HULLLO...
I am also getting super excited for Christmas because they are starting to get things all decorated here. It is fantastic. We just found out that next week pday will be moved to Thursday (Thanksgiving day) so... guess who will be at the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade?? yep yep that would be me! So if you watch it look for me! haha. I will be wearing puffy my big black coat with a yellow hat and scarf.

So this weekend was stake conference and it was fantastic. So I donno if I told you this already but our stake is doing something so magnificent. So next week they are having a Sunday called "come and see" and every ward will only be having sacrament meeting and then a linger longer afterwards. There will be special speakers and musical numbers focused on gratitude for the gospel. The point of all this is that the stake president has told each ward to double their numbers. That every member bring a less active or non member. SOOO EXCITING. So during stake conference President Buckner and the other speakers just focused on missionary work. Three different speakers talked about how the members should put their trust in the missionaries. It was pretty cool but also a lot of responsibility. I found myself at the end as we were singing the closing hymn of "Because I Have Been Given Much" crying because I was so overcome with joy. I am just so blessed to be here in this stake and the wards that I am in at this time. I just knew that we were going to see miracles involving the members. And just since then we have gotten two more new investigators that are AMAZING member referrals. We are so blessed. It gets difficult sometimes because we get rejected SOOO MUCH. We are asked to talk to someone new every 3 minutes or as often as possible and even with all the people we talk to very, very, very few are willing to give us so much as a phone number. But I know that as I continue to be obedient, even if I am not getting the people I'm personally talking to, that this is God's work and that He will provide those who are ready. I donno if that made sense at all but hey .. .what's new I am not good at making sense. haaha. So just to sum up... I am glad to sill be here in the city even if its beyond stressful. haha. We are praying that this Sunday goes as well as we hope and that the trend of inviting friends is continued forever.

We had a cool experience this week to be with the ASL missionaries as they taught one of our less active member's sister. We found out that she had a sister who was deaf and so we got the elders to teach her. IT WAS SO COOL. The spirit was so strong during the silent conversation. It was also so cool to have our member bear her testimony so that the elders could interpret it to her sister. It was not something she was able to communicate to her before and it was so neat to hear her express her love for the gospel and for her sister and see how her deaf sister finally understood. It was such a neat experience. I just love those ASL elders. They are special witnesses of Christ.

We had multi-zone conference yesterday and as we were sitting down to start one of the APs ran down to Sis Johanson (a former comp of mine) whom I was sitting next to and said... we forgot to assign a musical number can you do something? And then she made me join her and so I dragged my roomie to do it too and it ended up being really nice. I am grateful for the talents that my Heavenly Father has given me to use. I hope that I use them enough to make Him proud.

I am so grateful for this gospel. Yesterday I had an interesting contact where a lady pretty much told me that everything I believed was wrong and that I was crazy to believe such things as Joseph Smith and the need for the Priesthood (this happens a lot but she was extra intense about it). It was difficult at first but afterwards I was just thinking about how I have seen the blessings of this gospel and the joy that has poured out continually from my Heavenly Father reassuring me that I am doing what is right. I know its true. I don't have to defend truth because it does it on its own. I have felt in a very real way the cleansing power and comforting power of the Atonement of my Savior. No matter how many people say I am wrong they cannot take away my experiences and the way I feel. No one can deny me of my own testimony. I know that this church is true and that it is guided by a living prophet who teaches us how to be like our Savior Jesus Christ and how to truly follow Him. What a blessing that is. What peace it brings. I know I will be standing strong whenever the winds of Satan come because I am founded on faith in my Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you all so much. Feel better Lauren, I feel so bad. I almost get ran over by crazy delivery guys on bike all the time but my missionary angels always protect me. Crazy.

Love you to the moon and back.
Taters