Saturday P-Day

Hello Ma! And Family too ;)

So Sister Scott and I made the trip up to Santa Monica yesterday afternoon. We got my Rx and headed to the Visitors' Center to use the bathroom. They have a new display up with 1,500 missionary name tags and the stories of the 8 District 2 missionaries. It is pretty cool. I don't know whether or not mine is up there, I'll have to look next time we go. After that we headed back down to our area. Except that it was 4pm=WORST TRAFFIC OF MY LIFE! It took forever to make it back and we almost missed dinner. That would have been bad. 

Brother Millet did show me the pictures, and YES! I think that one will be perfect for my plaque! He took us to his studio (which is next to his house) after dinner and he took a few pictures of me and then the 2 of us. He chose the one to send you, photo-shopped it, and emailed it all in about maybe 15 minutes. It was pretty fun. That day was a long and hot day. None of our set appointments were home/answered, so that was disappointing, but the weather was beautiful, so it was nice to enjoy the sunshine. And yes, I do put on sunscreen FYI :)

I had a bit of an AHA! moment this week. I realized that this is where I am in my life, and that it is where I am supposed to be. It is still hard at random times, but its all good. I am trying just to take one day at a time, and that helps. Time passes in a really weird way as a missionary. I am feeling much better about things and working different things to continue to help me.

We met with Josephine again this week. She didn't come to church last Sunday, but said she would this week. We had a training on binding God as missionaries when we promise people blessings [see D&C 82:10], and all I could think about was that Josephine couldn't see those blessings until she did something. There is always an action involved with faith and blessings. I hope that she will start to see that in her life.

We are also still meeting with Anton. I really want to help resolve his concerns, because really he should already be baptized. He knows the Bible like a pro, and prays and everything. He just still smokes and has his concerns, whatever they are. We are meeting with him tomorrow evening and hopefully that will go well. 

The people here take really good care of the missionaries, and it makes me want to continue that after my mission. It is awesome to be able to go to people's homes and just be in a home for a while. It makes things a little easier for me at least. 

WE GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!! It is going to be great. I really miss working in the temple and seeing all of my other Grandmas ;) It will be a neat experience and I am going to try and take some questions with me to think about and such. Ahhh! I tell everyone how great it is to work in the temple, and I will definitely be making that a priority when I come home. That is the best thing in the world. (Even though some might argue that missionary work is the best.... You'll have to ask me that next July/August. :) ) Speaking of which, this last Wednesday marked 1 month since I went into the MTC. CRAZY!  This month has flown by, as hesitant as I am to say that, because I probably just jinxed it. Oh well, its true. Weird how time goes on whether we know it or not. 

I think that's all for now. Sorry, but no pictures this week. I hope everything continues to go well for you back in AZ. We start daylight savings tomorrow, so that will be interesting. My P-day should resume as normal on the 16th so I will communicate with you all then. Have a lovely day, weekend and week next week. I hope school is going alright and all the extra curricular too. 

I love you all a bunch!!!! 

Sister Lauren Hatch