Here comes goodbye!

Holy cow this week has been so good! It was really the best way we could
possibly end the transfer and send Sister W home! We had awesome
lessons, some great meetings, and ended with a baptism! It can't get much
better than that!

So we had a really good lesson with our unmarried investigator again. She is just soaking
everything up. She also came to the mission presidents devotional this
Sunday in Tempe. She wasn't able to come to church because she is in Mesa
taking care of her grand-daughter, so she came to the fireside instead :)
She loved it and was so glad she came. She is progressing really well! She
already had looked up wedding dresses so they can get married. She
showed us the ones she was choosing from so she could make sure they were
all appropriate! She is so cute.

We also had a really good lesson with our mother/daughter investigators. Their

"adopted" friend wasn't there this time but another friend was there and she liked the
things they were learning as well :) So that was good. I seriously have
never seen such mature girls. The daughter is so awesome and had all of these
amazing questions about the Plan of Salvation. She said that it just felt
right in her heart :) YES! We put them on date for October 25 :) The mom came
to church on Sunday too! We have a member who lives close to them and

she had a bad experience with a friend/neighbor and taking the lessons so she

has had a hard time with that. We invited her to the lesson
and they bonded quickly and then they sat together at church :)
It was awesome! The daughter didn't come to church though, apparently she was in a super
grumpy mood and is stubborn so her mom didn't push it on her. They are just
awesome and definitely so prepared!

We really didn't do much normal missionary work past Thursday. On Friday,
Sister W went to the temple with all the departing missionaries while

our zone had weekly planning. So I planned alone. Also they changed transfer

meeting to Thursday instead of Wednesday so I'm going
to be companion-less for about 3 days. So I will just be hanging out with
the Spanish sisters. haha. Then in the afternoon we loaded up  and headed out because we had a surprise mission meeting. Apparently there have been some
people breaking rules and acting stupid and it's causing some people to go
home. It's crazy. But it was a good meeting and it made me feel good to
know that I'm doing pretty good when it comes to obedience! haha of course
we can always improve though so it was a good motivator to seek out the
little things that I might be able to change to be more obedient. So we
got home later in the evening and were able to do a little more proselyting.

Here comes the best part though....ELDER CHRISTOFFERSON came to our
mission! woo woo! We were sworn to secrecy for a few weeks so that's why I
didn't say anything before. He came to do the CES devotional so he wanted

JUST our mission to get together and chat with us! What a cool
opportunity!!!!!! Also Bishop Davies of the Presiding Bishopric was there,
as well as Elder Corbridge from the first quorum of the 70. And an area 70.

It was so cool! I loved it so much because he acted like a normal person! He

was funny and cracking jokes and stuff. He also took the time to meet every

single one of us. He asked us where we were from and what our names were.

He just stared into my soul as we shook hands and just
took my hand in both of his and said, "Burley, Idaho...what a good place.
Thank you," or something like that and just stared into my eyes. It was
crazy because I had eye contact but I don't even know what his eyes look
like or anything. I was looking but I wasn't at the same time. I was just a
little overwhelmed that I was actually meeting an apostle! So they each
spoke and at the end, Elder Christofferson opened it up for questions. At
the very end, he warned us of rebellion. He said Satan didn't get cast out
because of his ideas or suggestions, but because he rebelled against God.
So he warned us about having any sort of rebellion in us. I thought that
was so interesting. But it totally fits our mission right now since there
have been some people not obeying and such. I'm so grateful for that
opportunity.

Then we drove home and went to the church to get ready for our baptism!
Our sweet friend was so nervous. But she did such a great job! She is terrified of water
because of an experience when she was a child but when she came out of the
water she was so happy! Although...the water was cold. oops. The water
heater there is not very good. It's like they expect the sun to warm the
pipes or something ;) haha anyway so she bore her testimony, just stood
right where she was in her seat, and faced the front. haha she was so
terribly nervous. Everything went great though! She had some family there
and so they took us out to eat at the Cracker Barrel. So that was super
fun.

We also spoke in church this week again as a little farewell for Sister W.

She has been in this area for 7 months so everyone was super sad.
There were so many tears from everyone that day. She spoke on
accountability and I spoke on learning to recognize the spirit. It was
really good and caused me to reflect on times that I have had prayers
answered or acted on promptings. Both of our talks went really good. So
that was fun too. Our mom investigator was only able to stay for sacrament

but she came and liked it! She even knew a few people! She is so great.

