Has it really already been a month?

Hola Brothers, Sisters, Friends, Parents, and Strangers who want to read this! How is everybody? Aunt Kathy- Your package made my life! Thank you so much for the cute note and magnet. I loved it. Stacy- Your wedding invitations are so cute! Sister Smyth and I were dying/freaked out because marriage is just weird to think about. YIKES! I can't wait to see wedding pictures though! Mom- I haven't seen your package yet...... This was one FULL week! My tan lines have improved dramatically! The watch tan line and shoe tan line are my favorite but they are all great. A thousand bottles of sun screen couldn't stop those puppies from happening. Everyone keeps asking about the weather and the water so here's the deal. Arizona is hot. Really hot. But that's kinda awesome because then everyone feels bad for the tomatoes that are charging down the street so we get a lot of members and non-members stopping us and forcing us to come into their houses for some water and A.C.! K fine. I'll come into your house and teach you about Jesus. It's pretty cool. Most of them tell us they are already Catholic and don't care about the Book of Mormon. That's when we say great lets open up the Bible and say a prayer. Soon enough we are all friends! Fun announcement! I think I'm going granola. A sister in the ward gave us an essential oils schpeal last night when we couldn't go anywhere during the rain storm. I don't know how but that stuff can solve anything! My mind was blown! It sounds weird and sketchy but Sister Carpenter really knows how to make you feel good with some essential oils. :) Let's talk about the rain. The storms here are unreal! There is lightning like crazy and buckets just come down! We were at dinner the other night with a less active family that I love and it started hailing. Nobody knows how it can go from 104 degrees to 68 and hailing in 5 minutes but it did and it was so cool! Loved it! I'm very grateful that we have been inside every time that one of the crazy storms has hit. Last night, after the rain story Sister Smyth and I rode our bikes home and had to dodge frogs! FROGS! Like big fat ones. When it rains they just come out of their hiding places and attack the streets. When we saw the first one on the Carpenter's porch we were thinking they were so fun and cool. Then we got on our bikes and were screaming because it was so hard to see them in the street before running them over! I felt really bad. They covered the streets! ahh!!! Next crazy story. My first day in Safford I placed a Book of Mormon and was super stoked because the girls said they wanted to know more! We called them a few days later and didn't hear from them. Well this week the Jones' took us out to dinner and our waitress was one of the girls! BLESSINGS! Kathi told us she had been meaning to call us (alright Kathi come on) and so we set us an appointment right then and will start teacher her this next week! Awesome! Oh I got flight lessons! Trent would be proud to know that I made it to the Alaska Airport almost safely! I crashed at the end but it's only because a cruise ship distracted me at the very end. Brother Cornelison is the grumpiest/spunkiest man I've ever met. Him and his wife are less active so we went to teach him. During the lesson he kept giving one work answers and being a grump but then I asked him about his flight simulator and he was all giggly! Right after the lesson he forced me to have a flight lesson. K fine! It was so stressful but I loved it! It was so funny to see Brother Cornelison get all excited and piloty on us. We are officially friends and they were at church on Sunday! YAY! Sister Smyth and I developed a smirk. We will be getting ready so start a lesson and that's when the smirk comes out. The smirk means- okay Sister Barton teach these people about the gospel while I sit here and watch. SCARY! I know that's what a trainer is supposed to do and it will teach me how to teach but I don't like that smirk. We have a few investigators who want to be baptized but can't because of legal reasons. There are A TON of prisons around here so it's really common to teach people who just got released from prison and are ready to try to start over. SO MANY PEOPLE ARE READY! But there is stuff that we have to work on before we can take the next step and get baptized. My favorite investigator is Doug. He is the nicest guy I've ever met. . It kills me to see how hard he is on himself. He basically believes that he is worthless. We went around his house and wrote "I am a son of God" on all of his mirrors and made him promise to say it every time he looked in the mirror. It's amazing how much of a different the gospel can make in someone's like. Doug is a completely different person that who I met three weeks ago. Miracle time! The other day all of our appointments fell through and we really didn't know what to do. We had been biking for hours and were getting pretty tired. We decided to pray for guidance. As soon as the prayer was over a name popped into my head. This name didn't make sense to me because I knew that the family I was thinking of was out of town. We decided to head that direction anyway. Within 2 minutes of riding we got to meet Paul and Michelle. They had never heard of the church but wanted their kids to know about the bible and were interested in the Book of Mormon! I was in heaven! We have an appointment with them tomorrow! I cannot wait to get started! Going to the Beal's house didn't make any sense until we met that family! I love how the Holy Ghost works! We kept going toward the Beal's house and ran into 3 less active families! WHAT?!?! We couldn't believe it., On top of all that the Beal's were home. Please pray for Sister Beals! That woman is absolutely amazing! They forced us to go in a eat some lunch. I could chat with Brother and Sister Beals forever! The biggest lesson I've learned this week is to just do it. It don't matter if it makes sense or if it's scary. JUST DO IT! Don't be afraid to talk to the random gangster walking down the street. Don't be afraid to go a direction that isn't in your planner. Don't be afraid to tell someone that you need help understanding something! I'm grateful to have so many people here in Safford that take care of us. We have awesome ward members that force us to let them help us. I'm so grateful for a goofy companion that makes me laugh and pushes me to be a better teacher and disciple of Christ. I'm grateful for all ya'll and the support that you have given me! Thank you for being so awesome! I love you all!!!! Be safe and have a good week! Random good ones: Alma 7:20, D&C 24:12, Helaman 5:30, 2 Cor. 5:7 -Sister Barton

