Noviembre 16

Howdy, howdy, howdy....

This past week was sa-weet.

Here are some highlights...

-District Meeting was awesome. We practiced teaching with the zone leaders and we all learned a LOT together. And they told us about a guy from Salt Lake (more like Provo cuz he's in charge of all the English teachers at the MTC and works with the missionary dept.) came and spent the day with them the day before and they were able to tell us so much from his visit that he had told them. Something Elder F asked him and his response has stuck in my mind a lot in the past 5 days and as a result I'm studying Alma 26:22 a lot.

-Afterward, at district lunch, I was able to talk to a couple people in the restaurant and it was interesting how they changed. We started talking right when we walked in, ordered, sat down (separately) and I noticed at the end that they were observing us, the missionaries. I went back over to give them pamphlets and our number and bear testimony and it was neat to see the change in them. They noticed something different about us and my testimony was genuinely received and they committed to read and pray about the things I'd said. (I'm sorry I don't write more of these types of experiences down... they're little miracles that happen all the time...)

-G, one of our investigators, and his daughter A came to church on Sunday!! And they stayed all 3 hours!

-We had our missionary-oriented Temple/Family fireside Sunday evening and it went really well! Good turnout and we were able to meet a few really neat people, 2 of which were a beautiful Spanish couple from Cuba and Venezuela and are super nice and very ready.

-The Lord is blessing us so much with investigators. The challenge now is taking care of all of them and doing all we can do ensure that they progress, not just let us in. We want to set a baptismal date for G and a couple others. Last night we found 5 new investigators. And 1 the night before. And 4 the week before. And 6 the week before. And it honestly is all the Lord's doing. I feel like Hays was a bit of a refiner's fire for me in the Open Your Mouth and Fear Not Just Preach With Faith depts. The challenging and exhausting thing about missionary work, though, is that it's not just talking to people or bearing your testimony, it's the combination of talking, listening to the Spirit to know what that particular person needs, speaking kindly, specifically, genuinely, powerfully, and remembering to extend commitments and to teach immediately.

-Sister L and I are getting closer. Lucky for me, she communicates pretty well. The Lord is helping us build our relationship, unity, and it's interesting and neat to me that sometimes when we don't think our efforts are fruitful, we're surprised when someone brings them up and lets us know they have been.

-We had dinner at the K's last week. I found out he's a pediatric radiologist, so that was fun to talk about for a little bit. They both served missions and she speaks Spanish!! And he is a HUGE Ute fan. :) :)

Know that I love you, pray for you. Also know that I love this work. With all my heart. More and more it becomes the hardest thing I've ever loved.

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