Normally on Monday's we do something fun either with our whole zone, just our district, or sometimes just between us four girls in our zone.  Well Sister Nield had some of her medical things come up last Monday, so we ended up spending our P-Day at the hospital.  She is fine as every time we go to the doctor they say that the results of her many tests are normal.  We are planning for P-Day today to play games at a member's home with the Colony Sisters.  It'll be so much fun.  This week we had many service hours incorporated into our schedules.  The service that took place Tuesday was at a less-active member's home trying to fix up the house and the surrounding area.  She needed some of us to get on the roof to tie down a tarp because she has been having some leaks from the constant rain. 

I was in no way going to get up on her roof so me and a couple of the Elders helped clear out a fence from what looks to have a place for a garden.  The fence was nearly bolted down from the roots of the weeds growing there.  We had to dig them up and pull the fence a little at a time and finally, after what seemed to be hours, pulled out the fence.  Carrying it over to the designated spot I was almost toppled by it but was able to manage to not let it fall completely on top of me.  The next day we had no set lesson plans with anyone so we did a lot of finding people and no one seemed to be home.  Sister Nield had a thought to visit a lady who was a prior investigator that they had to drop before I arrived in Alaska.  We did teach her and she is such a sweet lady.  I don't know if we'll end up teaching her again but all we can do is try.  We wanted to visit with her and her caregiver again Friday, but they said they were going to Pyrah's You Pick Farm and we told them we'd be there doing service for the Fall Festival.

The main Fall Festival was on Saturday, but the day before they have for the Special Needs children so we were helping with that.  The lady came and wanted us to help her pick carrots so we did and it was so fun.  They had these little pitch forks to loosen up the dirt to better pull out the carrots and not just tear off the great tops.  I had never pulled my own vegetables before so that was a neat experience.  
The day before the festival we had zone conference.  This is basically a whole day of meetings.  Because of the location of everyone, we had three zones meeting all at once which was great.  Some of the trainings included dressing up a missionary in trash bags and newspaper to the missionary dress standards and playing limbo to discuss about raising the bar.  I got a lot out of it and it was fun to see all the people we knew.

Mary and Lizzy got confirmed yesterday at church which was a great experience.  They looked so happy and I could tell that they were already filled with the Spirit.  The Ward has done a great job at fellowshipping them and really making them feel a part of the Ward family.  They are truly one of a kind converts.  I love them so much.  The work is progressing so much here in just our Ward; more so than we can handle.  There is quite a bit of reactivation work we need to do, as well as, all the investigators we have.  The Lord really does prepare the hearts of His children to accept the gospel.  The crazy thing is that you don't necessarily see it with some people.  It is bizarre how people we wouldn't expect to listen to us and let us begin teaching then actually are very prepared by The Lord.  Don't be afraid to share the gospel with people.

Many Thanks!!!

Sister Shelley Willden