Sister Kirsten Leslie: MLC: LOVE IT!!!

Hey everyone! This past week was AWESOME!!

Especially MLC (Mission Leadership Council)! I don't even know where to begin! It was the BEST thing ever! The drive to Rapid is 4 hours long, which makes for a fun car ride. We drove up at like 8am on Monday morning and got to Rapid about 12:30. We ate and then met up with all the other missionaries where Sister Jensen and I had a very lovely running-to-hug-each other welcome. It was so WEIRD to see her again but so AWESOME!!! She is so cute and she has grown a lot since we were together. She said that I have too, so that was good to hear. :) She is doing great! We ended up sitting by each other for the meeting and staying with the same senior missionaries that night. We even got to be companions for a role play, so that brought it back to old times! It was so fun and so awesome!!! And the trainings we received at MLC were awesome!! Very much things our zone needs to hear. But going along with that, I also got a lot of revelation for me personally of things I can improve on in my own life, as well as in my Sister Training Leader calling. I was also paid a compliment by one of the other Sister Training Leaders that I am very firm in my standards and that I am needed to be the STL at this time in this zone for a reason. It always makes you feel good and filled with purpose to hear those things. So overall, it was awesome!! beyond awesome! FANTASTIC! :) We don't have another MLC until November, so that was sad to hear. :( But life goes on. They also sang happy birthday to me yesterday and made me blow out a candle and everything. So that was exciting. The mission's taking care of me!

We left Rapid yesterday at about 1:45 and got back just after 6. It was nice to see Sister Woodbury again, I had missed her. :) We were able to teach Jessica with another member in our ward, and it was AWESOME! She is getting baptized at Martin's Cove next weekend, and yes, she will be getting baptized in the river! How cool! But that doesn't make the baptism any more important or special. It's the covenants at baptism that matter, not where it takes place. But she is just so cute!

Now we are in the planning stage. We get to convert everything we learned at MLC into Zone Training Meeting, which is on Friday. So it's always really crazy and busy! Better than being bored though!! :) I get to present the main training with the zone Leaders, and also have my own training (which is always SUPER nerve wracking when you don't have a companion to lean on! So it will be interesting.)

Oh, and parents! Way to pull a sneaky one and send up my birthday stuff with Shaina and her mom! I was VERY surprised but very touched!! I have been eating those cookies non-stop since I got back yesterday.

Wow, I really haven't emailed forever....sorry...So Sister Bentley got her new companion and all is well with that. :) They get along great! The night before her companion got here, however, Sister Woodbury and I were finishing weekly planning, specifically companionship inventory, and with the 3 of us, it was one of the most spiritual ones of my mission, if not the best! I just felt better and uplifted and happy and that was a good breakthrough for me. When I came out, I did NOT like comp inventory. But things change with time!!

Exciting news: Good first: we get to go to Martin's Cove on Saturday to visit it and hike around it and everything, which I have never done before, so that will be AWESOME! Bad news: it's in the forecast to snow tomorrow. :( And it's only the middle of September...it's supposed to be a long, cold winter. Joy.

All of our families continue to do well and they are progressing and moving forward! I am excited for this next week!

Love you!

sister leslie.