Long Email!!!

Oh, boy. It seems that every time I sit down to write I forget everything that I was going to say!! It’s been a very interesting week… and I’m not exactly sure why! I’ve been missing New Castle so bad because the work was really starting to pick up there! We had so many promising people and so many members that loved us so much!! Not that we don’t have promise here… but it’s just different!!

Last night I had a really bad night. I was just having one of those emotional days where I get really quiet and reflective. Sis. Allred kept asking me if I was okay, and I really was, I was just thinking about everything and every one. I also wasn’t feeling too good and any movement was making me dizzy and nauseated. At the end of the day, we had just dropped by to see Janna and Tom (with the baptismal date of Oct. 10!!) because they are quitting smoking today and they need a lot of support, prayers and love. I wasn’t feeling too well, and it just seemed that whatever I said wasn’t good enough and Sis. Allred was clarifying. Then something one of them said just really hit me, and I got into a huge pity party. They didn’t say it to be mean, it just made me realize that I was here at the tail end of everything, and that even though it is a baptism, that it wasn’t exactly one of MY baptisms. Like Ashley, in New Castle who we taught, learned to love and helped overcome struggles and such. It was a bad night until I realized that when I was saying that I left part of my heart in New Castle, I was telling the absolute truth. My whole heart wasn’t here in Lafayette!! It was a bonk over the head AH-HA moment!! SO, instead of saying that I left part of my heart in New Castle, I’m saying that it became a part of my heart. I grew so much there, and I will never forget it or the people there!! And regardless of where I am in Indiana, it’s the LORD’S work, not mine and I need to serve wherever I am and BLOOM WHERE I’M PLANTED!!

Besides that it’s been a kind of slow week because Sis. Allred has been sick with a bad cold. And so we have been resting more than usual. But really quick I’m just going to run through my week…

TUESDAY – after emailing you, my beautiful family – we went grocery shopping at Pay Less and you’ll never believe what they have there! A HEALTH FOOD SECTION!! I felt like a little kid in a candy/toy store!! I’ve also discovered the best kind of granola bars… Cascadian Farms!! They were on sale, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them. They are a lot better than the usual kind that I’ve been getting. Then that evening we went to Addiction Recovery with some people. It is SUCH a neat program!! I wish I had my own book and could write in it (which maybe could you send me if you can buy it?). And I think that a lot of people should use it!! And not just for smoking and other addiction recovery things… It’s amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and that isn’t even enough exclamation marks to show how amazing it is!!)

WEDNESDAY – ZONE CONFERENCE!!!!! We had the president of the Columbus Ohio temple and former mission president come and talk to us. Sometime I’ll have to type up my notes for you, but I left them at home!! It was an absolutely amazing conference! Pres. Christensen talked about how our goal needs to not only be baptism, but the temple. And how there are so many people helping us find and teach people because they want their descendants or future parents baptized!! It was amazing and when we got done we all felt like we had spiritual brain overload!! It was a life changing talk and I will write more next time. On the way home we stopped by Sis. Allred’s favorite restaurant and ice cream place. YUM YUM it was GOOD!! Since we had already had lunch we just bought it and saved it for the next day, but I’m pretty sure I got a very minor case of food poisioning from SOMETHING in it!! The next day I felt like my stomach was a blender/mixer (we ate it for lunch on Thursday) and Sis. Allred said I had a minor fever. Like I said… it’s been an interesting week!!

THURSDAY – We visited with a member who has 2 pit bulls and we helped her walk them. I’ve been told more than once that the way to a Hoosier’s heart is through their dogs, and that CERTAINLY is the case! Oh, something funny that happened was that we went to a member’s house for dinner and the wife came down the stairs and said “my husband is sick and I think he has swine flu!!” SO, she gave us food in a bag and sent us on our merry way. The funny thing is that we’ve had tacos I believe EVERY DAY this week!!!! I’m getting rather sick of them… good thing I’m not serving a mission in Mexico!! Oh, and BTW… I had the most DELICIOUS green beans you have ever seen!! They were fried with butter and spices and um, they were good!!!

FRIDAY – was a Kelly day!! We met with a family named the Kelly’s and then we met with a lady named Kelly as well!! Funny story… we tracted into Kelly last week and she told us she was busy (a JW) and to come back next week. We set up a time and when we walked in… lo and behold there was a group there to discuss our beliefs!!!! I hardly said anything (something we are working on… not that I won’t say anything, because I WILL and I DO, but I don’t interrupt people and Sis. Allred talks a lot – which is a good thing and a bad one too) but Sis. Allred did a great job of explaining things. It was so cool, whenever she would talk about the Book of Mormon the spirit would be there so warm it felt like a heating pad!! It was a neat experience!!!

SATURDAY – We did a little tracting and we met a VERY interesting fellow named Rick. He said that he was raised a Christian, but the best way to describe him now would be a Zen. He believes in a higher power, but he said that all the problems of the world came from the Muslims, Jews and Christians. We talked to him for about 20 minutes… or rather we listened. Remember the story about the Jerusalem center and how they asked what are we going to do about the light in our eyes? Well, it’s so obvious here!! In Utah you can’t really tell because everyone is a Mormon, but here you can!! Rick’s eyes almost looked a little crazed and so lacking light!! Pres. Christensen told an interesting story that I’ll tell really quick… at one time he had 220 missionaries and didn’t have the time to interview them all. So he stood them all in a big circle in the cultural hall and walked up to each one and put his face RIGHT in front of the missionary’s. He would ask them if they had anything they needed to talk about, but he said he could tell from the light in their eyes. It’s so true about eyes being the window to the soul!!!

SUNDAY was church and fasting!! Oh boy that is something that I need to work on!!! I’ve gotten to the point that I can fast for 24 hours… but my heart is not in the right place!! I believe I already said this last week… but it’s so neat to be able to see other missionaries at church!! The Spanish elders we talk to a lot because they live in our area and they always give us lots of referrals. Missionaries are SO cool!!!

MONDAY – yesterday I already kind of talked about… but it was a good day!!!

On a totally random note, I was sitting on the couch downstairs a couple of days ago while Sis. Allred took a VERY long nap, and I was messing with the calculator (and while my math skills aren't too good) and I found out some interesting things!! I’ve been on my mission 11 weeks and I have 67 left!! That kind of overwhelmed me until I realized that I’ve already lived 1092 weeks and if I live to be 85 (which I’m sure I’ll live longer) I'll have a total of 4420 weeks to live… and only 78 weeks to serve a mission!! It was a good perspective shift for me to have!! AND (don’t trust my math too much on this one… I think it’s a little off) but I only have 47,174,400 seconds on my whole mission!!! Not a moment to loose!!!

Well, I think that was a very, very long email!!! I hope that all is going well and that you all know that I love you SOOOOOOOOOO much!!!

Love from Indiana,
Sis. Alex