Great week!!  We started off P-Day with a trip to the beach.  The beaches in Alaska are black sand beaches.  We were really camped out off the Knik River, but it was like a beach.  We made s'mores and roasted starburst and threw around a football and later played ultimate Frisbee.  It was a bit windy so that added some difficulty to the game.

The next day we walked to and from district lunch.  We saw a person, so naturally we said we need to go give them a pass along card.  She walked by us and all we said was hi and then she went off telling us her life story and all the abuse she has gone through.  I don't know what it is about the tag we wear, but apparently it comes with a sign on our foreheads that says, "tell us about your problems."  We learn about so many problems people face in life that my innocent ears probably didn't need to hear.  It has made me very thankful for the life that I have lived up till this point.

One of the daughters of a family in the ward recently returned home from her mission in Florida.  She so eagerly wanted to go out with us.  We took her up on her offer and had her come to a lesson we were having with a gentlemen we hadn't met prior, but only talked on the phone to arrange an appointment.  He was a hippie and talking about very deep ideology for a 19-year old.  Sometimes it is hard to bring a member to a lesson because we are afraid they will be scared to do missionary work ever again.  Having this RM (Returned Missionary) come helped because she understands the struggle missionaries go through.

The other day we were looking for a less-active lady in the Ward whom we hadn't met before and it took us a half hour to realize she no longer lives in the ward.  That was a waste of time.  That day all of our appointments fell through and we were trying people all day.  Later that evening we went to visit another less-active and she was there.  We met with her and it is funny; people know why we are stopping by their house if they are already a member - it is because you need to go to church.  She immediately said she needs to go back to church and wants to come.  Sadly she wasn't there yesterday.

So my three month click day (like the month anniversary I entered the MTC) was Thursday, Oct 6th, and we were already in Anchorage for a meeting, so we went to Olive Garden and I got my lemon cream cake to celebrate.  It was so good !!!  The best pick-me-up there is.

Timothy got baptized on Saturday !!!  I didn't want to believe it until it was over and accomplished.  Because our good investigators are getting baptized, we are needing more investigators.  Our current investigators are not really progressing as fast as they should.  We went tracting around an area we didn't even know was part of our area until a member moved in and we met her neighbor who is a Buddhist.  He was so nice and said he didn't want to be rude when we came knocking.

We had our zone meeting on Friday as we do at the beginning of every month.  Elder
Janes was giving a training and accompanied it with an object lesson. We were going to do hair racing.  We each plucked a hair out of our head and put it on this plate of water.  They said to get close to see who wins.  All of a sudden he slapped the water and we all got wet.  The sad part was that I was wearing white.  Thank goodness for undershirts.  The rest of the day my hair was half curly, half straight.  The training was on distraction ... I don't think I'll ever forget about that one.  As missionaries we get to see little miracles all the time which is our little tender mercies during the trials we go through.  I am grateful for Timothy's decision to be baptized and can't wait to see what other miracles we will witness.

Many Thanks!!!

Sister Shelley Willden