Order the Package

Hey guys! I don't have a ton of time today so this email's gonna be a little shorter.

The second week of home MTC was awesome! Just as spiritually edifying and testimony building as the first, and now the whole district is best friends. I cannot wait to meet my companion in person tomorrow at the MTC!! It's crazy to think that I'm actually going there. Hanging out with my family today has made me realize how fast time went and suddenly I'm leaving.

Yesterday Hermana Harrison and I taught our first lesson in Spanish! It went well. I understood basically everything Dario said to us. It was just hard for me to respond. Which is weird because normally I'm better at talking than listening. I think it's because I don't have a big enough vocabulary about church related words yet, so testifying is difficult.

One insight from my study this week. I was reading 3 Nephi 25:3 which talks about growing up as calves in the stall. I have heard that phrase before but never knew what it meant so I decided to do some research on it. I found a Book of Mormon commentary that talked about the verse. This is just one guy's interpretation so if you think it means something different I would love to hear your opinion about it! But what he said is that because of Christ, we get to grow up as calves in the stall, compared to growing up as calves in the wild. Calves in the wild are subject to all forces of nature, like harsh weather, predators, and scarcity of food and water. But calves in the stall are protected by the barn walls and their food is given to them. Kind of like we are protected from Satan's influence and dangers of the world by the Spirit. We have the scriptures, words from living prophets, and opportunities to receive personal revelation continually before us. Our life in the barn is so good. So stay in the barn! Don't let things that could tempt you about going outside lure you out of the safety of the barn.

I thought the analogy was cool, though I of course would never advocate for staying inside our houses all the time. Two and a half weeks of home MTC sitting in front of my computer has made me so excited to go outside even though it's freezing.

Also something the MTC president said that stood out to me. He was talking about how his wife is always receiving packages and it makes him a little sad because the packages are never for him. Then he realized why: he never orders anything. So why should he expect to receive any packages? Same thing with us and revelation. We can't expect to be receiving answers to our questions if we never put in the work to sincerely ask God, read our scriptures, and ponder. "Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you," the scriptures say. In D&C 88, D&C 4, D&C 66, 3 Nephi 27, 3 Nephi 18, 1 Nephi 15, Moroni 7, Enos 1, John 16, Matthew 21... This is a promise that is everywhere, and it is so true. God listens to our prayers and He does answer them, though it may not be in the way or at the time we want it to be. He has a plan for each of us and loves us with a love so perfect and complete that our mortal brains can't even fathom it.

So this week I challenge you guys to set some time aside to think about the questions you have and sincerely ask God about them. You may not get an answer right then, but logging in to amazon gets you one step closer to having that package delivered to you.

I love all of you guys and I am so grateful for the support and love I have felt from all of you throughout my life and especially as I have been preparing for the mission. I will miss you all! I'm sorry if I didn't get to say goodbye, but hey! It's only a year and a half then I'll see you all again. And there's nowhere I 'd rather be than serving the Lord.

¡Les amo, mis amigos!

Hermana Cazier

June didn't label her pictures this time, but you can tell these are some of her last moments with friends and family...and the dog.

We took June to the MTC the next day. They warned us to say all our goodbyes before we dropped her off since they don't allow long goodbyes there. So we went over by the Provo Temple to say goodbye. We actually saw a few other missionaries doing the same thing.

It was very sunny.

Tyler tried taking a selfie but his phone likes to blur the background. We always seem to lose someone.

We took a picture with our eyes closed because out of everyone, June is always the one caught with her eyes closed in a picture. 8 times out of 10, it happens.

Which was proven just moments later when we dropped her off and the kind Sister took a picture for us. Notice Hermana Cazier with her closed eyes. :)

One more good one. This family is my life. June is going to do awesome things, so I'm okay with her going, but we sure will miss her.