Tender Mercies

We just experienced a tender mercy! There was no time slots for us to
do e-mails and I was going to have to sit down and write you in
literally two minutes. I was typing frantically!! Anyways, the nice
library man just came and told us he worked some bookings so we could
have thirty minutes! The Spirit was working on him. Do you know how
great this job is? The Lord is the best boss ever. He takes care of
us.

Alexander will be baptised on Friday!!! He is prepared. He's excited. He's
worthy. He's so great. He sacrificed a medieval fair (where he was
supposed to dress up in chain mail and act like a knight) to come to
church yesterday. What a champ. We also took him to the mission home
fireside. The Spirit was so strong there and he came away on top of
the world. There were three recent converts who spoke about their
conversions. Their love for the missionaries was touching. I think
President Preston has made it his personal mission to ensure that each
missionary in this mission knows how loved we are. He made everyone in
the room who loved the missionaries raise their hands and then said,
"See? See? Everyone loves you! You're so great!" It was cute.

The area is thriving!

We had a special Sisters' Meeting this week where they "enforced" the
new dress and grooming standards. They encouraged us to start dressing
fashionably again. It hasn't been hard for the Sisters in the mission
to embrace. Everyone's really excited and I think it is helping each
of us to express ourselves again. It's easy to become a mindless,
emotionless, gospel-sharing robot, believe it or not; but those days
are over! We are now lovely, dynamic, personable young women with
strong personalities accompanied by a strong spirit. To coin a phrase
from President Bullock, we are being ourselves, just the best selves
we can be.

I just finished the book of Alma this morning. I don't know if I'm
just emotional this week or what but the stories have been moving me
to tears all week! The people were so courageous! Moroni is
ridiculously valiant! And the army of Helaman; don't get me started. I
was just so humbled as I read about their examples of faith and hope.
They trusted their mothers. What a tear-jerker! I see so clearly the
parallels of war between them and our day. We are in a war. We are on
the front lines, but only if we chose to be. We can be courageous and
fight the good fight. None of these are new insights but they
definitely hit home differently than ever before this week.

I really do joy in serving the Lord! Thank you for your support!