I stink at coming up with subjects....

Well I have so much to write but so little time to do it. This week has flown by...but so much happened! Tuesday we went to a leadership training in Birmingham. Can I say how much I love President Holzapfel?? He is one of the smartest men I have ever met. Yet he is so humble. You can just tell how much he loves each and everyone of his missionaries. I learned so much that day. Later that night we had a sisters training. He told us how much he loved the sisters and that is why Sister Stahly and I were in his mission, because he specifically requested more sisters. When we are assigned to our missions, we are assigned to our mission presidents. I can see how I needed to be in Alabama, not only because there was a work here for me to do but because I needed to here the things that President said in those meetings. Anyways...I left with a resolve to work harder and to do better. And it changed everything. We have a lot of new guidelines to follow. The first presidency has changed a lot of the way missions are run in the south. But it is because an "unprecedented harvest" will come from it. We track from sun up to sun down and then we are required to teach. If we don't have people to teach then we find members and less actives to teach. It is hard and tiring, but I really can see that it is going to work. I know that I won't be here for long, but it is an honor to be here at the start of this change....a change that will affect home. Tracting has gotten so much better. I know it is my attitude. Attitude is really everything. We have had a few people that just invited us into their home. Both people commented that they never invite strangers into their home, but that they just recognized something different in us. It was amazing to see the light that came into their eyes as we talked to them. Ruth even started crying. It was such a testimony builder to me of what it is I am doing. It really is amazing. There are people that are prepared to hear what we have to say. It doesn't really matter what or how we say it, because they are just ready to hear, love, and accept it. That is a comfort and a definte drive to keep on knocking. Madison is a beautiful town. My only complaint is their lack of side walks. Riding bikes in a skirt, is scary buisness. Oh this week I stepped on a dead rabbit. enough said about that. Thanksgiving was great. Sister Stahly, Muncy, Black, and I made about 100 pumpkin cookies and delivered them to all the people we know in town. It was fun to see all the neighbors and people that we have met from walking around. That is one thing I love about being a missionary. You are required to talk to everyone. They expect it of you. And you meet so many people. People are fascinating. I ate too much on Thanksgiving. Luckily Sister Muncy decided that we would only do one Thanksgiving instead of going to the thousand other invites we got. All the women in the madison ward are so excited to have four sisters. They are always inviting us to eat and always feeding us way more than we need. (luckily are walking and biking makes up for it). But it is nice to have their support. Anyway...I ate way to much for thanksgiving. It was the fanciest Thanksgiving meal I had ever seen. I had no idea what all the different utensils were for. The food was good (not as good as grandma and daddy's). The pie was the best I have ever had....and that was my downfall. Seriously. I have never nor will I ever have pie like the pie Brother Riley made. I thought I was going to puke that night. Luckily I didn't. I just laid on our nasty bathroom (cigarette smelling because of our lovely neighbors) floor. It was good though because I realized that it very much needed to be cleaned. Soo lets see. We are teaching quite a few people right now, but I will just write about a few. First there is Chris. Haha Chris is a character. He is sooo smart. He knows the Bible backwards and forwards. He has so many questions. Which is good. Very good. Anyway in our last lesson he was saying that there was no way he would read the Book of Mormon, because it went against everything he believed. It didn't matter what we verses we read in the Bible to back it up. It didn't matter what we said. He wanted nothing to do with it because God gave us a bible and that is all that he would give us...So I decided that we would read 2 Nephi 29. haha after I finished reading, He was quiet for quite some time and then said ok...I will read one chapter. He then went on to say that he recognized that we had truth with us, but that he couldn't renounce the truth that he had already found. SO while he would read one chapter it wouldn't change his mind. My response to him: Life consists of a series of steps we take in search for truth. It doesn't mean the step you have taken are insignificant, but maybe just that you have a few more to take. He looked at me for quite some time..."Dang girl...where did you come from?" haha and then decided he would read the entire book. We are also teaching a girl named Lynette. The senior missionaries found her, but decided sister Sthaly and I would be able to connect better with her so we have been teaching her almost everyday this week. She has had such a rough life. A lot of it coming from decisions she has made, but she has a desire to change. It has been amazing watching her open up to us. It has been amazing seeing the light that she has started to bring with her everytime she meets with us. She doesn't understand everything yet, but she recognizes that this is where the Lord wants her to be and has committed to be baptized on December 18th. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I seriously couldn't stop smiling all night. I can't stop smiling writing this. I told her then that if she lives what the Gospel of Christ preaches that she will see a change in her and her family. That she will feel the burdens be lifted and the strength to do whatever it is that is brought her way. I can't wait to see that come true, because if she keeps the way she is going- it will. Being a missionary is nothing like I imagined. Sometimes I literally have to pinch myself to check that it is real. It is so hard. There are days when I seriously just want to drive on home (haha for some reasons they assigned me as the driver of the mission car...that we can hardly use but when we do I drive...scary I know). But for the most part I love it so much that the fact that I am almost at my three month mark makes me sad. You don't have to worry about anything out here other than your relationship with God and your investigator's relationship with him. You just wake up everyday and work your hardest, pray for miracles, and thank God for each small one you see. Because if you are aware of them, you see so many of them. It is the most amazing and most wonderful privilege to be here in Alabama serving the Lord. Thank you so much for making this possible. I love ya'll so much. Love, Sister McKenzie Powell