March 19, 2012

Dear Family,
Gas prices out here are about 3.70 +/- .5. it’s getting up there. Thank goodness I don't have to pay for gas. The weather here has been extremely different than usual. We've been having some thunder and lightning storms in the afternoons but in the morning its hot and really humid. It’s usually up in the 70's, 80's. I feel like I’m back in Hawaii it’s so hot and humid. Even in the morning at 6:45am it’s hot.
Last week was such an amazing week. We started it out with Zone pday. We went to Wapelhorse Park and where we split into two groups. One group went and played rugby while the rest went and played sand volleyball. And I think we all got a little sun on our faces after the activity was over.
Tuesdays we've started meeting with a less active lady by the name of Sandra Baines. Recently we've been talking about the temple and she has expressed the desire to sealed to her husband, and to have the temple work completed for one of her children that has passed away. She's the sweetest lady you'll ever meet; I always enjoy my time with her. We also had a lesson with Christina on Tuesday that kind of turned into a double lesson. Christina's boyfriend’s sister Jennifer sat in our lesson and we were able to talk with her and teach her the first lesson. She was very quiet and reserved and would really only participate if directly asked a question. We invited her to take the lessons with us and she accepted! We stopped by their place two other times this week, once on Wednesday with sister Shutt (we had exchanges Wednesday/Thursday) and again on Saturday. After our lesson on Wednesday we left her with a couple fear not scriptures and when we stopped by again on Saturday she said that she had read them all and really enjoyed them.. Leading up to our visit I had been reading a talk which quoted 1 Cor 10:13 and after I read it I felt prompted to share it with her and Christina. After sharing the scripture with her she said that was exactly what she needed to hear. I am always humbled when this type of situation occurs as I teach. The Lord knew that Jennifer needed to hear that scripture. This solidifies my testimony that the Lord knows all his children individually and that he loves all of his children and does want us each to be happy.
Wednesday sister Shutt (my trainer) and I had an opportunity to go on exchanges while our compies served together. During our exchanges we went down to Frontier Park to do some park contacting it was amazing! We made it a goal to talk to everyone we passed. I know that the Lord blessed us during that experience. We were able to find a new investigator and set up a time with them to meet and start teaching.
Thursday I went on exchanges with sister Crandall. We went back to their area Wednesday night and worked in their area. Sister Crandall is a fireball, she has no fear when it comes to talking to random strangers and I love her enthusiasm for the work. We had a great time tracting and found them a new contact as well.
Sunday was amazing! Both Jennifer and Christina came to the first two hours of church. Christina left ten minutes in and finished out the remainder of sacrament meeting in the mothers room. Jennifer really enjoyed both sacrament meeting and gospel doctrine. We invited her back this next week and she said she'd love too.
Little by little we're making progress. Sister Northcutt and I are really trying to be as exactly obedient as we can be and I know that the Lord has been blessing us each day because of our desires to follow him..
The reason why I’m so late in writing this week is because this morning a member in the ward said she'd take us to the St. Louis zoo....which was amazing! it’s perfect weather out there and the animals were all out and about, and we all had an opportunity to ride the carousel. It has been a great morning.
My thought comes from Alma 32 concerning faith like a seed. I think we all know and understand this analogy, but as I was studying it this last week I was thinking how when we nurture our seed that we need to make sure that we are giving it the proper nourishment that it needs. We need to make sure we don't over water it... So when we study we need to be specific, and study those things that will help us strengthen our testimonies. Reading your scriptures every day, saying your prayers, going to church is all great but sometimes we reach a spiritual plateau and doing those things doesn't really cut it. It’s like exercising. After a while we get comfortable with what we are doing and once we get to that point we need to increase our reps/sets/speed etc. When we are specific in our study/prayers we receive that specific strength.
I love you all!
sister salmon