacked us. Apparently the strategy at the MTC for language learning is to just refuse to speak English to your students. Scary at first, but so helpful. I'm learning so much so quickly. I've learned more Portuguese in the last week than I did in two years of high school. AMAZING what God can help you do.

My teacher, Irmao Mateer, is probably the coolest teacher ever. He served in Portugal (got back two years ago), is from Scotland, goes to BYU, and has been married for seven months. He teaches SO well. I have only been here for a week and we've already taught the first three lessons to a (fake) investigator. IN PORTUGUESE. Do I need to repeat that? I've already taught three lessons in Portuguese. We waste NO time in the MTC... seriously. Granted, it was broken and probably not totally gramatically correct Portuguese, but our investigator got the point of all the lessons. So far we have commited J to pray regualarly (which he did), come to church (he did), and pray about the Book of Mormon. Hollah. I can also introduce myself, bare my testimony, pray, and a few other things completely in Portuguese. SO COOL.

Another cool thing... We have lunch at 6:30 in the morning. DANG GOOD. I'm just high on the MTC.

Your first day at the MTC is awesome. EVERYONE welcomes you in their mission language when you walk through the hallway and they see your 'dork dot.'

We are in the classroom all day everyday doing language study, companionship study, district study, and a ton of other cool stuff. Speaking of my district, we have 6 companionships. 2 going to Campinias and the rest to Sao Paulo Sul.They're all really great.

So Visas. There are TONS of missionaries that are Visa Waiters right now. the majority are getting reassigned to places like Florida, Alaska, Nevada, Cali... etc. Anyone that gets their Visa while in the MTC is immediately hated by all the other Visa waiters... just kidding... kind of. haha.

On Sunday, we had our first Sabbath. The way talks work on Sundays is, everyone prepares a talk on a weekly subject and then when the Bishop announces the schedule in the sacrament meeting, he just chooses two people. So we actually don't know until the very last second. Dear Mom, don't ever murmur about giving a talk again. It's SO nerve wrecking! On the plus side, they only have to be 3-5 min, but in Portuguese. The whole meeting is in Portuguese. Hymns, prayers, everything. And I understand the majority of it!

Eu orei e Deus resdodeu a minha oracao. Eu sei isto e verdadeiro atraves do Espirito Santo. Gracas a este testemunho, Eu posso confiar en Deus e vencerdesafios e Eu posso ter uma vida feliz e vencer desafios. Eu sou grata pelo amor do mosso Pai Celstial. Eu amo Jesus Cristo e meu Pai Celectial. (Please excuse my lack of accentos, I don't know how to do that on this computer.)

Well, I love you all, Abby, Matt, Nate, Mom, Dad, Patch. Talk to you next week. Don't be afraid to snail mail/Dear Elder me some more letters/questions :)

Amor,

Sister Hargrove

My Mission Address, Saying Goodbye and Thank YOU!

You can write me at:

Sister Nicole Michelle Hargrove
MTC Mailbox # 133
BRA-SPS 0604
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

As I head off to Brazil, my mailing address will be changing periodically, so check back often.

I'm getting set apart at 7:00 PM tonight and as my time comes to a close I wanted to make sure I said thank you to everyone. To anyone who came to my farewell party, gave me advice, sent me an encouraging note on Facebook, gave me a card, and so many more things... THANK YOU. Thank you for all of your support. I truly would not have made it to this stage in my life without the encouragement of those around me. I am so excited to fly to Provo and begin my journey in Brazil.

And most importantly to my dear, old parents and siblings. I love you very much and am so grateful to have you as an example to me. 

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Today, I said goodbye to a long time friend, Jori. We go all the way back through high school and the church youth program. She's a pretty cool cat and I know no matter how long we're apart, we'll still be the best of friends when reunited. I'll miss her!

See you on the flip side.

 - Nicole

Pre-Mission Photo Shoot.

       

        

BAM.

PHOTO CREDS: Jerry Hargrove and his iPhone 5.

My Farewell Talk: Forgiveness.

NOTE: A great portion of my talk was taken from a book called, "Walking on Water," by S. Michael Wilcox. Also, I managed to keep my emotions together until the last sentence. HURRAY! 

“A New Testament day was divided into twelve hours, beginning at six in the morning. The third hour would be nine o’clock, the sixth hour would be noon, and the eleventh hour, though we visualize it as being just before midnight, actually was five o’clock in the evening. The night was divided into four watches: The first watch was from six in the evening to nine o’clock. The second watch was from nine until midnight, the third watch from midnight until three in the morning, and the fourth watch from three in the morning until six, about sunrise.”

