8/26/13

It has been a crazy week. But it sounds like you guys have had a pretty good one too! I'm so excited for Rex! That is so awesome! Please tell me you guys took some pics!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Wednesday was transfers. I got my new Trainee! She is great! Sis. Trussel is 19 from the Seattle area. She is super sweet. Such a hard worker. She couldn't wait to get out and start tracting and finding new investigators to teach. I love it! It's what I need right now. So they have taken my district and split it into 3, so it's been really different. Instead of having 7 companionships in my district there are now 3. SO WEIRD! but it's exciting! The ward is really excited to have elders!
Leilani's baptism was this weekend. it was insane! So Leilani picked out a few mormon messages to show while she was changing and everyone was just chilling in the chapel. We mistakenly told the zone leaders about this and they told us they didn't want us to, that we needed to share a message about the restoration. DUH! one of the mormon messages is on the restoration... I really get frustrated when elders think that because I am a sister I haven't thought things through, that I don't have a clue what I am talking about... So I was all stressed out about that, we ended up doing it anyway because that's what the spirit told me would be better. and it turned out that a nonmember wanted to know where we got them because she wanted to use them in her sunday school class at her church! ha! So that was the first thing. then we get there and start setting up and the bishop wanted to have the meeting in the relief society room instead of the chapel because he didn't think that there would be enough people to fill it. wrong. we had everyone squeezing into the relief society room and then had to move everyone down the hall to the chapel anyway because there were so many people there. then Bro. Hildebrand starts setting up the projector to show the videos and finds out that he didn't bring them from home. so we had to quicky (as the service was going on) download the videos and get them ready to show. Then one of the speakers didn't show up until right before and she needed some props and it was just crazy. She had pictures up in chapel that definitely should not have been shown in the chapel representing "the world". The actually ordinance went great! Leilani did so good! The spirit was definitely there. The videos went well. then it was her turn to get up and say a few words. which she actually surprised me. She bore her simple testimony and thanked everyone for coming. it was awesome! THen yesterday at the confirmation things got crazy again! Bro. Hildebrand didn't quite understand what he needed to do to confirm her. he messed up and had to do it again and the blessing he gave her was very strange. A lot of things mentioned about the devil.... But at the end of the day she had been baptized and confirmed!

BUt that's not all folks! I get home and carol, her mom, calls me screaming and crying saying Leilani doens't want to come back anymore and that people need to practice what they preach. Apparently kids in Sunday school were making fun of her about something and it was just terrible. I had no idea what to do. So i just explained that the church is perfect, the people in it aren't. I think that helped, and she seemed to calm down. I talked to Leilani and she was doing better. I talked to their home teacher who is the former bishop and is now on the high counsel about it. He talked to carol and I think things are a lot better now. WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST BE NICE AND GET A LONG?!?!?!!?!?!?!? I think everything is fine now though.

I called our mission doctor, because I am still sick and running a fever. He thinks I have bronchitis. great.

So things here have been a hot mess.

but the church is still true! and I have really enjoyed getting to work! I have been taking a lot of naps, being sick is making me so exhausted. But I have loved getting to work with Sis. Trussel. There are 2 new sisters in our apartment. Sis. Gardner and Greenwood are great! They are so wonderful and hard working and I'm really excited to be working with them.

Love you guys! thanks for all the support! you're the best!

 

I'm sending a few pics. One is of the baptism. then there is a pic of Sis. O'D's and I's favorite elders - so fun! Then there is a pic of my MTC district minus one sister

8/5/13

WOW! craziness back home sounds like! I'm glad to hear you're all doing well though! I'm so happy for Katie! I hope you took some pictures or send me some from Facebook when they get put up!

This week has been a little ridiculous... Sis. Astle's migraines have been getting worse. She looked at her planner and did the math. In the last month she has been able to work a complete day 6 times. 6 days out of the  month we have gotten up at 6:30 and worked until 9:30. I didn't realize it was that few. I have been going on exchanges with sis. O'D while her companion has been sick too. So I have been working and didn't realize it had been that bad. We had interviews with President on Wednesday. I love him. He always makes me feel better. We talked about sis. Astle and how things have been going. I really love her. She is such a great companion. I feel so awful that she is suffering the way she is. President talked to me about the missionary schedule and how if she can't keep it she can't be a missionary. It made me so sad to hear that. She wants to be here, she is a great missionary! But her health isn't allowing it. So Thursday night she got a really bad migraine and we went to see the Chiropractor Friday morning - that did nothing. He is pulling at strings now trying not to lose a patient. He told her that he thinks it's a gluten intollerance. No. So we called her doctor, which the chiropractor advised us not to do (idiot), and they were able to get her in. They prescribed her some new meds and told her that if that doesn't work that they will send her to a nuerologist. So we got home and she went to bed and I called sis. Vellinga to let her know how everything went. (she is the health coordinator/nurse of the mission) She told me that if they do say she needs to go to a nuerologist they will send her home to do that. great....

