NEWS ALERT!

Just got off the phone with Carson. He sounds great! He has been assigned to the Altanta Georgia Mission until his visa arrives. He leaves the MTC Tuesday Sept. 1st and reports to the travel office at 3:00am to catch his 6:50am flight to Denver connecting to Atlanta. I asked if I could meet him at the airport and he told me he would be mad if I did. He said please don't come it would be to hard :-(. He said he gets to call again when he is at the airport at 5 am.

Email Monday Aug. 24th 2009

Hola familia!!!!!! So as most of you have probably found out I got some bitter sweet news last week. I'M NOT GOING TO BE DELAYED!!! WOOO!! BUT I don't get to go to Argentina for a month or so :(. I'll be getting re assigned tomorrow (tues) or possibly wednesday to a mission in the US while they continue to work on the visa crisis! I actually ran out of the travel office jumping for joy and ran down the hall with my arms out as if i scored a goal in the world cup i was so happy. Just knowing i'm going to the field is enough for me! I've liked the MTC and learned so so much but you can only go so far as far as the idioma is concerned. (language oops). So i'm real excited to so speak spanish to some natives and actually learn how to speak non MTC spanish! My companion got his visa (no one knows how this happened) and will be leaving monday for sure to Argentina. The other 3 of us are getting re assigned. We don't know yet if we leave on the 31 st still of not but they said it would be next week sometime for sure. The best place to send mail from now on is probably my email till i can get an address to everyone. Thankyou for all the support and letters. They have been few and far between the last couple weeks but I appreciate the love, I can feel it! I'm so blessed to have people around me who care! The temple dedication yesterday was really really good. It brought back many memories of my trip there with you mom! All I could think about the whole time was the three women in my life! Momma, Katie, and KarKar! I'm sure you remember going on the tour of that beautful building. Pres Monson's talk was great. I felt like he was talking to me personally. I know that being able to attend the temple will bless your life! Even for youth to go do baptisms. We got to go today to the provo temple for possibly the last time. I'll miss it. I was so pumped to hear about ogden high football! I got goose bumps and did a ferocious fist pump when i read those words! Elder Barrus gave me a patented scuzz but it's all gravy! Sounds like my boys played well last week, good for them! I love those boys and miss them! FAVRE THE VET IS NO LONGER A JET! V I K I N G S! FAVRE 4 MVP. (scott lee i take back all my previous comments :) ) I need more updates as far as the sports world goes. Anyways, I love you all. I'm gettting all my laundry and dry cleaning done for the last time. It's so weird to think we're leaving here soon. I've lived here for 8 years right? I feel like the real world is going to kill me. There's like....... cars and stuff out there.. and people without black plaques and white buttons ups... yeah i'm trippin.I got the book today and have read two chapters already. It's great and is going to help mucho thankyou so much! Anyways my time is up. Mom I love you! Dad I love you! Kyler I love you! Carter I love you! Karly I love you! Friends&Family I love you all! I can't start to explain how much i think about you at nights and when i write these emails. I hope your all doing well, thank you for the package Nat! It was awesome possum :) The good word is true!!!
Le Amo
Elder Campbell

August 20, 2009

Familia-
Wow, what a crazy emotional day. We were excited because the 2nd Thursday you leave you get your travel plans. So we were all anxiously awaiting the mail drop & were talking it up all day. And of course.........they didn't come! All the visa stuff at least we could have some hope of seeing our travel plans! Whether or not we were getting on those flights. We didn't know obviously but we were still pumped, then really let down. I hit an all time low. I had fasted all yesterday for visa's. I've been praying and trying to show my faith in God. And I just was really depressed. So an hour later I went on a split w/ Elder Peterson to go to the travel office to check what was going on. As we walked in we saw the head supervisor @ her desk (she is like never there). We walked in flustered and asked her what the deal was. She looked @ her papers & asked our names, we told her. She told us we weren't going to be delayed but...... We're being re-assigned for 3-12 weeks stateside!!
Like you'd think we'd be bummed but I'm telling you it's an answer to my fast's and prayers! We're not going to be locked up here anymore! I'll know Tues or Wed. where I'm going and then I get to call home and talk to you guys about it! So keep your phone close. I'll call mom. I'd like to talk to all of you!. Gotta go, but had to write and warn ya! I know this is divine, where ever I go it means someone needed to hear form me and only me. Talk to ya soon! (literally!)
Love,
Elder Campbell

PS Les amo, guardamos fuerte, ora a menudo!

