Hoopes and Dreams

Daddy,

Holy hot dang! Sounds like its been a rough week, glad it got better towards the end though. It was a rough week here too. Last P-day was pretty awesome, we got to go fishing and relax with the other sisters in the zone. None of us caught anything but it was still fun. I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Moore, it was a really great experience. She taught me a lot and it was the first time since I've been out that I really felt like I knew what I was doing in a lesson... That's a miracle in and of itself. Sister Grenfell and I had some really great lessons with less active families. Linda Sue Carroll being one. She is the nicest older lady ever! She's been less active for 20 years and we got in because we asked her to teach us how to crochette. It started as that and the last couple of times we've gone over there we've shared lessons with her. Its amazing the change you can see in people and the way the look at the gospel when they really feel like you love them. This past week she was asking a lot of questions about death because she has had several friends and family members die recently or about to. Her husband also joined in on the lesson, which never happens, so that was cool. But we were able to ease her fears and just talk about how God is our LOVING heavenly father. We were also about to help Carissa officially move into our ward and she is still set to be baptized on the 29th!! SO EXCITED! We were able to attend womens conference with some less actives this past Saturday and it was pretty good. Saturday night we had transfer doctrine.... THAT was scary. At the beginning of the meeting they give out zone awards. I got the award for the missionary most likely to open a clothing line after the mission... Sister Grenfell and I didn't understand that one fully. (***** Her mother does, lol *****) Hers was the missionary most likely to wrestle an alligator! BAHAHAHA, SO FITTING! So anyways, after that, they read the transfer doctrine. We lost our ZL, Elder Fleming, a couple other elders in surrounding wards, and towards the end they said, "we have two more sister companionships and an elder companionship leaving us." Sister Grenfell and I looked around the room and we thought for sure we would get split. My heart was RACING!!! And we turned out to be the only sister companionship that stayed the same in our whole zone! IT WAS CRAZY... AND REALLY INTENSE. Luckily, the East Lake elders will be staying as well. We are excited because our ward is headed in a great direction and has already grown so much! This past Sunday our chapel was FULL. Us missionaries barely found a place to sit, it was the best! I am so thankful that the Lord has given me more time to learn and grow here in East Lake with Sister Grenfell. We both think that there are lots of things the Lord still wants us to learn and accomplish here in this ward. On Sunday we sang the EFY medley. We had almost all the young men and young women singing along with the two sets of missionaries. Wow, was the spirit strong. There were tons of people crying and it was just a really powerful experience. I also saw Wayne Hirshbrunner and his wife and church.. from our Roy Ward. Their son lives in my ward so I went and talked to them, it was pretty cool. And I was talking to a set of Elders and guess who they talked to the other day, John Bubb!! CRAZY WORLD! It was pretty cool, they asked me if I knew him because he had asked them to say hi to me if they ever saw me. It was nifty! Anyways, today was a crazy p-day because of transfers. We were able to see everyone off and then play in the gym afterwards. I really love being a missionary. Even when the weeks are hard. Your quote was one I really needed this week. Sister Grenfell and I have a good week planned, so hopefully the next e-mail will be a little more uplifting/inspiring than this one. But hey, miracles still happened. I am attaching a pic of our district in our shirts, EVERYONE LOVED THEM! THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH DADDY!