One month down....

We had a pizza study session when our dinner appointment cancels. Tide to go really saved us

My flight lessons! Seriously. That man is so grumpy but so funny. Flying is more stressful then missionary work

You can kinda see the hail in the background. Oh and you're supposed to be able to see mountains! Crazy!

It's a party in Arizona!

This was pretty much a better version on butlerville days. It made me a bit homesick though

This week FLEW by. I can't believe it's already P-day again. At the same time I have much to say. :) I didn't really like my letter last week so I hope this one is a little better. Okay so first off....THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGES, LETTERS, SWEET EMAILS, AND PRAYERS. I don't know what I would do without it. Nicole- I opened your package in front of like 5 kids. Those jolly ranchers won me some major brownie points! haha thank you girlie! The work here in Safford is crazy! We work with a lot of less active members and we have 6 main investigators. On top of all of those we try really hard to build relationships with the ward members and talk to pretty much everyone who is lucky enough to be in our path. It's non-stop chit chatting, teaching, and praying. LOVE IT! We don't get to do workout videos anymore because Sister Smyth and I decided the Holy Ghost speaks Spanish too and so Jillian was kind of offensive. Instead we try to go running but it's kinda a struggle since it gets so hot so fast. If any of ya'll have a good workout routine you just let me know! Mary- we do ten minutes of torcher (abdominal workouts. Yeah we love that). Any brilliant ideas would be great though. Right now we just do random things up and down the church parking lot. This week I got to meet one of our investigators named Janice. The Barton girls would die if they met her! Let me tell you about her. She drives a prius but I try to ignore that part. She is a professional colorist. What the heck is that you might ask? Well she tells people what colors they are allowed to wear based on their skin tone, eyes, hair, and contrast. (I still don't really get the contrast part) Sister Smyth warned me that we have to look our best when we meet here so I put on my favorite outfit and we biked over there. By the time we got there we were sweaty tomatoes but that's unavoidable. As soon as the lesson was done she looks at us and said. Please step into my closet. This lady lives in a really nice trailer parks but her closet takes up half of trailer! It's HUGE! She then told me that my shirt does nothing for me and only Asian women could pull off horizontal blue stripes. Hmmm. Apparently Sister Smyth and I are both Spring Greens and Gold. Next time we go over there we have to impress her! Oh and apparently bags and shoes are supposed to compliment your hair color so I'm not supposed to wear black. oops. That's Janice for you! She has a hard time with women not having the priesthood because her sister is a priest in her church. That has been a little hard. Another awesome investigator is named Kenzie. She is 12 years old and loves personal progress the only hard part is her mom doesn't think she should get baptized until she is 18. We started teaching her parents this week so we are pretty hopeful the Holy Ghost will help us out with softening her parents. Whenever we start meeting with new investigators we have kinda spiritual DTRs. (determine the relationship) It's pretty much where we explain to them our purpose as missionaries and help them understand that baptism is the goal but it doesn't stop there. Being a part of this church lasts eternity. At first I thought DTRs were way too bold and scary but I led my first one last night with out investigator, Ralph. He is incredible! He wasn't freaked out when we