Elder Deering and I had a great week this week. We did not get to teach as many people as we would have liked but we had the chance to go to the temple and it was amazing. I loved it. I was so glad that we got that chance. Now that did mean that we lost a day of work but it was a much needed trip. We had won a friendly competition and that was our reward. There are a lot of good things going on here in Des Moines. We have a baptism coming up this weekend and I am super excited for that. A couple that we have been teaching for a few weeks. They are excited for this weekend and I am glad that I had this chance to teach them. They are an awesome couple. We still spend a lot of time teaching people who are Burmese refugees. Most of them are not willing to make the steps they need to yet, but we are continuing to work with them. I have really grown to love the Karen culture and I have really grown to love many of the people that live in those apartments where we teach. There is a chance the boundaries for our ward will be changing next week and they are in a prime spot to be moved to a different ward. I will miss them if that is what happens but I know it will be the will of the lord. We are still working with many of the people who went to the Gladys Knight Fireside we had a few weeks ago and it helped break many of the berries that people have had about the church. We still get asked over and over by many people if we are voting for Romney. But that should be dying down here over the next few weeks as the election comes to a close. Other than that there is not much to add for this week. We have been working hard and we have a few appointments this week that we are really excited for. I am so glad that I have this chance to be a missionary. The work of the lord presses forward. We need more workers though so if there is anyone here who is wondering if they should serve a mission the answer is yes we need you. The lord needs you. Speaking of the need for new laborers here is a snippet from the church news but even these numbers are not enough. We need more: “As Church leaders had anticipated when the change was announced, the number of individuals who have begun the missionary application process has increased significantly. Typically approximately 700 new applications are started each week. The last two weeks that number has increased to approximately 4,000 per week. Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland predicted that lowering the age limits for young Mormon missionaries would trigger a "dramatic" uptick in their numbers. Turns out, dramatic was an understatement. Try a 471 percent jump in applications — so far! "Slightly more than half of the applicants are women," LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter said Monday in a news release. That represents a massive shift. Typically, women make up fewer than a fifth of the LDS missionary force, which currently stands at more than 58,000 worldwide. At a news conference after the historic change, Elder Holland said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was gearing up immediately to accommodate a larger missionary force — reducing by a third the time missionaries spend in training centers and hiring additional staff to manage the budding proselytizers’ language skills "The Lord is hastening this work," Elder Holland said, "and he needs more and more willing missionaries." I love all of you. Thank you for your prayers and for your faith.