Dear Family,

I'm glad I got your email. I know I was kind of whiny in last week. I always look forward to getting your emails and so not having one was a little disappointing. But, I got it this week.

CONGRATULATIONS to Joseph and Tracy and Afton! I'm so excited that I am an aunt now!! I haven't been able to look at the pictures because of the computer, but hopefully next week it won't be a problem. I was hoping that she would be born on April 2 so that she could celebrate her first birthday the day I come home from my mission. Guess that won't be happening, but the 21st is a good day.

We had a pretty good week. Here is the latest and greatest from Andalusia. Ken is set to have his baptism interview this week. I'm so excited and I know that things will go well. We told him that he wasn't allowed to play any tricks on Elder Hulet and make us look bad, but we know he won't. He likes to put us in a panic sometimes. He didn't come to Church this week, but I think he had a pretty rough day at work on Saturday and possibly he didn't feel well either.

President Newton came with us to teach James and his kids this week and after seeing the conditions that we had been teaching them in told us he was going to arrange for us to teach them somewhere other than in their own home. So, we had one lesson at the Newton's and one at the Church. However, both times he didn't bring his children. We aren't sure why, but he always tells us that they were bad at school or are with someone else (like their neighbor). He also doesn't talk as much when it is us missionaries, but he will open up and talk quite a bit with some of the brethren in the branch. As we involve them more in his teaching, I hope he will feel comfortable with us teaching him. He also didn't bring his kids to Church again. They are very excitable children and so we had a really good little activity to help them be reverent and learn that it is important to be reverent at Church. All those reverance lessons and practicing being reverent were going to come in so handy for this lesson and then they never showed up. At least I got to think back to all t hose times when we practiced being reverent after Church in the living room :)

Barbara is doing okay. She seems to constantly be sick. We had a hard time seeing her this week, but we were able to get ahold of her at her house on Saturday. We were hoping to go over to the Church with her (she can see the Church from her front door), but she wasn't feeling good. We did talk to her and tell her that we wanted to help. She told us all she and her mother do is sit at their kitchen table and smoke and worry about Barbara's great-niece. I want to try and do some service for her and help them start doing more things like working in the yard and other things that will demand effort and get her away from the temptation to only smoke.

We also had some good lessons with Donnie and Melissa. melissa is starting to be part of the lessons again, which makes me so happy. Their house remodeling is finished so now we aren't trying to fight with all sorts of clutter to have a lesson with them. We had a really good lesson Saturday night where we talked about fear and faith and how you can't have both at the same time. I think Melissa got thinking about that because I told her you can't fear what other people are going to say because it doesn't allow you to truly do the things that we are asked to do by the Savior. Neither one of them were at Church, but we finally are at least seeing Melissa now when we go over instead of her hiding from us.

Sis. Crabtree came to Church yesterday without her husband. We were so happy, but she escaped quickly after Sacrament meeting. Her son also came, which surprised us. It is funny that she will come even though when we last had a good talk with her she told us that even though her husband is deeply rooted in the Church, she is just as deeply rooted in her Church. I don't think she is quite as deeply rooted as she thinks. If she was, I'm sure she wouldn't be coming to Church without her husband.

We were able to talk with both Sis. Ray and Sis. Adams (President Newton's two daughters) about teaching their families (meaning husbands) the lessons. Sis. Adams said sure just give us a call and Sis. Ray said it should be fine but she would check with her husband. Bro. Ray apparently hasn't had the greatest experiences with missionaries in the past, but after listening to her talk last night, I think as we work with him at his pace and guide him through the lessons and everything, he'll be good to go. He is a shy person, so it will take some work, but he wants them all to go to Church together and is very supportive of Sis. Ray and the kids. He even told her the other day that she needs to listen to the prophet and get out of debt :) I love it when non-members do things like that.

We are meeting with Brother Youmans after Zone Conference and having dinner with him and his family that night as well. It should be good. The more we can infiltrate the Spirit into their home and show Sis. Youmans the light that we have from having the gospel in our lives, the closer she'll come to wanting to do what is right. It will definitely help that we get to meet with Bro. Youmans to discuss missionary work, too.

We found a new investigator this past week named Stephanie. We are going to take her a Book of Mormon tonight and hopefully teach her. We also met a girl named Jennifer yesterday that said she would be interested in learning more and wanted to talk to us. Her kids were about to some celebrate Easter so we couldn't really talk, but she seemed eager. She knows a member of the branch, which is always a plus.

We have Zone Conference on Wednesday. It should be good. I love Zone Conference. It is good to get that time to have a little refocus session and a rededication to working hard. It is also nice to see other missionaries, especially the sisters.

Speaking of Sisters, I have quite a few things that I wanted to tell you about this week. First of all, I got the package and the letters and cards. Thanks so much! I really like the shirt. To bad I can only wear it once a week. Mom, you do such a good job picking out clothes. And, I got a package from the Murrays. The cookies were good, and it was such a pleasant surprise. Thank you all so much! Secondly, I was reading the Allred Bugle and as I read about the Fields I was surprised to see the last name Baardson. There is a Sister Baardson in the mission and so I called her and it is her parents! We had a good talk about how we have the same Aunt and Uncle. We were also at both Rob and Matt's wedding receptions. It is a crazy world. Do you happen to know them? She said they were the managers of some apartments in Provo where I think Aunt Kathleen lived. I can't remember all the details. Another funny thing about Sister Baardson is that we were both trained by Sister Chadwick and we had the same second commpanion, Sister Mickleson. We are practically the same missionary because they say you are a combination of your first and second companions. My old district leader knows Rachel Wade and her fiancee. Small world. And even smaller, Sarah met the new sister that just came to this mission last week. I haven't met her yet, but it will be fun to talk to her.