asked him about baptism! He just doesn't understand why he has to get baptized again since he was baptized in his Catholic church. His priest told him it's really disrespectful of God to get baptized twice so we will be teaching him about the priesthood next time! He has only read the book of Mormon once but he loves it! He was marking every verse that we showed him because he wanted to be able to find it again. Wow I really love Ralph! He said the closing prayer and had to stop half way because he started to cry. It was cool to be able to explain to him what he was feeling! The Holy Ghost is the best teacher! Get out your bibles right now and turn to Philippians 4:11-13 just because it's great and I love it! I've become a girl of post-it notes. I feel like I'm always writing something on a post-it note. This week I wrote down everything that I wanted to write to you all on a post-it note and now I feel like I'm just throwing random information and stories at you! Sorry about that. I have no clue why but Safford Arizona makes a bigger deal out of Pioneer day than Utah does.....They made a whole 2 day event out of it a week early so that everyone could celebrate it twice! This Friday and Saturday they had a huge community talent show that the missionaries were asked to sing in. Our song was at the very end so we had to stay the whole time. It was kinda funny to watch all the missionaries try to sit through "worldly" songs. By the third song at least all of the sister missionaries were in the halls trying to get the music out of their ears. While Sister Smyth and I were walking around the halls we ran into two young men from London! They are staying in Safford to coach at a soccer camp. They are staying with a member family so had a ton a questions for us about this strange church that they were convinced only exists in Arizona. We didn't have time to teach them before they were flying to California but we gave them information for the church websites and ways to get a hold of the missionaries wherever they are. Your welcome London missionaries! Pioneer days also included volleyball and basketball tournaments, a 5k, pancake breakfast, a parade, and a bbq that ended with a firework show! It was awesome! A few missionaries got to be on some of the floats. Did you get the pictures that Sister Evans texted and that Judge Holt emailed? Sister Evans is pretty much my missionary mom and Judge Holt is our mission Grandpa. They both seriously look out for us and spoil us. Next item on my list that needs to be discussed. You can tell how long a missionary has been out based on how obsessed with the movie Frozen they are. If they been out too long to see it them they are absolutely obsessed and blast it in their cars. If they have seen it then they don't really care. The zone leaders came over to fix my bike seat earlier this week and made me tell them the entire story of frozen. I almost had to act out a couple parts but I got out of it. It was worth it in order to have a bike seat! Sister Smyth and I always feel bad asking for help because we don't want to be "those sisters". Yeah get me? But the zone leaders are super nice. The work here is going great! I've met so many people that I absolutely love and my testimony is getting stronger and stronger everyday! I love my Savior! He is my very best friend. I love getting to feel the Holy Ghost helping me everyday. This work is hard. So hard! I fell asleep during companionship prayer the other night and Sister Smyth about died of laughter. We are working so hard to help people understand what this gospel can do for them. It will change their lives IF they let it. I've seen it. I've seen huge changes in our investigators every time that they learn something new. I love being a missionary. -Sister Barton

