Family-
Well I bet you thought the time would never come- but here it is! The very last e-mail that I will be writing to you as a missionary! I know I still don't leave for a long time, but I guess I don't have a preparation day next week. So! Here it goes! I don't have anything too terribly interesting to write you. How do you follow up seeing an apostle? :) We went to Springfield, IL last week with the Ludwig's. That was a lot of fun! We were able to see the Lincoln Museum and Presidential Library and Tomb and the old capital building. It was actually really funny to kind of get a view of how we must look to people when we give tours or annouce movies or any of the things we do here. I loved it though. Mostly I loved being with all the sisters I have grown to love so much since we started our missions together! I'm trying to think of what has even been going on! Things have slowed down quite a bit since Pageant is over. We have the BYU International Folk Dance team here now. We received almost DOUBLE the amount of referrals we did last year. So! Call Center is BUSY BUSY BUSY! They'll be calling on those cards for the next 5 years- haha:) I don't say that as though I don't like calling. I really love calling now. It has been a mighty change of heart you know. Although I will say I may never want to talk on the phone again:) Funny! I am funny. OH! I know. I lost my voice. Well, it is starting to come back now. Everyone just calls me Elder Picard because I speak so low and raspy sounding. I will say, losing one's voice as a Visitor's Center sister is NOT a great idea. But! It is what it is. So I tried to make myself as useful as possible. I filed a whole bunch of cards in the Call Center. Due to my time as a library assistant (NERD) in middle school I am VERY proficient at alphabetical order and I have been able to employ those skills as of late. I also used some of my paper cutting skills to cut the 102831902832028 programs for Sacrament meeting. Then I was shredding a whole bunch of our old referral cards that have already been entered and the missionaries sent. I was SO efficient that I actually burned out the shredder. So while everyone else was calling I was downstairs with scissors shredding the rest of the stack. I think S/Barry just about peed her pants when she saw me she was laughing so hard. Well- I had a job and it needed to be completed. So! That is what I have been doing.
I love being a missionary. More than being a missionary- I love the gospel. I think that is why missionaries say they "love being a missionary" so often. We probably do, but at the same time probably for the first time in our lives we are really experiencing the joy that only comes for the gospel of Jesus Christ and particularly in sharing it with others. I love my Savior so much! I am so glad that He allows me to represent Him and share the gospel. I love reading the Book of Mormon. You all know of my affinity for reading, and that has now all been transferred to reading the Book of Mormon in particular. I could read it all day every day. It makes me feel so good. It brings peace to my soul. I love my Heavenly Father. I cannot even believe how much He blesses me! I tell all the visitors that come if there is one thing they need to remember about Sister Picard it's that I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I love bearing my testimony so frequently and I hope to be able to find ways to do that for the rest of my life. I think that has been one of the blessings of serving a VC mission. I have had the opportunity to really figure out better how to incorporate missionary work into everyday life. I can really talk to anyone about anything and bring it all back to the Savior. So! Moral of the story- serving at the VC really isn't too bad:) I'm glad that God knew how much I would love being a missionary and that He let me come. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for being the family.... of my life! :)
Sister Picard