Then we had dinner with the Bishop's family and then headed to out again
for Sister W's exit interview and the mission presidents devotional.
It was just a really good weekend! We had a lot of good memorable
experiences.

We just got transfer calls this morning. I was really nervous that I would
be leaving because President said it was going to be a huge transfer and we
might as well all pack our bags. But we got them late this morning and only
2 people in our zone are moving! So I get to stay as well as the other
sisters. But obviously I have to get a new companion... so I'm a little
nervous about that.

I have also just been having an awesome time studying the scriptures! I
have all of these new insights and questions that I have never thought of
before. So even though I don't exactly know the answers to the questions I
have, it is making me think and ponder on things more and I'm learning so
much! I literally could just have personal study for 3 or 4 hours and be
happy. It's the best and I've just been really excited about that lately!

A little insight/question I had this week as I read the Book of Mormon...
When they go back to get Ishmael, it names everyone in the party (I think,
I'm just assuming but that could of course be wrong). I feel like they are
naming everyone because it says who was on what side of the argument. I
noticed that Zoram doesn't go back with them. I've never noticed that
before. So he must have stayed with Lehi. I wonder why he didn't go back.
Would it have been a temptation for him to stay? Would people have
recognized him? I don't know the answer, but it was just cool to think
about maybe what the reasons were. And maybe he really did go and they just
didn't name everyone. I don't know :) But just fun little things like that
I've noticed a lot more as I've read the scriptures :) So moral of the
story, reading the scriptures is super fun!!!!!!!!!! Make sure you do it
every day! Have a great week!

Finding the Prepared...

This week has been awesome!!!! Last Monday we tie dyed shirts as a
district so that was super fun. I've suggested doing that before but
usually we have a bunch of tough guys who think it's girly to do that. But
our district leader now actually suggested it so we did it :) Plus now we
are doing 2 zone activities, 2 district activities, and 2 personal days
every transfer now for our P days. I guess people were complaining or
something so President decided we will do this.

I have been having some really effective days on Facebook. It is so awesome
to feel busy all the time on Facebook because for a while I felt like I was
running out of things to do. But I started going through all my old
messages and re-messaging people and following up with them. By doing that,
I started to talk to a guy we will call "Ted" again. AND, a friend of mine just got
home from his mission so I took advantage of him saying that he missed being a
missionary and roped him into being a fellowshipper/member present in my
lessons with Ted. One day this week it worked out really well. We were
all on the same time and I was teaching Ted about the Restoration. We
were talking about prophets and the Priesthood Authority they have and he
asked some really good questions. But I had to go right before we taught
about Joseph Smith, so I asked my friend to finish teaching and we could
continue another day. So he finished teaching about Joseph Smith. It was
all just so good! That is how Facebook teaching is supposed to work and it
was awesome to see it work that way. Ted hasn't answered in the past few days
though...so hopefully he doesn't think we are crazy. But he is currently out of the country
taking care of his grandmother so I guess he could just be busy.

Anyway I also joined a million Christian groups and have been posting pictures in

there and then messaging people that comment on them. So far I've only had one person

respond to me, and it hasn't really gone anywhere, but sometimes you have

to go through a million "no's" just to find one "yes". So that has been nice.

We also had a good lesson with "O" this week. We didn't teach anything

new really, but she felt some of the things we taught were really weird, so

we went over a few of those things with her. She still thinks we are weird

and doesn't really accept what we teach, but you can just see the spirit

working on her and somehow we just think we shouldn't give up on her. Plus

she would probably be offended if we just stopped coming by. So we go by

about once a  week. But this week was the best talk we have had with her

yet. She was a lot less argumentative I guess you could say. She never

really argues in a bad way, but she just usually has a comment about how

she doesn't understand that or how that could be true and such. But this

week she just listened and took it in. I also love teaching her because she

responds truthfully and actually thinks about what we ask her. When we ask

her thought provoking questions she usually says, "Well I don't know....and

then she thinks about it and answers honestly." So that is really nice and

it probably helps us be better teachers as well as we learn to adjust to

her needs and ask inspired questions to help her think.