Pioneer Day in Safford..

We got pictures from the mission home today....

"Sister Barton and Sister Smyth in Pioneer Day parade They are excellent"

Sister Smyth and Sister Barton at the Pioneer Day Celebration

Hitting the streets in our stylin' Grandma shoes

> I think it's important that you all know that a 90 year old woman asked me where I got my shoes this week. Apparently she wants a pair just like them. #Missionaryproblems! > > This week has been so fun though. I've never been so exhausted or so happy. Sister Smyth and I keep each other going. Personal study is the hardest challenge because I can't keep my eye lids from falling! I'm learning a ton though. I've really learned the importance of being an obedient missionary. When I first got here I hardly said anything in the lessons but now I'm actually teaching 50/50 with Sister Smyth! She's incredible. That sister can fill the room with the spirit in a heart beat. It's been awesome to learn from her. > > Q and A > > Are the members feeding you anything except spaghetti? > The members feed us dinner every night. Usually it's some kind of chicken and pasta with watermelon and salad or something. It's pretty much your typical Mormon dinners. No big deal at all. They love feeding us and I love practicing teaching them. I'm not nearly as scared to teach members as I am investigators so it's been awesome to practice on them. The members in both the wards are the greatest! We are very spoiled around here. Some of them even offer us rides to appointments. > > Are you seeing lizards, snakes, and mice inside or outside your duplex. > I haven't seen any snakes or mice but we have cockroaches! Sister Smyth and I really come unglued when we see a huge cockroach running around our duplex. We've gotten pretty good at catching them though. The first time I caught one I tried to be a good person and just let it go outside but it flew in the door and landed on Sister Smyth! We FREAKED out. Nobody told me that those things can fly!!!! > > Do you have access to fresh produce? > A woman in the ward actually gave us 16 cucumbers and 20 zucchinis last Wednesday! What are we supposed to do with all that?? We have been handing them out like it's our day job! I love a good cucumber but 16 is kinda much. > > Are you drinking something besides water to replace electrolites in the heat? > I mostly just stick to the water. Once in a while the members will give us juice. Are there like electrolyte chewy things I can get somewhere? Walmart? > > Does your bike have brakes yet? > The zone leaders fixed our bikes! It's been pretty fun to bike everywhere! We show up to our appointments drenched and red but it's been so easy to talk to people on the streets and spread the word that much better! Last night was the only night that we had to bike home in the rain. I was pretty grateful for that storm. > > Do you love your companion? > Sister Smyth is still awesome. She has a quote/scripture for everything. I'm learning more than I could ever imagine. The scriptures are incredible. I've been trying to study a lot about how to be a better tool in the Lords hands. The lord as answered by prayers a thousand fold. He is seriously looking out for me! > > Do you have any investigators? > We had to drop one of our investigators on Saturday. He decided that he loves the book of Mormon and Jesus Christ so much that he wants to start his own church...yeah our lessons clearly weren't sinking in like we thought. It was really hard to Sister Smyth to accept. It always seemed like he was never fully with us. We think he was drunk for the last lesson. He smelled like bear and was clearly back to his old ways. It was sad. > > The other investigator is amazing! We are planning on committing him to baptism this week! He is living with a member family right now and has learned so much since we started meeting with him. He's given up alcohol and has changed so much even since I've gotten here. It's amazing how much we grow to love the people we serve. > > My favorite people that we are teaching is a very very less active family. They haven't been to church in years until this past Sunday! We read the Book of Mormon with them 3 times a week and they love it! It's fun to watch them grow and learn. The mother told us that she missed feeling the spirit and her Heavenly Father's love!!!! I was dying! We love them so much!! > > What are you studying every morning? > I think I kinda already answered this but that's a really hard question. I study something different every day. Mostly I study for my investigators/less actives and think about what they need to hear. In the process I always learn something that I could work on in order to be closer to my Savior. In Alma 22 the King tells a missionary that he will give up everything to be closer to the Savior. We read this to a less active teenager the other day and she said she would do the same. She said she would give up her car and her house. Then I pointed out to her that she doesn't have to give up those things. What about a song that maybe doesn't invite the spirit? Or 2 hours of sleep on Sundays so that she could go to church? The Lord doesn't need us to give up everything. He just needs us to show him that we are willing to give up enough! The spirit was SO STRONG! She went to church the next day. :) I was so happy! > > > Do you get to exercise each day? > > HAHAHA k so every morning Sister Smyth and I wake up at 6:00 in order to do a Jillian Michael's workout video. Now Jillian can be a bit inappropriate so in order to help Sister Smyth work on her Spanish and to keep my ears a little more sheltered we do the workout video in Spanish! We are sore pretty much everyday from that plus bikes but we won't give up! A Spanish Jillian Michaels is a funny one. I laugh and try to copy her! I'm getting really good at my Spanish commands! > > Are you HAPPY? (the most important question) > > I'M SO HAPPY! I'm absolutely exhausted. But I'm happy. There is a lot of work to be done in the tiny mining town and there in not enough time in a day. This week has flown by and I can't wait to keep going! Thank you for all the love and support! You are the greatest! Your sister over here in Safford really loves you! :) I'll do better at making a list throughout my week so that I know what to write you all! > > Oh I almost forgot to tell you! The animals here hate me. I've gotten attacked by a dog (I won!), scared to death by a cat, and almost ate a baby bird from the neighbors eggs that were given to us! Ahhhh! Crazy stuff! I promise I'm okay though. Mom I really promise I was laughing after every single one of the events! > > -Sister Barton

Second week pictures

"Sister Smyth's back is the perfect definition of our lives. This is after biking to a womans house. When we got there she wasn't home. She had forgotten about our appointment. Ugh!"

"The picture with the kids is one of our dinner appointment that family had 7 kids and a ton of chickens. The boys pants are on backwards so we had to get a picture!"

