Hi friends and family!
Lots of things to talk about this week...they may or may not end up coming out in any sort of coherent order. Here goes:
Went to the cardiologist for probably the last time this week. I have taken pretty much all of the minimally-invasive tests they have and they all look good. We are almost certain it's not my heart, which is excellent news! The less-exciting news is that we still don't know what's going on. So, back to primary care this week. I'm still feeling pain but I am very functional and honestly getting used to it, so not too worried. I'll keep you updated if/when we find out more. Thanks again for all of your prayers; I am really grateful for how well my body is holding up. :)
I was at the Joseph Smith Farm this week, and a group of young adults came in. Not only do they live at Alta apartments (where I lived last summer) and know Amber Feigleson, but I quickly found out that one of them was Heidi Dymmock! Mom and dad, I don't know whether you still keep in touch with their family, but I haven't heard anything from them in about 12 years, so that was fun. :)
We got to go to the temple this last Friday. It was really wonderful! I love the temple so much!! It is totally worth any sacrifice we can make to get there. While I was in the temple, I was overcome by a feeling of gratitude---for the covenants the Lord is willing to make with us, for the restored gospel and priesthood so that we can make those covenants in this day and age, for family members that keep their covenants and thereby bless my life daily, and for those who do family history work and submit names to the temple so I can go there, even though I am a busy missionary and can't do my own family history work right now. I totally want to get into family history work when I get off my mission. Mom, hold me to that. ;)
The site missionaries are transitioning into using a cool tool called the online area book more. We used to use it only for the people we contacted through chat, but now we are using it for all referrals and people we contact through the sites/pageant. Eventually, every missionary will transition into using an online area book in their proselyting area instead of a physical binder, but I think that is at least a few years off. It is very cool to see the ways the church is utilizing media and technology to help the work roll forward.
Being a missionary in the summer time is awesome. People in general are happier, more available, and easier to contact. And especially in this mission, summer means pageant time! Pageant is about 6 weeks away, but that is not very much time at all. All the wards are talking about it, we have flyers and pass-along cards galore, and the Hill Cumorah Visitors center has a new display of costumes from past pageants in celebration of the 75th anniversary year. I am really excited to see how busy the sites get...since I came out in December, I have spent a lot of time studying in an empty visitors center, but no more! At least for awhile. It will be tiring, but excellent. :)
Things are going really great with my companionship this week. We are both making adjustments and are starting to really click and actually become friends. She has been really applying herself lately and studying really hard, and I am working on being less selfish and just reaching out and showing my love. We are learning a lot from each other. A couple of times, she has asked if I have always been this strictly obedient lol. She has also had opportunity to call me out on being irritable every once in awhile. We are finding a good balance where we can be effective but still have fun together and learn about each other and just love each other. It is helping us to teach and plan in more unity, and also I think to love those that we teach even more.
Okay running out of time but last thing. I read the BEST conference talk this week... you need to check it out. It's called Jesus the Christ: Our Master and More (click on link to view talk) and I'm pretty sure it was April 2000 conference by Elder Nelson. Excellent address; I learned a lot from it and it really affected me.
Love,
Christa <3
