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Hey guys!!

I'm on my third week in the field and I've already learned so much! I've said it before, but I just love the people here. The members are literally so sweet and willing to help with the missionary work. The food is so yum and we get a good variety every night. I love hearing about their lives and crazy stories. One of the members is an exotic cat breeder- which sounds weird but she's actually done really well in the business. Her family thought she was crazy at first but now they have a whole extra house for these mini cheetahs basically. They're all so adorable. 

We had zone conference this week and I got to see my MTC companion Sister Beach!! There were a lot of departing testimonies from missionaries that are leaving in a few weeks. It was cool to hear how much they've learned and changed the past 18/24 months. I feel like my mission is going to go by so quickly and soon enough I'll be up there giving my departing testimony. That's why I just gotta make the most of it now :) We also said bye to President and Sister Ames, because the new mission president and his wife are coming this week! Kinda sad that I only had them as my mission president for a few weeks but I'm also excited to meet the Somerfeldts too!

Last week we got a referral for our friend Sandy. She responded to an ad on Facebook and wanted to meet with missionaries to become closer to God. We've been trying to text and call her but no one answered so we visited her this week. When she opened the door she did not look happy to see us (I think she replied to the ad on accident and definitely did not want to meet with us lol). We started asking her about family though and slowly she started to be interested in talking to us. Next thing we know she's telling us her whole life story and how much genealogy work she's done, which was perfect because the church loves doing family history work and have an app to help anyone wanting to learn more about their ancestors! We tried to leave after an hour and a half but she was a chatter- she's so funny though I love it. Anyways, the point of the story is that I've learned to not give up so easily on our friends. I understand if they're not interested, but at the same time some people just need a change of heart or someone to talk to about their current struggles. It's definitely hard sometimes when people are quick to tell us they're not interested in learning more about the gospel, but you just gotta keep loving them and if they want nothing to do with you, you just look for others who are ready to hear about the gospel. Overall, I just love sharing the gospel with others and sharing how much it's blessed my life and brought me so much joy!!

(also I saw fireflies for the first time and they are so cute!!)

Love and miss you guys!!