Ready to go to Chile!

All my bags are packed and I’m ready to go….Elder Lott leaves the CCM on Monday morning at 5:30 am for Santiago.  He and his CCM Companion, Elder Lentz, will travel to their mission together.  His district will all depart for their various missions in Chile on Monday but all at different times. They have all become the best of friends and will say good-bye on Sunday.  It will for sure be a tough good-bye and a long flight. 

I told him this would be a “nevertheless” moment just like Nephi.  When Nephi went back to get the plates, they tried once by chance (cast lots), once by strategy (gold and silver trade) and the last time by leaving it totally up to the Lord.  Nephi said, “Nevertheless I went forth, (1 Nephi 4:7) Elder Lott’s line would read something like, “Nevertheless I boarded the plane.”

Elder Lott is feeling excited and nervous about going to Santiago.  He has learned what he can in a classroom environment and looks forward (with some apprehension) to learning hands-on in Chile.

When Brayden hops on the call, the boys speak to each other in Spanish.  It’s so fun to hear them have an entire dialog in another language.  The laugh and probably talk about their parents in front of us but it sure is fun to hear them talk. 

Since the last post, he was able to go to the temple again and purchased another tie.  He said it was kind of a surprise trip and again he listened to Spanish through one ear and English through the other.  They ran into one of their CCM teachers at the temple and he thought it was fun to see someone he actually knew in a foreign temple.  Mostly, he was impressed that on her “P-Day”, the day she doesn’t work at the CCM, she chooses to spend her time in the temple.

He taught a Skype lesson to a native Spanish speaker.  She was an older woman who had served a mission.  He said that experience really helped him understand more and build more vocabulary words.  

His district sang the EFY Medley for the Sunday devotional.  The Sisters sang the first verse in Spanish, the Elders sang the second verse in Spanish and they all sang the last verse in English.  He said it was great!

He was able to give one of the Hermanas in his district a blessing.  He said there are many blessings given in the CCM.  He was also able to participate in giving a blessing to one of his teachers.  He was grateful for opportunities to participate in Priesthood blessings.

He had another injury.  Elder Lott told the funniest story after his Dad asked about the cut on his eye.  I wish you could hear it in his words.  It went something like this:  Well, you see, the whole district decided to play volleyball in a big circle.  Everyone was spiking and saving the ball.  It was kind of a mixture of volleyball and spike ball.  We were having a lot of fun and then this ball came flying right at me but don’t worry, I saved it!  However, after I hit the ball back, I looked up and this fence came from out of nowhere.  At a full on sprint, I ran straight into the pole and it sat me right down.  Who decided to put a fence there? Elder Earl came running over to see if I was okay and after we decided I was basically okay, he just laid on the ground and laughed with me until I could stand up.  The cut on my eye was minor compared to the crash.

He heard from Elder Bednar.  The missionaries hear from an Apostle every week in the CCM.  In Elder Lott’s words:  Elder Bednar called us out to become more Christlike.  He taught us that to find ourselves, we need to loose ourselves serving others.  That is the secret to finding yourself and becoming more Christlike—losing yourself in the service of others.

He still has not been called on to give the talk he prepares every Sunday but he has been able to share his testimony in Spanish. They do study Come Follow Me for one hour on Sundays and are allowed to go to a computer lab for that study time.

He has realized he’s now one of the oldest missionaries in the CCM and found it interesting how you go from one of the youngest to one of the oldest so quickly.

He reminded us that it’s always warm in Mexico (as we showed him the snow at home) but he thinks the air is dryer in Mexico than in Utah. (How can that be?)

He has started doing sit-ups and push-ups every night.  He’s going to add 10 to his repetitions every week and told up to look out because he’ll be buff when he gets home.

He gave some advice to his niece preparing to teach English in a foreign land:  go in with little expectations, make a good friend and don’t expect much of your house. 

His next update will be his arrival in Chile. Extra prayers for Elder Lott as he says good-bye and makes a long journey to a new country in the coming week.