 “There is one area of our lives where the Lord is willing and anxious to come to us in the first watch. In fact, if the Lord said to us, I will let you choose one part of your life where I will come to you in the first watch, or, if you would like me to, I will choose the area for you, hopefully we would have the wisdom to say to him, I’ll trust your judgment. You choose the times in my life when you’ll be a first-watch God for me. That area would be forgiveness. The Savior is anxious and eager to come to us when we cry to him for forgiveness, even in the first watch. When the pain and the trial we are going through is repentance, when we struggle with the agonies of guilt, then He is a first-watch God. That truth is attested to countless times in the scriptures.

“One of my all time favorite scripture stories is that of the prodigal son. Contained in that parable is a powerful “first watch” example that shows the eagerness the Lord feels to forgive. “And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I parish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.”

“This parable was given to answer a question, which can be stated as follows: “When I ‘come to myself,’ when I return, when I seek forgiveness, do I return as a son or a servant?” The prodigal himself felt unworthy to return as a son; he was content to return as a servant. Should he be for the rest of his life a kind of second-class citizen of the kingdom? The parable answers: “There are no servants in the kingdom, only sons.” Here is our first-watch verse: “He arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

“Sometimes it is very important to get the tone of the scripture right. Should we read the Son’s next comment with a tone of confession or one of amazement? I prefer that of astonishment at the greeting he has just received from his father. “And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” We might add, “Why do you treat me as one?”

““But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it,; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”

“As we progress through the Book of Mormon we see a theme begin to emerge as we read story after story. Everybody in the Book of Mormon who asks for forgiveness receives it. And they receive it immediately. The book of Mosiah speaks of “the immediate goodness of God,” and Amulek promises the humble Zoramites that “the great plan of redemption” will be brought unto them “immediately” if their hearts are soft. It’s as if the Lord says: Maybe you won’t receive that message if I only include it once or twice. Maybe you won’t realize how important the message is, so I’m going to put it in again and again, so you’ll realize when the wind that blows against you has to do with guilt and forgiveness and repentance and transgression, I will come to you in the first watch.

“We read in Enos: “There came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed. …And I said: Lord, how is it done? And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen.” It’s as though the Lord ponders: I wonder if they understand clearly from Enos’s example? Let’s state it again with Benjamin’s people. And a few pages later, we read: “They all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have  mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and out hearts may be purified; …And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words with the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience.

“Perhaps the Lord reflects once more: I wonder if they got the message. We’d better remind them again. We turn a few more pages and come to Zeezrom, to whom Alma says: “If thou believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be healed.” To which Zeezrom answers, “Yea, I believe according to thy words. And then Alma cried, …O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him according to his faith which is in Christ. And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk.”

“As if the conviction is not yet deep enough in our hearts the Lord imprints it deeper with the story of Alma and the sons of Mosiah. In agony of guilt, Alma cries out: “O Jesus, though Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memories of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold.”

“Are we convinced yet? In case we need more evidence, we next turn to the Lamanites. Include the prayers of Lamoni and his wife, the Lord whispers to Mormon as he collects from the many records those chosen few needed for the latter-day world. Lamoni prays: “O Lord, have mercy; according to thy abundant mercy which thou hast had upon the people of Nephi, have upon me, and my people.” When Lamoni revives from his little sleep, he testifies, “As sure as thou livest, behold, I have seen my redeemer; and he shall come forth, and be born of a woman, and he shall redeem all mankind who believe on his name.” Then Lamoni’s wife, a short time later, adds her witness to the growing list: “O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell! O blessed God, have mercy on this people!” Lamoni’s father receives forgiveness, and Lamoni’s servants also understand the “immediate goodness” of our Savior.

“Even the Lamanites who had come into the prison to kill Nephi and Lehi were “filled with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. …And it came to pass that there came a voice unto them, yea, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper, saying: Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world.” When we yearn for forgiveness, we worship a first-watch God.

“I have emphasized the Savior’s willingness to come to us in the first watch when it regards the forgiveness of our sins and transgressions. Of course this implies that we have done all we can do on our part to be worthy of that level of mercy. In Alma 24, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies refer to themselves as “the most lost of all mankind.” But the Savior’s mercy covered even them. It should be noted, however, that we read three times in that chapter that the Anti-Nephi-Lehies did “all [they] could do to repent sufficiently.”

