Good Week!!

Hey family!

This week was so awesome. So many things happened, and we taught more lessons than I've ever taught in a
week here in Lakeville.

The highlight of my week was having Hna Carrillo come to Stake Conference. We had a lesson with her Monday,
and it went really well. I don't even remember what we talked about but at one point she said that she has had a
lot of pain from various medical things. We offered for the Elders to come by and give her a blessing, but she just
brushed it off and said it wouldn't help. The next day, out of the blue, the Elders and our branch president stopped
by just visiting members. She asked if we had sent them and they had no idea what she was talking about. They
went through the lesson, and just as they were leaving she asked them for a blessing. On Sunday she came to
Stake Conference! It's the first time in more than a year that she has been to church. And what's even cooler,
Elder Rasband was visiting our Stake. SO cool. She was so happy after. Just beaming. It literally was worth every
second that I have spent here in Lakeville. We visit her every week. It was amazing.

We had exchanges this week and I was in the English area with Sister Smith. I haven't worked in an English area
since I was new. Hna Hughes was nervous to stay and have to spanish by herself, but I was pretty confident that
she'd be fine. Turns out, every person they planned to see, they taught, and literally everything Sister Smith and
I had planned fell through. EVERYTHING. Even dinner. Sad. But it was ok, because it was worth it to see how
much more confident Hna Hughes has been since then.

One of our investigators, Aracely, had a baby this week, so we made her enchiladas:) When we dropped them
off she was sleeping, but someone told her we stopped by. We had a member present lesson planned with Lucio
that night, but he ended up cancelling. Right then Aracely texted us and asked if we were still in the area. So we
had the member present with her instead! It was so perfect.

Saturday morning we did service at a 5k in Eagan with a bunch of other missionaries. It was really cold. Last week
we had a day almost in the 90s and Saturday morning had windchills in the 20s. It was cold, but I got to wear
jeans and a hoodie, and hang with other missionaries outside. I loved it. Because we burned some many miles
going to Eagan, we ended up biking the rest of the day. It was only like 3 or 4 miles, but I enjoyed that too! I just
love being outside. It's so pretty here right now.

Stake Conference was awesome. Elder Palmer of the 70 and Elder Rasband of the 12 came and spoke to us. The
main focus of their messages was strengthening family and faith. Especially through Sabbath Day Observance.
What are you doing to make your Sundays more special?  When you hear an apostle speak it's impossible to not
feel the spirit and the inspiration of their messages. I was really impressed with humble they were and how much
love they showed the people here.

This morning we spent some time helping Anel with decorations for her daughters cinceanera. We have built a
really good relationship with that family, and we hope that eventually they'll want what we have.

To top off this letter, I'm going to describe what I ate for dinner last night. Probably the second scariest thing I've
eaten on my mission. It's called sopa de mariscos or seafood soup. Contents: octopus, squid, mussels, shrimp,
fish, and crab. Everything except the fish and squid was whole. Overall taste and smell: fish. It was actually really
good, I just kind of had to shut my eyes and not think about it too much. It's just rough when you're digging
through shells and claws and tentacles and stuff. I liked it though:)

Overall, an awesome week. Thanks for your letters and pictures, I loved them. It sounds like everyone is doing
really good!

Love you!

Emily