BEES KNEES....... June 19, 2009

WOOOO!!!!!! Ok. So! Lots to talk about I think. First of all- transfers mean I'M STILL IN CARTHAGE!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Gotta love it. I really do. But I love Nauvoo too. So- both favorites. But I'm really glad I'm in Carthage. I have a SWEET new comp named Sis. Barry. She's AWESOME! She's one of the ASL sisters. So that's lots of fun. She always prays in sign- so I have to watch her pray so I know when to say amen. Which I do in sign language. Yeah- it's pretty sweet:) I have to admit- while I'm writing this letter if I do seem a little less coherent than normal- I didn't sleep very well last night. We had this AWESOME storm last night. Which I thought was sweet- except for that I couldn't sleep at all because of the lightning and rain etc etc. Well let's see- what else has been going on. I think that a lot does- but then I sit down to write and then I think that I do the same thing every day:) We were SUPER busy the other day. We had about 300 people come in approx 2 hours. That's crazy business. But the big tours are fun! I just get this adrenaline rush like "there's a bajillion people here and they need a tour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I need to give them one!!!!!!! and it's going to be AWESOME!" My favorites are when we have youth groups come in. We had a big group of seminary grads from UT (go figure) come in at that time. I was able to give two of the tours and I LOVED it. Admittedly- I got a tad emotional in the martyrdom room in one of the tours. But- cut me some slack (wow- lame term. sorry- I'm a missionary. more slack to be cut please) that was the first time I've ever teared up in the martyrdom room. And it was in front of 30+ high school students. SWEET! I just thought of Hann and Gus and I just wanted them all to have this insane experience where their testimonies would just grow a ton particularly about Joseph Smith. And the beautiful thing about that is that when your testimony of Joseph is strengthened so is your testimony of the Book of Mormon and of this as being the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and just pretty much everything. So! It's the way to go! And! These kids are all about to go on missions or college or big deal status stuff and I just want them to all have good strong testimonies and I wanted to help facilitate that. That's all I ever want. To just do and say what Heavenly Father wants me to. So! All I can do is just try to be good/obedient, read/study like CRAZY, and really try and love and care about the people I come in contact with. I'm trying to think of what else I do? It's been getting pretty humid out here. I actually kind of like it? It's only gross when I go running in the morning- then I come home and have to like peel off my clothes because they're so sweaty. Sick. Which I'm sure you wanted to know. Sorray! OH! I know. We do funny stuff still. Don't worry- I'm not too lame. Or maybe I am lame and just think lame stuff is funny? So- as you may or may not have known- our last name has Star Trek implications- aka Captain Picard. My lovely Brazilian Sister Granja happens to be a trekky- go fig. So she always calls me Capt Picard. Well- she doesn't- maybe Sis Capt Picard because that's more white handbook approved :) And then we pretend to teleport ourselves different places by pressing our nametags instead of whatever it is they apparently do on the show. So..... Sis Granja and I were the only ones that stayed in Carthage everyone else got transferred. So all the new Sisters came in and same us randomly press our nametags and then appear across the room... they thought we were crazy. But- yeah. That story sounded cooler in my head. Really I just try to make up stuff to make me sound cool. Don't worry though. I still work it. I wear my "do work" bracelet every day to make sure that I remember how sweet my family is and to... do work. I think of lots of funny things in my head and then start saying them to sisters- sometimes I think my humor is under appreciated. I also like to sing all the random songs that pop into my head. I know that every probably just LOVES it:) Well- the moral of this e-mail is to do missionary work! Every member a missionary. The gospel is the sweetest thing ever- and everyone needs to know about that. Thanks to Aubs for her SWEET letter! And I got a letter from Sis Enser too which made my life. And my bff Kendra! Oh and Becca! Man- good letter week I suppose:) OH AND GUSSY!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO!!!!!!!! Sweetest brother ever! Totally sent me one of those new gospel art books. Sis Granja was drooling over it. She said I'll use it every day in the outbound. That brother o mine is inspired I tell ya. And! Rachelley is officially in the MTC! in ENGLAND! Crazy crazzy. I'm SO excited for her to be a little sister mish with me. Good times all around:) Well! I should probably get to gettin. I love being able to go to the temple. It's the best. ever. period. yes. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Picard