D&C 45:37

Dearest family!

How are you all doing?? I'm doing pretty good out here in Oklahoma. It has definitely been an interesting but fantastic week!!

Last Wednesday we had a Zone Meeting combined with interviews with President Shumway. Those are always fantastic! You get to talk with him about anything and everything you want and he will just help you with whatever you need. I got a blessing from him and it has helped me a lot and will probably continue to help me as I continue to try to work hard and be the best missionary I can be! Our Zone Meeting was pretty funny. So our Zone Leaders were instructing and we were talking about appearance as missionaries and one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Nordine, had just gotten a really bad haircut and so the other Zone Leader, Elder Atkin, started to use him as an example and Elder Nordine punched him in the jaw! I think he was just trying to be funny and not hurt him but he punched him pretty hard. He went bright red. It was pretty funny. Then yesterday, we had a zone outing in Joplin. We played flour ball again! It was so much fun!! Afterwards we went to a place called Steak&Shake...so good!!....and as we were all in line to pay, Elder Nordine asked Sister Reeves if she'd ever punched someone. She was like, yeah. Then he asked if she'd every punched someone on her mission, then I said, "In front of the whole zone?" It was so funny! He went bright red and everyone started laughing. So now it's like the zone joke. But Elder Nordine is cool with it and just laughs right along with us! :)

Anyway, back to missionary work. I feel like things are starting to pick up here in Miami. Last week we were able to see one of the investigators that the Elders had been working with. Her name is Cheyenne and she is really amazing! Her brother just recently got baptized in the Grove Ward and her mom is also investigating somewhere...not sure where exactly. But she is progressing pretty well. She hasn't been able to come to church yet because she works and can't come but she said that she has the next couple Sundays off so she'll be able to come to church. It will be so great to see her there! We are also having a lesson with her today. She has a baptism date for January 5 and so we will be giving her a "map to baptism" and probably talking about the Word of Wisdom.

We also have an investigator named James. He's read the Book of Mormon a lot but never read the book of Moroni. So when we met with him on Saturday, we challenged him to read it. On Sunday we asked him if he had read it and he said he did. We asked him if he prayed about it and he said he hadn't but that he would. So that's promising! The Elders said that he just needs to be asked to be baptized but we don't feel like he is ready for that quite yet. So we'll see how he progresses. He comes to church every week. The people he lives with are members so it's easy for him to come. He has the second cutest 4 year old ever - Eden. She is second just after Keira! :) She is so funny and reminds me a lot of Keira.

Last Wednesday, our District Leader and his companion, Elders Beard and Gurney, asked us to come to their ward's Young Womens and talk to them about personal progress and preparing for a mission. It was really great to stand there in front of a group of girls and help them know how to prepare for their missions. It was a cool experience!

Well, I love you all and hope you are doing great!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl