Last Week in the MTC!!!!

Hola Hola!!! ESTE ES MI ULTIMA SEMANA EN EL CCM!!!!! Yo salgo para Ecuador en LUNES!!!! And . . . . . I GET TO CALL HOME FROM THE AIRPORT!!!! I don't have my flightplan on me but the branch pres said that I can call from all the airports if I want to, so I'll try to call a few times so i can talk to everyone. But you should just be home all day on monday just in case. Mom, thats really funny that now that I can't check facebook, I'm way more popular. Just accept everyone and when I get home I'll go through and purge the people I don't know/like. lol. Did you see Hno. Barrio's friend request?? He reads my blog now too. Hi Hno. Barrios!!! About your other questions: Yes I got Katie's letter and I sent her one last P day. Yes I got Aunt Meg's box and our whole room devoured all the pretzel-ish things. Sidenote: I love you all but you have got to stop sending me food!! Hna. Yoshino's mom sent her a box yesterday with a ton of Japanese snacks and now we literally have piles of food in our room, it's ridiculous!! I don't know what we're going to do with all of it when we leave!! I LOVED the photo album you sent me mom, it was so amazing!!! Although I had to look at the scuba diver for a really long time before I figured out it was Eric. Just so you know though, i have copies of all the pictures from my mission so you don't need to send them back to me. I can't really think of anything off the top of my head that I want/need for Christmas but I'll let you know if I think of something. Oh yeah. Here's an example of how awesome pres. clegg is. He called me down to his office on Sunday b/c he'll be in the Fort tomorrow and he wanted to know what he could take back with him. Isn't that cool?? We ended up talking for like an hour and a half. Someday I'll have to tell you all the things he said, b/c they were so awesome I wrote them down. I already have two referrals in Ecuador from him!! He's great. So the TRC. Usually it's members pretending to be investigators but I hear sometimes they have legit investigators. We get a situation beforehand and we adapt the lesson to the needs of the investigators. It's really really awesome, I love it. We've had some truly amazing experiences there. When I have time I'll write more about it but trust me it's awesome. So this is my last week in the MTC!!

Here's a list of things I'll miss:
The Spirit here, obviously. It's unreal.
Hna. Mount. I'm not sure what I'll do without her to keep me in line!!
Hna. Damm. I think we were friends in the premortal life. For rels.
Hna. Yoshino. I don't need to explain!!
Elder Yeates. He is so awesome. And pretty. haha j/k.
An hour of gym every day. Running around after sitting for hours is the best feeling!!
Our branch presidency. They're amazing.
President Clegg. I wish I could pack him in my suitcase.
Going to the temple every Wednesday. What an amazing blessing!!
Hno. Barrios and Hno. Sears. They are the best teachers ever. And I'm not just saying that b/c I know Hno. Barrios is reading this ;)
Knowing that my mail will arrive safely and securely. That's not likely in Ecuador.

And now a list of things I won't miss:
The food. My stomach hates me right now.
The bathrooms. They are DISGUSTING.
Living in a shoebox. Eric, I feel your pain, for rels.
No music. That was hard.
Being cold. So not going to be a problem in 5 days.
Elder McGuire and Elder Sandberg-b/c they'll be with me for the next 18 months!!

And here's a list of things I've learned at the MTC:
The Lord is willing to help you with whatever you need-but you have to ASK
I don't know anything. En serio.
The Book of Mormon will answer any question you have. Literally.
I am nothing without the Savior. Nothing.
EVERYONE needs this gospel in their lives. No matter who you are, what your story is, doesn't matter. You need the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is also awesome. For sure.
The Spirit doesn't always speak to you the way you think it will.
Heavenly Father answers prayers, sometimes in the way you expect and sometimes not.
Heavenly Father has a sense of humor.
Stairs are very slippery. And ghostbusting is awesome.
Tongans are really good at volleyball.Watch out for the Tongans on your team. They will take. you. OUT.
My cooking isn't really that bad after all.
The Mormon world is a very small one and everyone knows everyone.
MTC food+sitting all day+ multiple packages of junk food=Hna. Chamberlain gains tons of weight
19 year old boys can preach the gospel and do it well
The gospel is TRUE!!!!!

So I bet you're wondering why I said to watch out for the Tongans. Well, last week in gym I was playing volleyball, and I jumped up to hit the ball. I hit it but it didn't go over the net, so I jumped up to hit it again. All of a sudden something HUGE slammed into me from behind and I fell to the ground. I looked up and there was a huge Tongan standing over me saying "sister I'm so sorry!!" Another hermana helped me up and after the stars went away I kept playing. But I have some nice abrasions on my right knee!!! BUT, it's all good b/c I turned it into a gospel analogy. Sometimes, we're going along, thinking everything's all good, and then BAM!! We get smacked down by trials, temptations, challenges, etc. That's life. BUT, like the hermana that helped me up, the Savior is always there to help us up. But like me, we have to reach out our hands to Him so that He can help us up. Awesome?? I think so. Remember that when you're having a tough time. And seriously, watch out for Tongans.

So, a lot of people still haven't written to me and I'm really sad. Today I'm just going to send out one last plea to the masses to WRITE ME SOME LETTERS!! Or postcards or whatev. In the next email I may start making a list of all the people who haven't written to me who said they were going to. Just saying. If you don't want to be called out, escribame!!!

Love you all and miss you all!! Next week my email will come from ECUADOR!!!!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hna. Chamberlain

PS: just out of curiousity, who are all my new fb friends/blog followers??