Another great week!

Dear family,

I hope you're all doing well!! I'm a little frustrated because I was in the middle of writing and I lost all of it... oh well. Thanks for all your emails and all your advice. I am so grateful to have such a supportive family. I am uplifted every time I read your emails that I print off. This week has gone by faster than last week and that's a good thing. I was shocked to hear about Elder Ward, but I admire him so much at how well he's handling everything.

I'm getting used to the schedule and I actually like getting 8 hours of sleep and waking up at 6:30. I enjoy exercising (I usually do a circuit of jogging in place and strength exercises and once a week we go play sports with our zone and that's really fun)(we played ultimate frisbee and another game that they made up). I love studying for 3 hours in the morning and having time to read Preach My Gospel and the scriptures. It's amazing how much you can learn when you really have the desire to and when you know you'll be teaching what you're learning that day. I have found so many scriptures that I love and mean so much to me.

I have had some amazing experiences as I've pondered what I learn. The other day I was thinking... what should I be thinking about when I'm not thinking about my investigators? Then I realized that pondering the Gospel would be something great to think about. I try to find parallels of the gospel and things I see in nature and it makes me really happy.

I am starting to love the beauty of Arizona! The cacti (cactusses?) are really pretty and each one has its own personality. The trees are really interesting because they twist and make cool designs. I also love the beautiful palm trees (they're especially pretty when the sun is setting). There is a little bit of grass here, but the rocks are also beautiful. The other day when my companion was in a bad mood and we were driving around I decided to think of a blessing every time I saw a cactus. I thought of lots of blessings and it cheered me right up.

Here are some of the wonderful tender mercies I had last week: seeing my MTC companions at Walmart (it really was a miracle that I saw both of them), being able to see Sister Snyder as Christ sees her and having patience with her, finding our phone that we lost (I lost it in the car), seeing a picture of Bishop Rowe in the Ensign I was reading, having a headache go away, being able to not be self-conscious even though I have bad acne right now, meeting new investigators on the street (this week we met three on the street and one was a schizophrenic man), being able to laugh with Sister Snyder, having ward members drop off food for us, meeting a teenage boy who was really prepared to hear the gospel (this was super cool, but he lives somewhere else and we need to refer him to missionaries in another area), gaining strength every night from wonderful ward members at dinner, finding out about a potential investigator who has a really similar trial that I've had (a teenage girl who plays soccer and tore her ACL and meniscus recently), being fed spiritually at church, having three investigators at church and three less-active members come that we had visited that week, and most of all, feeling the Lord's strengthen me every day and seeing how even as imperfect as I am, He helps me and makes up for what I don't have.

This week one of my goals is to talk to everyone and be extra friendly. This has been the hardest thing for me because I feel really pressured to say the right thing and do all I can to help them be interested in the Gospel. Another one of my goals is to see Sister Snyder as the Lord sees her. A lot of times I worry about her because she gets really quiet and seems like something is bothering her, but she doesn't like to talk about it. I think she's stressed because of all the responsibilities of being a trainer. I know she sometimes feels inadequate and that she gets really tired and needs extra rest. I'm trying to help her in any way I can, but it's hard when she won't tell me what's wrong. The Spirit has told me to know that she's doing her best and she is a good trainer, so I just need to be kind and full of love and it will work out. I want to love missionary work though, so I'm trying to have a different attitude than her and be happy and grateful as much as I can. I'm trying to count my blessings and be happy and trust the Lord. I'm glad I have this opportunity to use my agency to choose how I'll experience my mission.

Most of my investigators are doing really well and we have baptism dates for three of them! Yay! All three of those are for August 31st. Tammy is one of those and she is such a faithful and strong lady! She comes to church every week and people don't even know she's not baptized. She's single and in her 40's and always says that things are falling into place in her life. The other two baptisms are for 9 year-olds and they are really fun to teach. Kaitlin has a learning disability (I'm not sure what exactly what she has) so we go really slow with her and have her draw pictures of what she learns. She is super cute and really wants to be baptized. Her family is less active but they're coming back now because of Kaitlyn. Logan is the other 9 year-old. His mom and step-dad just got baptized recently and now we're teaching him. He doesn't have a long attention span but is a really sweet kid. I like to think of creative ways to relate the gospel to him (like playing games and talking about the game angry birds). Logan's family is moving soon, so we might not get to see him baptized.

Our other investigator, Sister Sarager came to church yesterday!! We were so happy. Her husband who is less active says he wants to come back and we have another appointment for this week. They have three cute little girls and I love to visit them. We're helping her understand how the Holy Ghost works and how she can gain more faith that there is a loving Heavenly Father. Another investigator, Eleanor is doing well. We gave her a large-print Book of Mormon and she accepted it. She really liked the verse from Alma 40. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration and we hope she will come to church.

We also had a lesson with a schizophrenic man on Saturday. His name is Bradley and he's had a rough life (he's about 60). I hope we can keep teaching him and helping him, but his life is pretty unstable right now because he doesn't have a job or a car.

I love my investigators! I love to see them change through the Atonement and it's so wonderful to find out that we were in the right place at the right time to talk to someone because the Spirit guided us there. The members here are wonderful and church is better than I ever remember church being. We go to both of our wards... so 6 hours of church total. Last week we taught young women's and this week we shared our testimonies in Gospel Doctrine. I also got to sing with the insta-choir that one ward had (it was really cool... they said anyone could come up and sing).

I have learned that trials don't end because you're on your mission. I am choosing to live through my trials differently though, by relying on my Savior.Every single day I make the choice that I will trust the Lord and do what I need to in His work. I am seeing so many blessings come from living the Gospel and serving the Lord. I know that I'm where I need to be and I know that what I'm doing is best for our family. Thank you for all you've done for me, all of you! I hope to write a few letters today and send them. I love you all!! Sorry I don't have pictures again... I forgot the cord.

Love, Sister Sallstrom