This week was a really slow week. Like I said in my last letter elder Clarke was here on Monday. It was a really amazing meeting and there were a lot of things there that we all needed to hear. Because it is a holiday week there was a lot that we usually do that was not able to get done. Elder Deering and I have been trying to work our hardest but with little success this week. We lost a lot of investigators when we did the recent ward split and so we are building from scratch. But God wants his children to be able to return to him and I know there there are people who have been prepared we just have to find them. The work continues to be really slow and there have been a few of the people that we were teaching that have seemed to just disappear. One lady seems to just have abandoned her house she left her outside lights on but they eventually just burned out. And then there are a few others that have not been home. But I know there is light around the corner we just have to keep looking for it. The lord will bless us for our diligence. There is a lot of stuff that we have planned this week that will get things going once again here in this ward. Christmas is around the corner and if you have not visited Mormon.org recently I would advise it. It is a great place to send people to learn more about Christmas and about the church. We hope to be setting a few baptismal dates here soon. I know the lord is willing and ready to bless us. We just have to do our part to be in the right place at the right time. We can do that if we listen to the spirit. I love all of you. I am so grateful for all that you do for me and for all of your love. I thank you for your letters and for your encouragement. I pray for you. Thank you. I know that this church is true. I am able to see the lord had in the work that is done. I know the book of Mormon to be true and I know that the lord is willing and ready to bless all of us we would just obey. Again I love you all.

Like usual. I do not have a lot of time to talk. Not much has changed externally over the last week. A few weeks ago I believe I talked about an awesome lesson that we had. Well. That lady has now disappeared. We have stopped by her house many times and it appears that no one has entered or left the house since our last visit with her. Other than that we have had a few other sweet lessons but so far there is no one who is making the commitments to be baptized. But the work is hastening on. And many blessing are in store for us here. Yesterday Elder Clark of the 70 came to our mission to talk to us. It was an amazing meeting. Our mission president and a few others took up about half the time so about 4 hours while elder Clark took up the other 4 hours. Although he did talk for a really long time it really did not seem like it was that long of a time. It’s amazing that many of the brethren can tell you about the 100s of things that you are doing wrong and the 1000’s of ways that you can improve, and yet you still feel better after. Usually when people point out your faults you automatically get defensive but they do it with the spirit so you know that they are right and you can’t really deny it so all you feel is love and you feel like what they expect of you is really not that hard. If I can learn that as a missionary I will have great success for the rest of my life. But it takes time and practice and much prayer. I loved that meeting that we had yesterday. I learned so much and the spirit was so strong. Although there was not much happening here we have many plans that where inspired and sanctioned by the Almighty and I know that as we apply what we have learned the work will again boom here. There was much taught to us yesterday and I am excited to apply what I learned. The work is moving forward. We will soon be seeing an increase in the number of missionaries. I am excited for this. We need them. Encourage all to go on a mission both young and old. We need more couple missionaries the ones we have are far too few. Many of those who could serve don’t and they need to. WE NEED THEM ASAP. I love all of you. This week is going to be a great week. Thank all of you for your faith and for your prayers.

So we had another relatively short week again this week. We did have some awesome spirit filled lessons early in the week but most of our other appointments fell through. Again we spent most of the week finding new people to teach but we were able to set up some solid appointments for this upcoming week and I am excited to see the results. This week is going to be a quick week. It is a full week. Transfers are Thursday (we are both staying here) Saturday we are going to Ames Iowa to help out with the Iowa Games (kind of like a mid-west Olympics thing) then on Monday we are having our mission tour (that’s where a general authority comes and talks to us it will be Elder and Sister Don R. Clarke of the Seventy). Because of that happening on Monday I won’t be emailing until Tuesday next week. But until that time Elder Deering and I will be staying busy. He has been sick for a couple days (he may have the flu, don’t worry mom I got my shot but then again so did he) so it has limited what we have been able to accomplish but we are going to hit the ground running this week. We have a lot of cool appointments lined up and I am excited to see this area back to where it was. We have received some solid referrals from the ward and we are hoping and praying to find success with those. I thank all of you for your prayers. I heard a quote from Joseph smith this week in which he says he is not afraid because the children are praying for him. It made me reflect on all those who are praying for me and for all the other missionaries out here and I thank all of you for that. I know a large part of the success of the mission I am in is because of the prayers of the faithful. I love this gospel. I know this letter is really short but because of it being transfer week we have less time to email. Not much of note happened this week. But like I said I am excited for the upcoming week. Please keep praying for me. It always helps. I love all of you. I will have more to say next week after all that is planned.

So this week is what I guess you would call a slow week. We had most of our appointments fall through which is typical of missionary life. We spent a lot of time trying to contact people who were not home. We also spent a lot of time trying to find new people to teach. But we were able to set up a few appointments and we are hoping to see the fruits of that work this week. There was a big stake meeting here last night and they announced that the ward boundaries are going to be changing. Starting next week we have lost half of our area. That means that all the Burmese that I have been teaching will be going to another ward. I will admit that I am a little, well more than a little bummed about that. I have really grown to love those kids and that culture. But I also know that it is the lord’s work and that there is a reason for this. Maybe I will get to serve in that new ward and get to be over there again. We were in what was called the Des Moines 3rd ward but now it is the Beaver Creek Ward. There really is not much to talk about this week. We spent a lot and I mean a lot of time just trying to find people but I am excited for this week and the progress I foresee. We did have a baptism on Saturday. This couple moved into the ward we taught them for a few weeks now with the changes they are being moved back to the ward they used to be in. they are an awesome couple and I am excited to watch their progress over this week. The guy lost his job Wednesday and he told us that he knew that was the work of the devil trying to get him to not be baptized. Other than that we have a week ahead of us full of more finding and also working on the transition for switching the ward boundaries. I want to take the chance here to wish my Mom a happy birthday. J if you get the chance you should email or call her and wish her a happy birthday this week. I love all of you and I thank you for your faith and prayers. My address has not changed you can still write me but some times it may take me a bit before I write you back. J talk to you next week.