July 9th 2013

Dear Fam,

I slack-lined for the first time last p-day(i'm terrible at it) and then this p-day we're hiking up to the observatory to with some members. For the 4th of July we had to be back in our apartments by 7. Fireworks are against the law here, but everyone does them so it's kind of impossible to stop them. They were going off all night in the alley of our apartment. Car alarms were going off and our apartment shook sometimes, but it was fun:) When we got up to go running the next morning they were still going off haha.

Guess what mom!? Will you believe me if I said we got the good house keeping award? Ya, me neither, but our little award was we got to go out to lunch with our President Weidman. President Weidman's son served in Spokane, so that was a fun little connection. That same day we had 4 meals(huge meals within 7 hours)...i felt like crying and throwing up, but i just kept forcing the food down. I feel like I'm still recovering.

Transfers are this week. Sister Howell are staying together in Silverlake which is great because we really feel like some of our investigators need us right now and we need them. Our ward is doing the 40 day fast thing right now as well! The sunday after the missionary broadcast we presented the idea, and the bishop jumped right on board.

Last night during dinner I understood pretty much the whole story a member told us! Well, I can't "understand" everything they say, but sometimes after dinner it throws me for a loop when I can talk about what they had told us.

We had a very powerful lesson with a woman that has flaked out on her baptismal interview 3 times(only once with me), I was so incredibly grateful for the spirit, and it's amazing to think that that morning I had put up my "emotional" wall and right before the lesson Sis. Howell and I stood on the sidewalk crying and figuring everything out. If we had not talked like I wanted to the lesson would not have gone the way it did. After the lesson I was so grateful to have a companion that forced me to talk because we both want the best for our investigators, and sometimes you need a little reminder that how you are feeling can really impact the presence of the spirit.

I love you all, and I loved hearing about everything you are doing!

Love,

Hermana Ford