Hello, Football!!!

{Author note - sorry about shutting everyone out last week - I consulted with Chase and have updated the setting that are still secure enough so random people don't access the blog. Feel free to share the blog link with other friends as they won't be able to search and find it online any more but you will have open access once you have the link and follow it.}

Well, as you probably know, football is back! Football really is another religion here in the south, so of course I have to talk about it. Alabama did win, but they didn't look too good I guess. And Auburn barely squeaked by Washington State so it might be a long season for them. Alabama vs Texas A&M should be a good one next week! I heard BYU lost. That's pretty sad. Sounds like they're gonna have a long year too. I guess it's a good year to be gone, right? ;)

Well, football update over, now to missionary work! This week was weird again. Elder Free's bike broke so we've been stuck walking which makes life hard. Especially in Clanton where everything is so spread out. But we make do! The weather has been really hot and humid and it doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon! We've just been desperate to find new investigators with not much success :/ Most people around here just don't want any change which makes missionary work hard! So we work with less actives and recent converts quite a bit which is still good! 

Sorry about the email last week; I didn't really explain everything haha! Sister Winchester got her visa so she left, and Sister Casperson got transferred to Wetumpka. So this week we have had no sisters to help us out! Transfers are this week and we're staying in Clanton (surprise, surprise). Sister Casperson is coming back probably with a greenie. Their car has just been sitting in the parking lot all week and they won't let us drive it!!! We're visa waiters so we don't get driving privileges. Lame, right? But the sisters will be back Wednesday so it's all good!

So what have we done this week? Lots of walking...and more walking...and more walking. We've mowed quite a few lawns, I'm getting pretty good at the riding lawn mower. But I can still see why we never got one, push mowers are way better. It does take more work but it looks a thousand times better! Plus riding mowers are better for big lawns and our lawn is tiny compared to most lawns around here. We've been working with Denise (baptized last week) and her husband quite a bit. They're getting their patriarchal blessings on Sunday and hopefully they'll go do baptisms at the temple soon! She cut her eye this week and hasn't been able to open her eyes much haha. It's been doing a lot better but we gave her a blessing yesterday and it was great. She said she could really feel the power of the blessing and just felt calm! Priesthood blessings are real and they are the greatest things ever!!! The blessings really do come from God, it's not me! I love to use the priesthood to help others, it just makes me so happy.

Sorry, I really just don't have a lot to say! This week was kinda boring, not much happened. But I am doing well and I love and miss you so much!!! I've already been out 5 months, can you even believe it? More than 1/5th of the way through! I'll be home before you even blink. I know people always say this, but I mean it- my mission has been the greatest thing I've done! That doesn't mean it's always been easy or that I've been 100% happy this entire 5 months, but it's just been wonderful. Spending all of your time helping others just makes you happier than you would have been. There's this picture of Christ in a member's home I'll have to send you that I love! It's one of the only pictures I've seen with Christ smiling, but he must've been the most smiley person alive! He never once thought about himself in his life, so he truly was the happiest person alive. I'm not telling you to never think about yourself, but serving others will make you happier, I promise you that! 

Make sure you keep doing the little things -praying, reading, going to church, all the primary answers. It seems dumb, but it really will help you out! By small and simple things do great things come to pass. It's true! Jerry was telling us the other day that he's not going to his cousin's funeral with his brother because he doesn't want to miss church. That was so cool to hear, I hope we can all make church that important in our lives! 

Well, I've rambled on long enough. LOVES!

Elder Weight

Visa update- yes, Utah people take the longest. But, there was an elder from Utah who left with Elder henderson. Visas mostly come through during the first two weeks of the month. I won't leave until the transfer in Brazil which is two weeks from Wednesday. SO. If I don't have my visa in two weeks, I probably won't leave for 6 weeks from then.So that's that!