Recieved Tuesday August 17 2009

Mom & Dad,
I've accepted a commitment and I've adopted a statement from Henry B Eyring. I wanted to tell you it. Every word explains my commitment here. I love it....

"I am a fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, color-less dreams, tarred visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on his presence, walk with patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my comparisons are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the cause of Christ. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know and work till he stops me. And when he returns for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be clear."

Powerful huh? I think so! I hope all is well. No word on visas yet :/. I love you guys very much. Need a sports update on dearelder.com Dad! Get on it! :-)
Love Ya
Elder Campbell

PS can you send family's birthdays? Thanks

Carson sent home his picture disk, I will try and post a few of them. Haircut day!!

Carson "at the Map"

Monday August 17, 2009

Hello Hello! Mom, Sorry I couldn't write a letter last Monday it was a very very hecktic day. We met with the consul on the 12th. We had a big meeting with all the Argentina bound elders. He came in and we sang 'called to serve' for him. He answered tons of questions for us and basically just got me 10x more excited to go, then told us he didn't have any visa's....... and didn't know when they would be sent. So basically the last week has been depressing, none of us have visa's except for a few. Elder Barrus is one of the few so he is super excited, but we're still waiting. I went to the travel office today and told them if we we're going to be delayed we'd really like the opportunity to go somewhere in the US instead of wait here. There is a district in District 4 that has been here 13 weeks...... longer than the Mandrin Chinese Speaking Elders. The travel office told them had they known it was going to take this long they would have sent them out @ week 9. They have been kicked out of their classroom, due to new elders coming in. And they have renamed themselves from District 4-G to District 4-GOTTEN. I feel so bad for them. The spanish is still coming along. I feel sosososososososo not good at it. But we've been teaching for 2 weeks in complete spanish! Crazy how the gift of tounges is real. We had a TE yesterday (teaching evaluation - we makes apts ourselves and practice teaching a teacher who plays a progressive investigator) the lesson was in complete spanish, he told us he was a single father with a 3 month old baby. His wife had passed away giving birth, and he didn't know where to turn. We taught him the plan of salvation in spanish (before ever practicing it) by the end all three of us in the room were in tears the spirit was so strong. I can't explain it.... it was increadable. A practice in a language we hardly know, turned into something unreal. We didn't teach in Spanish language i decided. We taught in the language of the spirit. He said he'd never had that kind of experience in a TE before. Pretty cool I'd say. I'll never forget it. Anyways, i see Elder Crookston everyday. We talk daily, and he is wearing a livestrong for scott. Thankyou so so so much for the ipod. I love it now. I'll try and send some letters out today so you get something during the week. Tell everyone thankyou for the letters and the support, they are not overlooked. Anyways for all you women reading this especially you mom i'd like you to log on to lds.org today and watch the video on the home page titled "Women in our Lives". I love it, kinda got me choked up when Pres. Hinkley started talking about his wife, what they have was amazing. Anyways, Love you DAD! KYLER! CARTER! KARLY! DEBBIE! I'll try to keep you updated as much I can with the visa stuff. I'm praying daily, 3x daily. Sounds like Caulford is doing great in COLO. I think that'd be cool to do a newsletter about us. I saw Austin Richards yesterday (Bonneville football player, going to Poland) and look forward to seeing Van Hook this week.
Pray always, live right!
Love you!
Elder Campbell