We got to teach the referral we contacted last week! It is a woman and

her 14 year old daughter. She also has a friend that she calls her adopted sister. 

We had the Relief Society President come with us to the lesson and it

went SO good. This woman had talked with missionaries before last year, but her

husband wouldn't let her learn more. Now she is going through a divorce and

so she can do what she wants. She is so sweet and is pretty much living the

standards we do already. She wants to learn how to can, and she has a big

pantry of food so she calls that her "Mormon Pantry" since we always have

food storage. Haha. But they had so many awesome questions, and we pretty

much taught bits and pieces of all the lessons because of all their good

questions. There were a few really cool things from that lesson that I'd

like to share.

You can just tell when someone is prepared. For example, they asked

something about the 3 kingdoms of heaven that they had heard before so we

took a few minutes to explain it to them even though we were teaching the

Restoration. When they learned about it they were so happy and just kept

saying how much sense that makes because where would the line be drawn for

heaven and hell. If you lied one too many times, does that mean you would

go to hell? So they loved that there are three kingdoms of glory, but just

this same day we taught "O" and she thought that was ridiculous and the

weirdest thing ever (even though we have shown her that it teaches that in

the Bible). So it is so awesome to see the difference in people and how

happy they are to embrace truth. It was so cool to see the opposite ends in

the same day.

It was also just an awesome lesson because you knew the spirit was really

teaching them. Before we started the lesson, the woman made a comment that she

was interested because she knew that our religion was fairly new. So we

explained that the religion really began from the beginning of time. So we

start teaching about prophets and dispensations and once we got to the

Great Apostasy, you just saw a light bulb go off in her head (or should I

say, you could see the spirit working on her and helping all the pieces of

the puzzle fit) and she said, "OH! So the church isn't new, it was just

gone for a little while." Um, YES! haha. It was so awesome. So the lesson

went super well and they seemed really excited. I can't wait to keep

teaching them because the gospel is going to help them so much in their

lives and they are just so ready for it.

We also taught "L" and "P" this week. Man, "L" is so prepared as well.

She is so genuine and committed. That is one thing I love about her. If

she says she is going to do something, then she will do it. We were

supposed to have a lesson with her on Wednesday but she called us and told

us she would have to reschedule for Saturday. Normally people would just

not be there once we got there. She also committed to come to our movie

night we had that night and also to church the next day and she came to all

of them! She is so awesome. Anyway so we taught her the Restoration and at

the end we asked her what she thought about everything we shared and she

said she really liked it and knows it will help her in her life. She opened

up and talked about the hard times she has had in her past life and how God

has helped her through it. The spirit really worked on her as well and it

was just an ideal lesson. She said she could feel something different when

she prayed (which her prayer was awesome by the way, even though she was

nervous). She just readily accepts what we teach her and it is so great.

They are also wanting to get married soon too so we told them we would

introduce them to the Bishop on Sunday. ("P" is her boyfriend and he is

already a member).

We had another movie night! Brother J (the ward mission leader)

thought it was so awesome that we decided to do it once a month. It is

super non threatening and a good time for fellowship and feeling the spirit

for a larger group of people. However, almost everyone we invited was

sick...so only "P", "L", and her grandson came to the movie. We

had ward missionaries and their families there as well though so that was

good to fellowship them. We watched the Testaments and it was so good!

Honestly, I think I learned more during the movie than anyone else! It was

so crazy, I have seen that movie so many times, but so many new things

stood out to me. It was awesome. I have been feeling the spirit a lot more

in my life and just have more "aha!" moments when I study and such. It is

really awesome. I love it so much and I am always so excited for personal

study each day.

Anyway, "L" and "N" were our investigators at church. "N" is excited

for her baptism and we have everything set for that :) "L" loved church

and had so many questions because our lesson in Relief Society was about

being sealed in the temple. She didn't even know what a temple was though

so we explained a little bit of it and told her that our next lesson with

answer a lot of her questions. (Plan of Salvation) She is so great and she

just keeps saying that she is excited to learn more about it and is just

soaking everything in like a sponge.

So many good things are happening and it is going to be sad to see my

 companion go home. We have had so many fun times and have grown close.

