MOTHERS ARE THE BEST!!

Man, it was so fun to talk to my parents yesterday!! You guys rock! I
have the best mother in the world!!! :) Mother's Day is the biggest
Holiday next to Christmas when you're a missionary. Because we get to
call home!

Btw, not trunky at all, but I have it marked on my calendar that
tomorrow I can start the psalms countdown. Read a psalm a day
backwards from 150 until I come home. It was a cute idea at the start
of my mission, but honestly that is WAY too far away to start counting
down and it was just a dumb idea, but if any of you want to, have fun,
psalms is my favorite book in the Old Testament.

Also, the Doctrine and Covenants countdown will not be happening for
me. A lot of missionaries start that at 138, but that's way too long.

What I WILL be doing, though, when I have 60 days left, I'll read a
chapter of Alma a day. But starting on chapter 1, because of the
story. That's a shorter amount of time and Alma is a really inspiring
book for a missionary, so I won't get too trunky. Y'all should
definitely join me on that one, when that time comes. Alma is my
favorite book in the Book of Mormon.

Anyway, this morning our mission did a hike on the Mormon Battalion
trail. So much fun!!! Then we sat in the shade and there was an expert
there who told us all about all the crazy miracles that happened and
the trailblazing they did. There was a ton of cool stories and history
and stuff, but he said one really neat thing that I think is really
applicable. The US government gave the battalion 42 dollars per man
for a uniform allowance. They all decided that they would go without a
uniform and just wear normal everyday clothes, and send that money
back to Iowa to he their families get the supplies to cross the plains
without them. Right now I'm in uniform and will be for a long time
yet, but generally everyone is fighting their battles are trying to do
good with no uniform at all. We're indistinguishable one from another,
so you can't often see right off who's a solider and who's a civilian.
But we're here to help each other, blaze trails, and help out where we
can. Super inspiring people, something that will be fun to look up
more when I get home.

Julio is getting baptized this Saturday!! Yeah!! We're so excited and
he's so excited and the ward is super excited for him and things are
going well. He actually had an ancestors on the Mormon Battalion, he
told us. The only Mormon in his family before him. He's so into family
history, hahaha. It came from nowhere, he knows so much about his
family now. He likes it.

We're still in contact with Ramon....I don't remember what I've said
about him lately, but he's still moved out and couch surfing. He
epwants to find a place in this ward so bad, haha. He's grown attached
to the people, and they've all grown attached to him too, and people
are asking how he's doing and....he's still praying and reading and
determined to get to the temple someday. He's one of my heroes, he's
so cool.

Anyway, I'm running out of time, but o think that's it for me! Thanks
so much for the emails and the prayers and the thoughts, I love you
all and I love being a missionary for the Lord! Wouldn't trade it for
anything. We do have a Savior, and His power to change hearts is real.
It's an exciting time to be alive!

Y'all are the best! :)

Sister Stratford


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