Sept. 23

Hello my dear wonderful family and friends!!!!!!
So another week has come and gone. And next Monday I will again know
if I will be staying here in Grand Forks or if I will be moving on to
a new area! It's crazy to think that I have served here for 6 months!
I am almost a 3rd of the way done with my mission! Strange!!!! I don't
know what is going to happen. Usually in our mission the longest that
a sister serves in one area is 6 months but I am also training Sister
Arrington and it's a 12 week training program. So I guess we will see!
But people have also had 2 trainers in the past so maybe I will get
transfered! We'll see!!! To be honest I love serving here in Grand
Forks and the people are amazing but I am a little ready to go out and
see another part of the mission!

OH!!!! so exciting news! last Saturday Sister Arrington and I got to
run the color run! it was crazy fun! We ran it with Jerris and Sister
Deem(she is the bishops wife) The company that puts on the race is
from Utah and one of the kids who was working it actually served his
mission here and his last area happened to be Grand Forks! so that was
cool :) I don't have any pictures yet but sister deem and jerris took
tons so they will hopefully e-mail them to us and I will sent some
home so you can see them! We wrote in marker on the back of our
T-shirts mormon.org and on the bottom of my shirt I wrote "ask me
about my church!" :) it was a good way for us to get out in the
community and just let a ton of people see that Mormon missionaries
exist! and that we are normal people! what is really crazy about the
whole thing is that we ran the race at 8 in the morning and we left
the area around 9 30 ran home showered off all the color and made it
to the Elder's baptism by 10. That takes skill if I do say so myself
:) (I am still working on being humble... it's a work in progress....
:) )

Nothing crazy exciting happened this past week really besides the
color run. We had a really good lesson with Dakota Ashes where we read
with her from the Book of Mormon. She said she would read from it and
pray about it! She is one of those investigators who is interested in
the message but it's going to take some time to help her realize the
truth for herself. So we keep praying for her and I know that someday
she will accept the gospel! she is just an amazing girl!!!!

OH I also forgot this past wed. we helped the youth out for their
mutual activity. It was super fun. They were having a missionary prep
night and they had a bunch of different stations set up for them to go
to in 10 min. intervals. They asked us if we would be "potential
investigators" that they had to come and tract into. so we were in a
room and they had to come knock on our door. Each time we were a
different person. Sometimes we were rude and yelled at them and
slammed the door. Other times we acted interested in their message. But
after each time we gave them feed back about what they could do better
and then let them try again. It was a really cool experience and it
helped me realized just how much I really have learned out here in the
mission field. It was a good way to reflect back on all the things I
have learned! One of our investigators Jackie (she is 14) was there at
the activity and it was really cool because at one point we could hear
her talking with some people out in the hall and they were trying to
figure out what to say to us and they were talking about what they
would say about the Book of Mormon. Jackie told them that they needed
to invite the people to read it and pray to know if it was true. Which
is something that we had taught her!!!! it was just amazing to get to
hear that little moment to realized that she really has been listening
to what we have taught to her and her Mom. Her and her Mom are waiting
for her step dad to be able to baptize them and he is a less active
member so he has been meeting with the Bishop and the Bishop has
cleared him to be ready at the end of this year. So hopefully they
will be getting baptized in January!!! which is wonderful. I am super
sad that I won't get to be here for them but I know that if I am here
or not it's the right thing for them to do and it will be a wonderful
day. :)

I always have a mental list of things that I need to write home about
when I come to the library and then when I get here I somehow forget
all of them......

The other night I was talking with my mission president on the phone
because I was having a little bit of a rough time and I couldn't
figure out how to get out of this kind of funk I had been in. And one
of my blessings I got from the Elder's a while ago talked about making
sure that I turned to my mission leaders and it named off the mission
president and his wife specifically. So last week when I was having a
hard time I was prompted to call president anderson. So I did and he
gave me some great advice! he talked about how important it is to work
out in the mornings. Which is something I haven't been horrible at but
I haven't been exactly amazing at it either. So he suggested that I go
to a track in the mornings and run. that way I can run while sister
arrington walks (she's not super athletic which is totally fine! but
it makes going for runs in the morning hard.) He told me I should be
going 5 days a week! so I have taken that advice to heart and I am
going to start running 5 days a week regardless of the weather! I
guess it's time for me to put my bad habits in the past and suck it up
and start living a healthier life style. I never realized how much it
can effect your emotional well being and you stress levels but eating
junk and not getting a good workout in can really make a huge
difference. So wish me luck! we will see how this goes!!!!!  THIS DOES
NOT HOWEVER MEAN THAT YOU CAN'T SEND ME CHOCOALTE OR GOOD TREATS IN
PACKAGES. peanut butter M&M's are always allowed.... maybe just
smaller amounts of junk... I don't know.... it's still  a work in
progress, my healthy lifestyle..... baby steps... :) also I am feeling
tons ands tons better so don't worry about me! plus my birthday is in
a few weeks and that always seems to cheer me up :) but for reals. i
am doing good!! also I am well aware that you all have been trying to
tell me for years that I eat too much junk food. The only reason that
I am evening telling all of you this is because I happen to be all the
way up in North Dakota and so I can't see the I-Told-you-so looks on
your face..... yes you were all right! I should be better :)

Well I think that is all that I had to say this week... as always I
love you all!!! Last night in my prayers I was really thinking about
the things I am thankful for and why I am thankful for them. And it
went from just saying I am thankful for my family to being I am
thankful to have a family where my parents are still happily married
and we never had to deal with divorce. and I am thankful for a home
where the spirit was always there. I am thankful to have always had
the priesthood in my home growing up. I am thankful that I got to see
every single one of my brothers and sisters set that great example for
to by being sealed in the temple. And the more I thought about these
wonderful blessings the more blessings I thought of!! and then this
morning as I was reading from Jesus the Christ (which is AMAZING!!!!!)
A line really stuck out to me about how when much is given to people
much is expected. I just realized that Heavenly Father as given me
some AMAZING blessings in my life. And because He was given me so much
He is going to require much from me. And how knowing the Lord trusts
me and that He is going to give me responsibilities is a blessing in
and of itself! The Lord has confidence in me! It's a crazy thought but
one that I am learning to be true! anyways I do in fact love you all
with all of my heart!!!!!! Keep going this church is true and the Lord
loves us!!!!!!!!

Love always your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux

aka Denae :)