Last Week in the CCM!!!

February 18, 2014 Last Week in the CCM!!! Family and Friends, I can’t believe this is my last P day here at the CCM! It’s an exciting time and also super scary! I feel like I don’t know that much Spanish to go out in the real Peru world haha but I do have faith that God will help me if I am diligent with my studies! Today we are going to Interpol so our Pday is shorter than normal and I haven’t heard good things about going to Interpol. We´ll see how it goes! The weeks seem to blur together here at the CCM. This week was Valentines Day! I received a package from the Roches for Valentines Day! It came the night before Valentines Day so that was perfect timing! Thank the Roches for thinking about me and sending me a package with lots of goodies! That was super nice of them. I’m not sure what the exact plans are for next week. They don’t let us know until the Sunday before we leave but from what I noticed before I will be leaving the CCM really early in the morning on Tuesday. So one week from now I will be in Arequipa! I am excited to go to Arequipa! All of the hermanas that are going to Arequipa will be flying there so we will be at the airport and we will be able to call home! I don’t know how I will be able to call home when I’m at the airport but I will call when I can. I hope it’s not too early in the morning for you at home. But it’s exciting! I just found out our flight plans. We leave the CCM at 4:30 in the morning! Then we go to the airport for Arequipa! So exciting!! One of the Elders here is from Brazil and he has been here for 3 weeks and will be here for another 3 more weeks so he can learn Spanish. Our whole district has gotten really close to him. I think it’s so crazy how we can get to close to people without even being able to talk. But when we were talking with him during lunch I was really touched by his story and I wanted to share it with all of you. He is 25 years old and we asked him what he did before his mission and his story. He was converted when he was 19 years old and started working since then to save up money to go on a mission. He worked at Taco Bell and eventually moved up to a management position. He worked that whole time in order to go on a mission. That would take a lot of faith and dedication to spend so much time preparing and saving money to go on a mission! It makes me realize even more how blessed I am. I know that I have been blessed with an easy life. I don’t have any of the struggles that most of the latinos had before coming on a mission. I didn’t ever have to worry about having food to eat or having a place to live. The difference between the North Americans and the Latinos transition to a mission is completely opposite. As North Americans we have to adjust to live with 6 people in a room and adjust to all the rules and the food. The Latinos have to adjust to having a bed all to them selves, learning how to use a washing machine since they’ve never seen one in their life! It’s sad hearing about how the latinos see a mission as such a blessing and sometimes the North Americans see a mission as a burden and complain about the smallest things. It’s sad to see how spoiled we are to live in North America. I love living in North America but sometimes we just get caught up in things that don’t really matter. The thing that I’ve learned the most from the latinos here is unconditional love. They know what really matters in life. Since they come from nothing they realize that the only thing that matters is family. I love how happy they are allll the time! I have never really heard them complain. They are just so blessed to be here always! I am so thankful to have the life that I do! Thank you Dad for always providing for our family and protecting us throughout our lives. Thank you Mom for always giving us love without reservation. You are wonderful parents! I love you both! We got to go to the temple today and it was super nice and relaxing! I love the temple! Love always, Hermana Flora