P Day August 10, 2009

Hola familia! Can you believe it?! 6 freakin weeks! It's been sooooo long, and sooooo short. I have never experienced that whole short+long thing till i got here but it is so true. So a few cool stories. I saw an Elder i thought i recognized the other day, so i went up to him and it was Elder Martinez aka Casey Martinez! I played basketball with him when i was little and his dad was my coach (when i was playing for 2 teams). So crazy to see him, he is going to Jamaica same mission as Chase Peterson! He left this morning. Last week we said goodbye to another district. I was very very close with a few of them and i can see lasting friendships down the road. One of them Elder Smith plays soccer for Westminster. We were very good friends and it was sad to see them go. We do have 2 new districts in but we aren't as close with them. It's our small 4 man district and there is one older district that is a week older than we are and we are all really good friends. very united bunch of guys. Alot of the guys from our district are from st George or have homes down there. So we're all planning to hang out down there the summer we get home. We also said goodbye to our beloved Branch President, President Dean and his wife served here at the MTC as president for 4 years! They were amazing and his release was a very sad moment for all of us. He was like our father. After all the excitement of the visa meeting it only ended in disappointment. The only one out of us 4 that got our visa was my comp Elder Barrus. So the delay could very well effect us still. The lady said she doesn't think it will but who knows. The consul comes on the 12th and hopefully he brings the goods. Argentina is a mess with their visa's right now. Apparently the swine flu shut down their office and when they re opened no one came back to work, thus all the delays. That added to the fact that they are Nazi's when it comes to all the paperwork and stuff. So hold on to hope for me, i so badly don't want to be delayed! Brother Heaton spoke again last night and gave a brilliant talk about charity. I made up a new saying here at the MTC after the talk. It's not WWJD (what would Jesus do) anymore, its HWJF (how would Jesus feel). When people do wrong to you how are you going to react? Are you going to have contempt? How did Christ react when the people (he healed, the people he so dearly loved, the people he taught) scourged him and crucified him? Did he have contempt? Did he have ill feelings towards them? No, he loved THEM and asked his father to forgive THEM. 'Charity is the pure love of Christ' (moroni 7). So that's how I'm trying to live, and that's how I'm trying to think. HWJF? Have charity towards others, no matter how they bother you, or the wrongs they have done to you. I love you! Have a good week, keep the mail coming! I want to know how everyone is doing. I'm sending my ipod and a lot of other things home today, i would like you to send me a bag for carrying stuff on if you can! Holy hellen........... the maple express food! I about died no joke, it was so tasty!!! Thank you very very very much, i couldn't believe it your amazing. Haha. Anyways till next week, Buenas Suerte!!!!
Elder Campbell

Wednesday Aug 5th 2009

Mom,
We got the best news we could have gotten today! Letters in the mail saying we have a meeting with the consul on Aug 12th! And a meeting Aug 7th to get our visas finished! In other words....NO DELAY!! We were all so pumped by the news. I don't think I've been happier since being here. There are a few elders going to Rosario and Cordoba that have been here 13 weeks....deathly long! Anyway I thought I'd let you know. Also I am worried about my 2 bags being too heavy. I'm told we're allowed 2 carry ons as well so I can put stuff in a third suitcase small enough to be a carry on (heavy things like my books etc.) The problem is that I don't have a 3rd bag. What do you think I should do? I most definitely need it to save the ridiculous amounts they charge for heavy bags. Let me know. They have luggage to buy here but it might be pricey. How am I doing an money as far as my debit card? I've tried to buy only necessities, minus my Argentina shirt that Mr Mac didn't have anymore (which I can buy one for you if you want, they are 8 bucks). I was thinking about my medical bills, it would suck to come home to ruined credit....anyway I won't think about it anymore. I'm trying to stay focused. Another question, if I sent my ipod back would you have time to put some music on and send it back within a week? I'd really like that. Anyway we had a great devotional last night from former 70 Bro Bateman. He told a story about a missionary that came to him after his first week in the field (Bro Bateman was a mission president at the time) The missionary looked half dead. When asked how he was the Elder said, "I've never been more tired.....or more happy in my entire life". I'm not in the field yet, by I can't wait because I know that this Elder felt what I want and that feeling is the gratification of knowing his hard work was paying off. He felt physically exhausted but he knew his Heavenly Father was happy w/him. I was reading Alma 17-28 about Alma and the 3 sons of Mosiah. They were some of the best missionaries to walk the earth, they came from bad pasts, but they changed and spoke w/ power from God. I hope I can be a tenth of the missionary they were. Bringing souls to Christ, the most important work on this planet. I love you mom, tell Dad I'm writing him back & thanks for the soccer article!
Love,
Tu hijo
Elder Campbell