Oh we also got to go on exchanges this week! That was my first one as an

STL. We also got to give transfer recommendations and meet with the Stake

Leaders and the Zone Leaders and give feedback about the wards and such. It

was really fun.

Anyway it has been such a good week! Thanks for all your prayers. Like I

said, I have really been feeling the spirit helping us and me each day, so

my challenge to you....pay attention to the spirit working in your life

this week and make sure to act on promptings you receive! I know the Spirit

guides us and it can take a little work to recognize the spirit but as we

practice, it will become easier. I know that, because I've been working on

it! Have a good week! Love you all.

Happy Birthday to Me! (ACHOO!)

First of all, thanks for all the birthday wishes and gifts! That was really fun. :) Everything is going well here minus the fact that our whole house is now sick. I had an insane sore throat all day Wednesday and could barely talk. I don't think I've ever had such a bad one so I thought I was getting strep. But Sister W swears by the goodness of vinegar and so she made me drink some apple cider vinegar and surprisingly it helped! I couldn't even drink water because it hurt so bad, but the vinegar didn't hurt when I drank it and it actually helped soothe my throat. My rash is finally gone! It slowly left and the last place it remains is in my belly button. It's gross and won't go away! haha But anyway, I feel much better now that that is gone. So my sore throat went away by the next day which was surprising. However I then had a crazy runny nose! No joke, I used a whole roll of toilet paper in almost one day as well as two "on the go" packs of kleenex. Ridiculous. So that day was my birthday! I woke up and opened all my fun presents :) We had dinner at the super cute older couple that I talked about before.. They are so awesome and do so much for us. They gave me a cute little gift of some Arizona salt shakers and made me a cake and everything! Since I am sick I had to fan my hands really hard in order "blow out" the candles so I wouldn't get anyone else sick! haha. that was fun. Then we had a big haboob! There was a really pretty sunset so we stopped to take some pictures on the side of the road and you could just see this wall of dust coming upon us. So we took some pictures and got in the car as the wall of dust overtook the sun and everything went dark. haha. It was a crazy one! So we just stayed parked on the side of the road for a bit because it can be dangerous to drive in them. We eventually made it out and made some visits for the night. We also knocked on quite a few doors that morning and just walked around. We really need some new investigators so we have been working on that recently. Then that night Elder H (my old district leader is in my zone again! Only he is not my district leader. He's in another district) and his trainee Elder B made me a nice cheesecake and brought it to me for my birthday! They are so sweet :) The next day we had planning so we used all of our party supplies and had a party at planning! We made cupcakes and decorated them and had crystal light in our fancy cups and plates and all that jazz :) I also made the glow in the dark balloons float ominously by taping one to our light so it was just hanging there so when the other sisters came home it was just there. It was fun. We also went out to a zone lunch that day too. So we did a lot of fun things this week! This weekend we really did do a lot of knocking doors/going through potentials and such so we walked and knocked a lot. We didn't have much luck on some of the days though. Especially Saturday. It was a bit slow. We stopped by one of the couples we had taught and we don't know what happened with them but they are no longer are interested :( The guy said we came at a bad time and they aren't interested in the Mormon church anymore and they are going to try another Christian church. He said there are things he doesn't agree with but he wouldn't tell us what they were when we asked. He said he didn't want to discuss it :/ So we might stop by another time and try to figure out what he is hearing because there are just so many rumors out there! So that was a little sad because they had been coming along so well. On the bright side our soon to be baptized sister is coming along really well and is getting anxious for her baptism. She has asked me to sing with her daughter at her baptism so it is going to be interesting. I'm not sure how we will practice because her daughter lives an hour away almost. We shall see! We also had another huge haboob on Saturday so we sat in our car for a while again. We aren't supposed to be out in the dust because you can get Valley Fever that way. So we made some fun music videos.. haha we are nerds and silly but it was fun. Plus we have to get all our good memories in since Sister W is going home in 2 WEEKS! That is so crazy. I don't like it. So Sunday we went on a "road trip" to the boonies of our area and had a good lesson with a guy . He cries every time we go over there and he feels peace and basically is getting a lot of answers that this is true, but he doesn't think so and says he wants to be sure. Plus he isn't coming to church or reading as much as he should to be making sure it's true. So we will see what happens with him. We don't teach him much because we don't have enough miles to go out there often and he doesn't usually make set appointments. He has a hard time committing to things so that is hard. We also went and saw  the guy who came to church a few weeks ago and brought his non member girlfriend. He said he was going to come to church but things came up and hopefully they will come next week. The girlfriend came out too and the guy made the comment that her divorce just went through so now they have to get married. Then he said "but first you'll have to get baptized!" and she just said, "oh ya, will I have to do that first?" haha! that's a good sign. And so we talked about how we could have a cute little wedding in the gym of the church and have a lunch after so then she started asking about what she would need to wear and how they do weddings and such! So we told her they would have to get married before she got baptized and that we would love to start teaching her. She had loved church and even gone home and downloaded gospel library on her phone! wooo! So we asked when we could come back and pat said, "Everyday!" haha so I guess they like us! So we have an appointment with them this week! I love them and I'm super excited! I hope all goes well :) So that was an awesome blessing since we hadn't had much success this week with finding. Soooo then after that we had dinner at a member's home (we had steak and a yummy dinner). Then they said we needed to load up in the car and go to another member's home for dessert because they had invited them over. So we went there and the Sister  kept making sure I was in front when we walked in and stuff but I thought nothing of it. So I walked in and saw the Bishop's wife there and thought, "oh they are having lots of people over for dessert!" and then I walked in and there was a big group of people from the ward and everyone yelled "Surprise!" haha! They had a surprise party for me! My companion was behind it all! She had been in cahoots with Sister W and they planned the whole thing! So they invited all the members there and we had a lot of yummy desserts and they sang to me and such! So that was really nice of them and I seriously had NO idea. I was so oblivious and my companion was sure that I had had an idea about it but I did not even see that coming. So that was super nice! What awesome people :) Plus, to make it better, we were able to contact a referral (finally, we have been trying for weeks) while we were up there (it also takes quite a few miles to get to that community) and set up an appointment with her! She seemed really nice and said we could come back this week as well :) Yes! Then to finish up the night, Sister W and I played with the helium balloons that were given to me at the party. It was a good time :) So ya! It was a good week and we were able to find a few more people to start actively teaching so we are really excited about that. I have an awesome companion who threw me my first surprise birthday party ever, and I think I'm finally going to get better soon! :) I hope everyone has a lovely week! Oh, I also finished the New Testament today so now I'm going to read the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants side by side. My goal is to read all the standard works before I come home. I am waiting to tackle the Old Testament though...haha. I love reading the scriptures! It's one of my favorite things to do :) So don't forget to read your scriptures and pray everyday! It is a key to happiness.

