July 19^th , 2013

Hey everyone,

Well the time has sure flown by I ship out early Wednesday morning. Where to begin so Saturday I was asked by one of the zone leaders to go to the chapel with him to practice for Sunday because his companion didn’t want to go.  I said sure I went not with high expectations of him because he seemed like the very athletic type and not very inclined to anything musical. Boy was I humbled he was a musical genius I was in awe as he played song after beautiful song. Then he starts playing a gorgeous song I have never heard before and I asked him what it was and he was like that idk I just made it up, on the spot,. We stayed there for almost an hour and I was just listening to this 6'6 high zone leader play piano. You really can't judge a book by its cover, did I mention he sang beautifully as well.

The Sunday was weird because I got up and the first thing we had was sacrament meeting and it was in the church but not the main chapel. Then we went to breakfast and then the sisters went to relief society while the elders studied,  my companion was in meetings, then I had a meeting and was informed that this Sunday my companion and I were going to teach a district lesson. Then we had a Sunday devotional and it was great there was an elder the speaker talked to who liked a girl who was a member and somehow her family ended up like actually adopting him and converting him. We were all cracking up luckily we were watching it on a broadcast so none of them could hear us. Then I watched a fantastic talk by Elder Bednar on the character of Christ I invite you all to watch, not read, it.

Monday was a normal day I got up went to zone teaching, and then to class and then to gym.  Oh by the way my gym is a parking lot in Wyview and I have it at noon it is so hot, but it’s great to move around and not sit all day.  We started trc I don't even know what it means but we taught a guy named Gabriel and he is incredible.  We hardly are teaching him anything he believes everything we teach without a doubt.  Though at first he really struggled with god and Jesus coming down to Joseph Smith but then after we explained and talked about it alittle more he was like just like Joseph, God has answered my prayers and he tells this story of God answering his prayers as a child and he's crying and I'm so happy. Then we had to go so we leave him with an invitation to pray about the BOM and he says ok and we leave.

 Tuesday was a normal day up until that night we had the Tuesday devotional and had to walk all the way up there from Wyview. We got there kind tired and sat down and low and behold I look up kiddie corner from me and there is none other but Elder Brockwell I eventually got his attention and he waved and said hi. The Tuesday devotional was by President Hinckely's son and him and his wife gave a great talk about following inspiration. Then with my legs asleep and my rear hurting I was informed that we had to stay because they were going to take a picture of the group and that it was the third time they have ever taken a picture of the missionaries at the MTC.   Then after being super hot all day we got to walk home in the pouring rain. We get back and I'm soaked.

Wednesday I got to be a host for the new missionaries, talk about dejavu, and a luggage lackey and every missionary I had was up on the top floors, so I got my work out for the day while there one of the sister missionaries was guiding the new missionaries, and I'm like I know her I know her and then I see the tag and it says Edgington and it was Marci Edgington for those of you who don't know she is a dance teacher at byu who I have worked with before.

Thursday  I was in field orientation at 8 in the main campus so in order to get to the main campus we have to take a bus there and there was so many people that the doors could barely close and while waiting I ran into Elder Money again, an old friend from dance. Once there we wander around totally lost ended up there eventually and basically what the meeting was about was a bunch of workshops dealing with actual missionary work and then we broke for lunch, it’s here I need to interject that the cafeteria on west campus is a good 5 minute walk from my dorm and its an old pool house turned cafeteria we get one option and can only go through one time and we either get a can of soda or milk and either an apple or orange. I walk into the main cafeteria and it was like heaven it was all you could eat totally fresh fruit I ate so many strawberries and the food was so much better I actually knew what the meat was and we ate so much there I had soo much food it was incredible. then we went back to sessions and we then during our break I checked out the bookstore it was cool and walking back I walk into elder pope and get a picture with him he went in way before me yet we are leaving the same day. then at dinner I run into Elder Sullivan and talked to him for a little while both of them are on main campus not west campus after we watched a dorky play and went back to the west campus and did our trc with Gabriel it was our third lesson with him and we were going to teach the atonement we go in to teach and he already knows about the atonement and after a little clarification how to repent and then totally lost we invited him to baptism and it was scary at first he asks if his catholic priest had the authority to baptize him as a child and we try to so it really nice and finally he says did he or didn't he and we say no expecting him to be offended and instead he goes ok and bears this beautiful testimony about how after we taught him about Joseph Smith that it went straight to his heart and he know it was true and that when he closed his eyes he saw himself there and he's crying and I'm crying and then we ask him again and he goes if it’s what I need to do I’ll do it but i dont want to do it out of respect for you or for my family and he then talks about how much he loves seeing us and the message we share and the good feeling from God he gets and then says I will get baptized I just need to know for myself and so we challenged him to pray about it and he was like ok i will ,and then he said the closing prayer for us.  He is so close I hope he prayed about it and will accept today, as we left he gave us giant hugs and I felt so much love for him it was amazing, we walked out and started cheering. I went to bed that night feeling so good and the spirit so much. I woke up today and went back to west campus breakfasts though I actually like my blueberry bagel with peanut butter and honey.  Sunday we sing in church and so we practiced and now I'm here.  I know God loves all his children so much and wants us all to succeed and will help us if times ever feel too overwhelming I suggest dc 50:40 it touch me good luck and next time I write I'll be in Oregon Salem

 good luck and good bye