June 24th 2009

Hey All!Sorry its been a little while since I've written a bulk... To be honest, not too much is going on. I'm loving it here in Salem though! So beautiful! It has been raining quit a bit though. And I don't mean sprinkling, I mean full blown fire hose affect! It's crazy! You step out for one second and it's like your jumped in a pool. Who needs a baptism font?We don't have many new friends (aka investigators) Well we have a few potentials but no one is really solid yet. When we go tracting the people are really nice, but not interested. They'll talk and discuss things with us though. We went and visited a former MEMBER a few days ago. That was interesting... Really sad actually. She was nice and all but she kept saying that the Mormon church just wasn't true and it sadened her to see that we were being deceived like she was in her past. She sad that she was almost mad at her parents for raising her in the Mormon faith. That just broke my heart. I can't even express in words the gratitude I have for being brought up with the FULNESS of the gospel. It just really made me see how tricky the advasary is. Man is he good at what he does. She's now a "born again Christian" so its not like she following a BAD thing per-say but its not the fulness of truth. We of course discussed concerns and other things she had, but it wasn't going anywhere. Before we left, I just poured out my whole heart and soul to her in testimony and that made her shut right up. She actually had tears in her eyes, so I KNOW she felt something as the spirit was confirming my testimony to her. She's just had a hard life and is confused and the born again religion is just "easier" for her a guess. Man does it sadden me. Emotions go crazy out here. Just the love you have for ALL those around you, even if you don't know them personally, it's draining. BUt man do I love it!!!There's a family that I absolutely love out here.. along with MANY of course. But it's the Kruta family. She's a member but her husband and kids are not. She's a convert and just got called to be a member missionary. She's our "Go TO" girl. She's SO great!! Her husband Kevin is in the Marine Corps, which is sweet in itself. He's Catholic, but not practicing and missionaries have been so determined to get him baptized. To some he's intimidating, but to me, he's just a big teddy bear. I love him so much. We went and visited them last night and I got him to commit to seeing us next week and letting us teach him about the Plan Of Salvation. He agreed!! That never happens I guess. On top of that, he gave me a few of my favorite flowers he's growing in his yard, Daisey's, and is gonna get me a Marine Corps flag "Mess with the Best, Die Like The Rest" I'm so excited. When we left, my companion was just in AWW that he agreed to meet with us and buy me my very own flag LOL It was great. I just think he's the coolest person ever. We mess around and joke with each other. Give each other grief of course. :) It's a lot of fun.We had a Sisters Meeting on Friday, the 19th, which was a lot of fun. It's where all the sisters in the Virginia Richmond Mission get together and have our own little conference together with the MIssion President and the Assistants. I performed "His Hands" in signlanguage while sister Mills sang and my companion sister Silotti played the piano. It was a lot of fun. We're performing it again at our BIG zone conference this coming Friday. But Elder Smith will be singing instead. I'm excited. Its such a beautiful song and the spirit is so strong.My back has been hurting me for the past few days to where I could barely walk, so I went to a Chiropractor, who's a member, and she fixed me right up. I've never been to one before and it was the coolest thing EVER! I've always been afraid to get my neck popped fearing they'd break it and kill me, but it felt so unbelievably good! She was amazing! I get to go again next monday. I just still suffer from back injuries from when I got in a car wreck when I was 17. Gotta love that. I'm already falling apart and I'm only 22. That is pretty old though :)Well I love you all! Thanks for all your letters and words of encouragement. It's always so great to hear from you!!I LOVE AND MISS YOU-Sister Spark Plug :) The one and only