LITTLE TEXAN ESKIMO: YOU get off my lawn!

Hello everyone! Everything in Alaska is great. We had some super exciting tracting experiences...hahaha. I don't know if it's just the people in Alaska, if it's just peoples reaction the Mormon missionaries, but NO ONE likes to answer their door. Instead they open a window or step out on the upper porch to yell at us....It's quite entertaining. You just knock and wait to get yelled at from any direction, it keeps us on our toes for sure. :) We've learned to laugh at rejections. When someone says something like "Get off my lawn!" we say have a nice day, of course. But when we're down the street and they can no longer hear us, we yell "YOU get off my lawn"....it makes tracting a way funnier experience. :)

So this week has been pretty okay. We met with lots of less actives. We haven't been able to get a hold of any of our investigators. :( But we've been working on searching for those who have fallen away from the church. In a YSA...there are lots. We are starting to see slowly but surely, people are coming back. It's so exciting! There have been lots of small miracles this week.

Something we've been working on a lot lately is the program for the zone conference trek. I am soooo excited. We've been having practices every day and it's just been amazing. I am really connecting with the character I'm playing, her name is Eliza Snow, an actual ancestor of mine. The script has been written out so beautifully. It really helps me to identify with the pioneers and the struggles they faced. This weekend is our first performance for the conference in Wasilla, then the following weekend id Anchorage, THEN we get to take a fun little 7 hour road trip to Fairbanks and do it there. I'm SOOO excited. I can't wait to actually perform it.

Also, last Monday we hiked the MOST HUGE mountain I've ever seen in my life. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was large. And it was way hard to hike. The elders like SPRINTED up the mountain...we were like "K meet you at the top in a couple hours..." It was SUCH a beautiful hike though! Like...holy cow. I can't believe I live here. Getting to the top was so amazing.

I am so incredibly blessed to live here and to be a missionary. I just love this work. I love this gospel. I have such a profound love for the pioneers and everything they endured so that we can have this restored gospel in our lives today. Their hard work and sacrifices were not in vain. I just love them SO crazy much. This church is so true. I know it with every fiber in my being. I KNOW that the lord lives and loves us so much we can't even comprehend it.

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Sister Hallmark