7-21-14
HEY! I miss you guys! You guys are great!!!

How are you all doing? I'm glad you all have had a good week! Thank you so much for the package. Sadly, I am fat and don't fit into the skirt you bought me.... hahaha Its super cute though if they have it in a bigger size that would be awesome.. I am going to send it home next week because we don't have time to go to the post office. also sad, the blue shirt has a pretty dec. hole in the front so I left the tag on and am sending that home as well! but the gray shirt fits perfectly and I LOVE it!!! Sorry to make you go through all that trouble, just to take it back. That's gotta be a pain. 

So this week, I discovered my love for peanut butter..... I bought a jar of Peanut butter last week and ate the whole jar in one week...... oops. but its okay, I work out in the mornings so its fine. hahaha. this week was awesome. we taught a lot of lessons and the majority with members there. We are teaching a boy named Jacob who is super awesome. He is struggling with some doubts right now, so if you pray for him that would be amazing. He really needs to recognize the answers to his prayers, and he needs that confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true. He is awesome and Satan just wont let him go. we are also teaching this guy named Kingsley. he is from Africa and he is SO cool. He is just pluggin along. Its really hard for him to make it to church though, because he works and doesn't have a car, so if you could pray for him to be able to make it to church that would be amazing!!

So the reason I have been typing such poopy emails:

1. I haven't been able to email on a computer in a long time and so I have been typing all of my emails on my iPad and it gets exhausting.

I'm super sorry about that, and I promise I will try to do better.

So church yesterday was amazing. 

Sacrament meeting there was a RM who got up and talked about how we should always look forward with our faith. How often do we look back and say, "I wish I was the way I used to be." I know I say stuff like that all the time. I have struggled this last month with looking back on how I was at the very beginning of my mission and saying, "Why can't I be like THAT again." I have come to realize that God doesn't want us to be the way we used to be. He wants us to continue to move forward, and continue to grow. He has taught us that in the story of Lot and his wife. Don't be like Lot's wife, looking/longing for a life that is far in the distant background. God has blessed us with the Saviors strength to move forward, so we should always take that chance. 

In relief society we talked about virtue. Not a Virtue(Chasity, modesty) but Virtue (power).

It was SUCH an amazing lesson. The relief society president's mom taught it. She told a story about a time when they went hiking. (I'm probably going to butcher it but...) Sister White and her family went on a backpacking trip to Appalachian trail. She thought to herself before hand that she would be fine if she didn't train and prepare before hand, because she had gone hiking before. So as they started their journey they hiked up these huge rocks and all up this trail. By the next day her body was exhausted. she couldn't move. she said, " I would have rather a bear come out of the woods and eat me than to hike on." Her family offered to take her pack for her, but she wouldn't let them. She tried to hike, but was so exhausted she could barely move. So her family started taking things out of her pack and adding it to theirs, and she resisted them. she said, "No, I did this to my self. I didn't prepare. Its my fault, don't take my burdens its not your fault." but her family did it anyways, because they loved her. Soon, she had only her back pack and her water. and she wouldn't give it up, but she was exhausted. finally after her family begged, she gave up her back pack and let them carry it. she was able to trudge along, slowly but surely. 

the moral of the story is How often do we tell the Savior, "No, this isn't your fault. I brought this on myself. You don't need to carry my burdens, I caused them." I know that I do this all the time. The amazing thing about this story, is that the Savior loves us and he has ALREADY taken our burden upon himself. He ready for our heavy packs, but it takes us to give it to him. Christ is right next to us, with our water bottle, cheering us on, and carrying our packs. I promise that this is true. I know that the savior does love us, that he has already carried these burdens for us, so that we don't have to. I promise that as you turn to him, you can feel that strength in your life that you have been searching for, for so long. I am so grateful for my Savior and for the love he shows me everyday by carrying my burdens. 

I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful week!!!