July 14

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, it was another great week. Tuesday and Wednesday were relatively normal missionary days-trying to contact people and find new people to teach. It's still super hot and monsoons have started so it's also super humid. That's definitely worse than just the heat. But it is super cool to see the rain come out of nowhere. And the dust storms are pretty cool too-as long as you don't get caught in it. Haha.

Thursday our zone had interviews with President Nattress-that was pretty great. We learned a lot from our zone leaders and the assistants. And it's always great to talk to President. We've got transfers coming up next week and I know I'll definitely be getting a new companion. He said I'll probably stay in the area but no guarantees. I'll let you know for sure when I find out next week.

Friday was another interesting day. In the morning we got up and went to decorate the zone leader's car. It was funny. It was a lot like last time with "Just Married" written on it and we put cans on the back. They washed it before coming to planning, which was lame, but they thought it was funny. And then we had weekly planning and our zone was a little crazy. There was just a lot of elders running around and distracting the rest of us. It was definitely entertaining though.

And then Sunday was an interesting day too. We went to the singles ward with a recent convert in our area. That was super weird. There was a lot of awkwardness and flirting. It was super small. And I felt super out of place. So basically, I'm just a super awkward missionary now-so don't be shocked when I get home and I'm super weird. Haha.

And that was pretty much my exciting week. Nothing too exciting ever happens, so sorry my emails aren't terribly exciting.

There is one more thing I want to talk about though. So we've been having a rough past few days as a companionship and as a zone. But I remembered something that President Nattress has said, "Before any great blessing there is a great trial." So we've been dealing with a lot, but that's part of life in general. But I've been remembering that advice. If we want to see blessing we have to go through trials-so that we can learn and become stronger and better individuals. So I want to share one of my favorite scriptures with you-it's Mosiah 24:15 in the Book of Mormon.

"And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

The Lord doesn't take our problems away. We have trials and hardships so we can learn to turn to Him and trust Him to help us through them. And that's the amazing thing-we never have to go through trials alone. We always have Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ there to help us through them. They don't take our problems away, but they help us so they're not so hard. I know that's true-I know I wouldn't be able to make it through a single day without Jesus Christ and His constant love and care. And I'm so grateful for that knowledge and the chance to share it with others.

I love and miss you all a ton and hope you have a great week! Remember that Jesus Christ truly loves each one of you.

Love Always,

Baylee

P.S. I'll send pictures next week-I'm out of time today.