Carry ON~

Cameron has had a really good couple of weeks. He even figured out how to upload some pictures (which THRILLS ME). Some of them are from a few weeks ago, but its still good to see how happy he is, and was, as he has been in the MTC. He met up with Kaden Moon (Elder Moon) before he left for Oregon and got another picture of just the two of them as "missionaries". 

He ran into Wade Shephard (Elder Shephard) at one of the devotionals...he said it is really good

 to see his friends from home. 

Cameron said that in his district that he is the only one that hasn't had any previous Spanish. He said the language is hard but he isn't struggling as much as some of the missionaries are. He said he has heard from so many friends and people from home. He really appreciates that so many are thinking of him and enjoys hearing from everyone. 

Cameron's letter last week was filled with the joy and happiness that he is feeling as he learns more about himself and the gospel. He said, " i can feel the spirit here so strongly all day its crazy its insane the things you realize here about yourself and about the gospel that you never even thought about until your put into a situation with someone who doesn't know about the gospel and has questions about things you've never even thought about! (our teachers are our investigators and we teach them "fake" lessons in espanol too) ha its crazy here."

(That is an excerpt from his letter...he doesn't use punctuation or capitol letter etc...guess when he gets home I'll have to send him back to high school English...ha ha ha ha)

He told us that he was in a devotional or church meeting and there were some Elders up front singing and he kept thinking about this one elder and how familiar he looked. Afterwards Cameron went up and spoke to him and found out that he was a young man that Cameron wrestled against, from Springville....(Cameron beat him pretty bad when he wrestled him a few years back). He said how good it was to talk to him and re-connect. What a SMALL WORLD we live in. When Cameron emails letters, he said that his brain often switches from English to Spanish and said it really messes with his mind....its very confusing....but he laughs about it. 

He leaves for Mexico City a week from tomorrow (Novemeber 11)...I'm both excited and nervous. Its like starting ANOTHER chapter of his mission. He is excited and ready to go. He gets to call from the airport and chat with us for a minute before he leaves on the airplane, which we are all looking forward to. We will get another email from him on Tuesday, but that will be the last email we get before he leaves the country. 

The gospel is true and the growth that Cameron is experiencing is AMAZING to say that least. He is meeting so many wonderful elders in the MTC that have made a huge difference in his life. He has met many elders that he's grown to love and that he has a hard time saying good-bye to...one in particular, he said, "  this week was kinda rough my best homie elder roberts left Monday morning and he was honestly one of those friends that youve only known for a few short weeks but it feels like a life time i almost started crying when i had to say good bye to him." 

I'm so glad that Heavenly Father has blessed him with people like Elder Roberts, that have touched Cameron's life. 

Cameron will "Carry ON" with the work of the Lord this week as he finish's the last few things that he will be instructed to do before he jumps on an airplane for Mexico City...a brand new place for a brand new adventure. 

"Carry on Elder Wilkerson, Carry on!" 

MTC Field Trip?...who knew~

We have yet to get any pictures of Elder Wilkerson since he entered the MTC. He said he has some but hasn't been able  to download them off his camera to the computers. He said he would ask around this week to find out exactly what the process was to do it. Since he is in the west campus, he has to wait until he can go to the main campus to use the bigger computers to download?....I'm assuming they have laptops or something like that down in the lower campus...don't really understand that, but...thats what he told us. We are hoping that on Tuesday (his PDay) we will receive some pictures. I did get one that was posted on facebook by a friend of mine, Jan Hanberg. These three awesome Elder's were all in the MTC for a short time together. Elder Hanberg (on the left) and Elder Moon (on the right) were friends and schoolmates of Cameron's, they all played football together. It put a big smile on our faces to see them all together again! What an amazing group of men!

We got 2 letters this week, an email...and a "snail mail" letter (HAPPY DAY AT OUR HOUSE!). At the beginning of Cameron's letter he stated: "Just thought I'd take this opportunity to write you and tell you about this crazy day. You will never believe where I am right now! I am on an AIRO plane (his words) back from Las Vegas!! We had to fly here to get our visas from the Mexican consulate here in Vegas because the one in Salt Lake can only give so many per month. So me and a bunch of Elders that I don't know got a day trip to VEGAS".....He said that his Spanish is getting "slightly" better, but coming slowly. He loves the letters he is getting and hopes that everyone continues to write. He said letters get a missionary through long days. He is enjoying the food, but is not indulging too much as he wants to stay fit. He is working out daily (I guess all the missionaries do this) and say's he thinks he's even lost some weight. They go to the temple every PDay and he really enjoys that. He worked in the temple every week before he left on his mission and said he has gained a great love for the temple. He said that some of the Elders that he liked and was close to all left for Mexico last week and that was pretty hard on him. One of them left him the "brotherhood" blanket....the Elder signs it and when he leaves he gets to give it to another Elder, they keep passing it down, down, down....and it continues on and on. Cameron was pretty excited about it and said he is staying warm (I had asked if he needed me to send him another blanket since it was getting cold, all we sent was a thin one...he assured me that he was doing good with the "brotherhood" blanket).

