One Fat Pig and Two Fighting Kids

What a fun week it has been here in Seaside. Turns out that I am slowly losing weight! (about 5 lbs so far.) Amazing what a full bike area and a ton of hills can do to you. My new skinny suit pants have turned into my new "Spandex wanabe" pants. Tan, toned and loving this area. I am really enjoying the Fort Ord Ward. It’s really neat to talk to so many different people from so many different places and with so many different stories. The military does an interesting job of breaking people down and humbling them to take orders. It’s very different from my normal state of affairs. It was a week with a lot of miracles. 

Spiritual: I am absolutely nothing. This week we met a family outside of their house just hanging out. We gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and prayed with them and invited them to read it and asked if we could come back. We do this about 5-10 times a day so there was nothing new in it and it felt like normal. We came back two days later on a whim and it was unbelievable what had transpired in the hearts of this family. It turns out that before we had come, they were diligent seekers of truth. They were looking for a place to raise their family in learning about Jesus Christ and seeking a way to bring their family closer together. When we were praying, they apparently looked at each other and nodded, confirming to each other that this was something new and different. Oh how wonderful it felt to go back and talk to her about how she had been reading the book and loved it. She was praying about it and felt it was true. We did absolutely nothing except give her the tools to start her journey to come closer to Christ. We are nothing but tools in the Lords hand. It’s up to us to be as sharp as we can be in our mastering of technical skills, but the Lord is the one who does the work. He lives and He cares about us. The Lord will only use us if we let Him. Please know that I am not a perfect missionary. Please know that I want to be. Please know that I love this work and I know that as long as I am working as hard as I can and following the rules and putting my whole heart into the work, Heavenly Father will use me. He will use you as well and it feels fantastic to be used by the Almighty. 

Funny: Elder Fisher and I have decided that we need a pig. What a fantastic contacting tool! We met a lady who had a pet pig outside and we ended up talking to her and giving her a Book of Mormon. Pigs and the Gospel. It really works! I felt really strange petting a pig and talking about sacred beliefs and testimony's.  

Where I am at: Cool/funny story, awhile back we talked to two friends outside of their house and gave them the Book of Mormon. We came back last night to find them having it out on the front lawn. They were going at it! Tooth and nail. They saw us and bounced up and ran over to us. They are both around 16 and super funny. They told us they needed to blow off some steam and so they were fighting. They then told us all of their girl problems and other problems and mid-sentence one of the boys paused and said "I read half your book." What?? Okay! "Did you like it?' "Yeah! It’s made me believe in God." Okay then. He is so going to be baptized. It was quite the miracle. I love this place. These are not even all the miracles that are happening around here. It’s amazing. 

I love you all and miss you! If any of you are considering going on a mission, DO IT. It’s the best best thing you can do with your life. No question. Lose your life and you will find it. I love you all!