Hi, how are you....I have missed you all so much but my gosh I have felt the love this week!!!

Who gets TWO packages from home in one week? And letters from so many of you!! So Sister Smith said that she has never seen such a generous family to their missionary in her whole mission. That's what's up. I was showered with love in the form of amazing packages right when I needed them... you outdo yourselves EACH WEEK. 

So our stake got a new president and we had a general authority from Atlanta and another from SLC Elder Soarez and his wife and they are from Brazil, so they spoke in Portuguese and I thought of Meg the whole time and teared up and also could understand their talks without translation so that was so cool! It was funny though because it was Portuguese being translated to English being translated to Spanish... this place is so diverse and I love it!

Our new mission president is amazing and knows M.E. Clayton Clark so that was a fun connection to make! He and his wife will be amazing here.

So how was Hayden's birthday?! Tell me all about it. Before I forget, next Wednesday are transfers aka Sis. Johnson dies (goes home) and I will bawl. Long story short, P day will be next TUESDAY the 8th. 

I ate ox tail this week and it is not half bad. Til I found out what it was and I was like hmmm I will stick with chicken.

We are baptizing a family next Sunday! Nester and Zofia are committed and I am so thrilled for him and I love his family so much.

I am so incredibly grateful for you, familia and close friends. This week, I realized that I had the most amazing life before my mission. I have been so incredibly blessed. It is crazy...my home, my job, CdM and BYU, my siblings and friends. I am about as blessed as it gets. I love you and your letters more than you know.

Have the best week and remember to do the little things... read your scriptures and pray. Prayer changes things.

LOVE YOU
xo Hermana McCormick

HI FAMILY!!! This week has been so busy I have so much to write about.

How was Father's Day?! A family had us over for a BBQ last night and I wondered if that is what you were doing too. I hope you spoiled dad rotten!

You are literally the best family. Each time Sisters Johnson and Smith check the mail I basically get the most mail and that is a GOOD feeling because this is so hard and I miss home so much but I am trying to work hard to lose myself in the work. 

I NEED pictures of Jordan's wedding. Please go and send me lots of photos because I cannot believe I am missing J legs wedding. The same goes for Hayden's promotion and birthday and Jamie's graduation.

So two weeks ago we met an investigator named Nester. He held back laughter as I said a prayer in Spanish. Apparently he is an interpreter and translator, so he thought my Spanish was pretty hilarious. We have been teaching him and his two daughters and they came to church yesterday! He and his oldest daughter Zofia (10) are getting baptized. Anais is 7 and will likely get baptized next February. They are hilarious and so receptive and I am so grateful to have met them.

I have not seen Elder Swensen yet, sadly. And will not til our new pres gets here I assume but MOM I met Julia M. at a party at the Isles at BYU one of my last nights there. How random! I love that girl and would die happy to be her companion.

KK do you know Alyssa Smith from BYU nursing? I live with her and I love her and her cousin is Ryan Knect. Small world! He was your friend, right?

Meg: Sister Smith uses your perfume Tommy Boy and I teared up and died a little and decided I need to buy it next month because it made me so happy smelling your perfume.

So I was reading in my MTC devo journal that I should not let my mission pass me by. I need to taste the bitter and the sweet and that is what I am working on. It is so hard, but I am learning so much and recognizing so many blessings. I love this and the members. The ward mission leader, Brother Amyradakis is like my dad away from home. He is so thoughtful and takes such good care of us. And the Nipper family... Sist N reminds me of Lucero Smith and I die. I love our home ward.

I cannot remember if I told you that this ward is a zebra ward, so it is in Spanish and English. 50/50 and I love it. It helps my Spanish, which I NEED because like 80% of the people we meet here speak Spanish. I have met people from 15 different countries now. It is so cool!! I love the diversity. And I love Peruvian and Cuban food.

So let's talk about June 13. I pulled an Ally the night before and explained to the sisters that my half birthday was the next day and it's not like I was expecting a cake or anything, but I was. So I did not get cake, and my comp and I were planning for the next day, and in walk the two other sisters singing happy half birthday with A PACKAGE FROM THE BAKER FAMILY. I teared up because I knew it was going to be a good one and ohhhhhhh it was amazing. Party in a box. We all played with the treats and ate and goofed off for like 30 minutes and I felt like Shannon for a little and was so thrilled I could not sleep til like 11. The Bakers outdid themselves with a greenie package and I was proud to be a greenie there for that night. It is so humbling... the girls comment on how blessed and loved I must be. So thank you for all of the mail and the packages. My companion is a riot. I am learning lots about being low maintenance and it is exactly what I need.

I am so privileged to be serving and to have the support of so many wonderful people back home. Family... your letters are perfect and always exactly what I need. I am so happy to have forever with you all because I miss you tons and you are all so special. I miss being around people who know me so well and appreciate me. Soon enough I will be home!! But it is time for me to learn and grow and become the person the Lord wants me to be.

