July 31st, 2012

Hey you guys!

Hmm.. Even though I knew it was coming, it's still strange to only get one e-mail in a week... I hope Dad and the rest of the gang are traveling safely and especially hope that they will enjoy being so close to Utah :). Hahaha.

Anyways! So this past week has just been... Well, probably one of the best weeks I've had in Mount Lewis so far. We taught 15 lessons last week, and we're leading the zone in teaching right now. In the past 2 days we've committed 3 more people for baptism, and all of them accepted! AND - Amy got baptized on Saturday! It was such an awesome baptism. She's like.. 8 and a half months pregnant, so she had to wear the most billowy baptismal dress I've ever seen.. But almost all of her and her husband's families showed up to support her, and almost all of them are less-active. Amy's mother was a member of the church, but never went... So that's why she was never baptized. Her older sister joined the church after marrying an active member; and it was because of her older sister inviting Amy to meet with missionaries that all of this happened. The relief society president and many other members of the ward came to support her and many of them gave her gifts - including a new set of scriptures with her name on it, if that answers your question Mom! The Spirit there was so strong... After she was baptized she came out of the water and was crying because of the Spirit that was there. We confirmed her that day and she cried during the whole thing. I've never met someone who is so sensitive to the Spirit. She and her husband will be awesome members of the church, and they are well on their way to going to the temple in a year.

Hmm.. What else happened last week... We've been biking so much lately. Yesterday we almost biked 20 miles (which is kind of incredible considering the size of our area..). This is compounded even more by the fact that our entire area is on a hill; very literally. We can go from the far east side of our area to the far west side of our area without pedaling even once. So biking home at night is pretty miserable... The hill we live on is one of the steepest most miserable roads I've ever seen. I want to meet the guy who thought that our road was a good idea and hit him in the face. Walking it was pretty bad but biking it is just horrible. I'll probably be picking out my new bike today - I might just grab one of the mid-range Wal-mart bikes since I had second thoughts on paying $500 on one from the bike shop... Thank you for sending me the extra money :) haha.. I wondered what your reaction would be when I texted you yesterday... I figured if I kept it straight to business then you wouldn't be emotionally affected too much... Fingers crossed.

It's weird that I can't think of anything else to say.. I hope my letters aren't getting TOO brief for you guys. The fact that I e-mailed on Wednesday just made it seem like so much less happened! We're still actively working to set up 4 lessons every single day and the amount of work we're getting done is skyrocketing. We've got so many lessons set up this week... Even if half of them fall through, we use that extra time to re-visit bishops and auxiliaries to see what we can do to help the missionary work  progress in every single ward. It's been tough to try and mobilize the members and leaders in this area... They're all wonderful people - but they're very set in their ways and as a result we have to do 90% of the work for every investigator. Which I truly don't mind.. It's just a problem when we turn the new convert over to the ward and they have no one to hold on to. I love working hard; doing 90% of the legwork in missionary work is exhausting mentally and physically, but it's also exhilarating and rewarding spiritually. We're hoping to pick up 2 more baptismal dates tonight, so keep up your prayers! :)

Mom - Was going to church alone as awesome as traveling alone? Skype seminary sounds pretty awesome. I'd do it. Well.. I'd do anything over 3 years of home study. I hated that so much. I wish I had had a more positive experience of seminary... But I'm glad for the opportunity I have to study my scriptures every day on my mission. It's definitely making up for some lost time. I'd much rather you e-mail me than write letters... E-mailing is just far easier and regardless of how much time I have to be at the computer I can pump out a much bigger message than I'd ever have the patience to write down physically. I was not wearing my suit in the parade... And I haven't dry cleaned my suit since Tremonton. Oopsie daisies. Tell Annie congratulations for me! She's going to be a mommy before I even come home! That's so weird! And I swear you told me Nate was going to write me a letter like.. 6 months ago.. Hahaha. I know everyone has lives! I forgive you all! :)

Anyways. I love you all! :)

- Elder Tyler Grant