Arrival of Sister Barton

The mission office sent us some pictures of Sister Barton of her arrival to the mission field with a letter. When telling about her first day it said, "From the airport we took her and the other missionaries to the Mormon Battalion Monument in downtown Tucson, where we talked about commitment, and leaving behind all the cares of the world to focus on the work of the Lord. Afterward we enjoyed a nice luncheon at the mission office where the missionaries met the office staff. The Elders and Sisters then received instruction and training from the Assistants to the President, Sister Passey and myself. I had the pleasure of interviewing your daughter and getting to know her personally and to feel her wonderful missionary spirit. Later that evening we dined together, took photographs and took the opportunity to discuss our purpose as missionaries."

Sister Barton and Sister Smyth

Tucson Arizona Mission Arrivals July 2014

Sister Barton and President & Sister Passey

TUCSON!!

I'm here! I'm already in Tucson! How did this happen? First off....when you fly over Tucson it literally looks like you are flying over the moon. I have yet to see anything green besides a cactus. (I don't know why but they are sooo cute!) Who knew there are so many different kinds of cacti? There is one that spits out needles! That is so cool! Three Sisters and I stayed at a members house last night which was really fun! Sister Croutts was super nice and refused to let us help with anything. As soon as she left the room we would put away our dishes or make the bed. It was kinda a fun game to see what we could clean up before she got back into the room. She's awesome though. Let's back up a little bit. My last week in the MTC flew by. I learned a lot and really really enjoyed teaching our legit investigator. He accepted our invitation to get baptized but I think he was just saying that because he knew that was our last lesson with him. -__- My district was the greatest though. The new sisters didn't join our room so it was still just me and Sister Harrington. I started interviewing her every night until I was on the floor laughing. That girl can tell you anything about fantasy creatures and their ears. She told me if I was an element I would be fire. That was the one and only compliment she ever gave me and I'll take it! Apparently being a fire element is a good thing. WHATEVER! This week I started writing down quotes from Sister Harrington. You'll have to read them in my journal when I get home. She is one wise woman. Leaving the MTC was bitter sweet. It was sad to say goodbye to my teachers. They were the greatest. I got to see Hermana Frodsham Sunday night before I left! When we were walking away Sister Harrington looks at me and says, "You and that sister embrace a lot. I think she is a water element." Hahahaha one day I hope to find out what that means. Every time that I compliment Sister Harrington she looks around all confused and says, "Well...alright." Then I always just bust up laughing. I don't know if I have just grown some really dry humor or if it really would be funny to the average person but I really enjoyed witnessing some of Sister Harrington's quirks. As soon as we got to Tucson the A.P.'s led us in a half mile run up a hill in the middle of downtown. It was 105 degrees and everyone looked at us like we were crazy. Just picture 20 sweaty missionaries running up the streets. It was supposed to show us how we are hastening the work. YEAH WE ARE! Wow this place really is so hot but I'm willing to put in some sweat. It made us really grateful for the AC at the mission home where we did some training, ate dinner, and had a testimony walk. By 8:00 everyone was falling asleep all over the house. At the very end of the night we got to look off the balcony and see all of Tucson. It was awesome to look at the town where I get to serve the people for the next 18 months! I can't wait! That's when we all split up and wen to different member's houses. Today I met my companion! Her name is Hermana Smyth. That's right. She's a Hermana! I guess I might be picking up on a little bit of Spanish after all. She's 22 years old and I love her already. She is from Utah and had been going to UVU before the mission. I met her about 9 hours ago and am already learning so much. She loves talking to everyone and just has a passion for this mission. It's fun to watch people be so interested in her as soon as she starts speaking Spanish. They don't care about us and the she whips out that Spanish and suddenly they could talk for days. This is her last transfer so we'll have to make it a good one. We have been assigned to Safford which is in the Gila Valley on bikes! Whaoo!!!! We will be working with the third and fourth ward. I haven't really had a chance to do real missionary stuff yet. I'm so nervous to start teaching people. On the 2 and 1/2 hour ride to Safford we were talking about the first few weeks of a mission and what fears I had. It was awesome to know that She has the exact same fears and weaknesses that I feel like I have right now. Hermana Smyth seems to have everything figured out and I just can't wait to be as confident as she is. Everyone kept telling me that I lucked out with the best companion/trainer I could possible ask for. Heavenly Father clearly knows I need a good trainer in order to figure this whole missionary thing out. SAFFORD HERE WE COME! Our p-days are on Mondays usually but today is transfer week so I get to email you today :) It was awesome talking to you all yesterday. I was exhausted but it was so good to hear your voices! Ryan I still haven't seen your email. Are you sure you're sending it to the right place? The rest of today will be spent shopping, unpacking and fixing the bikes. The ones we were given have flat tires and broken brakes but I think the zone leaders are supposedly really good at fixing bikes so we'll somehow get the bikes to them. Funny story: Since we are biking sisters we didn't have a ride to Safford from the Tucson stake center. Sister Salazar and her companion offered us a ride. Sister Salazar is new as well so she had 3 huge suit cases and I had 2. We tried getting everything in the car and it just wasn't going to happen. Sister Salazar and her comp went inside to figure out another car. While they were in there we started playing tetrus. It was kinda fun to work together to somehow get everything into that car. We were laughing so hard at how sweaty we both were from taking those five 50 pound suit cases in and out of the car. After like 10 minutes we got them. K. The story isn't that funny but it was a good comp bonding moment! We just kept yelling. We can do hard things! Oh boy. I love you all! Thanks for all the love and support. Sorry if I'm bad at responding to individual emails. I don't have much time. Carrie and Megan thanks for the letters I'm sad I didn't get to talk to you at the airport yesterday! You guys rock though! -Sister Barton