All in all, Elder Wilkerson sounds good, healthy and busy. We continue to keep all the missionaries in our prayers. These young men are such valiant servants and such a great example to me. 

We love our missionary!

The Work Begins...

(picture of Elder Wilkerson with Halle, the night he was set apart to be a missionary)

We got a letter from Elder Wilkerson this past week. Its always good to hear from our missionary. He is in full swing of attending classes for 15 hours and learning the language. He said that he isn't getting the language but he can pray and bear his testimony in Spanish (in other words...he IS MAKING progress, just not as quickly as he might like). He said his companion is almost as tall as him and they get along pretty good. He is busy and seems to be doing well. His Pday is on Tuesday's, so we anxiously await for Tuesday to come so we can get an email from him. I am hoping to get him to take some pictures so we can see him at work, as well as some pictures of him and his companion, but for now...we just have to visualize what he must look like as a "full blown Missionary". At this point he is scheduled to leave the MTC on November 11th, but we will just wait and see if his Visa comes etc... If you want to write him a letter you can send it to the addresses below. He said that he LOVES mail. He loves to hear from family and friends. I don't know how many letters he will get written back, he is so busy and has very little time to write....but encouraging words from those who love him are what he looks forward to.

His address is:

Elder Cameron M. Wilkerson, NOV11 MEX-MEXE, 2023 N. 900 E. Unit 835, Provo UTAH 84602. 

This is the address if you want to send something directily to the MTC and then you can also go to dearelder.com and put in the information they ask for from his address and write him a letter. If its written and sent before noon, he will get it that day, otherwise he will get it the next day. Also, here is his email address: cameron.wilkerson@myldsmail.net He gets to check his email on Tuesdays as thats when his PDay is.

The BIG DAY~

October 2nd was THE DAY...the day that we took Cameron to the MTC.

He was happy, excited, nervous and anxious to go...

We got up early so we could make a few stops when we got into Provo to pick up

a few last minute things. Then we headed off to have lunch at "Los Hermanos". We let

Cameron pick where he wanted to eat...we were all a little surprised that he would pick

Mexican food since he would be eating it for the next 2 years. He said he wanted 

to taste Mexican/American food one last time~ (I guess so he could "compare them").

 We had a great lunch and over ate...like we always do when we go to Los Hermanos...

BUT the food WAS FABULOUS!! 

 Whenever we go to Los Hermanos we take a picture here...its sort of "our spot".

 We invited Cameron's best friend to come along for lunch, as she is one of our very

favorite people too. After lunch they shook hands and said good-bye...and "see you in 2 years".

 Cameron called and talked to his oldest sister before we took him to the 

MTC drop off...they laughed together, talked about life and said their good-byes. 

 We took a few pictures and laid on the grass before saying our final good-byes

....and then it came time to head to the MTC and drop our big guy off 

at the curb, give him one last hug and turn and drive away....

 He was ready!!! He was all smiles and didn't look back....just as he should be~

See you in 2 years Elder Wilkerson!

We love you so much!!

The FAMILY Weekend

Realizing that we won't have the ENTIRE family

together for 2 years has been difficult, to say the least...but its

a blessing to have Cameron going out to serve the Lord. 

This past weekend was filled with family pictures,  family cooking time....

...which also meant FAMILY EATING time...

 ....crazy times with his siblings. Cam always has a 

 a crazy face ready to pop out...and its usually when the camera comes out!

 I would have to say, I think Cameron enjoyed his 

FAMILY Weekend...every minute of it! 

The time to prepare is now....

"You are hereby called to serve in the Mexico-Mexico City East Mission"

"....you will report at the Provo Utah Missionary Training Center 

on October 2, 2013"

....and that takes us to now! 

Cameron has been spending the last several months gathering clothes, reading his scriptures, attending the temple and getting every last little thing "accomplished" (a good way to put that he has got all his "playing" out) in order to be ready to toss his suitcases in the back of the car and head out to the MTC in 2 days. He is excited. He is nervous. He is scared...BUT he is SOOOOO READY to go. He has been preparing his entire life for this new journey and now its here and he is anxious to get it started. He's a gentle man with a heart of gold, one that will love the Mexican people like he's known them his entire life.  

This blog will be a story (documentary) of his

mission...his successes...his challenges...his joys and his 2 year adventure~

Welcome Aboard!