"Where's your friend with the long skirt?"

This is what an investigator, Cristina, said to her friend in reference to my companion. i am finally among them. the women in the long skirts.

LIFE DREAM 1/2 REALIZED
so i don't know how many of you know this. but i have a life dream to ride a riding lawnmower. (not across the country like that wierd movie, just in a field of some sort). anyway, so i'm halfway there cause today we went to the john deere pavillion and they had tractors you could play on and yes, a riding lawnmower. we got good pics and had fun. i'm just missing the whole turning it on and mowing grass with it part.

UNIVERSAL TRUTHS
So we had another lesson with Gustavo. It's funny cause I keep being in situations where i'm the only one in the room who's American. makes me feel very exotic. anyway, it was cool to be able to teach him parts of the Plan of Salvation--that we lived with God before we came here, that He has a perfect plan for us to come back as families. Everything seemed to make sense to him. The next day we taught Cristina at the Pages house and had a similar experience, and then again later with a guy named Doug who has many cool, deep ideas. he's big into mediating and drawing truth from where he can find it. it was a cool lesson because just with trying to get do to pure truth on his own, he told us lots of parts of the plan of salvation that has been revealed through the prophets today. it was a cool conversation because we really felt like we were touching on the truths he's known before this life. anyway, i love that lesson cause it everything so clear and every time we teach it, the person we teach is like, "oh. that makes sense." :)

PARABLE OF THE RAINCOAT
so this week i discovered something grand. raincoats! i've never like umbrellas cause i acutally quite like the rain. BUT...it is kinda inconvenient here cause with the humidity and severe cold, you never really dry adn it becomes a tad uncomfortable every time you put your coat back on. my comp happened to have a spare raincoat. i tried it out and it changed my life. it's like getting rained on, without getting wet! man! why didn't anyone tell me?! then i realized, they probably did. but it's kinda like the gospel. it's the coolest thing ever, but all i can do is tell people about it. until they're willing to do something about it and try it out, they'll never really know. so my suggestion to you all, it to try something out you haven't before. whether that's reading the Book of Mormon, going to church, praying everyday, or any other commandment or spiritual something or other that has the potential to change you. try it out and see.

(note: this doesn't work for things like drugs or walking into oncoming cars. I didn't need to go out in an Iowa winter in a swimsuit to know it wouldn't be good.)

YET ANOTHER 8:45 MIRACLE
Last night it was 8:45 and our kid that had a baptismal date that we tried to drop by AGAIN wasn't answering. We had one more contact to get our goal but it was cold and not a lot of people were out. Down the hill and across the road we saw a car pull in. We booked it (in a dignified way :) ) down the grass hill, across the street, and flagged this guy down who was sitting in his car. We contact him, taught him a little, and have an appt to teach him and his wife. Heavenly Father definately took mercy on us. :) I love 8:45 miracles!

ok, thanks for all the prayers. keep them up. i want to go out with a bang and do everythign in bettendorf that Heavenly Father needs me to do.

love you all!
-- sis c

p.s. got an email from a friend who's had 2 babies since i've been gone. does that mean i'm about done with my mission?