Elder King and I laugh about a lot of different things...

Dear Family,

This has been a pretty good week. I was telling Haley that these last couple weeks I have been some of the most discouraged I have ever been, but I also have been the happiest I have ever been on my mission. Bipolar? maybe a tad haha. But I have noticed that miracles always happen after a trial of your faith and so we have had some trials (mostly personal), but there have been some really awesome tender mercies. 

Haha Elder King and I laugh about a lot of different things. We kind of poke fun at little oddities during everyday life and sometimes we just laugh at ourselves. It is a lot like our family, so it makes life a little simpler and just a little bit more funny. 

It sounds like life has been pretty crazy especially with church stuff. Man it seems like there is a camp or an activity every week. Maybe that is just my perception of time or something going on. Haha I hope that things mellow out a little bit. I did get a good inside laugh thinking and visualizing some of the things that you described. Even some of those imaginary images got burned into my memory they were so vivid...nightmares here I come. 

Well I want to share a little story about R. and D. Well we were having a little bit of a down week. And on Thursday night just not a whole lot was working out. So we tried to go see R. and D...but they weren't home. That kinda bummed us out too, but we kept working. So we went to go tract a little bit and one guy even told us we could come back. Cool huh? It was getting late so we went home and we decided to try R. and D. again. Well they opened the door and we saw something really cool. They were all in a circle reading the Book of Mormon as a family. They told us they they have been trying to do it each night we don't come to read it with them. So we were able to read a little bit with them and then we had to go in for the night. R. followed us out the door and he just started thanking us for helping change his life. We were telling him that we really appreciated that and that we don't hear that very often and then he said something directly from the spirit. He told us "You don't need to hear that often, you know that in your heart, God knows it  too and that is all that matters." He is so right. We don't get to see the fruits of our labors very often, but we don't need to to know that we are making a difference. Heavenly Father appreciates our efforts so much. It gets cooler though because the next day during break R. stopped in during our break and so we were able to talk to him for about 30 minutes. We asked if we could come by later that night and he said that we could. That night we stopped in and there was no answer (there is kind of a pattern there...) But it was really late so we just went in to plan. At 9:05 we hear a knock at the door and it was R. So we decided to go read the Book of Mormon with him until 9:30. It was a good study as always and R. was doing awesome reading, he is really improving. Right before we went he asked if we could end with a prayer. We said yeah and then he said "No, not that kind of prayer, but the one like you did for my son where you put your hands on my head. I want you to pray that I can read better." Elder King and I were blown away. He just has so much faith right now and it was a really cool blessing. The spirit was so strong and it is just such a blessing to be a part of their progression. I am pretty sure that Russell and I were friends before this life. I am so excited for you guys to meet him! 

Sorry this email is a little short, we had a late start to the day. But I hope you guys have a great week and I love you a lot. Also thank you for buying that po-boy in my honor. I think I could feel it in my heart, or maybe it was my arteries. I love you!

prayers and thoughts always,

Elder Devin Soper