Happy Independence Day!

Darling family!
Hello!! It was wonderful to get all y’alls emails this week. Sounds like everyone is doing well.  Hope you are surviving the heat of summer...I think I am...if you call sweating 24/7 then I think we are surviving.  At least the AC in our house makes it feel a little less like girls camp this year, so that is good.

This week was a fun week for sure! Independence Day in Korea was wonderful!  We certainly did NOT let anything rain on our parade... quite literally actually. In honor of Liberty's Land, my companion and I spent our dinner in the best way we could imagine. First we headed to the near by Costco and got ourselves the most American pizza you can find in Korea!  With our pizza box in hand, we head over to the beach near our house. This is when the rain began to fall.  Luckily, there were little tiki umbrellas set out on the beach!

It was so much fun sitting on an empty beach in the rain under a tiki-looking umbrella eating a Costco pizza and singing patriotic songs at the top of our lungs!!! haha Definitely going in my top 5 most memorable July 4ths! We were bummed there wasn't any fireworks, but Heavenly Father made up for that with a little bit of lightning. Truthfully it was pretty relaxing sitting on the beach thinking about where we were last year (me in Korea, Sister Scott in Cali) and where we will most likely be next year (Sister Scott in Korea, and according to her, me married!) haha

This week it was also my privilege to go on another round of exchanges! I was able to head back to my FIRST area and spend 24 hours there. We were able to see a couple of the members, and it was fun to still be known as the tall sporty one that saved the day last year! haha The members are wonderful, and the missionaries there, including the beautiful Sister Taylor, are doing so well. I'm grateful for all their work.

At the end of the exchange I asked the sisters a question: If there were in my position, what advice would they give to the other sisters? I loved Sister Taylor's reply. She said "it all comes down to Christ.  You need to build that relationship with Him, and when you do that, that is when missionary work becomes fun, that's when you understand your purpose. Everyday you need to look in the mirror and ask 'Do I love Christ?  Do I love Him enough to do what He asks of me?'  There is nothing to loose, only love to give"

As my time is winding down, President and Sister Gilbert have emphasized the dire need to have Christ at the center of our hearts. To have Christ's love fill every chamber.  If Christ is not at our center, then we have done our mission in vain.  If He is not at our center, then when we go home we will not be able to sufficiently defend ourselves against the world that we have not had to battle for 18 months.

Someone dear to me advised that it's not only proper but necessary to ask in prayer and fasting of what Heavenly Father has thought of my efforts as a missionary.  To gain the confirmation that I have done all that I could have done, and I did serve with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength, and that Christ is willing to sanctify the work I have done and put His name to it as well. The prayers I have been able to offer have been sincere, and I'm excited to continue to show the Lord my efforts for these next couple of weeks, and for the rest of my life. Oh how I love missionary work!! I love doing the grand work, and I love being able to do it in the name of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for all of you love and support!
Have a wonderful week and remember that I love you!
kiss love hugs!