Another week!

Hey everyone!

Another week has gone by and it's been a pretty great week! Last Monday we had a zone activity for the Sister missionaries in St. Johns and it was  really fun getting to know all of the Sisters in my zone and getting to see the Snowflake sisters. We did a lot of activities, one of which was playing charades by acting out scenes from the Book of Mormon. Sister Andrus and I got "Lehi receiving the Liahona" and "Nephi kills Laban". For the Liahona,S ister Andrus crawled under my legs (pretending to be Lehi coming out of his tent)  and  we used the circulating sprinkler (from the yard) and used it as the Liahona. I jammed my finger in spinny mechanism, so it was pretty swollen for the rest of the day.

On Tuesday we were finally able to visit some of our less-actives that we've been trying to get a hold of for weeks and it was a really good experience. We had an appointment with an investigator at 2pm, but she ended up cancelling because of an emergency at work. But, looking on the bright side, the member that had offered to come DID show up and I got about 30 minutes of piano practice (hymns of course!) while we waited. One of our less-actives that we've been teaching the lessons to, Jeff, is progressing really well and he's come to church 3 weeks in a row!! He doesn't stay after Sacrament Meeting, but the point is that he's coming again after 20-some odd years of inactivity! We also had a whole slew of investigators that came to Sacrament meetingon Sunday and some even stayed for Sunday School AND Relief Society! It's been a fantastic week and I can really see the difference that the fasting up here has done.

The entire stake is doing a 40-day fast for missionary work up here and it's truly amazing what has been happening. Jeff was originally a "do not contact" and some of the other investigators and less-actives that we've been seeing have been having miraculous experiences that have pointed them back to church and the members have been so helpful! We've gotten so many referrals because members are just talking to their friends and ASKING them if they want to hear about forever families, or if they want to know what makes Mormons different. It doesn't hurt to ask and it doesn't affect their friendships.

This weekend, I got to go to the Open House for the Gilbert Temple. It was absolutely INCREDIBLE! Not only was the experience great (despite the 10 hour commute to get down and back), but one of our less-actives who has the goal of making it to the temple this year was able to bring his son and go through the temple with us. The temple itself is beautiful. I HIGHLY recommend going through it if anyone is ever in Arizona because it's so breathtaking. That trip was also fantastic because it reminded me of what I'm preparing our less-actives and investigators for. They DESERVE to have the blessings that this gospel and those temple ordinances can give. I know that I've been so blessed because of the temple and it's hard to not drop everything and run to the temple once a week to have that reminder and that peace. You are all so lucky that there is a temple nearby that you can visit often. That's what I miss the most. But, right now, my work is for the living. The missionary work that we do now, gives others the opportunity to have that peace and those blessing in their lives. I know that the temple is vital for families to be together forever. I love you all, and I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have that wherever we are, and whatever happens, we will be together again.

Keep smiling and keep writing! I love the letters!

oh, and one of the pics in the previous email is what the canyon looked like on the way down to the valley. We actually hit a snowstorm on the way back to Eager from the Gilbert Temple!