We were wondering if you had any fun ideas for April Fool's day. We wanted to play an April Fool's trick on the Elders in our district because it is district meeting day. let me know if anyone has any.

Oh, and can you forward this to Sister Devri Chadwick. She asked me to last week and I forgot. Her email address is devri.chadwick@gmail.com. So, here is a little note to her. Hey Devri! I am still here in Andalusia with Sisters Mickleson and Osburn. Things are good. From what was written above, you probably can tell where we are going with everyone. But, President Summerhays said I should be here for at least two more transfers. We'll see what he says at Zone Conference this week. Oh, and Elder Hulet is now our district leader. If only you were at District meeting last week. It was fun to hear about his reaction because none of us got transfer information on Monday. I'm excited to hear about what has been going on with you. Someone was asking about you, but I can't remember who. I miss you! Oh, the Sister Baardson thing is crazy isn't it? Yeah, well, I'll build you a rainbow, my dear mother :) Oh, we got some of the seminary songs on a cd to listen to. Yeah we have the good ones :)

I guess that is all. We are making it through everything and keep working hard. This morning as I was folding my clothes I was thinking about how many combinations and permutations I could make with my clothes. I couldn't figure it out because I didn't enjoy that part of pre-calc.
I love you all! I am so happy to be serving the Lord. Even though it can get long and hard, I am happy. I hope everything is going well for y'all!
Love, Joanna

Dear Family,
I still haven't gotten your email yet, but I'll go ahead and write to you.

This week was good, but tiring. We have been working hard, so I am going to spend quality time today with my bed and my blankie.

One of our investigators didn't show up for his baptism interview last night. It was a little disappointing, but there are still a couple of weeks until his baptism.

We had Branch Conference yesterday. There were 71 people there and about 15 were from the Stake. Our building was packed full. We had to have people sit in the overflow (the Relief Society room). I could imagine that it was similar to some Branch Conferences that you go to. Mom. It was good though. We are finally getting a branch mission leader. He will be sustained and set apart next Sunday. It will be good to have him be it, so I am excited. Now I just have to learn how to work with one. We've just been using the Branch President, but I'm sure things will be the same, just with a different person. They had a potluck after Church and there was a lot of good southern food.

We also were invited to a fireside that our District leader's ward was putting on. We invited some of our investigators and other people that we hoped would come, but none of them showed up! We had a good time, and were able to talk to the primary president (she drove us) and got some information from her and shared ideas with her as well. The fireside was about the Savior and they did a very good job.

Other than that things are the same. We still haven't gotten transfer information yet, but I am pretty sure I'm staying. I did get the other box of contacts that you ordered. Thanks! And, I'm glad Sarah got to the MTC safely. It was funny to see the same pictures from when I went but Sarah there instead.

Hopefully, before we leave the school I'll get your email. I love you all!
Love, Joanna

Chrismas morning, after opening our presents

My beautiful gingerbreaad house, thanks to Joseph and Tracy's fabulous Christmas package. Oh, and our lovely Christmas decorations that are still up (5 March 2008) and will probably stay up until next Christmas.

Kind of an old-fashioned town

This is outside the Dairy Queen on E. Three Notch St., one of the main drags in town.

It's so old-fashioned we have to pump our own water every morning.

Us, riding the train. We didn't get very far...okay, it didn't even move.

This is my new friend, Heather.

We have the most sisters in our zone. From left to right:

Me, Sis. Mickelson, Sister Colvin, Sister Osburn, and Sister Furner.

Dear Family,
I guess this week will be an exciting week for the family. Good luck to Sarah as she goes off to the MTC. Can you believe that it was six months ago right at this time that I was doing all that? I was thinking about that as I got ready this morning and I realized I only have a year (plus three weeks because that will be when the transfer will be). There is so much that I still need to do here! There is not enough time!

I'm sorry to hear that Janet's basketball career is over. There is always the chance for intramurals next year at BYU. And, I am so happy to hear that my little niece will be born in three weeks. I didn't even know when Tracy was expecting, so I was just guessing sometime at the end of March or beginning of April. It's a good thing I know now.

We did have a little bit of cold weather, but nothing horrible. There was a little snow in north Alabama, but we only had a little frost. The time change was a disaster though! Losing an hour of sleep as a missionary is not a good thing. Good thing it is p-day and I can take a nap today.

It was an interesting week. Nothing spectacular happened, but we did get some good things accomplished. This next Sunday is Branch Conference and we have been invited to a fireside in Enterprise, AL that the FSU Institute director is doing. It will be good and I think Donnie will be going, too. Oh, we went to a Catholic Church with a member and her friend on Tuesday evening. They were having a special lecture type thing. We left and were talking to the member afterwards and she said "That's why we have the restoration." She was right on. It was so sad and not peaceful at all. The things the father said was distorted truth that had changed because of the apostasy. Then they recited their prayers and venerated the Relic of the Cross. You could see the bits and pieces of truth that the Church still clung to, but it wasn't the full truth at all. It was confusing and didn't make sense at all. I am so thankful that we do have the fulness of the gospel and all the truth. It makes life a lot better.

I should be staying in Andalusia for a couple more months. The way President Summerhays has talked to me about it is that I'll be here to keep things going just like they have been. You can go ahead and order contacts and send them here. If I'm not here, they can always forward it to me. Also, I'd love my three barrel curling iron!

That is about it. I'm sending real pictures today and I'll write a little more then. I love you all! Love, Joanna