January 16, 2017 - From Sam

hey mom :)

I had a good week! The work is going well, ive just been kinda homesick mainly because of the cowboys and i really wanted to watch the game but oh well. Kinda glad they lost ish just because i wouldnt survive here if they went to the superbowl without me home.

I will get some stuff together to try to send in the package! 

I did meet jesse and saw him quite a few times! Hes a great guy. His roommates are solid too. He was at the family dinner as well.

I think Id be ok with that family reunion. Itd be really fun i think! Itd be kindaaaa weird not being able to chill for a sec haha but yes I think thatd be fun as long as we can try to plan to spend more time together just us five and not be around the millers and albrights and waltons the whole time. Like id want it to be us 5 and the brands the majority of the time, just because the millers are just weird to me now and i havent seen the albrights in forever. haha I dont want us to miss out on our fam reunion though so im good with that. Just what location?

My back is good. I havent had a blessing yet, ill ask one from my companion as well. Its not really bugging me anymore, but i know i need to take care of it. I put a goal this week to do just 15 minutes of exercises and stretches each morning this next week so that should help. Thank you for that insight though i know its true!

Me and E Larsen are really just trying to do what president taught us. President changed the mission goal just recently and called it ¨One by One¨ because of the verse in the BoM when Jesus comes and blesses the children one by one. The point is to try and bless one person of each of the key indicators we have as missionaries. One lesson with member present, one lesson to recent convert or less active, one lesson to an active member, one reference received, one contacted, etc. Its an awesome goal.  E Larsen said when he was assistant president and them were meeting for weeks about trying to change the mission goal and for prob 2 months they couldnt figure anything out. The day we had zone leader council he presented this goal. It was just revelation he literally received that day when he woke up and its pretty incredible. Its working so well.

I remember that talk by e Bednar vividly because i wrote so many notes on it! I loved it. Send that link of that talk in youtube!

I love you so much mom! Youre my hero always. Thank you for everything you do for me :)