Email- July 13, 2012

My dearest family,

Thanks so much for writing me via dearelder.com and through email! We can receive a letter twice a day, so dearelder is really the best! It makes me so happy when our district leader comes and gives us all mail, and I just happened to be a lucky missionary to receive one. And Cassie, yesterday when I got your post card, I was laughing so hard that I had to share it with my companions and then we were all laughing. It was great, so thanks for sending that. You just always know how to brighten my day. :] And that Geronimo is sure a sweety.

So Fridays are my official P-Days here. Last week was just a special week, so I sent you an email on Saturday. Mom, Dad, Matt, Kim and Kate- thanks so much for sending me dearelder's and emails! I only have about 15 minutes left on here, so I will be printing them out and writing you back a letter soon. AND I'M SORRY I FORGOT MY CAMERA CORD AGAIN. So the pictures are going to have to wait another week. (I knew I was forgetting something when I left my room.)

Have I already said how much I love it here?? I REALLY do. The Spirit is so strong. The environment is so clean and pretty. Mom, I think of you as I walk outside here, because the plants and trees and everything here is so beautiful. And then the mountains! I looove the mountains here! They are so close and huge and majestic! Usually the air is pretty clear here too, but there must be a forest fire close by, because today we woke up and walked outside smelling smoke and the air is all smoggy.

My testimony has definitely grown tremendously here. I am finding that you don't really have a deep rooted testimony if you haven't studied extensively the basic points of the doctrine of Christ: faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, all of which the Atonement encompasses. So right now in my personal study, I am taking each point one by one and am studying them to gain something that I thought I already had, a firm foundation. I have truly been humbled here and am learning how to really pray even more sincerely and with real intent. I could never teach our investigators without doing this.

It is so cool to see some missionaries in my district going through the same thing as me. Some of them have never read the Book of Mormon all the way through. But they are worthy and came out here because they knew the Lord commanded them to. And now he is performing miracles in them. He is preparing them for His work in a way that they could never do back home. Now that's faith. I admire those elders for being here.

Hey, so I found my watch! Thanks for letting me know where it was.

I love you all sooooo much! I pray for you and think about you. Write me through dearelder when you get the chance!

Love you forever,

Candice LeSueur