I would like to briefly touch on the topic of the process of repenting by sharing with you a story given in a talk by Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy. He says,

“As a seven year old boy, living in the Arabian Peninsula, I was consistently told by my parents to always wear my shoes; And I understood why.  I knew that shoes would protect my feet against the many threats that were found in the desert, such as snakes, scorpions, and thorns. One morning, after a nights camping in the desert, I wanted to go exploring, but I did not want to bother putting on my shoes. I rationalized that I was only going for a little wander, and I would stay close by the camp. I told myself that flip-flops were shoes… of a sort, and anyway, what could possibly happen? As I walked along the cool sand in my flip-flops, I felt something like a thorn going into the arch of my foot. I looked down and saw, not a thorn, but a scorpion. The pain of the sting began to rise from my foot and up my leg. I grabbed the top of my leg to try and stop of searing pain from moving further as I cried out for help. My parents came running from the camp. I sobbed while my parents loaded me into a car and set off across the desert towards the nearest hospital, which was over two hours away. The pain through my leg was excruciating and for that entire journey, I assumed that I was dying. When I finally reached the hospital, the doctor was able to assure us that only small infants and the severely malnourished are threatened by the sting of that type of scorpion. He administered and anesthetic which numbed my leg and took away any sensation of pain. Within 24 hours I no longer felt any of the affects from the sting of the scorpion, but I had learned a powerful lesson. I had known that when my parents told me to wear shoes, they did not mean flip-flops. But that morning in the desert, I disregarded what I knew to be right, I ignored what my parents had repeatedly told me, I had been both lazy, and a little rebellious and I paid a price for it. Disregarding what we know to be right, whether through laziness or rebelliousness, always brings undesirable and spiritually damaging consequences. We find healing and relief only when we bring ourselves to the feet of the Great Physician, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We must cease fighting against God and instead give our whole hearts to him, holding nothing back, then, He can heal us. Then, He can cleanse us from the venomous sting of sin.”

I want to share with you, another story, related to the same topic, and was spoken by Elder Shayne M. Bowen of the Seventy. He says, “In Idaho Falls, there’s a beautiful airport. Near the airport is another very useful and beautiful part of the city, Freemont Park. Looking down the river from the park, the majestic, Idaho Falls Temple can be seen, white and clean, standing on high ground. Both of these beautiful, useful places, the regional airport and Freemont Park, used to be sanitary landfills. A sanitary landfill is where garbage is buried and the land is reclaimed. The definition of ‘reclaimed’ is ‘to recall from wrong or improper conduct,’ ‘to rescue from an undesirable state.’ I have lived in Idaho Falls nearly my whole life. I have contributed a lot of garbage to those landfills over the course of more than 50 years. What would the city fathers think if on a given day, I showed up on one of the grassy fields in Freemont Park with a backhoe and started digging large holes? When they asked what I was doing, I would respond, “I wanted to dig up the old garbage that I had made over the years.” I suspect that they would tell me that there was no way to identify my personal garbage. That is had been reclaimed and buried long ago. I suppose they would wonder why anyone would want to destroy something so beautiful and useful in an attempt to dig up old garbage. Is it possible to reclaim a life that, through reckless abandon, has been so strewn with garbage that is appears that the person is unforgiveable? What about the person who has changed their life, but just can’t forgive themselves? The prophet Alma taught the Son of God suffreth according to the flesh, that he might take upon Him the sins of His people. That He might blot out their transgressions according to the power of His deliverance. The atonement of Jesus Christ is available to each of us. It can clean, reclaim, and sanctify even you. There is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness. That is the promise of the atonement of Jesus Christ. When we gratefully accept and use this precious gift, we can enjoy the beauty and usefulness of our lives that God has reclaimed through His infinite love and the atonement of His son and our brother, Jesus Christ.”

“If we are willing to do as much as we can do, even though we may consider ourselves the most lost of all mankind, the Savior will come to us in the first watch, and we will know by experience the meaning of the words, “the immediate goodness of God.”

