Sister deBenito's Mission: Week 23- "If America Ceases To Ge Good, America Ceases To Be Great"

I hope that everyone had an amazing week and Fourth of July!

Super busy and amazing week!

David is getting baptized this Saturday and we are so excited! We cannot wait to see him enter the waters of baptism and make this special and sacred covenant with our Heavenly Father. How did I get so lucky to serve here in the great Utah Provo Mission? I'm so extremely grateful to be here.

We had our last set of exchanges this week with Sister Wang and Sister Cook. I was with Sister Cook and it was so fun. She is absolutely hilarious! I love her.

Monday we had MLC, that's why Preparation day wasn't Monday this week. It was the last one of the transfer so all of the missionaries who were going home at the end of this transfer to get up and bear their final testimony. There were 5 of them and it was the most powerful testimony meeting I've ever been part of. It is amazing how much a mission changes a person. Again I am so lucky to be surrounded by all of these wonderful and exemplary missionary leaders of the mission.

After MLC, all of the sister training leaders had a sleepover at the mission home and it was so fun! We had a slumber party with President and Sister Hodgman! There were 8 of us sisters there with President and Sister Hodgman. President lasted until like 10 then he went to bed. He said that we were hilarious and that he hasn't had that many girls in his house, like ever. Hahaha Sister Hodgman and the rest of us STLs stayed up late! We didn't get in bed until about 11! I know it probably doesn't seem late to you, but it was super late to us because we are supposed to have lights out by 10:30every night. Haha but it was okay because we were with Sister Hodgman:) It was so fun!

Then Tuesday was the fourth of July! We had to wake up super early because we knew that 8 girls in 1 bathroom would take forever for all of us to get ready!

They wanted the missionaries to be the last ones in the parade because everyone always leaves after we pass through so we had to wait almost 3 hours in the bleachers of the Provo High School football stadium. It was soo fun to get to hang out with the other missionaries and get to know the ones that I didn't know. There are a little over 140 missionaries. Then the Orem mission joined us in the bleachers too to wait our turn. They walk right next to us in the parade so there were over 200 missionaries walking in the parade! It was great to see Elder Scott and Sister Harris who is serving in the Orem mission and are from my ward.
The parade was so much fun! It is absolutely amazing how much support the missionaries get here. I felt honored to be able to walk in the parade and give all of the kids high fives while we walked by. It is definitely a memory that I will cherish forever.

Then after the parade our whole mission gathered in a chapel and had BBQ and hung out together. Then our office senior missionaries were all in their military uniforms and spoke about their time in the military. It was so cool to see them dressed up. We all said the pledge of allegiance, sang the national anthem, and just listened to their stories. It was so cool because even though we have missionaries from 15 different countries in our mission, everyone was so respectful and got teary-eyed when the office senior elders spoke. We are so honored to have the opportunity to serve with those who fought for our country.

After we all went back to our areas and met up in chapels as districts to hang out because we weren't allowed to be outside proselyting. So it was finally time to watch Moana! Everyone was so excited and I loved it! Then we had pizza, and played board games until were were released from our lock in at 9:30 and headed home. It was super fun!

This was such a crazy, fun, and exhausting week! These are just highlights of the last couple of days but let's just say I love my mission and I love the friends I have made here that will last for a lifetime.

There's nothing like this.

Con Amor,

Hermana de Benito