"Ye Must Press forward..." 2 Nephi 31:20

Hokay hokay hokay hokay!!  What's crackalackin Fam?!  As always its was great to hear from you guys! So let's begin. This week had some mission high lights and some mission low lights. First off. There is this lady in our ward who is pretty pretty less active and I'm pretty sure it'd be appropriate to say rather inactive. We have visited her in the past and she was a pretty cool, military veteran, very independent and really stern. After disrict meeting on Wednesday we had some plans to contact former investigators and potential investigators but we felt like we needed to visit her. So we went, and when we show up she was in a lot of pain. Through talking with her we could tell that she was pretty out of it and the whole time she kept clutching her stomach. Elder Wengreen, wanting to be a doc when he grows up and knowing a thing or two, felt her stomach and against her wishes we called 911 because she had passed out and woken up but was really incoherent and just out of it. So the paramedics came, checked her out, and rushed her to the nearest hospital. So that was pretty intense but it gets even better. We get a call later that night from her home teacher who went and visited her in the hospital. What happened was she had been drinking, drinking a ton because she wanted to get away from the misery of missing her husband who passed away this past November. The doc said if she wouldn't have come to the hospital she would've died because her old body couldn't take all the alcohol that she put into it. It was pretty awesome to play a part in helping someone out through a decision that they made that would've changed their life for the worse and in this case ended her life. 

President Toombs is also cracking down on some rules. We are no longer allowed to have workout programs like p90x (so austin I need you to hook a brotha up because sit up and pushups every day are killing me!).  Also. Our music has tightened down. The rule is now if we could play it as a musical number in sacrament meeting then it's a go. So I have some cd's that are coming home.  And here's the heartbreaker rule. President said musical instruments are a no go. Can't have them. If we get caught going against any of these rules then we have 3 strikes and on the 3rd strike we're gonna be sent to our hometown so not wanting to go home for playing my guitar here's what went down. Got the rules at 2:57pm on Saturday.  Spent 2:57-3:15pm traveling to our house.  Spent 3:15-3:33pm packing up all the "now-contraband" and from 3:33-3:57pm Wengreen and I drove to the post office and mailed my Jasmine (my guitar) home. So all in all we got the call and 1 hour and $26.14 later we sent home the goods.

It's a bummer that they're gone now but it's good too on the other hand because now I don't feel like bathsheeba for my guitar chillin in the basement anymore. So there's some news for ya. The area I'm in is still pretty hard. With it being only Elder Wengreen and I there is a lot more work to do. There were a few low light moments that I mentioned earlier. We had a couple of investigators with baptism dates who were progressing very well and they both called and dropped us. One had family that said they'd disown him if he continued meeting with us and the other got invovled with anti from one of her friends. So we're trying to stop by and visit them to resolve concerns but so far we haven't had any luck. It was a bummer to say the least. With everything that has gone on in this area since the first week I got here, aka all the people that we have found, taught, and then been dropped by or people that aren't progressing, I've thought a lot about lessons that I'm supposed to learn. And dad I think the letter that you sent about positive thinking was sent in perfect timing. I came out on the mish wanting to be this  stud Moroni, Ammon, and Parley Pratt -stat type of missionary.  I knew that trials and adversity are for our learning and growth and to draw us nearer to our Savior.  But it's another thing to live it.  Haha I had to take a step back this week when I was most frustrated, which was right after the calls we got that dopped us, and realize, with an eternal perspective, what I am learning through this, what the positives are. I loved that scripture you shared Dad, 2 Nephi 31:20  where it talks about pressing forward with a perfect brightness of hope and of love of God and of all men. It applies perfectly to me right now. So I'm continually learning and right now I'm learning about faith, patience, steadfastness, and hope. This week we're going to tear it up. Aka we're going to work our bahooty tooties off to put in the effort and faith so we can't start watching miracles happen!  Hope you all have a good week!  Take care of my Jasmine for me. Oh gosh that's sad. Haha but really have a great week, keep making each other smile, keep making all the people you run into smile and keep shining the light!  Let me know if there is anything I can do for you guys! 

Elder Traasdahl