One of my instructors

Hey Everyone!

LAST WEEK IN EL CCM! So happy. It has been a tough six weeks but I have learned a lot. I am so excited to get out into the field. I leave Monday afternoon for Concepción, but I won’t get there until Tuesday morning and then I go straight to work. It´s going to be a long couple days.

Saturday was soooo aweseome!  My companion and I were taken out of class to teach the lessons to a local 13 year old girl named Diaretel.  We also taught a lady and her two sons (2 and 4 years old).  It was so fun being around kids again.  First, my companion was suddenly able to speak Spanish better than ever and we were able to help each other throughout the lesson by saying things that helped support the principles the other person was teaching.  I was so proud of him.  Among other things, we taught her about how we can receive inspiration from the Book of Mormon.  At the end of the lesson, she said she wanted to be baptized.  I was definitely not expecting that.  My heart was pounding like crazy.  I turned to Elder Roundy and his jaw was 5 floors underground.  No lie, I could have put a baseball in his mouth.  Ha ha.  It was hilarious.  Diaretel still needs to finish the lessons and get her parents’ permission to be baptized so, unfortunately, I won’t be around to see her get baptized.  However, I was so happy to be able to play a small part in the process.

This week we also had our normal classes and studying times.  We also had a lot of meetings focused on helping to prepare us to go out into the real world. They were all pretty interesting and got me super excited to get to Chile and to work on helping to improve people´s lives in any way that I can.

On Tuesday my companion Elder Roundy ran into the corner of a TV and split his head open. He was totally fine.  He just looked really bad with blood running down his head and face. We went to the medical clinic to get his head stitched up but they were closed for dinner. Our district had to sing in front of the whole CCM in the devotional, and since the clinic didn't open until after the devotional, Elder Roundy had to sing with us with a bloody face and head. It was hilarious because we were getting the weirdest looks. Long story short he got stitches and is fine.

Chop Suey

I was excited to see Chop Suey in the cafeteria today.  I took a picture of their Mexican version of it!



I had to pack up all of my stuff to weigh it so I won´t get charged with overweight fees at the airport on Monday.  It took forever to pack up everything so I’ve decided I’m not going to unpack but just live out of my suitcase until I get to Chile on Tuesday morning.

Matt Garff said something to me this week that I really liked. He said, ¨The test of someone´s will is measured after the frustration and disappointment." I think that´s a really good point for me to remember because there are always going to be trials in life and I know, especially in these next two years, that I likely will be tested and face a lot of frustration and disappointment along the way with people I teach.  It has made me think a lot about how I want to be able to respond when I face challenges or adversity in my life. Do I want to pout about it and be upset? Or do I want to turn it into motivation to work even harder? I think this is something that each of us can apply in our own lives and with the different challenges we face and to respond in a positive and productive way.

Well, this is it for my time at the CCM. I´m excited for all of the people that I am going to meet in the next two years. I can´t wait for all the people I will be able to help and the time I have to try to make the world a better place. But missionary work doesn´t end with the 2 year countdown. We are all missionaries whether we are on missions or not. We all have the ability to invite other to come unto Christ and help make the world a better place.

Proverbs 4:5-6: “Get wisdom, get understanding; forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.  Forsake it not, and it shall preserve thee: love it, and it shall keep thee.”

I love you all! Have a great week.

Elder Vincent

all the BYU athletes in el CCM. Ben Rigby (baseball), Jackson McChesney (football), Lauren Cranor (rugby), Trevin Knell (basketball), and me

After Elder Roundy got his stitches out