Cuts

Well,

I am having surgery Friday the 10th at 11:30. Thank goodness, they are
letting me stay in the mission for it, but surgery is not fun. The
surgery I had was an appendectomy, and it laid me out just in time to
miss the state Cross Country meet my Senior year. That wasn't a fun
memory, but at the time that my appendix was swelling inside of me.
Surgery sounded wonderful. I'm at that point right now where I would
love surgery.

Tuesday I had my birthday. I turned 20. The members that fed us that
night gave us pan cookies, a personal favorite that I miss quite a
bit. Nothing will never be quite like your mother's cooking- if she's
a good cook. If she isn't a good cook, then Marie Calendar will tastes
a lot like her cooking. For my birthday we got Philly Cheesesteaks
from an authentic hole in the wall Philly Cheesesteak restaurant.
There was a signed Brian Dawkins jersey there. That made my day.

Also, the first person I ever taught was baptized on Saturday. It was
a tender moment. Andrew is not so much my baptism as it is mine, Elder
Tovar, Acor, White, Sandstrom, Vaitai, Hamilton, Waters, and about 20
other missionaries. It was such a special moment. It made me wonder
what Zion looks like.

The Lord provides. The Lord will always provide if we are doing our
best. Too often we worry about if we are enough, or if we will make
it. The enabling power of Christ is there to lift us up when we feel
like our best is not enough. The beautiful part about grace is that it
doesn't always come after we have done every little thing we can do.
Grace is amazing, because often we don't understand grace. Many times
it is working within us, but we don't realize it. We will come to feel
greater joy in our lives as we recognize the atonement in our lives.
In this past month, I have come to recognize that the atonement is a
real part of our lives- if we let it.

Elder Richard Hall

1. Birthday Dinner
2. Baptism day with A. Special thanks to my new friend, Sister K