Week...um...something? Dang it.

Sorry about the one day delay, everyone! Yesterday apparently was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the library was closed. Actually, I was surprised it was open today, seeing as how it was President Obama's inauguration. There were a lot of people down here who were very excited about that today. It's probably a good thing we had district meeting this morning; I'm not sure how much success we would have had proselyting during the inauguration.

Moving on...I wish I had more cool people to tell y'all about! Our teaching pool is stagnant at the moment, and probably going to start shrinking, unfortunately. That's all right. Finding will always be the trickiest part of missionary work. We've just got to be relentlessly optimistic! It's all good.

We did get to catch up with Becky this week. She started teaching middle school science this week, and has been understandably BUSY. We got to talk to her husband Greg for a bit, which was a first! He seemed a little stand-offish, but that's nothing we aren't used to. He warmed up a little toward the end of our conversation. We're going to try and start including him as often as possible when we go to talk to Becky. She told us that he was having struggles with the idea of Jesus actually existing, which made some of the questions he asked us a lot clearer. There is potential there, I know it! So we've just got to find a time when they're both home so we can try talking to Greg too. We're going over to Becky's house on Friday to help her with some school stuff. (Thanks to my mom, I am well experienced in that area! And now it's coming in handy out here too! Mom, YOU ROCK!!!) Becky loves to talk, so we should have no problem steering the conversation towards gospel principles.

Before Sister Dansie left, she and I were truly inspired, and we planned out this really awesome lesson to share with Honor. However, the only catch with that is the fact that we haven't seen or really heard from Honor since before Christmas. We never seem to be able to catch her at home, though we did have a good talk with her mom once (she's Buddhist). So we're still trying to get in touch with her. Really, I think she's the closest one to baptism, so we're trying our guts out! If the Lord says it'll happen, then I believe Him. I've just got to do my part.

Other than that, I have two exciting things to tell y'all about before I run out of time today.

First, I got to go to the temple on Saturday! HOORAY! Sister Pennock had a member from her last area who she had re-activated get to go through the temple, and lucky dog that I am, I got tag along! Can I just tell y'all how much I LOVE the temple?! I can think of no other place that brings that feeling of pure love and peace into one's life faster or more fully. Also, I am very grateful for the chance I'll have to go often when I get home. I'd forgotten a lot since I'd last went when I was in the MTC, and I made a promise to the Lord that I would attend as often as possible when I got back so that I would always remember the promises I made there, and the blessings that are within my reach because of those promises. All in all, Saturday was my most favorite day of the week last week!

The second exciting thing I have to tell y'all about will probably be a two-parter. See, tomorrow we get to have a special mission conference with Elder Kakuchi of the Seventy! He's taking a tour of our mission, and he's going to talk to us about...well, I'm not really sure because it hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it'll be really really good! I'll tell you all more about it next week for sure. The only part of tomorrow I am NOT looking forward to is the three minutes I get to speak. I know, shocking to all who know me well---I normally LOVE giving talks. However, this time is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Normally, I'm given at least a direction to head, and normally, I'm not speaking in front of a General Authority. Needless to say, I'm slightly freaking out because I've been racking my brain all day, and I've still got nothing. I know the Lord answers prayers, but apparently my time schedule is very different than His right now or something, because He's blessing me and letting me sweat this one out. Oh boy. Good thing it's only three minutes. Still, they have the potential to be the longest three minutes of my life. We'll have to wait and see how that turns out. TO BE CONTINUED....

Well, that's all the time I've got for this week! I love you all, and keep those letter and emails coming! They make my day!


Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen