#46 - All At A Barbeque

Hello, loved ones!

I just have to say something:

I'm sorry I have never written a letter home.  Literally no one has gotten a letter from me.  What a little snot.  I really do try!  I want to write you letters, especially Millzie and Court who are being missionary girls with me!  It just never works out.  I really am sorry- but you all know that I love you.

Okay, I feel better.

I have one little shout out-

Katie Walker- I can't believe you are going to be a REAL teacher in just a couple weeks!  That is wonderful!  Oh, Kate, you will truly be so good!  I will come home and get married and have a baby and raise him up quick to fourth grade so he can come to your class!

So here is the biggest thing I learned this week, and it is something I particularly wanted to tell Mill and Court- 

I know we all hear this over and over, but love really is the key to missionary work.  Flat out.  If you seriously love the people you are talking to, everything will work out.  You can't ever say anything wrong or offensive if you're sincere.  I've realized that the more I relax and just care about people, the better life goes.  Even if you don't speak the language.  Just look at that person in the eyes and listen to them.  One technique I have- I pretend we are all at a barbeque.  If I pretend we are at a barbeque, it seems easier to talk to them. 

Soeur Dagnillo and I are obsessed with this song lately, I don't even know what its called, but the lyrics talk about struggling to get to the top of a mountain.  She talks about how all the sweat and struggle and tears are the "price I paid to see this view."  It's true that in order to get to good places, you have to work.  If you want the view, you will have to sweat.

I love being a missionary.  I want to be a missionary forever.  I'm going to be a missionary forever. 

I love you all so much.  Goodness is real.  Life is beautiful!

Oh yes, and Happy Fourth of July! 

All my love,

Soeur Mann