Sweat and Laughter

Dear family,

Those two words describe my past week: sweat and laughter. Instead of sweat and tears, we had sweat and laughter because it was one of the best weeks ever. I got my new companion! It's Sister Hollist!

The third one who was going to be in our companionship, Sister Gustafson, had to go home because of health problems. Sister Hollist and I are in two wards, Lindsay and Menlo Park. The area is directly west from my first area and it's probably about 8 miles away. I am loving it here! The wards are great and the members are strong. There's only a few investigators so we do practice lessons a lot with members, but there's a lot of potential. We had miracles this week and found 5 new investigators!! Sister Hollist is almost finished with her mission. She will go home in 3 weeks from today and I will get another new companion. I'm trying to learn the area fast so I can lead when she is gone. I'm also trying to learn as much as I can from her.

Sister Hollist is awesome!!! We work together really well and we have fun. We did Christmas lights together at the temple and I even told her (jokingly) that I would love to be her companion. She is from Columbus, Georgia (two hours south of Atlanta) but she doesn't have an accent. She has moved a lot because her dad is in the military. She is really easygoing and easy to get a long with. She has had many many different companions. Sister Hollist is so Christlike! She is really good at seeing the good in people and in situations and she has lots of wisdom. She loves to sing and does it all the time. She also harmonizes so we are always singing together, wherever we are. We have so much fun together! We both feel so blessed to be together.

I'm also so grateful for the things I learned in my last area and the companions I had. I feel like I'm a better missionary now, teaching and finding better and my testimony is stronger. The Lord really does know best what we need. He teaches us step by step in ways we can't always see in the moment. I am learning to turn to Christ in all things, to think of Him and His example and to pray for strength. As long as I turn to Him and trust that He will help me and trusting that He knows exactly how I feel, I can feel peace and calm.

We have seems lots of miracles this week! Last night we were getting into our car and we saw a little girl outside. We were running a little late for a meeting, but we decided to talk to her anyway. She is 8 years old and her name is Samantha. She was super cute and said she wanted us to teach her. She went and got her dad and he said we could come back next week. It was cool because we both felt like we should talk to her. We chose to exercise our faith and talk, even though it was a little nerve racking.

This area is really wealthy, but we also have a trailer park and some smaller houses. I love our wards!!!

Something I'm continually learning is to accept and appreciate my gifts and talents and use these to bless others' lives. I don't need to try to be anyone else, I just need to be the best I can be. Sister Hollist is really good at pointing out my good qualities and I'm grateful for that. I feel like I'm learning a lot from the scriptures and from Preach My Gospel these days. I have noticed that something that brings me a lot of joy is hearing pure doctrine and pondering it. There's so much in the gospel and it is truly beautiful. Something else that brings me joy is coming home exhausted after a long day and knowing I gave The Lord my all that day.

I haven't followed up in a long time about your Preach My Gospel reading. How is that going?

Thanks for all your love, support, and prayers! I would love for you to pray specifically that I can transition to my new area smoothly. Have a wonderful and fantastic week!!

Love, Sister Sallstrom

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Pictures included in this letter

June 17, 2014 - Farewell pictures? 

Funny meme