Friday, October 25, 2013

9 dogs and 13 Cats..oh boy!!

Mama! Thanks so much for you email! You truly boost me up!
So glad to hear yall are having fun despite the crazy weather! It's cooling off down here and the cooler weather makes me miss home a little bit. Hope you and dad get to enjoy some leaves together!

So real quick I want to share this story that President Wall sent us. I just stinkin love it!

"There once was a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule braying and, after a careful assessment of the situation, decided that neither the well nor the mule were worth saving. He enlisted his neighbors to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. Initially the old mule was hysterical. But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, he would shake it off and step up. This he did, blow after blow: shake off the dirt and step up, shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up. It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped over the wall and out of the well."

I loved this story! It is the perfect parable for life. Sometimes it seems like everything combines against us and wants us to just give up. But no, every life is worth living, and living to the fullest! I am determined to let nothing get me down, to be happy and keep going no matter what! I have decided to be happy, despite not being a size 4, despite not having a ton of baptisms, despite covering two insane wards, and despite struggling to get along with the Elders. All of that is dirt that I can shake off and use to help me step up. I am continuing to try to take better care of myself, and Sister Alvine is helping me, but no matter what I weigh when I get home, I know that I want to be able to look you in the eye and tell you that I work my hardest, that I gave everything I had, and that I continued to bring hope to a world that desperately needs it. I'm just freakin pumped right now, about being a missionary, and I'm determined to have an eye single to the glory of God. :)

It hit me this last week that I have less than a year left to serve the Lord full time. Woah. When did that happen? It's crazy! But it makes me more motivated to work even harder and never give in, never give up, never surrender. And you know, it's interesting - as a missionary, you see people make a lot of excuses for why they can't do something. I've promised myself that I will never make excuses to not go to church, I will NEVER take a job that requires me to work on Sunday, and I will never forget the covenants that I make when I was baptized and when I went to the temple. People let so many things get in the way of their spiritual development, and I have decided to learn from these people and not let anything get in my way to be close to the Savior. Sorry about that rant, I just wanted to share with you some committments I'd made. :)

ON a lighter note, I had this Elder that was in my MTC district whose been writing me back and forth for a while write me today and told me that he liked me while I was in the MTC bahahaha. So funny. I have boy drama even when I'm a missionary! Ooops. I wrote him back and said I had a teeny crush on him too while we were there but we need to stay focused as the Lord's servants. Also in the boy department, Aunt Shirlene wrote me to tell me that Amy is thinking about getting married in spring to this guy she just met. What? Crazy sauce!

K, I love you millions! Thanks for always being there for me! And thanks so much for getting me contacts! Could you maybe send some Tide-to-go pens and a lint roller? We are teaching this lady that has 9 dogs and 13 cats, it's crazy. I walk out of there with more hair on me than the cats have on their whole bodies.
You are my rock! Sending you so many hugs!!! And guess what! We get to skype in like 2 months! Woot woot!

-Johanna

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