October 28th

Hello!

I can't believe it's already Monday again! The weeks are going by pretty quick! But the days feel extremely long sometimes! I don't even know how to feel most of the time! I hope everything is going well back home! From your letters, that appears to be the case! I wish I had time to write everybody back individually, but there is just not enough time! So I just want you all to know that I love you so much and I am so thankful for your letters and for your support! It really gives me the boost that I need each week!

Okay, so this week was pretty cool! On Tuesday, President Cleveland came to Terre Haute! It was super crazy to have him here, but it was really good! He came to our District Meeting, and our District Leader gave a really awesome training. I guess he works well under pressure! Haha. After he finished training, President talked to us a little bit about technology and how we will be using it in our missionary work! He said by next spring, we will all have iPhones and iPads! I just think that is so crazy! The work really is moving forward, and I think that this will be the best way to connect with a lot of people. After he got done talking to us, Bishop Newton (who is the bishop of the Honey Creek ward, not our ward) took us all out to lunch! We went to a place that is kinda like Tepanyaki! It was super delicious, and we were all very grateful for his generosity! Bishop Newton is also a Judge here! Super cool! After lunch, Sister Niemann and I went and taught some lessons on campus, and then we got to go to dinner with the President and this girl named Megan that plays on the softball team at ISU! Through a crazy series of events, Megan met some members of the church that helped her out when she was having a rough time, and she was able to meet President Cleveland. She seems like a really awesome girl, and we are planning on meeting with her this week! 

I can't remember if I have already said this, so if I have, I'm sorry! It's so hard to remember things out here. Haha. But, there is a girl named Ali, and she is on the soccer team here! She is a recent convert, and President allows us to go and watch her soccer games. She needs all of the support she can get, so the 4 of us missionaries who are on campus go and watch her games. She is really good! And she is friends with Megan, so we will probably bring Ali along with us to Megan's lessons!

Oh my goodness. I have to tell you a really funny/gross story. This happened to me on Friday last week. We were invited over to a members house for dinner, and we were eating some soup that had been made for us. I started eating it, and then I looked over at Sister Niemann, and it looked she was going to die. She was just staring at her soup with this shocked look on her face.. And then she started pushing stuff up onto the side of her bowl. I looked down into my bowl, and what I though was pepper, actually turned out to be BUGS! I had probably eaten like 10 or more of them at this point! I was freaking out, but trying to stay calm. So I tried to eat around them, but I was starting to feel kinda sick, so I just said a prayer, and somehow I was able to finish the bowl of soup! I know it sounds so silly, but it was kinda hard for me to do! 

Yesterday was so awesome! We had an investigator come to church with us! His name is Jason and he is so cool! We had a member pick him up and bring him, and he stayed for all 3 hours! It was our primary program yesterday, so that was a little bit funny! Our primary is super tiny! Nothing like our primary programs at home, but it was still really good! I think Jason had a really good time, and we are hoping and praying that he will be back next week! After church, we went over to our good friend Sister Dietz house! She is like our mom out here. She is always making us food and buying random things for us. She is like an extreme couponer! Haha. Her son, EJ, had his birthday party yesterday. He is 5 now! What a cool kid! He came up to me, and gave me the biggest hug, and I just stood there, and had no idea what to do! So funny. We stayed there for just a little bit, and then we drove with some members to Bloomington which is like 1.5 hours away from Terre Haute. We went to a fireside there called "Why I Believe". They had recent converts talk about their conversion stories! It was so cool! They were all really solid! It just gets me so excited about the work! 

Tonight, Sister Niemann and I have to drive to Bloomington again because we are going on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. It should be pretty cool! We will be on IU campus working with them! We will come home Tuesday night, and then we have to go back to Bloomington again on Friday for Zone Meeting. So many car rides this week! Haha. 

I hope that all of you have an amazing week! I look forward to hearing from you all again next week! I love you so much! You're always in my prayers! 

Love, Sister Hales