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What is tired, itchy, and red all over?

If you didn't catch it in the title...I'm tired, sick, and covered in a
rash from my neck to my toes. Ridiculous. But let me back up :)

This week we had some good stuff going on. We got to have dinner

(manwhich night)with the part member family we've been working with. That was
on Monday night and it went really well! The wife totally liked us
and she didn't seem nervous or anything. She stayed out with us and we
shared a message on family that she really liked. She said we could come
back again too! But they have been out of town for labor day weekend. So we
are excited to stop by there again sometime. This week we also had a
mission tour so another General Authority came down. He and his wife

taught us some good things about observation that will help us be better

teachers. It was really fun. The meeting was also held in my last ward's

church building so that was fun to go back there! I got to see a few of the

members and talk to them. I miss them! But I seem to always miss every area

I leave. It's a good thing I think :)

We had the most uncomfortable Chastity lesson this week. It was with the
less active member we have been teaching. It basically turned into a
confession period about how he didn't want relationships like he has had in
the past and how he wants to have a good marriage like the members he hangs
out with and he wants to be able to do the things they do appropriately.
Awkward! Haha! Never have I felt so uncomfortable teaching that lesson. But
at least he recognizes and understands that is not what a relationship
should be based on.

We knocked quite a few doors this week too. Not too many answered but I had
fun messing with all the dogs at each house. Seriously, dogs hate me, and I
love messing with them. These dogs I was messing with thought they were
tough stuff. They were in a fence and on a chain and if you took a step
toward them they went crazy jumping everywhere and baring their teeth and
stuff. I probably look like an idiot, but it's fun to play around. You have
to do something to switch up the day! haha. So we knocked on a door across
the street from those dogs and it didn't work out so I burst through the
trees to "run" at these dogs and get them riled up again, and there was a
big black guy in the middle of the street. Awkward! He probably thought I
was thundering towards him. So I nonchalantly just turned around and kept
walking. Sister W was laughing so hard.

