So this week was crazy, hectic, insane....

So, as you all know from my previous letter, I am now in Luna/Reserve New Mexico. Which, I'm actually pretty ok with.... Actually, I'm WAY more than ok with it. I LOVE it up here! The people up here are amazing and even though they're pretty spread out, they still know practically everyone and we got over 10 referrals in just the past 2 days! Unfortunately, we haven't been able to contact many of them because of a certain happenstance that I will mention later.

This week was zone conference and it was AMAZING! President and Sister Sweeney are just the bomb, what else can I say? We actually did a big discussion and we got to pick the topics out of a list of "stumbling blocks" that keep us, as missionaries, from becoming more like Christ. So we all got to vote and we talked about pride (that's what I put my 2 votes on), Lack of faith, and Distractions. It was really amazing to, not only have President and Sister Sweeney teach us, but to have all of the input from all of the Elders and Sisters in the 2 zones that we had meeting together. It was incredible. Afterwards, we had a luncheon and then we all went to the Snowflake temple to do a session. They had to set up a special session for us because we were going to have over 70 missionaries in one session and Snowflake is a smaller temple. That session absolutely blew my mind. The Spirit was so strong in that room that I actually started tearing up. It was incredible to have that many missionaries as well as our mission presidency and their wives in the same room. I also had a really strong experience in the Celestial Room. When I was about to enter, I asked the person, whose name I was going through for (in my head), if she would tell grandpa "hi" for me. I hadn't been sitting in the Celestial Room for 10 minutes when I felt a very warm embrace, and I knew that grandpa was giving me a hug. I felt him there and, in my mind, I saw him sitting next to me, but I didn't see him as an old man. I saw him as a young, blonde man dressed in a tan uniform and I knew it was him. I know that he's ok and I know that he loves us all so very much. And I KNOW that he has been sealed to us for eternity. He's ok, and he's still there for us; all of us and he's cheering us on.

The only downer of the day (which I prefaced earlier) was that our car broke down when we were on our way to dinner. We had 6 cars pull over to help us out, including some Elders that were on their way to Vernon. Surprisingly enough, President Sweeney had asked us to talk to them to get some tips for the work in our area (theirs is very similar) and so we were able to do that while we waited for a mechanic. The rest of the week was... interesting without a car. We got rides from members, but it was really hard to be stuck without a car.

On Saturday
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WE BRANDED COWS!!!!! As a service project :) In fact I'm including some pictures. But WHAT?! Yeah, because we're basically opening this area, President asked us to work with the members and to do as much service as we possibly could, and it's branding season! It was crazy! They had us cutting ears, castrating (actually Sister Pass is the only one that took on that particular duty), branding, and I actually threw down a cow! It was a little bitty one (otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do it), and it took me about 5 tries, but I felt so accomplished! We were also able to contact a referral(who came to church yesterday!) and we were able to talk with several less-active and part-member families (one of which came to church with him family yesterday!). We've also set up times to brand with some other families in the area, so by the time I actually leave this area, "I's gonna be a bona-fide cowgirl! Boots n' all!" haha just kidding, but President okay-ed boots for us if we felt they were necessary for the types of service we'll be doing up here.

I really love this area and I hope I get to stay here for next transfer. Speaking of: transfers are next week, so I won't be emailing until Wednesday. Oh, and one of my less-actives in Eagar has asked me to come see him get his endowments on Friday! I'm so excited for him!

pics 1.me branding 2. Sister Christensen and her pile of cow ears 3. Sister Pass being "Herman Macbeth" 4. and me after wrestling the cow