Dear Family and Friends,

We had a pretty good week this week, but there were some rather frustrating times. We had some weather come through, which halted the work a little bit. Luckily, nothing happened. We were still able to do most of the things we had been planning on doing. We have been doing more tracting. I'm still trying to love tracting. Sometimes, like yesterday, it can be long and not very fruitful at first. However, this morning we had a media referral from the Church for a lady that we saw yesterday.

We have one investigator, Brenda, who is really sincerely looking for the truth. Of course, it takes work, but she has been trying hard to find it. Even though there were frustrating times this week, it was pretty good. We had an amazing visit with Brenda at about 8:30 one night. We had tried seeing a couple of potential investigators, but no one was at home. I had been feeling like we should see Brenda, but the thought kept popping in my mind "Oh, you know it is just an easy person to see and an easy way to pass the last little bit of proselyting time." When I finally drove over to her apartment, it was the best thing we could have done. She really needed us to come by. She had missed her appointments this week, but she was really feeling the weight of everything in her life. She told us that she hadn't been to her church for a while and no one from her church had even checked on her to make sure things were okay. She recognized that that wasn't the way it should be, but we should always look out for one another. We were able to talk to her, and at the end she said, "Is it alright if I come to Church with you on Sunday?" That is music to a missionary's ear. We said of course, and yesterday she was glad she came. She really enjoyed the talks about family and how we need to prepare now for the time when we eventually die. I feel really good about Brenda.

We have Zone Conference this week, and I am looking forward to it. I need the spiritual boost it always gives. Even though I know this work is true and exactly what I should be doing, it is hard. There is hardly anything else that I could think of doing right now with my life. It is amazing to see how the Lord prepares us for our future. I know that everything in my life lead up to this point where I can be serving the Lord as one of His missionaries. I am so grateful for this oppurtunity.

Thanks for the emails this week. I'm glad that Ben and Shannon had a good time in Mexico. It sounds like things with Emily and Preston are also settling down. I was excited to get Janet's graduation announcement this week, but I still can't believe my little sister is graduating from high school. That is crazy!

I was thinking about what you said about Casie's lessons. Being able to have lessons with members and in members homes is such a good thing because when missioanries aren't able to get it, the members are there to back it up. There have been so many times when I have been grateful that we had a member there. Members really pull through. Keep up the missionary work. It makes me happy to think that you get to see the same things happen as I do here in Andalusia.

Well, I love you all! I hope you have a good week.
Love, Joanna