Monday August 3rd 2009

Hola familia! Como le va?! Another week come and gone. I saw elder kubricky last night at the devotional (chances 1-2355) to see him and i did! He left this morning to Hungry! Craziness, he was so excited, just beeming from ear to ear. I got an email from Newbie too, and he is doing great in Hungry as well. I'm typing as fast as possible so excuse mistakes, im not going to have time to proof read haha. I wanted to tell you about some district 1 traditions that we have started here. Tuesday is Martes-Partes! We all do our hair as ridiculously missionary as possible (the part), thus martes partes! Wednesday is (forgive me if this is inappropriate) -look sexy Miercoles. We all practice our Derek Zoolander Metalic Blue look. We even turn left :). I know half of you wont get that but the few that do hopefully you laughed. Friday is Verde-Viernes. We all wear green ties. Anyways there are many other but for the sake of time i'll not list them. We have to stay creative to enjoy ourselves! Every sunday we get a choice of like 4 movies to watch after the devotional. Last night we watched 'Mountain of the Lord' about the building of the SLC temple. Wow! What a story! I had no idea the work that went into that temple. It makes it neat because the week before i left i went with jb and kris to a session there. We have been learning a lot of Argentine specific words this week. They speek weeeeeeirrrrd! It's going to be so legit though. Our teacher Hermano Pino's dad is an area 70 and spoke at the last conference. They lived in Rosario, ARG for a few years during his service so he knew a lot of words that we've been working on. I'm going to send you some of my study plans and stuff so you can see how my days go. Expect that in a week or so. I'm so jealous of the trips you guys have gone on! The cabin, Park city, i love all those things. Hope you are all enjoying the summer! Um, as well as a adress book i need, some pics from home (like the house, backyard, family etc) apparently the people love to see pictures of you. I can be like hey look i'm a real person like you! Not just some Jesus loving weirdo in a suit :) If you were going to send any food my requests would be cereal, gardettos, maybe a bag of hot cheetos (im still addicted and havent had a fix for a month), and whatever else you'd like to send i'm sure i will enjoy or another elder will enjoy. We say goodbye to another district this week heading to arcadia, ca and tempe, az spanish speeking. In that group there are two hermana's that are korean. They got called spanish speaking! In order to learn spanish you have to know english first so they have been learning two languages. They are ABSOLUTELY UNREAL! If you ever ever think you have it hard just think of the two korean sisters learning 2 languages in 9 weeks, then think again. I have to remind myself all the time. The new district came in looking like deer in the headlights. I always pray for them, i feel their pain haha. 8 elders and 3 new hermanas. They are all cool and one of the hermanas grew up in n ogden so i can actually talk to someone about home, its nice. Ohhhhhhhhh! I also need a book that andrew campbell wrote me i needed! Its called "Breaking out of Begginner Spanish" by Joseph J Keenan. We've been writing back and forth. Thank everyone for the letters they are great! I love all the support and i'm going to soak it up while the enthuiasm lasts! Anyways i am sure i have so much more to write about but i don't have time. I hope everyone is doing ok. I pray for Nancy and her Family every night. I pray for you all every night! I love you! Talk to ya laterElder Campbell

July 30 2009

Mom,
I was devistated to hear about Shawn. I'm so sorry mom. It's ot an easy thing, death. I know he is in heaven learning the gospel. I just can't believe I will never see him again. I feel so bad for Mike, Corey, Connor and Aleshia. Read D&C 121:7-8. The Lord works in mysterious ways and we have to overcome things we don't want to have to deal with. But it is up to us to endure those trials as well.
We got 8 new Elders in the zone and 3 new hermana's. I haven't met them all yet because they are on that whacked out schedule the first week but it's nice to add some people to our super small zone. Our district only has 4 and before these new ones came we had us 4 and 2 other districts of 8-10 so we were very small. Zones usually have45-60 missionaries in them. We are district 1 (not by coincidence, we ARE #1) out of a few hundred districts. They say the MTC is the busiest now. There are 2,300 plus here. The conference center holds 2,000 so we battle it out to get there early and get good seats on Sunday/Tuesday devotionals. The food is getting old. I'm so sick of it, haha but that's ok. I haven't eaten since your letter yesterday, I've been on a fast for Nancy and family. I hope they are ok.
Anyways every Thursday we have what is called the TRC (teaching resource center). All week we prepare for a certain investigator that they have given us. We have 2 parts. A Spanish task (help them move, talk about family, take a bus to church etc.) while only speaking Spanish. The we invite them to be taught and teach in English. Today we are helping a family move while talking specifically about our families and their personality traits. As well as prayer. The a lesson about the word of wisdom and the plan of salvation. Should be interesting. Anyways thought I'd give you some insight on my day. We have gym today too. I'm excited to play ball. There are some good athletes here! We can 3 v 3, my jumpshot is silky right now. Only by the Lords help could I have the rebirth of my jumpshot :-) and playing 5 times a week might be a factor. Dad would be proud, the guys always tell whoever is guarding me to "play that elder tight, he be a shooter" :-) haha We all have little lines we say. There are a few elders that can "dunk w/ authority" it's nuts. MTC b-ball keeps me sane no joke. Anyways, I love ya, stay strong. Write me about Shawn.

Elder Campbell

PS Thanks for the package! We are saving the cider for the night we leave. We have the bottle wrapped in paper that says "Poppin bottle Aug. 31st!" Pray for strength in this hard time. Pray for Nancy and her family to be lifted in their afflicitons. Love ya, it's been a somber day for me but I'm trying to stay focused.