Get ten a day and everything will go your way! Albuquerque, NM July 15, 2013

District in ABQW zone

the one of me and my district in ABQ I am wearing my new glasses..

What a week this has been! It has been so wonderful and so full of work! So I mentioned that transfers were last week and they went so well! I learned so much and so did Sister Brown (Hello Brown family in Georgia! I hope all is well with you! You have a wonderful daughter who I look up to!). I stayed here in Vlcano and Ventana and Sister McFarland came to me. We taught some lessons and contacted a lot of people. She truly has no fear and no self doubts. It was so cool to see and so great to work with her becasue she would say "we are going to talk to that person" so we would. I would be terrified inside but then we would talk to them and it was easy! so then when Sister Brown and I were back together we went out and rocked this area talking to everyone we saw and got peoples information and found a bunch of potential investigators who we are making more formal contact with this week! Hopefully we will get some new investigators out of it! But unfortunately, that confidence lasted only .. we are both being chicken again. But we have figured out a new way to encourage us to talk to more people. We each will take five pass along cards each day and we each have to give them all away - that will give us 10 a day right now. Speaking of ten a day.. we also had a training meeting morning at the mission home for all the new missionaries (I will only fit in that category for one more week!!) and their trainers. We were taught by the assistants and also President Miller and it was so fantastic! But back to the ten a day thing.. With the old president he had set a goal for us to find 4 new investigators a week. New president upped that to 5 and he said that will be accomplished if each missionary (not companionship) contacts 10 people per day! Sister brown are working up to that- starting with 10 per day together. Next week we will be to the 10 per day per missionary. because after all - "Get ten a day and everything will go your way!" you are inspired Aaron! (I am really sorry for the inconsistency with my numbers) BUt we can really tell it will make a difference in this area. I tell you what, being on a mission sure introduces you to your weaknesses.. I have learned that I have a tremendous amount of social anxiety. I think I knew that before.. but it sure is there inside of me. Sister Brown says she hasn't noticed it but my insides are sometimes in knots. Actually, she is noticing how I cope with it though.. so y'all know how I am just weird sometimes, well that hasn't gone away so Sister Brown and I laugh a lot at nights - mostly she is laughing at me but that is perfectly okay- anyway, after we finished our weekly planning we were doing our companionship inventory (page 150 of Preach My Gospel. Step 13. Great thing - It would work really well in strengthening marriages..) and I asked her what I can improve on and she told me to not lose myself when we teach lessons. I get into a teaching mode as she calls it. And I do. That is how I have been coping with meeting new people! But I am working on opening up and letting some (not all - I would scare people that way) of my personality out when in lessons..

So all that rambling basically boils down to that I have found a new excitement for this work! Our new take on planning makes sense to my analytical head, the talking to people is exhilarating (translation:terrifying), and the work is progressing! It has reaffirmed to me that this is the place for me to be and this the work I am to be doing!
I love it!

and now a quick thing that happened this week before I sign off.. I am just amazed at the quickness of the human mind and the stream of consciousness - the other day, Sister Brown tripped the breaker in the bathroom and it made me think of when we were in Washington DC at that cute little bed and breakfast and there were four blow dryers going all at once and we blew the breaker in the whole room (Ken are you impressed I remembered that?? I am!) and then I thought of that fantastic trip we went on and how the one rule dad gave us was that we were not allowed to wear t-shirts on that whole trip and how devastated Keni and I were - Well Dad, you will be pleased to know, I only wear a t- shirt for 30 minutes each day, 5 days a week. Every other waking minute my hair is done, my makeup is on, and I am looking professional as a representative of my family and Jesus Christ.

Have a wonderful week! I love you all! 

It was pouring rain in the second picture but the sun was shining. I don't think you can see the rain.. but it was a strange morning. We played in the rain instead of exercising.. shh. don't tell.

Sister Stuart