Dear Family and Friends!

 

So much to talk about this week!

 

 I tried hooking up my camera to the computer but it won't let me put up pictures :( BOO

 

Friday was in-field orientation. It is an ALL DAY seminar where you learn about being in the mission field. We talked about things like contacting, working with members, finding people, and teach and teaching simply. It was great! And we got 2 hours for our meal times :)

 

Fast Sunday was so good in the MTC!!! Loved it. There was a mission conference and just about everyone in the MTC presidency spoke. Shane, an elder named Chase Rice from Bozeman gave a prayer. Do you know him? I don't know him but I just heard the name and city and wrote it down. Fast and testimony meeting was great! A lot of people bore their testimonies. Elder Braithwaite from my district said in his testimony, " You have 2 years (18 months) to serve a mission and eternity to think about it." It got me thinking about my purpose as a missionary and why I am serving. I hope that I can look back on my mission with no regrets. I want to look back on it and be proud of the hard work I did and the lives that I was able to touch and the people that touched my life! It got me pumped up for my mission and to work harder!

 

Monday was so fun!! At night we all got together in the study spot outside and ate some food and chatted. The elders roommates Elder Marlowe and Elder Leitaua came too. Elder Trammel had gotten a watermelon in the mail earlier that week and Elder Braithwaite had cinnamon rolls to eat up. Elder Hepworth ate half of the watermelon. I'm not even joking, it was so funny. If only you knew him. His collar was bright red after it and soaking wet. He tried washing it off in the sprinklers - not too successful. We all took videos and pictures of it. I can't wait til I can send you guys pictures! Maybe i'll just send you my SD card when I send home a few things :)

 

Tuesday was bittersweet. It was the elder's (in my district) last day :( I miss them so much already!  The devotional that night was given by Yoshihiko Kikuchi (A former Member of the First Quorum of the Seventy) He talked about being clean, and absolute obedience! He is a powerful speaker! He would crack jokes with us and instantly be able to bring in the spirit to the meeting. I wish I could teach like that! At one point he had everyone stand up and stretch their hands to the ceiling to form the letter "O". I thought we were doing the YMCA or something and then he had us make the letters "Y" and "M". It stands for Open Your Mouth, meaning you should open your mouth and talke to EVERYONE that you see about the gospel! He is a powerful speaker! He is the former mission president of the Honolul Hawaii mission and had some great stories to tell. At night we were supposed to have a district meeting about the devotional, but Brother Hill let us have a district testimony meeting instead. It was amazing you guys! I miss the elder so much already! We all have become so close and such good friends. When Brother Hill came in to say goodbye, he asked what we thought of the devotional and all I could say was Holy Crap. That is honestly all I could think of because it was so good. He wacked me on the shoulder with his binder and started laughing because I said that. I guess I should work on not saying things like that. I'm trying! haha

 

Wednesday was the first day of VC (Visitor's Center) Training! The other sisters I am with are my cmopanions, sister Gordon, Nelson, Aquino (Mexico), and Fong (Japan).  My teachers are Sister Peets and sister Andelin. We kicked it off by going to temple square! On the way there, we drove past the BYU Stadium and rolled down the windows to hear the beach boys practicing for a concert at night. There were hot air balloons everywhere too! And We could see the forest fires on the mountains. Dan Vera, I don't know if you read this but is your family okay? there was a fire pretty close to where you live. K.C. and Shane that would be by Grandpa Adam's too. It rained yesterday so hopefully that helped. Temple Square was awesome. we were the guests that day so we got a tour and then got to talk to Brother Zander who works for the Exhibits Division with the church. Basically he gets to decide what goes into VC's and stuf flike that. He travels all over the world!! He gave us a really good talk about keeping our individuality and not conforming to be something we are not. Be unique and people will see that you aren't a robot.

 

The 4th of July has by far been the best Independence day of my life and also the best day of my mission. We had a huge assembly in the big gym. Because it was a holiday, there were no new missionaries that day. So everyone fit in the gym. We were all 30 mins early to the devotional so we started singing random songs. I hope they call me on a mission, popcorn popping, once there was a snowman, happy birthday, you're a grand old flag...stuff like that. It was fun and they let us hoot, holler and clap too. President Brown (MTC President) had all of the Elders who have been "Dear Johned" so far come up on stage and we sang As I have loved you to them. It was hilarious. Then we had what I like to call MTC Olympics. Presiden tBrown would call out a country and everyone from that country would stand and go crazy. There was a color guard too. It was 4 boys who had a brother in the MTC that did it. The talk was given by Brother Gary Stott who is a judge and former Branch President at the MTC. He said a good quote. "the Best reason to do right today is tomorow." After the talk, music started playing and then a ton of missionaries started walking in holding flags from the country that they were from. I just started crying because it was SO COOL! We talked about how it is independence day for America, but it is also a day to recognize religion in other countries. Then there were flags of joseph smith on the stand and we all stood and sang Praise to the Man. After all of that,  there was a presentation and there was a map of the world on the screen and every mission could come up in alphabetical order, and when your mission came up you would raise your hand. Then we all got to go outside, get ice cream bars and watch the fireworks! We got to stay up LATE! The fireworks were really good! We all stood together in the parking lot of the MTC to watch them.

 

On Thursday we started at the referral center which is basically online proselyting. We actually taught a girl from Argentina who wants to go on a mission! she is getting baptized July 14th which is the same baptism date that we would commit all of our "investigators" too :) She is excited and is going to talk to her bishop to learn more about it!  The VC Classes are getting me so excited to be in a VC! I can't wait to start doing that!

 

I saw my friend from school Kayla Seaver today!! She is doing great!

 

Mom- don't worry about any addresses. I have them all now. Thank you though :)

 

Today is p-day which meant packing and laundry.

 

Okay now for my quick list of things I jotted down and quotes/funny stuff from the week.

 

I met an elder Shaeffer going to Nicaragua that knew Vicki and Phil. He loves them and we talked for ahile about them!!

 

I can call home at the Airport on July 10th. I can call between 9:30am ish and 10:00am ish UTAH time. My flight leaves at 11 am. When and where should I call. Please dear elder me this ASAP. I have a phone card with 500 mins so I can call a few places, but calling Mom and Dad are my first priority. I know you might be out of town still so  Please let me know when and what number to call. Include the number so I can write it down please.

 

I STILL need Kevin and Marsha's address. I don't care who sends it but someone please send it. I have a letter for them still from last week...

 

I need a 4 generation pedigree chart. Can someone get me this if it's not too much trouble?

 

quotes...

 

"at the airport if you see your friend jack, say hello jack not hi-jack"

 

"how do you get a picachu on a bus? Pokemon!

 

in class a loud jet flew by and elder hepworth said, "I think it's safe to say that was a dragon" without even looking up

 

"What happens in study time, stays in study time" - elder hepworth

 

"Thanks for putting up with my ridiculousness, my not funny jokes and my stupid outfit" -elder hepworth at testimony meeting. he accidently wore a blue suit coat and black pants haha

 

at the referral center sometimes we get "trolls" online or poeple who just like to mess with us. Someone asked us "how do magnets work?" We usually say something like "I'm not sure but i'd love to tell you about how prayer works"

 

I love you ALL so so so much! I wish I could type forever and tell you every detail of the mission, but that is what journals are for right? Thank you for the letters. They mean so so so much! I love hearing from you all!

 

love,

 

Sister Camryn Kuhns

Please start writing to my idaho address! I leave Tuesday morning. You can still Dear Elder me today, tomorrow and monday and I'll get them.

 

My p-day will be monday so you won't hear from me for awhile. Wish me luck! Love ya!