Also on Friday - craziness with Sis. Benson. She has been sick for 3 weeks now tomorrow. The doctor thinks it that bug that has only hit a few states that hits the stomach really bad. So they prescribed her the only thing that they know of that will kill it. turns out she is allergic to that medicine... So Friday afternoon she took a trip to the ER. They put her on more medication and it was just making things worse. She just kept pressing on though! We tried to go to Sacrament meeting yesterday, but she had to leave right after it was passed because she was about to pass out. Then we found out that her dad has really bad reactions to the steroid they gave her and she started having the same thing and it got really bad last night. SO sis. Vellinga told us to take another trip to the ER. (I forgot to tell you about sis. O'D first - you need this info first. She has been put on medication for sleeping/anti-anxiety for her breathing problems - the doc thinks it is related to stress. So while all of this is happening last night we realize that she had already taken this medicine which knocks her out and leaves her pretty much drunk. so she couldn't take sis. Benson to the ER) So I got to go the ER last night around 12:00. I really did not like this doctor, and I'm pretty sure he knew it (thanks mom). He told her that she was worrying herself sick and was making her symptoms occur - false. She had just gotten a blessing right before and wasn't freaking out at all. AH! It was so frustrating. anyway... we got home around 2 and she was hungry so i popped in some cinnamon rolls and we hung out for a little bit while she kind of calmed down. 3 AM rolled around and I was finally in bed.
Sis. Astle also talked to her parents and president last night and they have decided that if at the end of this transfer she is not doing better they are going to send her home. I am so sad.

But other than that not much has been happening. Leilani is still on track for baptism though!!! so that's great!

Being a missionary was hard this week, but I still love this calling! I love seeing the Lord's tender mercies every day and getting to enjoy this gospel in this way.

love you all!!!
Hope you have a great week!
Rachel

7/29/13

It has been an okay week. Sis. Astle went to a Chiropractor last week and today to try and fix the headaches. I really like this chiropractor! He is way cool and definitely knows what he is doing. They keep trying to get me to become a patient - they are better salesmen than we are I think! haha! But they are really nice. It's always fun trying to explain to people what we do when they have never heard of Mormons before! Lots of different reactions...

 

Sis. Benson is still sick. It's been about 12 days now. She has been to a doctor and he thinks it's a virus but is still waiting on blood work. She is miserable. I feel so bad for her. We are trying to go on exchanges when we can so that they keep their area going. It's been crazy...

 

We did experience a miracle of sorts this week though! So Leilani Cain is the daughter of recent converts, the one I don't really have the patience for but Sis. Astle and her have really hit it off. Well things have been kind of progressing with her and she is warming up to us more and more. She has some sweet moments, which makes me start to like her more and more. But we were texting her on Thursday and out of no where she tells us she wants to get baptized. WHAT?!?!!?!? It was crazy! We were like, "really? that's awesome!" and she was like yah, for real, and I want to do it before you both leave. (there is a good chance I will be leaving on the 21st). so we told her that and she said I still want to do it. So Leilani Cain, the girl I always had a hard time with who I never thought was going to go anywhere anytime soon wants to get baptized on August 17th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As soon as Leilani texted us that we got our knees and said a prayer of gratitude. I was humbled. Leilani has been making a lot of progress. I just keep thinking about the day when her parents get sealed next year in February and now Leilani can be part of that day. SO AWESOME!!!! I'm so happy for their family. We are also trying to creatively teach her. She doesn't like school and doesn't like being taught so we are trying to figure out the best way to help her progress. Leilani is OBSESSED with rollercoasters and goes to Ceder Point all the time. She can talk about roller coasters for HOURS!!! So we are at the point where we teach the Plan of Salvation lesson. We made a plan of salvation roller coaster out of q-tips and toothpicks!!! It is SO LEGIT!  When we get done with it tonight I will send pics. It is pretty incredible. I am very proud of our roller coaster making abilities. I can't wait for her to see it tonight!

 

We had kind of a bold/serious lesson with Tome at the begining of last week. We told him that we had a purpose and expectations. We told him that he needs to stop "trying" and starting doing. We told him we need to see a little bit more commitment from him. We were also loving though. But we haven't been able to get a hold of him since... We are going to try stopping by tonight and see what's going on.

 

James Jackson is funny. The ward had a Pioneer Day barbeque and he came to it. He met lots of members and had a good time but then didn't show up to church on Sunday. WHAT?! I don't know what is going on with him... We might need to have a come to Jesus meeting with him too...

But we are trying to find some new people still. We are also trying to visit more less-actives and part member families and see what kinds of referrals we can get there a long with bringing them back to activity.

 

The weather here has been incredible!!! 70's for the past week or so! I AM LOVING IT!!!! We've even had to put on jackets a few nights! And a lot people have been telling me that the heat doesn't get close to St. Louis, so that made me happy too! I should be able to handle this no problem!

 

So transfers are coming up in about 3 weeks - the 21st. I am excited and at the same time not really. I am nervous to leave my first area. This is all I know and I don't want to leave the people here who I have come to love! It's going to be so hard leaving  Massillon. I am also so sad to leave Sis. Astle. I have really come to love her and I am going to miss her SO much. I am finally back in a companionship where I really enjoy my companion. I don't want to leave yet!!!! But I know the Lord needs me other places so I just have to trust in that.

 

I love being a missionary. There are some times when I think "why in the world did I choose to do this?" but most of the time I am so grateful I chose to do this. I love being a part of people's lives in a way that I would never have been able to. I love being a student in the gospel. I love LEARNING! I never thought I would say that. i love studies. I love being able to feel Heavenly Father's love for His children. I love being able to see myself change as I apply His gospel to my own life. I love that I love reading the Book of Mormon - also something I never thought I would say. I never thought it was something that I would be able to do and actually understand. I love being a representative of Christ. He represented me while He was suffering and now I have a chance to represent Him.

 

I love you all and miss you all so much!!!!!

Rachel

7/1/13

Sounds like you guys have been busy and are only going to be getting busier! sounds like its all fun though!

Things here have been a little crazy! Monday night Sis. O'Driscoll still wasn't better and so we took her to an urgent care and they told us we needed to go to the ER. So we got the ER around 7:00 and around 10:00 they finally took us back to see a doctor and then sent us back out to the waiting room until a room opened up. We had all 4 of us so we had a member come up around 9:30 and take our trainees home so they could get some sleep. I stayed with Sis. O'D. We finally got back to do some tests around 12. They had her do some chest xrays and made her hold her breath and she blacked out... So that wasn't good. Then we finally got back to a room and they couldn't figure out what was going on so at 2 in the morning they sent us home with an inhaler... We got home around 2:30 and our zone leaders came over and gave her a blessing. I love our zone leaders! THey are awesome! They stayed up all night talking to us and making sure that we were okay and didn't need anything. Then we had district meeting in the morning and they got up at 6:30 and had a regular day! I couldn't believe that they were working on less than 4 hours of sleep! They are incredible! Sis O'D and I slept in till 9 - probably never going to happen again! But it was nice. Sis. O'D is stilll having some trouble, but she is getting better. Her mom set up some doctor's appointments and is meetin with a specialist this week, so hopefully we figure out what's going on soon!

So that kind of through off the begining of our week. But we have had some great things happen! We met with James and he is doing great! Still reading the BOM! He would have been at church yesterday but went out of town for the weekend, hopefully he comes this next Sunday! We also had a great lesson with Rachael! Her dad was there, he is inactive, and 2 of her friends were there too - Cat and Brittany! Brittany said she wants to be Mormon! They all left Sunday morning for a trip and will be back next Sunday night, so we gave them all Books of Mormon. They said that all they do on family vacations is read so we thought that would be a great thing for them all to read together! We are really excited to see how it goes. Rachael's dad - bro. Bennett, said, "yah, if I get my act together, I could even baptize Rachael!" It was so awesome! He realizes he needs to do some work but he is willing to do it! I think this is going to be great! I can't wait for them to get back so we can keep teaching them.

