Independence or Bust!: June 24

Hello to my favorite family!!!

I hope you all got my email last week... I had a weird message this morning telling me that my last email had been delayed... Hope that doesn't happen again. Well, it's been a good week. I'll start with yesterday and move backward.

Did any of you have the opportunity to watch the world-wide missionary broadcast?! Oh my goodness, it was amazing! It was part of the mission presidents training. I learned a lot about my role as a missionary but more specifically about the member missionary work I want to be a part of when I get home. This is a great broadcast; 2 hours long but the time flies by. I invite each of you to watch it and let me know what you think. There is so much amazing stuff happening in the church right now. A lot of changes to how missionary work is done. I think it's great to start the program now so that as all us missionaries return home we can help move the work along. I really don't know how to express my multitude of thoughts and feelings on this. Just watch it and love it!

http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/special-broadcast?lang=eng

Sister Thompson and I are not huge fans of Friday and Saturday. They are super slow days here in the mission field. Mostly, I think, because the weekend is family time and everyone is out and about doing stuff. We have the most success talking with people on weeknights. Thursday was great. We had dinner with the Bishop and his family before heading to the VC in Independence to meet up with some of the YSA's. They brought one of their friends to meet us. At the end of the lesson we invited him (Paul) to continue meeting with missionaries. He said yes then proceeded to let us know he was about half way through the Book of Mormon, watched General Conference of his own free will, and takes institute classes during the school year! SAY WHAT?! We're excited to meet with him again on Wednesday. He's got a great support system and is doing those things he needs to do to come to know for himself the truthfulness of the gospel. We are really excited about him.

Wednesday I had the opportunity to go on exchanges; I got to be back at the VC for a day. It was great seeing everyone... that I knew. It changed a lot this last transfer so the dynamics are completely different than I am use to. It was fun, though, walking in and seeing faces of Sisters I have grown to love be so excited to see me, and I loved seeing all of them. But it didn't feel right being there. Having the opportunity to go on exchanges confirmed to me that I am not suppose to be at the VC right now. That I am exactly where the Lord needs me to be. One super cool thing about being there on that day (a change from what was originally going to occur) was being able to see Sister Boatright and the Hardy's from Roy. It was great to see a friendly face and be able to take them through a presentation. I was also the only one at the VC that knew that one of the guests was a slightly schizophrenic man who believes himself to be Heavenly Father so I pointed him out to the new senior couple. You can't upset this man or he goes off on you. All in all, it was a blessing to be there.

Monday I had the opportunity to go to the Kansas City Zoo with about 10 Elders. It was kind of funny to see us all dressed up at the Zoo. We had a great time; it kind of put the Hogle Zoo to shame. It's HUGE and gorgeous. The weather was perfect! Speaking of weather... It's hot here. Okay, maybe not hot but humid. I've decided I'm not a huge fan of humidity. I don't mind being hot; I enjoy it in fact. But I really don't like humidity. It feels so heavy. I much prefer the dryness of Utah.

I think that's about it for my excitement for the week. We are working hard to find people to teach but after the broadcast last night understand we need the members help with that. We are trying to figure out how to balance our time between the branch and the ward; it's a difficult task. I'm still loving life as a missionary. I'm growing up so much!

I love each of you and keep you in my thoughts and my prayers. Stay strong and be courageous!