fun fact: MN has the largest state fair in the US

State fair with our fav Fernanda

Hola todos!

Disclaimer: only Minnesotans have claimed the subject title of this email and I have no way of Google fact checking it sooo someone please do so and lmk. But THE STATE FAIR WAS AMAZING. I can't describe it in words but it was incredible. Also I got attacked by a rabbit and I think I am going to have scars for life because of the evil thing. Pictures below...

I have officially completed my first transfer as a missionary in the field, crazy stuff. Hna. Meredith and I will be staying here in Lakeville for another transfer! Except sad day too because Elder Mcneil is leaving the Lakeville Zone. He is such a good missionary, I have an unreal amount of respect for him. Him and his companion are the best zone leaders I've ever had (and not just because they're my first). It was so nice to be welcomed by a familiar face and hopefully we'll have another chance to serve in the same area within the next year!

Okay so to be honest not a ton has happened since Wednesday but I keep remembering some things I have forgot to mention in the past few weeks so I'm going to tell you about just three things now. Hopefully you can get a little glimpse of what missionary life consists of here in Lakeville. So bear with me and forgive me for the randomness of this next part.

First off, I have been slightly worried about finding a winter coat before MN decides to turn evil on us. So we had to clean out this closet for the members house we live in and I found the perfect winter coat! Que bendición, verdad? It's like this sleeping bag and wow it's comfy and I may or may not have danced around our place testing it out. Oh and don't worry I have been told to get it dry cleaned by my great mother so we're working on that!

Okay next, some of our members gave us half a watermelon to eat and while we were very grateful we also didn't know if it was possible for us two to eat that much watermelon. Have no fear, we ate watermelon for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and conquered the watermelon.

Lastly, we found out that two of our investigators work at the same place and we were like great, this is awesome! We thought it would be good for them to become friends and support each other. So we mentioned we knew someone that they worked with and turns out that was the wrong thing to do... Apparently they realllly don't like each other and have been plotting against one another. One of them said they want to ask the other to fight him outside which never ends well. He even asked us where the other lived and we were like uhhhhhh no sé.

I can't believe I have failed to mention how incredible Jesus is! He is officially getting baptized on September 10! We are beyond stoked for him. So I think I mentioned him a few weeks ago, but he is the boyfriend of one of our members. She has been bringing him to church with her for a long time now but he never let the missionaries teach him. On my very first day here we had dinner at Hna. Perez's house. We (or should I say Hna. Meredith because I think I only said like two words) asked her for a referral and she said she couldn't think of anyone. Then like 5 minutes later in the convo she was like oh Hermanas my boyfriend wants to get baptized. We were like yes we can help with that! Jesus is amazing. He is a man of very few words but I know he has a deep love for our Savior and is fully prepared to make covenants with God. I feel so privileged to have witnessed God's timing for Jesus and teach him about the plan of happiness Heavenly Father has for all of us.

I also want to share a quote from Preach my Gospel that I loooooove. It says, "You have to BE a Christlike missionary, not just DO missionary things." I want to change it a bit so it works for all people, "You have to BE a Christlike person, not just DO Christlike things." A lot of times we get caught up in the motion of doing good things for the wrong purposes. Maybe we do it because we are trying to impress someone, or think it will look good on our resume, or maybe we are trying to make up for something wrong we did, or appear to be better than someone else. I know that the only way for us to truly be happy is if we center our lives in Christ. When we center our lives in Christ we do things in order to please Him, try to follow his way and become closer/more like Him, and truly serve others through charity. Elder Bednar once said that you will only find yourself when your focus is turned completely outwards and you're not even looking for yourself. As we develop characteristics of Christ we will become Christlike people (I butchered that quote but go read Character of Christ and you'll understand).

Quote of the week: "Wear your stretchy pants to the fair, you're going or need them!" -Fernanda