Yesterday was probably the 2nd best day of my mission so far! (the first is the Rohrer's baptism of course!) Yesterday was the Mission President's Fireside for the Akron Stake. Let me just preface this whole thing by explaining to you how difficult it is teach our investigator Tom Townsend. Sometimes I feel like I am teaching nursery. His attention span is about 10 seconds - no exageration. We were teaching him the plan of salvation and he couldn't get past pre-earth life. We explained to him about 5 times that in pre-earth life we lived with Heavenly Father and that we chose to come to the Earth. He was so lost. We got to Adam and Eve and then just gave up. I have never taught so simply on my mission and he still wasn't getting it. He's really funny about it, after our lessons I tend to just laugh because I go away not knowing if understood anything we talked about. Anyway, we have been trying to get Tom to come to church for about a month now and we haven't gotten anywhere. He says church reminds him of funerals. But then we found out he LOVES church music and we told him about the Fireside and that we were going to be singing at it. He sounded more interested in that but I didn't know if he would actually come or not. But we called a member that he has met before and they got a long really well and we asked if he would pick Tom up, of course he said yes, so we were just waiting for Tom to say yes. So last night we called the member and he said that, after a little coaxing, Tom said that he was coming! I ALMOST CRIED I WAS SO HAPPY!  We have been working SO HARD to try and get Tom to the church or to progress in any way! And we were so close, we just had to make sure that he showed up! AND HE DID!!!! The Fireside was phenomenal! It was perfect! Pres. Vellinga and Pres Talley (the stake president) both spoke. Pres. Vellinga spoke about the Restoration and about Kirtland and how Jesus Christ has been here in Oho and how this is all in our back yards! It was great! Tom loved it! He can't wait to go to Kirtland! And then Pres. Talley spoke about the book of Mormon and how it needs to be a part of our lives. He talked about how Christ asked the Pharisees and Sudjucees and all of them "What think ye of Christ?" I love this question. Becase it makes me think about what I really think of Christ. and then Pres. Talley said the question he wished to pose to us was "what think ye of the Book of Mormon?" Before my mission I would have said not much, I knew it was true and I knew what it was about, but I didn't know the Book of Mormon or thought what I think about it now. I love that Book and I don't live a day without reading it. It is a road map of how to live my life so that I can be with my Heavenly Father forever, and why wouldn't we want to read that? Why wouldn't we want all the answers? It was great! THen they had recent converts bare their testimony and Brandon Rohrer was aksed to bear his. As he was bearing his testimony I just cried, the whole time. I was so grateful that I had been blessed to be a part of his story and to have been able to get to know them. It just made me so happy to hear his testimony and know that I had been a successful missionary, that I had been a tool in our Lord's hand. I know that none of what the Rohrers have accomplished is because of me. It has all happened because they chose to let the Savior's love into their lives and to choose Him. The spirit was their teacher and He is the one that converted them, I was just a long for the ride. It was an awesome moment to see Brandon up there! I love that kid! 

The music that night was PERFECT! There was a member in the Akron ward that sang this gorgeous medley of Lead Kind Light and I Need Thee Every Hour. Then I sang with Sis. Benson (sis. O'D's comp) and our old zone leaders before they split our zone. We sang Be Still My Soul. The arrangement was beautiful and the accompaniment was insane! It turned out really well! I wish you guys could have heard it! Then as the closing hymn they had all of the missionaries and the youth come up and sing I Know THat My Redeemer Lives. I'm crying right now thinking back on that moment. The spirit was incredible. Like POWER HOUSE levels of the spirit. It felt like a taste of Heaven - seriously. I want to feel like that all the time! After it was over we asked Tom what he thought. He LOVED it! He understood what was happening, he was paying attention, he loved the music, and HE WANTS MORE! I can't wait for him to come to church on Sunday! He got to meet Pres. Vellinga and our bishop and our ward mission leader and a bunch of members. Pres. Vellinga knows exactly what to say. It was perfect, simply perfect. We are teaching Tom tonight and I can't wait to go see him and find out more of what he thought about last night! I can't wait to let you know how it goes!

I love this gospel! I know it is true! It is a message of hope, peace, and change! I LOVE CHANGE! Change is the coolest thing in the world!

I love you guys all so much and I am so grateful for all of your support and love! It keeps me going out here!

