Week 63

This week was jam packed with lessons. The members here are so good at telling us of people to go see, so we have been keeping VERY busy. I normally like to talk to my roommates at night, but this last week I have crashed like a half hour or more before I needed to go to sleep. My bed here is so much more comfortable than my last bed. I didn't realize how bad that mattress was until I got a new one. It's like sleeping on a cloud every night. A weird thing about serving in the mountains is that everything is a half hour earlier. So we wake up at 5:45 everyday to go exercise and are back to the house by 8:30 to plan. I honestly think my body likes this schedule better, which I was not expecting. I think it tricks itself into thinking I am getting more sleep because I go to bed earlier. So that's a positive.

This week we had a lot of good meetings. We had a district meeting where we talked about faith and that was really nice, and then we had another meeting on Friday where I got to see a bunch of my friends that are still serving in the valley. It was way nice to see them so soon after leaving! That meeting was in Payson, which is about a two and a half hour drive from Taylor (but only because we had to go the long way to pick up some other sisters). On the way there we saw that there was some smoke but we couldn't really tell what was going on. On the way back we could see a huge forest fire. There were a bunch of fire fighters and those helicopters that drop water. It was a little freaky! There were little burning bushes right next to the road and it was so smoky. Payson looks a lot like Oregon at the gorge so it was a little freaky to have a huge fire! So that's what those pictures were from.

The forest fire on our way home from Payson

This week my companion and I had a unique opportunity to go to an addiction recovery class to help someone that was struggling. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had on my mission, which probably sounds a little weird. It was just so cool to be in a room full of people who openly accepted that they needed help from a power that was beyond their own abilities. Everyone was so open with what they were struggling with and it was an honor to sit in and feel of Christ's love for every person in the room.

We had a lot of experiences this week where we would plan our whole day out in the morning and then when we’d pull up to someone’s driveway they would get home at the same time. It was nice to see how much God is in the work and how even the simple things, like timing, we can be helped with.

Me and Sister Israelsson

This isn't the longest email ever, but there isn't too much else to report on. We continue to get a ton of corn. It's getting colder but it's not too bad. Our apartment is probably the coldest place, which is ridiculous. The other day I was wearing a dress, sweater, fleece jacket, hoodie, fuzzy socks, and had my fuzzy blanket to study. But then I went outside and it was like 80 degrees. We should probs get our thermostat checked...

Hope you all are enjoying September! Have a great week,

Sister Doxey