Whoa...One Heart and One Mind I Guess!

I know it’s not super coincidental that we both happen to think about families a lot, but do you want to know something super crazy??? Mom, you know how you and Dad went to Costa Vida for lunch last Tuesday??? That is exactly where my district and I ate lunch! I didn't even know there were Costa Vida's outside of Arizona... There are! They were pretty new and super unorganized and slow moving compared to the one we usually go to but their ingredients and stuff tasted a whole lot more fresh! I really did think about our family a lot this week though. I've been starting to see the more time I serve in this area the closer I come to the families in our ward and the investigators we teach. The reason that's so important is because it's lonely out here, especially being away from you guys, but there is one family in particular; the Nelsons, who take such good care of Elder bills and I. And this week when we were teaching them we felt so much love for each other it was just like being at home.

Ooooohhh volleyball... darn I miss playing out in that grass field already... sigh. Anyways though, I will try to send some pictures after I’m done. So, Tuesday I forgot to mention that on exchanges I got to stay in the NICEST mission home ever! The place is owned by a member who is a millionaire. It was just like a second guest house or something and it was HUGE! I also forgot to mention I met a little girl EXACTLY like Ava. Her name is Gabby and she is 5 years old. We were at an investigators house (they just had a baby) and while we were talking to them she pulled me down to show me her pictures! She draws pictures exactly like Ava and then she did the same thing where she writes her name a thousand times and then the rest of her family’s names! We became best friends in an instant and I even drew a couple of doggies on her paper. The best part was when she invited me to go see her room... (just like another little girl I know usually tends to do with people she doesn't know). She was a little upset when I said I couldn't but she still gave me 4 pieces of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the trip home.

Wednesday Elder Bills and I went to go contact a less-active member. They weren't home so we tracted around a few of the houses. We got back in the car and we saw up the street a little ways a man outside raking his leaves. Elder Bills saw him and determined that we should go talk to him. I wasn't exactly feeling prompted but we talk to EVERYBODY so I agreed... We got out and when we got within earshot I said:

“HI, how’s it going?!”

Him: Take a hike.”
Elder Bills: Is something wrong?
Him: Can’t you hear?! Take your...

Anyways, long story short, no he has no date set for baptism. In fact, we got cussed out hard. Elder Bills looked a little down on the way back to the car so I figured I would try to help lighten the mood so I turned to him and said, “Elder Bills... I think we planted a pretty good seed there.” :) I think I might have asked him what he could have done better. I forget, but I got a laugh out of him.

Thursday: I helped a family move and one of the girls looked exactly like Miranda Lee but with brown hair. Then the rest of the week we just worked HARD. Sadly enough we weren't making a whole lot of progress which was frustrating cuz we have so many people we have to work with which kinda leads to the lesson I learned this week.

Behold the field is white ALREADY to harvest... not ALL READY to harvest. Finding people ready for the gospel is a HUGE part of mission work. The problem though is that the people that are ready to hear the gospel will not come down with one mighty thrust of your sickle... well not all the time. But anyways, we realized that we need to pay more attention to the people that we are currently working with, that we need to stay in contact with them everyday, so that they can start to know and feel the absolute love we have for them. So that's what we started doing! Sure we still look for opportunities to meet new people but we need to be better at serving the people we teach and constantly try to build our relationships with them. Charity never faileth is what I’m trying to say I guess. So we will give that a try.

Love,

Elder Ward

P.S. Oh Travis Hatch and Justin Garner... I miss those kids who is Justin unofficially engaged to? And is Travis super different now?

P.P.S. Can you check where my visa is at? My ward mission leader gave me a website you can look at (I just forgot it...) and as far as a package goes, I kinda need more ties... candy is always good and more of that blue hair stuff. Oh, and I forgot to mention some things... I have gained 15 pounds since I left home! I'm doing it. I’m getting FAT!!! And I got to teach the gospel principles class in singles ward! It was a lesson on the creation and it was super cool beans. I think that’s all I might have forgotten … probably not, but oh well... I still love you guys a ton!