Now comes my medley of symptoms in the past week! Early in the week I
started to get a slight chest pain on the right side of my chest and middle
of the right side of my back. It wasn't too bad, more just weird. But on
Wednesday night, I woke up after being asleep for maybe an hour, and had a
searing pain in my chest. No matter what I did, I could not breathe or get
the pain to go away. Apparently I kept grunting and moaning and such
because I also woke up my companion because I was trying to breathe! haha.
So didn't get any sleep that night. Then the next day I started to get a
fever plus having hot and cold flashes. So I just felt stinky. I still had
the pain in my chest as well. So the mission nurse told me to sleep on the
couch so I can prop myself up which will help me breathe. So I have been on
the couch for the past week. However, the pain in my chest stopped a few
days later, only to be replaced with a rash. (You can not be serious!) I am
currently on day 4 of said rash. It is from my neck, down to my toes. I
think I got bit by something and had an allergic reaction. So that is no
fun. I have been rubbing Hydro cortisone on all the time so I don't itch
it. It seems like it might be getting a bit better. Then a few days ago I
went to bed with a migraine and woke up with it. I did not feel well at all
so we stayed home for the most part that day so I could catch up on rest
and try to get better. My stomach also hasn't been too happy with me for
the last week. So I haven't eaten much! And finally, yesterday I acquired
an insanely sore throat. I'm hoping it's not strep because one of the zone
leaders had strep last week. So ya. It's been a lovely week. We still
made visits and stuff, but I've just been a little tired and out of it at
times. If it doesn't get better soon, then I'll go to the doctor. But the
rash seems to be easing off. The zone leaders command me to go home and
sleep like every day but Sister W only has like 20 days left so I can't do that to her!

Anyway it'll all be over soon. So we also got our 13 year old investigator to
come to a baptism this weekend! She really liked it. She is so mature for
her age. It is insane. She still doesn't really understand that she needs
to come to our church, but we have been focusing on the Book of Mormon with
her so she can read that. She is so cute.

Our recent converts are doing pretty well, well except that they always
have something wrong with them. One broke her ankle and is still feeling
sick, and another had a seizure and ended up in the hospital. Ridiculous. But
soon to be baptized woman is doing really well. She is getting all set for her baptism

on the 20th! She is progressing pretty well and has been able to successfully give
up coffee! Woo!

So it's been a good week! We got to go to the temple this morning bright
and early so that was fun. A super cute older couple took us. The wife comes out on

lessons with us all the time. She is coming on a lesson with us tomorrow and we

don't have a dinner tomorrow so she wants us to come over so we can celebrate my birthday :) They are the sweetest. I love them! They help us all the time.

Anyway I love and miss all of you. The weather is getting really hot again
down here. For a while it was overcast and not as bad, but it's getting up
there again. Darn it. Can't wait for winter here! :) Anyway have a good
week all of you and be good!

A Night with the Toones

So before I forget, a sister training leader is like the equivalent to zoneleaders almost. Not quite, but we counsel with the zone leaders, and we getto go to MLC (mission leadership council). We also go on exchanges with allthe sisters in our zone. We help the zone leaders do trainings when we havezone conferences and such as well. So yup! We don't have to do too muchthough. We just kind of get to be involved and have our say in things. Butwe don't have to worry about reporting everyone's stats and such. So wepretty much get the best of both worlds :)

Last week we had an awesome P day. I felt so accomplished! haha usually Iam scrambling to get everything done but we were really fast somehow andhad plenty of time to catch up on letters and go shopping for new shoes;)!Then we had even more extra time, so we went to Culver's and got some ice cream :) It was super fun! We had some fun times at home too. I squirted a little tiny bit of water on Sister W (through my teeth) and then I left for a second and when I walked back inshe dumped a cup of water on me! haha it was super funny and we were dyingof laughter. Good times. We also found out that our 2 newest converts didn't come to church this week because one of them fell and broke her ankle! That woman has so many healthissues. If it's not one thing, then its another! So she has a bright pinkcast and of course we got to sign it :)

