November 28, 2011

Rosalie's such a character. Which bathroom did she lock herself in? Yes I received your package. I got it the previous week but forgot to mention it. It was a miracle that I got it. You sent it in a box that I made in 6th or 7th grade. That was funny. Okay the miracle of my package. Brother conger dropped it off at the mission office on Monday but the people working there had no clue how to get it to me because it really can't be sent through the mail. So I would've had to wait until this week when we have transfers. But the exchange sisters from pittsflied which is 2hours away had to stop in St. Louis from some business and stopped by the office. They somehow found out about the package and offered to bring it to me because they were coming up for exchanges on Wednesday. So I only waited two days to get my package. And thank you for everything in there. It is all so yummy and very much appreciated. I laughed when I saw what all was in there, granola, protein and granola bars and trail mix. I'm such a granola, but you know me all too well. And the hand warmers were great. I've already used them both. Actually I had a sty starting to form on my left upper eye lid this last week and used them on my eye. The swelling has been going down and I think things are on the mend. That's so exciting about Kath and little Joseph. You'll have to attach some pictures next time so I can see the new addition to our family. I received a letter from grandma and grandpa Salmon on Saturday. They informed me that I'm the only missionary out in the family. That's so weird, but I know that it won’t be for long. James and Lincoln will be out here soon.

Thanksgiving was a blast. We were invited over to Sister Dunns house for a Thanksgiving lunch. Which was smaller than what I'm normally used to but with all the fixings. She's a really good cook. I wanted to have seconds because it all tasted so good, but resisted. Then we had had plans to go out to rantoul and play football with some of the Elders and a couple families out there but decided against it. Things would've been too rushed. Then for dinner we were invited over to bishop johnsons home. He's the Bishop in the urbana ward. So they had two sets of missionaries over for dinner. And honestly, I don't know how I or any of the other missionaries ate. We were getting ready to sit down and I turned to my companion and asked if she was hungry, 'no', well are you full 'no'. I was still full from dinner. I can now sympathize with those who have more than one turkey dinner in a day. Its hard work. After dinner we played some games, apples to apples and I introduced that quarter game to them. They had a younger family and so the younger kids really enjoyed that. We then ended up downstairs. Elder Merkely again challenged me to a ping pong game. He's getting really good, I don't know how I beat him again. We played three games, and he lost all three. He's a great sport and we always laugh about it.

We had a bit of a slow week this week, both tracting and teaching. Many people were out of town for the holidays so we're hoping this week will pick up, especially with it being so close to Christmas. We did have a good lesson with one of investigators earlier in the week. He was a former investigator but we almost feel that he was told the gospel and not taught the gospel. We've started back at the beginning, going over the restoration and the authority from god. We invited him to attend a baptismal service on the 10th of December so we hope that goes through.

Saturday we were able to drive down to the St. Louis temple. It’s a three hour dive so it turned into an all day event. It was so great though. I have found that as I have spent more time reading and really pondering the scriptures I have come to appreciate temples so much more. I can't comprehend the meaning of eternity but have a greater appreciation for the promises that we can receive there. There's just a special spirit that can be felt when you're in the house of the lord. I am grateful that the lord deems me worthy to enter His house.

On the way home from the church both sister shutt and I were kind of antsy. Transfer calls were that night and we were worried what would happen. Amazingly enough, we are both staying in champaign for at least another 6 weeks which is super exciting. We have an amazing friend who's a recent convert. She was baptized in Wyoming and moved here for work. She is planning on going through the temple in a couple of weeks to receive her endowment and now because both of us will be here in champaign we can attend the session.

Love you all Sister Salmon

p.s I'm going to start adding scriptures to the end of my letters, usually ones that I've either read that morning or one's that I've been studying throughout the week. Feel free to read along.

1 Peter 4