OCTUBRE!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKY!!! I hope your birthday is swell! Look for a letter in the mail from me :] And PADRE! Your BIRTHDAY IS ON WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for you! I hope you have a smashing birthday party! You only turn 34 once, right?? Haha I am so funny. October is such a birthday month for the family! I will miss you all for it, but know that I am pretty happy out here. Stressed to death, but pretty happy when the stress goes away for a little bit.

So. This last week. CONFERENCE! I have been so excited for conference for like 2 months! Unfortunately, Saturday morning at good old 3:30 A.M. I had an appointment to pray to the porcelain goddess. Yes. I got super sick. All night long. But I wanted to watch conference so bad. At 9:00 Sister Cochran got sick. Awesome. So we asked our District Leader if he could give us a blessing. He was so nice about it. A lot of Elders (and returned missionaries that I've talked to) are like "Oh, Sister missionaries are the worst and here's why... they ask for blessings like every day and it's the worst and blah blah blah." So we are super hesitant to ask for blessings but no WAY was I missing conference. And plus we were legit sick. So we both went and got blessings, but Sister Cochran was like still way sick. So we watched the second session of Saturday at the mission home. With Sister Crawford whom I just love and adore with my whole heart. We are helping her today make a bunch of cupcakes to freeze (for meetings and stuff) after we e-mail. Didn't you just LOVE conference?? What happened to Elder Hales though??? Oh my gosh! I could barely listen to the first part of his talk, I was so concerned about him. But then, that turned out to be one of my favorite talks of the whole thing. His was the "He waited upon the Lord" one I believe. So incredible. That is what I need to do, that is what we need to do. I'm bummed that Elder Holland didn't speak except to the fellas. But I hope Priesthood was very good. I also loved the President Monson "It is better to look up" story. And I liked the Devn Cornish guy's talk. And basically every talk I just loved! I filled 20 pages in my journal with notes haha. But the cool thing was that so many of the questions I had written down seriously were answered. The overarching thing I got from conference is that I need to pray better and more and listen better and more. I am so grateful for conference! It was a little awful to see Salt Lake- it still looks so green! How is the weather there? I also thought as we were driving away from the church, "Oh. My. Gosh. My family is in HEBER. This is the worst." haha but it's okay. I will be back for April 2013, no worries.

The weather here is becoming like a DREAM! When we go finding in the evening, it feels like it's only 70-80 degrees!! WHAT?? We love it. Yesterday when we went tracting an old man just YELLED at us. And I just cannot believe a grown man would ever yell and two girls. I mean, no matter what they were doing! People really are just hateful sometimes. But we have to keep going. We have to keep trying. We have to continue on because the alternative is to stop... and that is actually not an option for us haha. So on we go. And we lift each other and we try to find the good and pray for these people. It was actually just a stellar night for us and tracting - a few minutes later we were walking and this couple was walking a dog and we stopped to talk to them and said who we were and the girl goes "I do not care!" and keeps walking and her husband/boyfriend/whatever was like "Oh, man, I'm sorry ya'll have a good night." and I was like "Bless you, sir, for not being a monster." People seriously just forget that we are human beings too. I am still a person even though I am a missionary. I still have feelings, and I don't understand why people think that because we wear a black name tag all of the emotion we have goes out the window. Not so. Still me. Still don't like to be yelled at by old men or have people be rude to me. But whatever. Like Sister Cochran says "It's all part of the job." And it is. Unfortunately. However, after last night, I totally vowed that if anyone who is at my house ever ever ever is rude to a total stranger (jehovah's witness, salesman, customer service, whatever, you name it) they will have a thing or two coming from yours truly. I will never act that way to someone. EVER. Because it is so hurtful, and our Heavenly Father loves them just as much as he loves those who are nice to us. So, now I will step off of my soap box. :]

This last week continued to be hard. We are trying, and I am trying to be a leader but it is very difficult for me. When I just don't know what to do, but I have to make the decisions, it is hard. SUPER. And when the work is discouraging, I have a hard time making my mind think about it. Because then I just want to cry all the time haha. But I know as I keep trying and keep pushing forward, things will improve. I can't tell you how many times I have read Elder Hollands "An High Priest of Good Things To Come" talk. Like a zillion probably. And I can hear in my head the part where he goes "Don't give up. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead - a lot of it. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come." And I just love him. And I am learning a lot about the Savior and my Heavenly Father. I am grateful for these grating times because I know that I will come out of it better able to help myself and help others around me. So I will keep going. I promise. :] Please continue to pray for me.

Padre, Thanks for your letter! I hope your birthday really is wonderful, you very much deserve it. Just take a day to have a good time, right? I LOVE YOU. Oh, and SO COOL that they had a Brother Bott special!! I think the man deserves a monument, but at least they're giving him a TV special. I'm glad you had Jonny watch it too. JONNY did you love it? James, thank you for your letter it was golden, as always :] I'm glad school and work and church are going well. Keep em coming! Mommy, you are just the best. Thank you for the package and the letter and the everything. I LOVED the picture of you and your friends at the wedding. ALSO thank you for mikelle's e-mails. I am beyond 1000X thankful that she and I are out here together. It just comforts me like you wouldn't believe. I love her, she's an incredible friend and example. So thank you for doing that for me!

I love you family. I will have better news and feel better next week. I really hope. Please pray for me though. I really need that. I'm sure you do.