Last P-Day in the CCM

Well, things here at the CCM are wrapping to a close!  It is insane to think that I have been here for almost 6 weeks already, and that I'll be leaving from here on Tuesday, but alas, the time has come!  :D  I cannot express how happy I am to be leaving!  The entire time that I've been here, it has seemed like I had just barely gotten here, but at the same time has felt like I have been here for a year!!!  But here we go, everything that I've taken 6 weeks to get used to is about to change, but I am extatic about all of the great things that are going to happen!  Also, this entire time, it has been very bittersweet.  I have gotten close to several missionaries while I've been out here, and have gotten to see them go into the field and have seen their excitement, and now all of the sudden I am that person!  I cannot believe that it has come to this.  I am going to miss so many things and so many people that I am leaving, and I have made such good friends with so many other people that I hope will last forever, but then again I am so excited to move on to something bigger and better, and to have the investigators actually be real!  :D

But I am still at the CCM for a few more days, and about this last week, it has been a really good one!  But also, it has been very bittersweet...  First of all, lessons with our investigators are going super well!  We still have our two investigators - Luis and Adolfo - and things are going great!  Adolfo has been a bit more hesitant about everything we've been teaching him though.  He knows its true, but he is scared of change.  He doesn't enjoy having to do something if it involves him having to change his lifestyle at all, and that has been one major obstacle especially considering that everything in our church involves changing in some way, and continuing to change in every other way.  But still, he wants to be happy in his life, and he has received a lot of happiness and blessings in his life ever since he started taking our lessons, so I'm thankful for that.  But Elder Stringham and I felt very driven this week to talk to him about baptism and what was holding him back.  We had already committed him to be baptized, but he was hesitant to set a date...  But during one lesson in particular, we discussed all of his issues with it, such as what his family and friends might think and things like that, and after reassuring him, sharing some scriptures, and committing him to pray to receive his own inspiration, he committed to be baptized on November 23!  :D

Luis though, he has been taking everything that we have been telling him and just flying with it!  He told us that he wanted to learn more about the teachings of Christ and everything like that, and that lesson led us straight into baptism and following Christ's example.  So, when we asked him to be baptized, he said that he would!  And when we suggested a date, he said yes!!!  :D  So both of our investigators - really our teachers acting out a role - are to be baptized on November 23.  :)

But we had an exciting accomplishment this week!  On Friday, the 25th, it was our month mark of being out on our missions!!!  :D  Yeah, we ran around and broke all of these rules...  Not really though...  We didn't really do anything, but it was super weird to think that we've been out more than a month!!!  :D  Talk about CRAZY!

Nothing really happened on Saturday except for studying and things like that.  I really wish that I could tell you all about what I study about, but I don't have tons of time on the computer and half of the time I forget my study journal!  But on sunday morning we had an extra hour of sleep because Daylight Savings time ended down here.  It was kind of funny because as usual, I just woke up at the same time I always do, but it was an hour earlier because our clocks changed...  But our native elders thought that it went forward an hour, and then they decided to wake up an hour early, so instead of waking up at 5, which is early anyway, they woke up at 4!  I felt so bad for them!!!

Later on Sunday, Elder Stringham and I got to teach the leadership meeting for all of our Zone leaders, and we got to teach about how it is great to be a leader, better to be a servant-leader, and that you're not doing your job right if you're not delegating.  The Lord never asked any one of his servants to do every single thing, and we shouldn't try to be Super missionaries, so delegation is amazing.  We mentioned the scripture about serving your fellow beings and serving God, and then said that we need to be the ones to allow other people the opportunity to serve God.  It was sweet!  But even sweeter was when Sacrament Meeting rolled around, we had some visitors in our small branch!  It turned out to be Elder Allen and another Elder guy who were from the Missionary board, and Elder Allen is the guy in charge of the entire missionary force in the world!  It was so neat to have them there!  :D  I don't know why they decided to come to our meeting, but they did.  It was also super cool because one of the guys who spoke, Elder Nichols, spoke on how his dad was less active and hoped that someday he would come back to the church.  At the end when Elder Allen said a few words, he told the Elder that he needed to get his dad's contact information so that he could give him a call and tell his dad what he just saw his son do...  The Spirit was so strong, I absolutely loved it!  And then later that night, he spoke at a devotional that we had and he is just like Elder Holland - I am not going to be surprised when this guy gets called to be an Apostle!  And then after that, we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie, which of course is amazing...  :)

On Monday, the only super special thing that happened was that I got a letter from Dad in the mail that he sent a while ago, but don't worry, I got it!  I also got the other one that you guys sent to me - I got that one today...  :)

Tuesday, we had a devotional, and that was pretty good!  We watched an old devotional by Elder Holland, and man he is such a powerful speaker I love it so much!  :D  Later that night, we had a devotional review and then a Zone Testimony Meeting for those of us who were leaving, which was amazing...  I never used to cry, but ever since I got out here, I have been crying a lot!  So of course, I bore my testimony and started crying, but I felt the Spirit so much!

Not tons happened on Wednesday - sorry, but some days are clearly more exciting than others...  But today has been great so far!  I got a haircut and we went to the Temple at 7 this morning, which was great!  I am surely going to miss going to the Mexico City temple, as well as doing the sessions in Spanish, but life goes on.  I hope to make it back here someday - I absolutely love it down here!  But I wonder how life would be outside of our protective bubble...  Who knows!!!

On Wednesday, I also got to go and help some people off of the bus on their first day, and to help them find their casas and everything.  And who was there?  Elder Dallin Jeske (I didn't get a photo with him yet), Hermana Lindsey Turner, and Hermana Melissa Killpack!  It's just an OREM party down here!  :D

Hermana Turner

Hermana Killpack

Well, I need to write some more emails, just know that I love you guys SO much!  I appreciate all of your support and prayers in my behalf - they are being put to good use!  And now, my P-day is going to switch to Mondays because I'm going to be going out into the field this next week, so you probably won't here from me until then, but there is a slight chance I can get on the computer for a little bit on Monday as well as the chance that I can call home on Tuesday when I'm at the airport - we'll see what time allows...  I love you all!

-- 

Elder Nathan Hubert