We had a fun time this week with finding a few more people that might beinterested in the gospel :) We haven't had a chance to catch up with any ofthem and teach them though..so hopefully soon. We have a dinner appointmentwith a part member family tonight so hopefully we can get the wife to likeus. It was really odd actually because we had never met this familybefore. So the husband came out and was super nice to us and we found outhe was the one that is a member and his wife used to think Mormons were acult. They currently go to a Presbyterian church because they like thePastor. So we got to know the husband a little bit and were having a grand time andbefore I even knew what I was saying, I asked if they wanted to feed us orif his wife would not like that. I thought it would be a good idea becauseit is less threatening and then she can get to know us..but I totallyspaced that I was talking to someone that hadn't been active since he was14. But he agreed! It must have been inspired I guess :) haha he was allfor it and so we are having a "manwhich" night tonight. We texted him lastnight to make sure it was still ok and he replied, "Manwich night is a go,come hungry!" haha so we are excited for that.

We had another really good lesson with the young woman whose mother died and her sister. We taught faith and repentance. It is so awesome to see the spirit work on them. Youcan just see on their face when things click with them. They are so sweet.The young woman has a hard time with her work schedule though so we are praying thatshe will be able to come to church soon. Hopefully we could get her familyon board as well and teach all of them! That would be awesome.

We taught another lady this week. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and it went prettygood. She had a lot of questions and we were able to answer them for themost part. I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon and the Plan ofSalvation and you could feel the Spirit SO strong, but it pretty muchdashed my heart because right when I finished she said, "Well that's a nicestory.' She seemed almost angry!? It was weird. It was one of the firsttimes that I've felt really hurt that someone acted that way towards me andmy testimony. I don't know if it was because I could feel the spirit sostrong and I knew she could too, but she chose to ignore it and thinks weare just there to convince her. But she basically told us that she wants usto come back though so who knows. She did knowledge at the end that shemight need to have a change of heart to get an answer. So that was goodprogress.

Also it was so awesome this week because we had a combined MLC with theanother mission and General Authority, Elder Lynn G. Robbins came down andtrained us. It was super fun because since we are away from the mission home, theydidn't want us to wake up early and drive there so we went down the nightbefore and got to stay in the mission home with President and Sister T!A couple of other sisters stayed there too but they got there late so we got to spend an hourand a half with President and Sister T and just got to chat with them.It was super fun! I was a little shy. I like to slide under the radar forthe most part because they have to deal with so many crazy things and Idon't want to be one of the things that burdens them. But later I askedthem some doctrinal questions that we had been discussing. More deep stuffthat we had been contemplating so that was fun to get his opinion on thosethings. The MLC was awesome and I'm so lucky that I got to go. It was allabout how we are always 100 percent responsible for our lives and thechoices we make. It was really good. He talked about how a lot of peoplewant to be able to have 100 percent ability to make choices, but don't wantto be 100 percent responsible for things in their life. It was awesome. Hetalked more about marriage and raising children than he did missionary workthough! haha. It was more about how we need to use our missions to becomemore like Christ, which will then help us for the rest of our lives. It wasgood :) I'm really glad I got to go. I've been re-studying all my notes andtrying to read deeper in them since it all happens so fast. :) This week is going to be awesome too because we have a mission tour andanother MLC with a different General Authority. It will be awesome I'msure!

After MLC on Saturday we also had a movie night a the church. It was superfun! Brother J (our ward mission leader) was a super big help. Hebrought drinks and one of the ward missionaries brought popcorn and we hada good little party! A few less actives and recent converts came, as wellas some investigators and members. Not too big, but still a good turnout.We watched the Joseph Smith movie and it was awesome :) It was fun and weare thinking about making that be a monthly thing and have them watchdifferent church movies.

Anyway it has been an awesome week and I'm excited for the next one too.Time is just flying by way too fast though. It's insane. Ya, I alsocan't believe that August is almost over. Sister W will be goinghome before I know it :( Not cool. Anyway I have such a strong testimonyand I feel like I'm continually learning so many more things that I need to be doingto be a better person. The hard part is just continually applying that :)haha but I'm working on it. With God's help, I can do it though. Theenabling power of the Atonement is definitely real and as I put forth theeffort, I can see the strength that God gives me as well. It's such a blessing.