CRAZY WEEK

So, it's been a crazy week but a good one! It has been fun seeing Elder Kiene (or Kahm Jeung Louh hahaha) and our schedules are actually pretty opposite but we have gym right after eachother and we always seem to find eachother at things. On Sat we had a special 4th fireside and it was so cool! then afterwards we got icecream and watched the stadium of fire fireworks! mike found me when we were getting ice cream and we all ran to find a nice spot to watch together! saturday was a great day. I was SYLing a lot and we taught well and then I got t spend the evening watching fireworks with my bro and fellow missionaries! Earlier in the week it was a bit crazy. We have been trying to help the new district really understand the importance of using time (especially personal study time) well and really understanding their purpose as a missionary. not just the purpose that's stated in PMG, but something even on a more personal level for that individual. I think it will take time for them but hopefully what we shared with them will encourage them to seek that and find the motivation to be better. I have been learning a lot about patience and love too. I feel that as I continue to pray for it, God gives me more opportunities to use that patience. Funny how that works hahaha, usually we think that we'll just be given this power to be able to handle situations but God wants to stretch us and push us so he'll give us the experience and let us choose to act in whatever way we want. It's good though. It's helping me learn to just accept and love people for who they are. You can't change anyone but yourself. YOu can influence, but that's a bit different. I feel that as I learn to love people for them, my perspective continues to increase. I'll just say, prayer is my best friend out here. It's crazy how often we pray but it's really neat too. We, as a district, decided to tell eachother a weakness we have or something that we are trying to work on and ask to prayer for eachother. I think it has really helped us bond as we understand that each of us has a specific need and can only receive help through God. Something that I really noticed this week is my increased love for the book of mormon. I just love personal study time and i feel like there is never enough time because i'm just thriving on everything that i'm reading. i feel like my focus is so much stronger than ever before and i'm constantly tieing things together from all that i learn. the scriptures are amazing! I know that as we really feast on the words we will continue to be nourished spiritually. I'm reading in Alma right now about the anti-nephi-lehi's and how they barried their weapons of rebellion and war. First, I thought of how each of us have our own weapons of rebellion and it will take a lot of sacrifice, but when we commit to barrying them, we will find so much more joy and see miracles happen in our lives. Then i continued to read about how the lamanites came to fight and they said they wouldn't break that commitment with God so they didn't fight back. Many were killed, HOWEVER because of their example, some of the lamanites were converted to the gospel. It's crazy because we would think, why would God let those men die in the first place? Well I know that God has a specific plan for everyone. God knows what needs to be done in order for his children to accept the gospel and strive to return back to them. That was just a neat example to me of how keeping our covenants and commitments can not only help us individually but others as well. Well I gotta run! But I love you all! Mike told me about the cupcake story with TY! so cute! tell me more fun stories like that! send pics and everything too! you are all wonderful and it was pretty cool that we were watching the same fireworks on saturday ;) hahaha ok well travel safely, thanks for the updates and keep pressing forward with FAITH! Oh and I can read a couple of scriptures written in characters! oh yeah baby! ok, peace and blessings!

Kahm Ji Muih