"The Lord promised it if we work hard"

Dear family and friends,

Well it is great to hear from some of you on a regular basis. The dry and hot spell you had in Washington also hit us here in utah and we had over 100 degrees for a long time. But lately it has been kinda cloudy and humid. rain will sweep in and drench everything and lighting will be dancing everywhere, all in a matter of seconds then leave 5 minutes later. glad i was in a car. felt really bad for those missionaries walking or biking.

Well i think the lord is seeing our work here in south Jordan. He has also sees our sacrifices. we dont have an investigator yet but we set up 3 lessons with potential for this week. i was soo happy. normally all 3 would probably fall through but i dont even care. we made progress. before we didnt have any lessons scheduled. now atleast we have some. you have to start somewhere. We also had a meeting with the stake president and he is soo good. he and one of his councilors is very very supportive of us. i went seeking council how he wanted us to continue to work with the ward councils and for finding because we are not having very much success. he told us to keep being ubiquitous. I really think when the members trust us they will help us. our pictures are everywhere in the buildings with our numbers. we hit 6 wards last sunday and 6 ward councils. And this sunday we are having a fireside! luckily i didnt have to plan everything but my companion and i are the speakers. We got videos and microphones and the works going. this could be really really cool. WE are teaching doctrine straight out of the scriptures. 2 nephi 31 and focusing on the importance of the strait and narrow path. there is only one way and it has to be through baptism.  So kinda stressed but also very excited. Got to work with the stake councilor to put it together.

I thought it was pretty cool that i saw the chandlers. They also gave me a referral and we set up a lesson with them. kinda. They weren;t really interested but they have a daughter getting baptized and want to know what she is learning. They were drinking when we showed up so i hope they remember. haha. One of the coolest moments on my mission by far happened this week. we stopped by two different individuals who had both lost a spouse and were themselves very old. we like to talk for 5 minutes to get to know the members and then share a spiritual thought and ask for referrals. I could tell both of these individuals were learning lessons in life i wasn't even prepared to learn. bro spencer (no relation to the brother spencer i home taught) was very respectful of his wife. always calling her queen Ruth. he had cared for her for 15 years while she was in a wheel chair. I could really tell he loved her very much but he wasn't sad he was just waiting patiently for his work to be done. And Sister hatton shared her experience of taking care of her husband. She talked of the great experience of being able to take care of her husband while he was dying. she said they would read and discuss the scriptures for hours. as time went on he eventually lost the ability to move and even see so she would read to him. What love she had to have to be able to nurture, then see him die and also let him go and be at peace. i talked about that with her for a while. She seemed very healthy and she will probably be working in the temple for a long time as she has been already for 20 years. There is a lot of advice and learning i could have gotten from them. i wish i had more time with them.

But like i said the work here is slow. But i have full confidence that it will pick up. it has too. the Lord promised it if we work hard. and i know we are working hard. The good thing about this is it lets me focus on my districts needs and their investigators. They made a change in the districts. i now have sister higham, revolorio and verkist in my district. They are all very young but very good sisters but they will need teaching and practice to become more effective. i am kinda enjoying being district leader now. We are trying to build unity and i think enthusiasm is the answer. so im always trying to be upbeat. its a lot of fun because i feel happier more often.

Well this is long enough i think. Life is good here in south jordan. we are going to tie dye shirts today as a zone. so life's good. Oh the south jordan temple is now in my boundaries for my district! i think thats pretty cool. i can go there anytime i want. just wish i could go in anytime.

Love Elder Salmon