. Lexi in Poland .: Mój ostatni tydzień w MTC (My last week in the MTC!)

Dear Friends and Family,

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE, WSZYSCY!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe the time has finally come?! This is my last time emailing from the MTC! From Utah! FROM AMERICA!! :) I think it's easy to say that I'm just a liiiiittle excited!!

So, I'll start with the big news... WE GOT OUR FLIGHT PLANS!!!!!!!!!! On Monday morning at 4:35 a.m., I will be on my way to POLAND!! We are flying to Houston, Texas first! (Hi, Texas family!! I love you!) Then from there we are flying to Munich, Germany!! (Are you KIDDING me?! SO COOL!!) Then finally.... TO WARSAW, POLAND!!!!!! :) Oh my goodness, I am bouncing off the walls! In 4 days I will be in Poland, preaching this gospel that I LOVE, to the people I have longed to meet since the moment I opened my call on July 10th! There's no way to even describe my excitement (and nervousness), and how absolutely positively blessed I feel. :)

This week has been one of a lot of "lasts" for us Poles! We taught our last lessons to our investigators this week (all 5 of them!) and I wish I could just bottle up the spirit I feel in those lessons and take it with me wherever I go! It is incredible, and I wish all of you could be here with me to see how WONDERFUL the spirit is. We taught our last lesson to Sławek on Tuesday, and he committed to be baptized!!!!! I COULD HAVE HUGGED THAT MAN!!!! We are just so so excited for him!!! We had the most wonderful discussion with him about Faith, and he told us that he wants to act on the faith he has by following the example of Jesus Christ and being baptized! :) And we also taught Karina, and set her baptismal date for January 9th!! Can you believe it?!?! Oh my goodness... Jestem bardzo błogosławiona. :) I just love seeing the spirit touch people's hearts. I've seen the change that this gospel has had on my life, and to see that same change happen in others... That brings me more joy and warms my heart more than I can even say. That feeling just makes everything so worth it. To feel the love of God for these people, to see them realize the love God has for them, to see the spirit touch their hearts... THAT is what my mission is for.

This week, we also had to say goodbye to our teachers. We have said goodbye to Siostra Cheney and Brat Kimball, and on Saturday we will say goodbye to Brat Fotu. It's the worst thing ever! Before we say our goodbye's, our teachers always give us "Rada" or "advice/counsel", and it is always exactly what I need to hear. So, Siostra Cheney's advice was...

1. Look for miracles. (Mormon 9:15) I love this. One thing I have done each day on my mission, is write a couple "tender mercies" or "miracles" that happen each day in a little notebook I have. It is such a blessing at the end of each day to sit down, and reflect on the ways I saw the Lord's hand in my life that day. I KNOW the Lord is with us every day, every minute, and I know His hand is ALWAYS in our lives. We just have to look. :)

2. Declare the world with unwearyingness. (Helaman 10:4, Alma 37:34) I love this advice too. Serving a mission has made me realize that I should NEVER tire of good works. If I am tired, but I am doing something good - that is a BLESSING! :) How TIRED the Savior must have been, but He declared His gospel unceasingly, because He knew the blessings it would bring to those who accepted it. I know those blessings too, so I will declare the word unceasingly, just like my Savior. I am so shy, and have such a hard time approaching people I don't know, but how WONDERFUL will it be, when I can walk up to a random person on the streets of Poland with no fear (in 4 days!), because I KNOW what I am saying is true.

3. Remember the power of your calling. Since the moment I entered the MTC, I don't feel the same without that little black nametag of mine on. There is something about being able to wear the name of my Savior who I love SO MUCH, on my chest each day. Even if we are not missionaries with a little black tag, we are still missionaries! Every member a missionary. Wear the name of Christ on your heart, in everything you do. Yours (yes you) is a DIVINE calling. :)

I just love my teachers. Brat Kimball, before we said our goodbyes, had us sit in a little circle, and bear our testimonies in Polish to each other... It was so wonderful.

The three of them have touched my heart and impacted my testimony more than I could have ever imagined, and I don't know what I would do without them! I am, and always will be, so so grateful for them. I don't think they have any idea how much I love them!

Well, tonight and tomorrow we have devotionals that we will be able to hear from an APOSTLE!! And I think it's safe to say that I am kind of maybe possibly really extremely excited!!!! :D Siostra D is in a special Christmas choir, and she has to learn Silent Night in German (What?! Awesome!) So uhhhh... Obviously I am PRAYING that that means we get to hear from President Uchtdorf!!! But honestly, AN APOSTLE! I'm freaking out! :) I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have been able to have Halloween, Thanksgiving, AND Christmas in the MTC, and to still be able to have each of them in Poland next year!! :) My heart is so full. :)

From our devotional on Tuesday, one thing I loved was the saying, "I will be the one." If someone where to tell us all, "Go to your room, and become." What would we do? Who would we become? I've given a lot of thought to that these past few days, and no matter how many different things I think of, it always comes back to one thing... Christ. I would do everything I could to become like Him. He is my biggest example, my constant comfort, and my Savior and Redeemer. It is my biggest hope that that night before the end of my mission, before I leave to come home, I can kneel down in prayer and be comforted, knowing that I did everything I could to come unto Christ. I know that this gospel is a gospel of change, and I know if we accept the Savior, he will change us into exactly who we need to become. :)

I hope you will all keep Him in mind tomorrow during Christmas! Christmas brings out the child in all of us, I think that is part of the reason I love it so much! And how wonderful is it to celebrate this time of year, when the founder was a child Himself. :) I love my Savior, and I know He lives. He loves you, and He is ALWAYS with you.

I love you all, and I hope you have the most WONDERFUL Christmas!!!!! :)

Kocham was!!

I can't wait to email you all next week from POLAND!!! :)

∞, Siostra Kamp