Take another trip out to the lake for me!!!!

6/24/13

Last night was crazy!!!!! I am so excited about these changes that will be happening soon! It was really funny, last week at ward council we were trying to think of ways that the members could get more excited about missionary work and sharing the gospel with their friends and neighbors and then last happened! BOOM! That got taken care of! How could you watch last night's broadcast and not want to share the gospel?!?!? IT'S SO EASY!!! Just be a follower of Christ! It was awesome!

I enjoyed the update on the family! I am so jealous you got to spend all that time with the kiddos! I miss them so much! Keep sending pics! I love them!

The work here is going well! We have been teaching a lot of less actives and members this week. BUt we also set 2 baptismal dates! One with our new investigator James Jackson. He is this happy adorable black older man! We love him! He's pretty laid back and doesn't seem totally comitted, but we're going to change that! And then our other one is with a former investigator, Rachael Bennett. Her dad is inactive and so is her brother. The rest of the family aren't members. Rachael has met with 4 different sets of missionaries, but never sisters. So we are so excited to start teaching her again! She knows the gospel is true, she's just never been very dilligent with it. We're going to change that too!!! We haven't had too much success with our investigator Tom. He's SUPER insecure and doesn't like change at all. He smokes and drinks coffee, things that we will also be changing. He's such a great man and we know this is exactly what he needs right now, we are having a hard time getting him to understand that though. But we know in time he will get it. I think that's the hardest thing for people when they begin investigating the gospel - change! THat's what it's all about! Even though it is hard it is SO WORTH IT!!! I love change!

THings with my companion are going good. Sis. Astle is a hard worker! She's great. She has a lot of "19 year old" moments, but they usually make me laugh or I just ignore them... :)

So sis. O'Driscoll has had some breathing problems while on her mission. She had a bad attack in the MTC and they almost didn't let her come out. And then she had a REALLY bad one the night we got here. She started having one Saturday night again. It was kind of scary so we called Sis. Vellinga (she is in charge of all of the health stuff). She put President on the phone and we finally got her breathing calmed down. Then President gave a blessing OVER THE PHONE! it was so awesome!!!!!!!!!! THen he was kind of bearing his testimony to us. He told us that he knows that we are not alone in that apartment. It was great. The spirit was really strong.
I know that the Lord's hand is in this work. I know that this is His gospel. I feel His love for the people around us every day. It's incredible to be an instrument in His hands and experience the feelings of love that we do. It's one of my favorite parts of being a missionary. It's also one of the most frustrating things because people break your heart so much easier now! haha! But I love this work!

So I LOVED your package!!!!!!!!! The cookies are almost all gone! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!! Just what we needed! I loved the cd! lol! That was great! Do you know what cd you sent me? You'll have to look at the pics to find out! lol! We were all laughing so hard! It was great.

THank you all so much! I love you guys and miss you all a TON!!!!

Rachel

6/17/13

I love getting the updates about the family! I hope Haleigh is doing alright! I was laughing out loud as I was reading this. The people in the library here are looking at me weird... but I thought that was hilarious! I'm glad to hear you guys are having some missionary opportunities! That's awesome!!!

This week has been great! I feel like I am finally adjusted and I'm really starting to love this! The Lord is blessing me in so many ways! Training is going well. Sis. Astle is great! We have had some opportunities this week to really bond. Nothing huge, I have just come to be very grateful for her this week. I really love her, she's awesome. I sent a pic of us - it's a bad pic, but it's a pic.

We have 2 new investigators this week! We met Diamond and her bf/husband? while we were out tracting last week. Diamond seems pretty interested! We are excited to start teaching her. We will go see her again on Wednesday. and then we met James! He is this old, adorable, tiny, black man who is the happiest person I have met in a long time! He requested a Bible back in 2008 and hasn't seen the missionaries since then, so we stopped by and he wants to come to church and learn more! We are excited. We are seeing him again tonight. We are also working with Tom Townsend. We met him a few months ago and started acutally teaching him a few weeks ago. He is awesoeme! He's an older guy in his 70's, he is really lonely. All of his sibbings and parents have died within the last 6 years and most of his buddies are gone too. So going to church reminds him of death and funerals - the church building, dressing up, and the organ. So we're trying to figure out a way to help him. He doesn't understand his purpose and why we are here. It's so sad and it makes me so grateful for the knowledge that we have as members of the church! People that don't know about the Plan of Salvation are so lost and confused and it's so sad!

