I love being a missionary!

Alright, here we go! (one more time, everybody's feeling fine...)

Well, this has been a much better week in terms of missionary work!  Everything we do is an adventure to me haha.  My trainers think its funny how I'm excited about tracting and everything, but i just love it.  If there is only one thing you take out of this email, I want it to be this: I love being a missionary.  I'm learning so much every day, and am trying to learn everything I can from the good AND bad examples being set for me.  More on that later?  We'll see.  Anyways, as I was saying, Tracting!  Well, let's rewind further actually, all the way back to something I haven't even brought up.  D&C 4!  I'll have it memorized soon (we recite it at almost every meeting it feels like) but in the mean time I just want to share one part of it, and its a phrase you hear all the time when reading the scriptures, and it says the field is white, already to harvest.  What that basically means is that God has ALREADY prepared people to hear of the Restoration, to hear about Jesus Christ, and they are ALREADY ready to be baptized.  As a missionary I've already had the opportunity to plant lots of seeds (the weather conditions last week made TONS of service opportunities haha) but that isnt our main objective.  We are here to harvest.  There are billions of awesome people in the world, bringing people closer to Christ, and that is great!  But with the restored gospel we are the only people with the authority to baptize, and without entering through that gate, they can't progress further.  This is the WATAC, and we baptize:) Don't worry, we aren't number obsessed, but I'm gaining a strong testimony that there are people whom God has prepared, and our job is really to find them. 

We went tracting a few days ago, I was with Heiner (he's been out about 5 months, and really isnt very experienced, so when we do stuff together, we are really both learning a ton.  unfortunately, neither one knows exactly what to do either)  And first we knocked on this door, this nice lady opens the door and knows who we are, but isnt a member, and she kept trying to start talking to us, but her neice, about 3 years old I'm guessing (name is Zoey :) kept interrupting her and inviting us in.  So eventually she was just like do you want to come in elders? and we obviously accepted.  She started this super casual conversation with us and then we got to talking about religion and religious beliefs and such, and she is very Native American (her dad grew up on a reservation and everything) and so her beliefs are very earthy, she has a lot of disagreements with general christian beliefs, but she is very respectful of everyone else's beliefs as long as they respect hers.  oh, and she doesnt like the idea of God being male.  anyways, I started talking to her about the Book of Mormon, about how it is a record of Native Americans and stuff like that, and she was really interested.  she wants us back over to talk about it all with her husband there, who has been studying a lot of different religions.  We'll see how that goes, but I'm excited! (her name is Ashley by the way)

Then, the door just across from her in this little apartment complex, we knocked, and this girl answered, she wasn't really dressed, per se, so she was like behind the door talking to us with her head sticking out, and she was really friendly and stuff but she wanted to go get dressed, so she called over Johnny, (her boyfriend) and was like Johnny come talk to these boys, so he did, and he looked like a stereotypical skater guy, and he came over and I was just like man, this guy's not interested, he's gonna kick us right out, and I was disappointed because I really thought Sevannah seemed interested, but then he just invited us inside (score!) and started talking to Heiner especially, they both liked skating and BMX and I was talking to Sevannah's son, can't remember his name right now but he's about 5 and he's a crack up.  I was wondering if Heiner was ever going to get around to talking about Church (In WATAC we have a huge emphasis on Church Tours) and then he finally did, and Johnny was way chill about it.  He said something like "I don't get why everyone slams doors in your guys's faces, people sit around all day and talk about **** that doesn't matter, that they don't even care about, but then they freak out when people talk about God.  Why is there that block there?"

It was cool.  then we invited them to church, and they couldn't make it yesterday, but they have been texting us (super good sign) and are scheduled for a church tour tonight.  They are prepared, I can just feel it.  Johnny loves Sevannah's kid like he was his own, it's really awesome, and they are just this little family, and Johnny told us something like "I just really need something like this in my life, I just need to start going to church and stuff again"  And the spirit was really there.

That's one of the last things I want to talk about (I'll try to explain via snail mail the internet situation today, but basically I'm low on time)  and that is the light, or lack thereof I see every day.  We tract a lot of really low income houses.  People who are struggling are often more humble, and therefore receptive.  We knock on these doors, they open, and inside it just feels like a vacuum.  We believe the light of Christ is given to everyone, and it's hard to see people with almost nothing left.  you look in their eyes, and it's just empty.  on the flip side, occasionally we'll tract into a members house, and they invite us inside, and the spirit is just so strong in some of these houses.  You can really tell that they center their lives and their homes on Christ. 

 My trainers are such funny people.  I really like them both, they are way cool.  W reminds me of Uncle Mark sometimes, just the faces he makes and the way he jokes with everyone, but also is suprisingly considerate of people's feelings (With uncle mark it's obviously not surprising, that's just who he is,)

K is more quiet. not quiet, but more quiet.  W talks a lot haha.   Hopefully in a letter I'll tell you more about them.  I really have a lot of good things to learn from them, but also some bad examples I'm trying not to pick up.  Sometimes they aren't very diligent, but that gives me more time to read scriptures I guess.  I started reading the New Testament when I came to Lacey (It is so awesome, I've never read it through before) I'm currently in Romans, I'll definitely finish it this transfer.  They call RM's all the time, I think it's pretty funny.  They tell me they will call me when they are home and I'm still in the field haha, but hopefully I'll still be obedient throughout my whole mission.

I love Lacey, I love my mission president and his wife, I love members, I love my trainers, I love missionary work, I love the people in Lacey, I love the scriptures, I love my family and friends, and I love being a missionary!

Write me!