Greetings from Independence, Missouri!

The man next to us, just barely said "You all have the most important job in the world, you know that right?" Yep. I love this job. This past Wednesday, I passed my 1/4 mark of my mission. Where does time go? I have no idea. It was only April yesterday. It's incredible how time will pass by when you are serving others. Although it's almost October, Missouri still has 90 degree weather and green trees. We're starting to notice a slight color change though and this area is going to be beautiful around the middle of October.

This past week, Sister Juergens and I went to a dance class with a bunch of RLDS and Church of Christ dancers. They all read and believe in the book of mormon, yet they forget the fact that we still need modern revelation today...which makes me so excited for General Conference! I can't wait for our investigators to listen to the prophet's voice. We were able to dance and share the gospel at the same time, going from pirouettes to prayer and sau-de-chats to scriptures. Quite the adventure but when all was said and done, my heart hurt a little from missing dancing and doing the things before my mission. But then I turn to my companion and say "Let's go be missionaries", slide on my name tag and the world is perfect. In the Lord's service we endure pain and heartache in order to experience miracles. So even though these little ballerinas were not so receptive, maybe the rest of Independence will be. We just keep going to work. Onward, ever onward.

We visited Sister Wood, a less active who we've been seeing for a while and asked her to come to church this next Sunday. The less-actives we've been working with have started coming to church and I love seeing how their lives change even though they've already been baptized. The atonement never ceases to work. Sister Wood said we've left our fingerprints on her heart. She told us to never forget that we leave fingerprints everywhere, even if we don't think we do. In a smile, a handshake, even a hello.

Sarah's baptism is still underway. We really want her husband to be able to baptize her, so he's been working with the bishop and we've set October 8 as the date for her baptism. It's also her birthday and she says it's the best birthday gift she could receive.

Andrianna is also coming along. She has the date set for November 2 but I think she could get baptized before then. She knows it's true but I think she is scared. The other day, she told us she has had some concerns and "if I'm going to do this, I need to be sure it's right." It's better for her to have doubts that end in certainty instead of certainty that ends in doubts. She invited us over for Allie (her 4 year old)'s birthday. She made a cake and we took pictures. We realized she had done that primarily for us after we left. I love this family. She has a brother that is RLDS that is starting to listen in on the lessons. We're going to try to teach him this next time.

There have been several things that the spirit has taught me this week. One of the most important is "Being where your feet are". A lot of times, we look to the past or the future for enjoyment. But it's being where we stand and in the present that will bring the most happiness. I am trying to work on that more and more each day. To love live at this moment in this time. Not just to live from baptism to baptism. Something else I learned is that Satan can mimic or imitate anything EXCEPT the Holy Ghost. That's why it's so important to be worthy to have this beautiful gift with us always. To be led, guided and to learn by the spirit. I hope everyone is doing great. Thank you for all your support and prayers! Love you!

Sister Love