Missions rock!!

***For those of you who haven't heard, Rachel's Grandmother passed away last Friday.  Since I couldn't be there to hug Rachel, I have prayed a lot for her to recieve comfort and peace during this difficult time.  Her letter this week is an example of answered prayers.  We are so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that families are eternal and that one day we will be reunited with all of our loved ones again.  --Rachel's Mom***

I got alot of emails this week, which ROCKED, good job everyone, so real quick before anything else....

Erin- Glad you loved that picture as much as I do :)

Mel- Love you, thank you for that! And good luck talking to the principal this weekend ;) you're probably just going to be offered some giant scholarship so I'm not worried about ya, but I'll say an extra prayer for you.

Dad- Good job making Erin prune, I love the pictures. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Sister Arnold and I wished you happy birthday, but we were probably a little too far away for you to hear it.

Mom- Thank you so much for allowing Erin to be ridiculous, that picture killed me. I'm sad y'all gave up on 49 candles!

Joe- Write me you bum! Lol love you!

So this week was FANTASTIC, because my investigator I've been teach for 3 months now FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH! And brought a friend! 4 nonmembers at church!! (That's the first time we've had more than 1 the entire time I've been here!) Sister Arnold kept laughing at me because I could not stop grinning all day, I told her my mission could end now and I'd be good because I got to see him in a tie at church. And then after church we went to a member's home and began teaching a new investigator, who had also come to church with them. So Sunday was pretty much perfect. I know it happened because, again, we're trying to follow President Scott's counsel on how to teach and use our time, and so the Lord is really blessing us.

President Scott called me Saturday and told me about Grandma. It's definitely been sad, but I've also been amazed about how okay it's been. I think it threw Sister Arnold off a bit, who was prepared for the companion melt down she's used to, but I really have just had peace about it. I love the story you sent about Marianne's dream Mom, I can see that 100%. Maybe it's because I've spent the last 3 months testifying to one of our investigators about how death isn't a bad or scary thing (because that's been his biggest fear about the gospel- the track record of prophets and apostles in the Bible dying is pretty grim) but I just know she's taken another step in her life and that it isn't the end- and now I have one more person I love helping me in my work up here!

Tonight I am making a 4 hour drive to Scarborough, we have zone conference tomorrow in Pickering at 7:30 so we're spending the night with the Sisters in Scarborough, which should be pretty stinking fun. It's Sister Arnold's first area so she's really pumped, we're leaving a little early in hopes of being able to do a bit of proselyting with them tonight. We also found out next week we are having a Sisters Conference in Brampton, which is so exciting- I'll get to see Sister Tuisku before she heads home to Finland the next week! And I've been super jealous recently because Sister Arnold knows something about every sister in the mission, so I'm looking forward to getting to meet them all- Owen Sound is a bit too isolated to be able to do exchanges or meet anyone really.

That's about everything with me. My life is good, my companion is amazing, my investigators are terrific, I love the work! Missions rock!! I'm keeping the whole family in my prayers, I hope everyone is doing well. Love you all so much and I'll talk to ya in a week.

Pictures of the week:

Loving our preparation day and the sunny weather! It's been incredible this week, we got up to 27 degrees!

There's a family in the ward who's building their house, so missionaries who visit there get to sign somewhere- I actually signed when i went with Sister Tuisku in February, but I finally got a picture when Sister Arnold signed! 

 We picked the main support beams, because they'll never be knocked down and they're getting painted over last, if they ever are. Score!