Dear Family,

SO, Friday we were driving to do our service and I remembered that you were flying to Alaska the next day. Maybe when I get home from my mission I can go on lots of fun trips like that ;)

Well, we had a good week. Zone Conference weeks are always good, except for the early morning. We talked about how we are going to improve the culture of our mission. President Summerhays started out by showing us the Tradition, Spirit, Honor video about the BYU football team transitioning between Gary Crouton and Bronco Mendenhall. It was really good, not just the movie part, but what it talked about creating a culture of good things. We are working on creating our culture here in the Florida Tallahassee Mission and I know it will help us see great miracles. We are already witnessing some of those miracles here in Andalusia.

This week we found lots of new investigators. I'm not sure how many will progress, but it was a miracle. Two of those are Cody and Carly. I am the most excited about Cody and Carly. It seemed like they were the most interested. They were going to come to Church, but they didn't show up. We haven't seen them since we last taught them, so I'm hoping they weren't quite sure where the Church was or their Mom didn't get them to Church. Cody had such a sincere prayer to know what the Lord wanted him to do and Carly at first wasn't even interested in learning anything. I am really excited about them. We are going to see them again this Wednesday. Another investigator and his family were at Church this Sunday for the second time. They love it and say that the things they have learned from the Gospel Principles book makes sense. I love to hear people say that, because that is how I feel about the gospel. It makes sense. I was reading in Jesus the Christ a while ago about the great apostasy and it was so confusing what people were doing to change the doctrine. I am so grateful for the restoration. I know it's true! I had some time this week to reflect on life and how I came to be where I am. The Lord has everything worked out perfectly. I know that I never would have been here if little simple things hadn't happened. I guess that is how things are for all of us.

I got a letter from Casie last week. I was completely amazed by her testimony! She is one of those recent converts that all missionaries want to have. I know we were supposed to move to Wausau so that she could learn about the restored gospel. Another sign of Heavenly Father's perfect plan.

We had a really good southern meal Saturday. We had beans (not green beans like we are used to, but the part inside the beans. I can't remember what they call them), squash, fried okra, cornbread, and tomatoes. We were going to have watermelon, but we ran out of time and had to get to our next appointment. It was SO good! I had been waiting for a meal like this for a long time.

One more thing before I go. It is a very small world here in the Church. We were over at Donnie and Melissa's Saturday, and Donnie had the July Ensign on his table. I asked him if I could look at it and as I was thumbing through I saw the article about how the Church magazines are created. I, of course, was intrigued because I know Uncle Randall works with the Church magazines and so I looked to see if he was in any pictures. Sure enough, there he was! and, last night I was going through the Church Newses that we got from Zone Conference and I turned the page in one of them and there was Heidi Beck! Small world. I view it as a tender mercy to still have some connection to the rest of the world. Well, I love you all! Have fun in Alaska and take lots of pictures and get me a good souvenir. Maybe we can get some pictures taken this week. I'm sure we'll have something fun to document.

Love, Joanna