hello my dear family!

well p-day is today because it's transfer day! sis yura and i are both staying here though, so it's pretty much a normal p-day :) i'm so glad we're both staying. we've been having lots of fun lately and some exciting things are starting to happen! the most exciting news is [J]'s baptism on saturday! i attached some pics. it was so special. she is such an incredible person, i just love her. the man in the pic is bro jenkins . . . we've been teaching [J] in their home and so we've become really close to them all. it's so fun to make such great friends! 2 of her future provo roommates drove up from utah for the occasion. they just rented a house by the provo temple (near jane and kenny) and we joked about me living with them after the mission cuz i told them all my friends are married haha :) it was really fun that she had such support. her friend drove up too . . . the one who introduced her to the church. so fun! and her mom came to the baptism!! miracle! 2 of her sisters came too and one of them asked if she could see the whole restoration dvd (we showed part at the baptism) which is AWESOME. i got to play the piano at her baptism which was really fun! the ward has been so supportive . . . everyone came up after her confirmation and met her and welcomed her. hopefully you can all meet [J] one day :)

another exciting happening of the week was we got a member referral that wants to be taught!! our work is so much more successful when the members refer friends, but it just doesn't happen often enough, so we are EXCITED! [K] has been to 2 of the ward potlucks and she was in church last week. she told the jensens that she wants to learn more and her first lesson is scheduled for monday! she is the nicest lady with 2 girls . . .a 9 year old and a 7 year old. we'll teach them too, but the jensens think their dad might prevent them from getting baptized (they're divorced) so we'll see.

yesterday was such a rollercoaster of a day! i had a mini breakdown after quite a long discussion with this lady at her doorstep . . . very anti. usually that kind of stuff justs rolls off my back, no big deal (cuz let's be honest, most people don't agree with us!) but for some reason this one just got to me. she just kept telling us we didn't believe in the true Christ because we believe that the godhead are 3 separate beings and so we weren't going to be saved and that we'd been deceived nad the book of mormon was evil and false and she was just attacking us about all these things! anyway we were finally able to cut her off, bear our testimonies, and say "have a nice day" once we realized our discussion wasn't going anywhere. it just hurt to have someone just attack the things that mean the most to me, that i KNOW are true. it's sad when they are too hardened to accept something i KNOW will improve their lives and bring them happiness. anyway the point of telling you this is because after i had my little breakdown i realized how merciful the Lord is. Just that morning in personal study, i'd felt compelled to read this random conference address from like 2 or 3 years ago about the true doctrine of the godhead. as i read it, it was really powerful to me and my testimony was really strengthened about that principle. . . the same principle that lady was attacking at her door! i think the Lord knew i needed to strengthen my testimony of that this morning so when she attacked it, it couldn't shake that testimony! it's been cool to see my testimony grow here on the mission, in ways it couldn't otherwise . . . because people attack it openly on a regular basis, and i've realized that i KNOW these things so strongly that no one can convince me otherwise. which is such a blessing :) i'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve. hopefully that all made sense . . .

oh so yeah the rollercoaster day, THEN we had this church tour we were all excited about. WELL it didn't quite go as planned. we barely got out of the foyer because he and the fellowship we brought were having a spirited conversation about all kinds of stuff including how to save the world of drugs and poverty basically. interesting sure, but not really what we were there to talk about. we kept trying to get it back on track, but an hour and half later we just had to cut them off because we were late for a lesson with [J]. i just felt like we hadn't fulfilled our purpose at all! frustrating. so i was in this weird gumby mood. we taught [J] in the allans' home and then after sis allan surprised us...she'd made us dinner! complete with corn on the cob :) at our break i'd told her about our frustrating morning and she thought we needed a cheering up :) we usually eat with members on mondays but we didn't have an appointment. so we ate with the allans and they are just the cutest! bro allan even made us a cake. we felt a little better and decided it was going to be a great night. then the Lord gave us a miracle! we tracted into [L], a 24 yr old from hong kong! we are showing him around the church building today at 6 :) we had 2 lessons with member families after that and the day ended great. my goal on the mission was to never go to bed discouraged/sad. so far i've been able to do that! the Lord is very aware of me and blesses us so much!