Big ole email

Okay! 

So this week flew by. We haven't found any new investigators this week, but hopefully as we work hard we'll find more people that have been prepared for us to teach! We're SUPER excited about General Conference, we really believe that if our Tennessee family comes to Conference with us something BIG is going to happen. Serving in SLC is such an incredible blessing. We have so many amazing tools that God has provided for us to use to help people come unto Christ. Temple square is only a 20-30 minute drive away and when you walk on those temple grounds, you can feel the Spirit for sure.

Last night we ate dinner with a super sweet lady named Sister McMahan. It was basically one of the best dinners I've eaten on my mission. THE WOMAN MADE A CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE FOR DESSERT. UGH. So good. She also has a little white poodle named Peaches McMahan, and that thing is the fluffiest dog I've ever met.

I am never going to eat Chinese food again for the rest of my life. Or at least until I've recovered from this week. We got taken out to Chinese places TWICE. And obviously I have to eat everything I order because Chinese food is so dang good. Yeah, that was a mistake. I've eaten enough rice for 10 grown men. I will never be hungry AGAIN. EVER.

What else happened this week? OH! There is this really cute old man in 6th ward, who's actually dating a member in 10th ward (scandalous, I know) and they're one of the people who took us out to dinner. But anyways, the old man lives in this secretly enormous fancy house that you would never realize was enormous OR fancy from looking at the front of it. Anyways, he has all of these amazing things in his house that his wife collected. The entire house is like a big giant maze. Every room has a theme and there are all these dolls everywhere and more paintings than I've seen in any gallery. There are murals on the walls and ceilings. There's an entire hallways in his basement devoted to cats (that was my favorite part) and a ballet room. Just a ballet room, you know, in case you ever felt like dancing ballet or whatever! So that was cool.

The Ogden temple dedication was yesterday!! We got to go because they broadcasted it at the stake centers around here. They seal the stake centers off and they become an extension of the temple, so you need your recommend to get in. What was really special was that Austraia ended up sitting right in front of us!!!! I am so proud of her and who she is. She's praying about whether or not she should serve a mission now. I think she'd be an amazing missionary. Hopefully she'll be able to come to some lessons with us here soon.

We watched Music and the Spoken work with our investigator Robert yesterday morning. It was an extra good one because they were playing a bunch of patriotic songs. He really enjoyed it! His neighbors came over too and brought cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon rolls help everything. 

I've been embracing the frumpy sister missionary look lately. Glasses and unflattering sweaters for me! I'm sure eventually I'll go back to trying to look cute.

This has been rejection week. All the hard parts of being a missionary were all mixed up into one big ole 7 day span. I wrote a big  list of cruddy things that happened, but after looking over it I decided that would just be whiney and lame. So I'll just share the funniest of all of these things: yesterday we spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get out of a gated community, because we couldn't find the button for the gate. DUMB. We had to call a member and ask how to escape.

 I'm actually glad we've had a hard week, though. I've been wondering where all the adversity has been the past couple of weeks. One great thing about having a great companion is that it's hard for Satan to discourage you. I am so happy to be with Sister Loveland.

Transfers are in a couple of weeks. I feel like I might get shipped out. Which will be sad, because I love the people here, but if the Lord needs me somewhere else, I need to trust Him. He knows where I need to be far better than I do.

Jesus Christ lives today and I know He's our Savior. He loves every one of us. We are all important to Him. He died for us, He thought of us individually when performing the Atonement. He's already paid the price for us, now all we need to do is turn to Him and live His gospel.

Okay! Well, I'm going to go buy a jug of milk at the grocery store! Have a happy day and remember how important you are! I'm probably forgetting things, I'll just send them next week.

Love you!

Sister Hinkle

PS: Joseph Smith is real. Just to clarify. He was a real person and he really restored Christ's gospel. He is a prophet of God. I am so done with people telling me he's imaginary.