Letter to Christopher July 7, 2010

Christopher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I Love and adore you!!!

Number 1 advice Stop worrying! Worry is fear; fear is not of God and will get you nowhere. When you worry you allow Satan to come into your decisions. Don't let him. Talk yourself out of it. Tell yourself your fine and you will be. You've been on a plane before, compare it to that instead of leaving your family behind. Think you're on vacation. The MTC is just EFY on drugs. It's so amazing! You will love it. Don't worry about the mission field. You'll figure it out when you get there and every mission field is different so you can never prepare for it. Just experience the MTC. Mission life is amazing and you will love every minute of it, even the hard parts because you look back and you can see the change that has happened because of that hard time. Change is good and it's about time.
Say your goodbyes ahead of time so you get like 5 in before you leave and the finale goodbye is not so bad. You will get home sick a bit. I really have not been home sick since I have left but that because you still get to e-mail and you're with people all the time. You're never alone. You don't have to do this by yourself. Talk to your comp. He feels the same way. Be a leader with a humble heart willing to learn from the most humble of missionaries. I'm learning that the quiet ones are the most God like. Learn to love your comp. You're with this one for a very long time so deal with him. Even if he is not your favorite and he's kind of a slacker or goober, learn to like him and learn from him. Never put yourself above your comp. That is when you lose all that God has in store for you to learn. There is no music in the MTC so listen to church music a lot before you leave, if not you will have to delete your songs in your head as soon as they come and then you have nothing, but if you have church music you can listen to it inside your head and even sing it and not feel bad. You'll understand when you get there. Ummm~ Take notes and look at them daily. Notes taken, re-read and applied is a lesson learned from your Father in heaven directly for you.
I love you so much! I can't tell you how happy I am for you. If you have time to stop and think of home enough to get home sick, you're not using your time wisely. Dive into the language. Stand out and volunteer first. I know that's normally not like you but that is what God expects of you. You will learn faster that way. God knows your heart and all of your worries. If you look for his little mercies, you will find them. I don't have enough time to write you AHHHHH! But I love you so much. I'll be right next to you all along the way. You're not alone. I'll write you all the time! I love you! I can't wait to hear from you. This is not Goodbye but until next week. Love you!
~Your sister missionary~
You're so amazing! Don't fear but have faith! Ether 12