“In every setting, the Savior was the example and mentor for His disciples. He taught them to pray by praying with them. He taught them to love and serve by loving and serving them. He taught them to forgive others by forgiving them. Jesus instructed his disciples to forgive their brothers when they repented and asked for their forgiveness. Then he added the following, “And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times turn again unto thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.” I do not believe that the Lord is going to expect of us a higher standard than he himself is willing to give.” Not forgiving someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It’s just dumb! “If, therefore, he anticipates we will forgive one another when repentance is offered, seven times in a day, surely that means he will abide by an equal if not greater standard. Let us do all that we can do, then with full assurance, with a confidence born of hope endangered by the Savior’s many examples, we may go to him seven times in a single day and know that every time we will hear the words, “I forgive you. Go in peace.””

“I do not know who in this vast audience today may need to hear the message of forgiveness inherent in this [talk], but however late you think you are, however many chances you think you’ve missed, however many mistakes you feel you’ve made, or talents you think you don’t have, or distance from home and family and God you feel you have traveled… I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s atonement shines. Whether you are not yet of our faith, or were once with us and have not remained, there is nothing in either case you have done that cannot be undone. There is no problem which you cannot overcome. There is no dream that in the unfolding of time and eternity cannot yet be realized. Even if you feel you are the lost and last laborer of the eleventh hour, the Lord of the vineyard still stands beckoning. Come boldy to the Throne of Grace and fall at the feet of the Holy One of Israel. Come and feast without money and without price, at the table of the Lord. …to those of you who have been blessed by the Gospel for many years because you were fortunate enough to find it early and to those of you who have come to the gospel by stages and phases later and finally to those of you member or not yet member who may still be hanging back, to each of you, one and all, I testify of the renewing power of God’s love and the miracle of His Grace. His concern is for the faith at which you finally arrive, not the hour of day at which you got there. So if you’ve made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you’ve made them and broken them, repent and repair them. It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time. Please listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit telling you right now, this very moment, that you should accept the atoning gift of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and enjoy the fellowship of His labor. Don’t delay. It’s getting late.”

I know that this truly is the gospel of Christ.  I know that God lives and that he loves me. He loves each one of us and knows about our trials, pains, successes and everything we do.  He cares for us and wants us to make correct choices.  I know that if we live righteously, we can be with our families for eternity.  I know that the temple is the House of the Lord.  I’m grateful for the many ways the gospel blesses my life.  I’m grateful for the opportunity I have to go on a mission in Brazil. I love you all and am grateful for all the advice, and the many ways you have helped me prepare to serve my mission! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

In front of the Cathlamet Branch building sign for the last time for two years.

Provo MTC?

Yes, I will be going to the Provo Missionary Training Center instead of the Brazil MTC. I did not get my Visa in time to report directly to Brazil, so I will begin my language training in Provo instead and then head off to the motherland AKA Brazil. If my six weeks of training completes and I still don't have my Visa, then I could be reassigned to another mission until it gets here! But that's ok! I'm still just as excited to see the infamous MTC in Provo. 6 days, baby!

I Think I've Been Rerouted?

So, I have eight days until I report to the MTC... and still no Visa. This makes me slightly nervous. I feel like I'm waiting for a second mission call. :) But, I finally got a (somewhat) answer today. My Stake President called me and told me this: "Call this number, ask for the missionary department. Tell them your name and all you information. Then call my Executive Secretary and tell him to tell me what they said the plan was for you." So, although it's still a little up in the air as to whether I will be reporting straight to Brazil, or rerouted to Provo until my Visa arrives. As I said, I think I've been rerouted, but nothing is for sure. I'm about 60% positive.

In other news, I've started packing. My luggage is just looking smaller and smaller by the second, haha. But seriously. I'm going to have to do some serious praying if all of this is supposed to be less than 100 lbs. AND all fit into my luggage. Good golly.

Here's a picture diary of my past week:

Took my cute, little brother, Matt, to walk around the Temple Grounds.

I lost my Voodoo Virginity. Mine was the Oreo covered one. :)

Our car broke down two hours away from our house. So creepy, pony-tailed, tow-truck man drove us home.

I take my sister to Preschool every morning. :)

I got hit by a bus.

No, I didn’t really get hit by a bus. But metaphorically speaking, I think I was hit by the reality bus. Today, I came to the stunning realization that in THREE WEEKS (wellll 24 days, but who’s counting?) I will be leaving my family for 18 months and flying away to Brazil.

Holy guacamole.

The days are passings like weeks, and the weeks are passing like days.

I have been waiting months and months and months for this time to come. And there are 24 days until this dream finally becomes real. Brazil, here I come.