Week 10

Hello Family and Friends!

   I'm losing count of how many weeks I've been out so let's go with 10. Anyways, it's been a weird week and I am very very tired but the work here in our area is picking up! Thankfully. One of our stakes has been giving us many referrals to keep us busy! We have some awesome leaders in that stake that are so eager to help us out.

   This week has felt so long! So many things have happened but it has been an overall good week! This week we got to go paintballing last monday with sling shots! I got nailed in the knee cap and in the stomach. It's been so fun do something exciting! It helps us to relax and be ready for the week. We also, this week got to do a lot of service! Which is way fun because we're doing stuff for others that they need done and it's a great feeling to help another person. We have had several meetings this week that have been pretty amazing! President McCune spoke at one of them and he always has a special way of encouraging us! He is an amazing man! He makes us all feel so great about ourselves. I appreciate all that he does for us. Saturday was an amazingly fun day!! In the morning we got to be a part of a parade in Cedar Hills!! It's amazing to hear the cheering and applause for missionaries. It's a foreign concept to me, being from New York, where missionaries are avoided. There's so much amazing work to do here in Utah and we are appreciated and loved. We had a lot of fun hanging out with the elders and sisters in our area! It was Elder Hofmann's birthday so we went to iHop to eat some pancakes!! Later that evening, we participated in a stake celebration in Alpine. We were asked to be a part of a missionary dance. The youth of the church had been working on a dance about missionaries and thought it would be really fun to have real missionaries involved! It was super fun and they were way awesome! They even dressed up as missionaries, nametags and all! It was amazing. It was really cool to see the youth of the church show their love for the Lord through the arts. The dances they performed were beautiful!! It made me appreciate my mission just a little bit more! I am so grateful to be out here in Utah! On Sunday, we were asked to give talks in one of our wards that we cover. We were asked to speak about how members can be missionaries (typical missionary topic!) It was my first talk on my mission! I love giving talks now (which is weird because I never used to like them) I hope the Bishop doesn't get any ideas! Anyways, We both were so comfortable speaking and it seemed that our talks went really well! We got a lot more work from that ward as well after we spoke. It's amazing how when you show who you are and you interact with members, how much more willing they are to hand their friends and families over to you. We got to have dinner with our ward mission leader last night in the central stake. We had fresh vegetables from their garden and home made grape juice and we had wonderful conversation! They have 7 kids and each one of them is amazing! I have come to love this area very much and worry so much for the transfers coming up. I have decided to put these situations in God's hands because there is nothing I can do about it. I'm starting to rely on my Heavenly Father more and more as each day passes. My testimony continually grows, along with my love for others and Heavenly Father's plan for me. I love you all very very much and you mean so very much to me. I thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. I thank you for your letters and love! If you'd like to send me a letter (hint hint) I am located at;

 1278E 530N

American Fork, UT

84003

I love you!!!!!

Love,

Sister Maren Schultz