First Week

I'm alive! It's been a crazy week. Okay. I'm trying to figure out how to begin and I'm really struggling. The MTC is awesome. The food is a bit iffy but the people here are incredible. The spirit is so strong. I've learned way more than I could have ever imagined. The first few days of the MTC are hard because you spend the entire time learning how much you don't know. Yeah, it wasn't the greatest. BUT I can confidently say that I've grown so much. They sure keep us busy here. We spend pretty much all day studying, role playing, planning lessons, role playing some more, then studying, then role playing again. At first I was super scared and awkward but I met with my first legit investigator yesterday and was completely comfortable getting to know him and his relationship with his Heavenly Father. The hardest part about the MTC was leaning to work with a companion that I have nothing in common with. The more I learn about her the more we figure out that we have absolutely nothing in common. Her name is Sister Harrington. She has lived pretty much everywhere because her dad is in the airforce. She's super shy and has a hard time making friends but I have learned to love her so much. We are officially best of pals. We don't always agree but we have really learned to work together and we are doing really good at teaching together. That's all that matters right? My teachers are the greatest! I have three main teachers...Sister Cole, Brother Kezele, and Brother Christensen. Brother Christensen is probably my favorite teacher because he works more one on one with me and Sister Harrington. He is awesome. Sister Cole is the one that I got to for the emotional part. On Saturday I was super stressed and really having trouble being patient with my companion. Sister Cole and I went on a walk and I just let it all out! Since then I've been doing so much better! That's the only time that I've really felt like I couldn't handle it anymore. She totally helped me realize that I can't learn everything in three days and how far I have come. I'm so grateful for her! Sundays in the MTC are the greatest. We had awesome speakers come in and we got to watch video of Elder Bednar giving a talk about "The Character of Christ". It was awesome. I'll be honest--I fell asleep for about 3 minutes but from what I did see I loved it. Oops. When we first got here there were 4 girls in the room including me and the comp but they left Sunday night so it's just me and Sister Harrington. 2/3 districts in our zone left so it's just us and the 4 elders. The elders keep me laughing. When I need some comic relief I just look across the room at Elder Truman because he is usually pulling a face at me. All of the elders really like to tease me but I dont' really care. We are all really close. They are the greatest. I have pictures from our temple walk on Sunday of the whole zone, the district, and my companion and I but I don't know how to make pictures work. Dang. Sorry! I'll keep trying in a little bit. I love you to Tucson and back times a million! I'm really happy. I've never been so close to my Heavenly Father. I guess a week on my knees will do that to you. I'm learning lots and trying really hard to stay awake and be patient with myself and my companion. Thank you so much for the letters. The district always makes fun of me because I get the most mail. What can I say? I have a pretty great fan club. K I really think I have to go now. Bye! I'll be flying out this Monday morning around 10. Parents- I love you and can't wait to call you next week! Thank you for everything. You are the greatest. Siblings- Thank you for the notes and love. Kiss Chloe for me. I finally get what the boys were saying about 6:15 am coming freakishly fast. As soon as I hit the pillow the alarm is going off. It's crazy. Time is flying so fast. Friends- Someone do something crazy for me! THE CHURCH IS TRUE! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Heavenly Father will always hear and answer our prayers. He is so beyond real. He knows us so well. Have a good week. You all are in my prayers. Keep is classy in the 801. :)