ONE MONTH DOWN!!!

Tucson, Arizona Group

"The history of the world is the biography of great men."

Library of Congress

Elder Ricks and I

Hello Family!!! Can you believe one month has already gone by?! (Before I forget, can someone let Reagan know that I have been getting her funny letters and that I can only write back once a week? lol thanks) It's gone by incredibly fast. And Elder Ricks only has 16 days left on his mission!!! Crazy! Which means I get a new companion...mixed feelings. So this week was much better! I got SO many letters! That really makes my day! Scott Shumway and Stephen Bowzer each wrote me! Scott sent me chocolate haha He says that's his way to make sure people write him back. I have to find something that I could send.. So this week we started riding bikes. Elder Ricks had a bike without a tire, but he finally got one. Mission rules let us only have 900 miles on our car each month, so without a bike, we're running low on miles left. Thus we biked A LOT this week. My poor booty was so sore. Not to mention, I would have BAD helmet hair when we'd go anywhere. So I'm very grateful that in Mexico, we will only be walking and taking the bus. The weather here has improved a lot! It stays pretty cool all day. Although you can feel the heat of the sun, the wind is pretty chilly. So that makes riding bikes bearable. What I don't like is having to ride a bike in my suit coat with a backpack. That makes it pretty hot. But mission rules say coats on after 5 PM. Boo. So this week we met a young single mother named Adriana. She seemed really into what we had to say. We taught her the Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon. She had been looking for a church to go to and said she'd read the Book of Mormon and pray to know that it's true. We set a baptismal date (that's a mission rule here too--set after first lesson). She accepted because if she knows it's true, then she'll know she needs to be baptized. We invited her to church. She didn't come... So we have to go back this week and see what's up. We've just gotten a referral from a couple members. There's a guy who lives in the same neighborhood as about 10 other LDS families. He knows most of them. They always talk religion with him. He's accepted their offer of meeting with missionaries. He can understand everything we believe. But somehow missionaries have never made it out to see him. They've either been transferred or they were lazy. So we get that opportunity! We are praying to know how we should teach him. He needs to know for himself it's true, and that takes missionaries to commit him. One thing I've learned out here is that I need to have faith that God will answer their prayers when they ask if it's all true. If it is (which i know) then why on earth wouldn't he answer them? So it comes down to their faith and "real intent" (Moroni 10:4). We're meeting a lot of the members and are excited to celebrate Halloween with the ward on Friday. I'm already ready for Christmas though.. We're teaching another couple. Details in a written letter since I'm about out of time and need to send photos! Love YOU ALL!!!!!!!!! Keep writing me!!

Yeah--I did try the pumpkin blizzard...so good!

"If we are faithful to God in little things, we shall gain experience and strength that will be helpful to us in the more serious trials of life."  Hudson Taylor