The votes are in . . .

. . . and I will be staying in Canton! But Sister Wilson got the dreaded call last night that she was getting transferred. It really hit her hard because she's been in this area so long & has done wonders here. She opened up this area to sisters about 4 months ago. The elders here before didn't do too much. You can see the love that she has for the people here. I hope that I can have that same kind of love. We've had so many less-actives & investigators growing & changing, & they were sad to hear that she was leaving. But now I have to step up & make the best of my time here even though I'm scared to carry this area myself. We have a new sister coming in today so we're all excited. But we don't have anyone leaving till February so there will be a trio somewhere till then. Pres. Pehrson has a new style of training--he likes the younger ones to do the training! The sister who is just one transfer older than me is training the greenie! I guess the longer you're out in the mission, the lazier you get. I've heard good things about using younger trainers.

It is starting to get cold. The natives say it isn't supposed to get so cold so quickly which means a brutal winter. Ugh . . . I'm not excited for that! But the leaves are on the verge of turning so I'm happy I'll be here in the boonies to see it.

Our greatest work right now is with the less-actives. We had a great appointment on Saturday night with a less-active family & the husband's nephew. The husband joined as a young man & fell away because he felt that he was pressured into getting baptized before he really knew it was
true. But there has been such amazing progress. He used to be very bitter & sarcastic, yet now he has such great things to say. Hopefully they'll have the desire to come back to church soon. We helped another less-active in Burlington Saturday. We finally got a chance to see Leila last week. Her schedule was so crazy that it took this long to meet with her. We helped her get the things needed to put up a closet & put trim in a bedroom. All those hours in Home Depot [and helping Mom on the house] in Almo have been put to good use! We didn't get around to actually putting up the closet so we set up another time to do that. She's such a sweet girl & recognizes the good things that the gospel can bring back into her life.

The spirit has been so strong this week in our companionship. Each lesson we taught & every service activity was powerful. I'm starting to become a real missionary instead of just being on a mission. I love the people here. Even though the people are stubborn, I love them. We were at a farmer's market in New Hartford to do contacting, & and if looks could kill, we would be coming back home in a body bag! People were not happy that we were there. One lady said, "I feel like I'm in Utah with all these missionaries here." I'm surprised they didn't whip out their pitchforks & burn us at the stake. But . . . I still love them. Jesus Christ was rejected by many, but he gave his life for EVERYONE. He didn't pick & choose whose sins he would forgive.