CON MUCHO AMOR!!!!

Hermana McCormick 

Hi Family!! 

Okay so let's talk about Friday and how that was the best day ever. I got home to a PACKAGE and a letter from Meg. Mom and dad and family THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BLANKET!! I died and felt so awful for asking about a blanket last week, because on Wednesday they called me saying they had a package at the office. So needless to say seeing the Shutterfly box made me cry because I knew that it was something sentimental from someone and I was thrilled. My roommates and comp made fun of me for crying over a blanket... sorry not sorry. 

Okay so we drove around our area and I saw a NORDSTROM RACK and this is dangerous. And a Nothing Bundt Cakes so I will survive. Cake and clothes, people. All I need.

Also we get one hour a week to surf mormon.org and I love it and I watch videos like it is nobody's business. It's the little things. WE GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE NEXT FRIDAY!! I am thrilled. We go at 8:00 a.m. 

We have been meeting so many people and teaching them. It has kept us very busy each day. We have been biking more, which is awesome and I can appreciate burning some cals wherever and whenever but I SWEAT and I drip and it is rough. It's like always 100 and humid and I swear, one of these days I am going to melt. Or pass out.

I really love being here and I appreciate your support more than you all know. I know that this is where I am supposed to be. As hard as this is, it is temporary, and I will not have this opportunity ever again, so I am trying to make the most of my time. This is my time to give back. 

I hope that you are all doing well...mom and boys: almost another school year down! Dad, I miss your tomatoes and flowers so bad.

I will be back soon enough. Remember to read your scriptures and have the missionaries over for dinner!!! I am deeeeeeeply grateful for each person that feeds us and visits with us. I always learn from them. I love you all so much!XOXO

Hermana McCormick

PS KK and Jake enjoy Mexico! I hope you all had the best week together last week.

Hi Family!!!

Can you believe that I am in Florida? This place is great and I am taking to it... but I miss Mexico so much! I miss my CCM hermanas and everyone else I met there. But I am making friends here and I LOVE the two other sisters that share an apartment with us.

Mom! IT IS JUNE!! Another school year closing... how crazy. Jamie graduates in a few weeks and that is so exciting. I am so proud of her.

OKAY YOU ARE ALL THE BEST because I got to the hotel and had TEN LETTERS and ONE PACKAGE and it was awesome after no mail for 6 weeks and fam your letters cracked me up. Nothing changes... I miss your sense of humor... I love how much we joke around at home. And Gwen and Sylvia and other people who wrote me made my night. And today, I got your sweet package and mail!! Okay talk about heaven sent... I was just thinking today I needed to buy more stamps and develop photos but M and D have my back and that was exactly what I needed. Thanks!!

I am in Miami. Sometimes I feel like I am in Burn Notice. Lots of green trees and crazy driving... Ask me about my motion sickness.......strugs. We stayed in a hotel the first night (because transfers weren't until the next day) and I felt like a queen and I forgot what real life and relaxing are. It was the best.

So it is MANDATORY to work out 30 min a day and I AM IN HEAVEN and I run that treadmill hard and I pretend I am running main beach. Oh the things I took for granted. 

IS ELDER FISHER HOME oh my gosh crazy I think he is. How is he?!

People here are diverse....from all over, like Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, Peru, DR, the list goes on and on but I stick out like a sore thumb and people stare at me everywhere we go. I am such a gringa.

Our ward is the best. We have already been taken care of so well. We hardly even know these members, yet they feed us almost daily and treat us like family.

Gosh, I miss you all so much each day. Missionary work is HARD work but it builds my testimony. And, no matter if people accept our message or have us back or not, I meet cool people with amazing stories EACH DAY. I am so grateful to be here. Every single day, I notice a blessing in my life from the watch you bought me, to mom taking us to church each week. And I am not just grateful, but I am tremendously, deeply touched. I miss you all and I think of you all the time. I love your letters....you will never know how much they mean. I am so happy to be out here, doing the Lord's work. I love you all and miss you and if I do not write back to your email, I am going to try to fix the printer here so that I can print them and write you when I go back to my apartment! Which, dad....is very safe, I promise! I am in a safe part of Miami.

I love you all so much and I hope you all have the best week! 

Hermana McCormick

I cannot believe that I am leaving!!! Surely I will leave half my heart in Mexico because I love this place and my teachers..... don't make me leave.

So I leave here at 2:30 a.m. tomorrow and I will have like 3 hours at the Mexico airport. I will SEE if I can call. Who knows. Either way, I will call tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Texas time, but tonight, turn down the phone volume so I can just leave a message if I have time. Because it will be like 2:00 a.m. your time and not for sure.

I cannot believe my time here is finished. It feels fast and slow-I cannot describe time here. I love you all so much and cannot wait to talk on the phone tomorrow. I am so grateful to be here. I have learned so much......I swear I knew nothing just 6 weeks ago.

LOVE YOU!

Hermana McCormick