Pumpkin pie

 These missionaries are all serving in the same ward - 6 of the 7 are from Utah:)

Hey Y'all!

The weather here is always changing.  Yesterday morning it was so cold and by the time church was over, the sun was shining and it was warm!  It's been fun to have such a warm fall!  The leaves are all changed and most of them have started to fall.  There are leaves EVERYWHERE!  It's fun to crunch through them! 

As I've been here and have been getting fed lots of delicious foods, I have been gathering up delicious recipes.  This week I made my very first pumpkin pie!  I've been able to sneak some baking in and take treats to people we're teaching and it's been so fun!  It's kind of funny- I'll make the cookie dough and roll out half of the dough during lunch and then when we come home at night we'll try to bake a few trays and then do the rest the next morning.  Free time is very limited, but it's so great to have fresh baked cookies! ;)  

In other exciting news, I've officially started a stamp collection!  I figured, when else in my life would I be getting letters?  So if you feel so inclined to write me and have a fun stamp, I would love to see it!  It's kind of ridiculous how excited I am about my stamps-- I'm up to a whopping 12 right now!

We've been working with Lisa Bowers for a while and one of the biggest obstacles in the way of her getting baptized is smoking.  She's been smoking since she was 13 and is now in her late 50s.  She went from 2 packs a day to a half a pack a day, but was kind of stuck there for about two weeks.  We have been struggling to know how we can help her.  We've prayed with her, gotten her a blessing, given her scriptures to read, but nothing was working.  We heard about the Stop Smoking Program from a  ward member and got it from the mission office and read it.  We taught it to her on Thursday and she has been smoke free since!  It is so exciting!  She gives such sweet and heartfelt prayers.  Being baptized into this gospel would be so wonderful for her!

We tracted into a woman from Micronesia and it's been neat to see her progression.  Though there is a little bit of a language barrier, we have been able to communicate with her enough to help her learn and feel the spirit.  When we first met her, she was definitely interested in what we had to say, but told us she would pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and come to church before she decided to join or not.  The next lesson she told us that she believed in Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is from God.  It was so neat!  Then the next time we brought up baptism and how she could get a remission of her sins and she got really excited.  She said she wanted to be wiped clean and start fresh.  She asked if she could get baptized tomorrow!  I love her spirit and how excited she is to be apart of Christ's church and be forgiven of her sins.

We have been teaching a woman named Sister Arkus who joined the church about a year ago.  For about 4 or 5 months she was completely inactive because she was upset about something, but she has been coming to church and doing really well.  Every time we go to her apartment, there is such a special spirit there.  When we went to teach her the last two times, we met her friend Shirley.  After the second time, we asked Shirley if she wanted to stay and hear about her friend's church, and she said yes.  Our two lessons have been so much more powerful because Sis. Arkus was there teaching and testifying with us.  Member missionary work is so great! 

Thanks for all the love and support you give me!  I appreciate all the prayers and love :)