Thursday, January 15, 2015

My Last Week in the CCM (MTC)

Elder McClure & Elder Richardson

Saying good-bye to this district



January 15, 2014

Hello All!

 I hope all is well in the Fort and where ever else you might be while reading this message!

I’ve heard there were some terrorist attacks in some countries and crazy sickness in the US, so I hope and pray all is well! 

My week this week has been a very good week and I think the reason for it is because I have had a very selfless week!  While at the CCM everything is still kinda about you!  It’s all about preparing yourself to help others, so yes, you have other people in mind in the long run, but really everything is still about you!  This week hasn’t been so much about me though, and it’s been great!  Let me explain!

Elder Billman, my comp, ran into a pole over a week ago.  I don’t remember if I mentioned that last week, but he really took a fall--into a pole.  Unfortunately I wasn’t there to witness it myself because I was on splits, but ever since then I have had the privilege of taking care of him! Anyways, since the accident he has had terrible headaches and sickness to the point where we have missed much class and meals so he could sleep because that was the only thing that helped the pain!  We gave him a blessing and took him to the doc and he got 3 prescriptions, but still he hasn’t been doing good.  So on Tuesday we got the chance to take a ride to a nearby hospital so he could get an MRI!  Let me say this... that car ride was probably the worst car ride I have ever experienced!!!  I don’t know how I didn’t throw up!.. definitely a tender mercy of the Lord!  I have realized how lucky I am in to be in a walking mission because these roads here curve and dip and the drivers accelerate and stop and weave and honk and drive 5 wide on a 2-lane road! Man oh man-- scary! hahaha  But he got an MRI and that was good and we got the results today! He’s gonna be OK!  Just some bruised brain and nothing too serious!  What a blessing it is! He still has bad headaches, but every day is better than the last!  Because of this I have missed out on a lot of classes and fallen a little behind in my language learning, but the blessing that has come from it is I have started and now am hooked on the book Jesus the Christ!  Man oh man, I love that book!  Yes there are a ton of huge words that I have no clue what they mean, but the Spirit I feel while reading about Christ is undeniable!  I kick myself for not getting that book out sooner in my life!

This week I had to say goodbye to the older district in my zone and it was incredibly hard!  It’s so crazy how easy it is to love people!  And then when you realize you may never see them in this life just makes things so difficult!  They are all now in the Long Beach area.. I think they will actually serve in the hood, right by LAX.. Dad you know what I’m talking about.. we stayed a night in the hood and we all thought we were going to die!  Remember that? haha  But they will be awesome missionaries and maybe someday I’ll be able to see them again!

This week has also been all about pranks within my district! which I know is not the best thing to do and really I try to not be a part of them!  In fact really I’m just a recipient mostly! Haha--lots of dumping buckets of water over the half wall on guys in the shower.. hiding in guys closets and jumping out and scaring them.. taking all their belongings out of their closets and hiding it in random places in the casa while they shower... yeah stuff like that!  Anyways, I encourage all you future missionaries out there to not participate in such activities!  As fun as they are they take the Spirit away and that is no bueno!  (So don’t do it!)  J

Today I had the privilege of leaving the CCM again and going to the Mexico City Temple and Visitor Center!  IT’S INCREDIBLE!!!  Mom, the visitor center here is supposed to be the best the Church has, so imagine the Mormon Battalion Visitor Center that you were at times 10!   Wowwie, wow, wow!  It stunk because we couldn’t even go on the Temple grounds because of construction, but I was very content with the visitor center!  My favorite was the little kids’ room!  It was decked out.  We got to color in pics of Captain Moroni on cool tablets and then project them up on fake leaves on the fake trees in the room, haha  It was so awesome!!  I asked the Hermanas there if they knew an Elder Thomas.  I couldn’t remember which mission he was in and they were in the MC East mission, but they didn’t know him.  I forgot to ask about Hermana Newton!  Maybe she’s the one in MC East.

The other day a bunch of us in the district walked to the post office ready to be disappointed again.. when something very, very beautiful happened J  hahaha  We opened the mail box and there was a whole stack of Envelopes!!!!! Elder Pratt, our District Leader, pulled them out and started to read each one and who they were for! 

“Elder Bird, Hermana Burnett, Elder McClure, Elder McClure, Elder McClure, Elder McClure, and .... Elder McClure!”

He said it with a disappointed voice and it was just like the scene out of “The Best 2 Years” (a movie) and so all I could do was act out the rest of that scene... "YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!"  It was so funny and, man oh man, I felt so blessed to get 5 envelopes from my parents! hahaha  It was so great!  Thank you so much for the letters Mom and Dad!  Oh how I desperately needed them.

I head for the mission field Monday morning at 5am!  I don’t know why so early because my mission home is less than an hour away, but I’m gonna go when the van goes, so that’s 5am!  I am incredibly nervous, so I ask and pray that all who will, will pray for me as I enter the field!  It’s a whole new world outside these CCM walls!  I feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to learn and grow here in the CCM and I’m sincerely going to miss the Spirit that can so easily be felt here! 

Next time you hear from me I’ll be a different person-- most likely struggling a whole lot but what a perfect way to grow!  I’ll be a missionary in the field-- not just a CCM missionary! Fort Collins, please be good and I’ll write you in a week!  Be strong and have fun!  Life is too short. Every minute counts.  Don’t miss out on the chance to make a new friend, because friends are one of the few things that can help when you’re having hard times! 

CeCeMe Elder McClure over and out!

Love,
 
Elder McClure
 

 
 

 

 


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