We had a training meeting in Kirtland on Friday! I love Kirtland! It is such a sacred place and the spirit is ALWAYS there. I can't wait for you guys to see it and to be here. It's incredible. I never knew much about Kirltand or thought much of it, but it is such an important part of the church's history. This area is so important to the Lord. There was a general authority that came to the mission a while back and told the missionaries that Joseph Smith himself had a hand in picking the missionaries that would serve in this mission. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to serve in the Ohio Cleveland Mission. So many amazing things have happened here! This is where the Savior appeared several times! I love it!

This month we are having a Mission President's Fireside at our building! I can't wait! Pres. Vellinga and Pres. Talley (our stake pres.) are both going to be speaking! I can't wait for the stake and for all of our investigators to get to meet these amazing men! I love them both! and then 2 elders, another sister and I will be doing a musical number. I am excited for it - we are singing a beautiful arrangement of Be Still My Soul. It should be great!

Overall things here are great! I am loving being a missionary! I think one of my favorite parts is being able to feel the love that Lord has for His children every time we teach. It's incredible.
Well I love you guys and miss you all so much!

Rachel

6/3/13

SOOO much has happened in the last week! Wednesday was transfers. We got there early and I was able to see Sis. Dahle again!!! That made me so happy! I have missed her so much! Then all of the trainers (there were 23 of us) went into the nursery room in the Kirtland Stake Center and waited. and waited and waited. Then President walked in and told us all of our new companions had just arrived from the Kirtland sites and were about to walk in. I started hyperventalating! It was awful, I thought I might pass out. But then all 23 new missionaries walked in and stood at the front of the room. They all had pictures of their companions, so they knew who they were with and where they would be going. So President told them to go find their trainers and Sis. Astle came to me! Sis. Mayson Astle is from Provo Ut, is blonde, and is 19 years old. She is adorable! She makes me laugh - a lot. She is very smart, very sweet, and very genuine. She has a talent of connecting with people that I don't have the patience to connect with. She's great! She is very young, though. It's been interesting.

Also at transfers - they split my zone! It was crazy! They completely re-arranged who is in our district and our zone! It will be interesting to hang out with the elders later today and get to know the new ones!

It's been a long week - trying to get Sis. Astle acclamated. I can't tell yet if she likes me or not, which is difficult for me because I don't know if there's something that I need to change. But I realized that I just need to focus on the work. If I focus on the work I won't need to worry about anything else. I am not here to make friends - that is just an added bonus. I am here to bring His children unto Christ. And hopefully I can do that for Sis. Astle as well.

Yesterday was an awesome Sunday! Sis Bell is the sister that I replaced when I came to Massillon. She is still EVERYONE'S favorite missionary. And for good reason - she is an incredible missionary! I love her so much! But this was her last transfer and she is going home, so she came to the Massillon ward with her family to say goodbye to everyone. Because it was fast and testimony meeting, everyone got up and bore their testimonies about missionary work. The spirit was so strong! It was really exciting to see the ward's reaction to missionary work. Sis. Tribett - the relief society president - asked Sis. Astle and I to give the lesson in RS about fellowship and how important it is for members and nonmembers. It was a great lesson to prepare for and one that I feel this ward has needed for a while. The RS had a really great discussion about it and I hope to see them apply it! That's something that I have learned - becoming more like the Savior and truly becoming His is all in the application. That's how the change occurs!

It's been fun to hear Sis. Astle tell me about what she is going through right now because it helps me remember how far I've come. It's difficult to love this work right off the bat, it's hard to stay awake, it's hard to feel like you're here for a reason. I remember thinking the exact same things and wondering if I was ever going to make it home - a year and a half felt like an eternity! I don't know how to explain it, but one day I woke up and everything was different. I love this work. I can wake up at 6:30 and be excited about it! I know why I am here. I am so grateful that the Lord has answered my prayers and has helped me to get to this point. I would rather be here right now than anywhere else. Granted - there are bad times. I'm not saying everyday is rainbows and sunshine. This is still REALLY hard. But now I know that there will always be good days too.

Well I hope you guys are doing well! I hope the family is great and that you guys are enjoying summer! I hope the folk dance project went well and it turned out great! I can't wait to see some video!

Love you guys so so so much!

Rachel