14 Aug 13

Rollercoaster week again. Last week felt like the worst week (numbers wise) of my mission. We finished with 7 lessons. We had a big problem with appointments falling through. Really frustrating when weve set them up, confirmed, and then they still find a way to fall through. So this week we made a huge goal to be perfectly obedient in the things we can control, like getting to studies, going to bed, waking up, all that good stuff. And Monday we got 4 lessons, 3 new investigators, and set up the week super well. Its amazing to see when we really give our full effort, the Lord will do his part. Were sitting at 6 lessons for the week, and have two set up and confirmed for tonight, so we should be sitting pretty well.

Were going to have a baptism next week! This guy is super elect and ready to go. We taught him the Word of Wisdom yesterday morning, and when he read it he said "I dont use any of these things anyways, so were good!" So weve taught him two of the big three with zero problems, and were teaching tithing next so were praying everything will go well. Hes super cool though, so were not worried!

Funny story. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with some interesting investigators. At the end, we asked "What can we learn from this experience?" And one of them said "Joseph Smith didnt go to church when his preacher told him to!" It was one of those moments where I just put my head down and thought "Be patient, be patient, be patient." Were working with them though.

Funny story with the same investigators. They like to "speak English" with us aka directly translate words out of the dictionary. For example, she says "To later" when we say bye, because in Italian you say "A dopo" for "See you later." Anyways, one day they were saying "Oh my (dog)." So I told her "Actually, in America, its more common to say "Oh my goodness." So now she says oh my goodness. Thinking back, I probably should have just explained the ten commandments, but I guess we'll work on that later.

Can you believe were halfway done with this transfer? I heard a song in a store the other day that I didnt recognize, so im officially old in the mission. Time is FLYING.

Everything is going well here though! The gypsies didnt come to church, but they have a book of mormon, so thats good atleast.

Dad, thanks for the pictures! All the girls look so old. Its a little freaky to be honest. When I get home, Kate will look older than me, because I still look like im 15. Oh well! And its crazy school starts so soon. Sophie is in high school!!!!! How wrong is that? Shes still to little! And Kate is in Junior High? Mamma mia.

 Love you! Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon