August 5

Last Monday we almost got in an accident, don't worry it wasn't my fault. We were turning left at a light. All the sudden I heard breaks screeching and looked in my rear view mirror to see a huge truck steering out of the way. It would have been a repeat of Kenz's accident last summer. Anyways, so glad we didn't have to deal with that last week.

My interview with President Cleveland ended up being pretty short. I didn't have a whole lot to say to him. He talked to Sis Jones first and then he talked to both of us. Then she left and I just stayed for maybe five minutes more. He told me I would train again, I wasn't too happy about that. But he promised me it wouldn't be this next transfer. He also told me my life was only going to get harder after the mission....haha he's so blunt it's funny sometimes. Anyways, I guess I've just realized everything depends on me. It's my attitude that I have to choose to change. I feel like I didn't really get trained to serve a mission, but I realized that never again in my life am I going to get trained. So rather than complaining about my circumstances, I just need to learn to rely on my Heavenly Father because that's what I'll be doing for the rest of this life.

We lost Shannon and Courtney this week, kind of. They texted us saying they wanted a break. I was pretty sad, but I didn't let the disappointed get to me! Luckily we have some pretty awesome ward members who are going to stop by and see them. I told Sister Jones though I won't leave Seymour without seeing them again.

I learned something really neat in studies Wednesday morning. I was reading Mosiah 2:9 and it talks about opening our eyes, minds, and hearts to learn. As humans we learn with both the mind and the heart. Up until this point I have really only learned with my mind, mostly regarding school. I know the importance of missionary work in my mind. I have those moments when I get so excited to be a missionary. But I don't know if with my heart yet. It's just like Alma talks about having a change of heart. My heart needs to be changed in order to not only be an effective missionary but to return to Heavenly Father. Coming to know things with the heart is difficult because it changes us. Anyways, cool revelation from the Book of Mormon.

We were out tracting Thursday morning, we only talked to two people in an hour so I had some thinking time. Already I feel like my mission is slipping through my fingers, but at the same time I can't wait for the day when I don't have to talk to everyone I see. I can't help but wonder what I've done with the time since I've been out here. Most days I feel like I don't have a whole lot to show for it. I know I referenced this talk last week, but I read through "Missionary Work and the Atonement' again. Elder Holland says that sometimes the Atonement carries the missionaries more than it does the investigators. Hopefully one day I'll begin to learn that lesson.

Saturday we did exchanges. Both Sister Allen and Sister Clark came here. Sister Clark was able to fill me in on people in YSA. It was great to here how some of the people are progressing. The first person I ever contacted in the field is getting baptized this Saturday! They didn't start teaching him until after I left, but I still talked to him! I'm going to IU this Saturday to work with Sister Clark, I'm pretty pumped! Working with Sister Allen was great. We didn't have any appointment so we walked and talked to people as we tried potentials. I felt like we were having conversations with people instead of talking at them. It just seemed to flow much more.

The other night we got a referral from tracting, but the guy didn't know his exact address. We were in the same neighborhood Saturday night and this older gentleman was on a bike and slowed down to talk to us. He was the referral! It was pretty sweet. Anyways, the guy was a Jehovah Witness, he told me he had a copy of the Book of Mormon so I committed him to read it. Who knows if he actually will, but it was pretty fun.

I've learned a lot this week. It's all in my journal. Writing in my journal is now my favorite part of my day. I get the opportunity to write down these events that are happening in my life. I really am afraid I'm going to forget all of this one day. I also love going over and reading past journal entries. They help a lot on the hard days. So do general conference talks.