Happy B-Day USA!

July 4, 2016

Hi everyone!

First of all, happy Independence Day! Man, I love America. It really is the best. Now if only we had the good politicians to go with it...

Well this past week has been kind of a blur. It's been a good one, but it all just kinda ran together it seems. We did do a good amount of teaching, about the same as last week. Ryan and Ann, the new

investigators we picked up last week have baptismal dates in August! And we just worked super hard all last week. I was so exhausted after just the first half of the week! One day we were visiting someone (who ended up not being interested right now) and I almost fell asleep while we were talking too him. Thankfully I didn't, but still, I was tired! In my defense, we did work really hard all week, and that guy's couch was SUPER comfortable.

Anyway, yeah, we worked hard. And we woke up before 6:00 on some days to exercise (playing ultimate frisbee with a bunch of other missionaries). And the heat doesn't help with being tired either. In fact that's probably a lot to do with it. It's just super draining. Luckily, we did get a bit of a break later in the week. We got a couple thunderstorms that cooled things off to the upper 90s for a few

days. Yeah, 98 is still hot, but I'll definitely take that over 107! Also, it's been so dry here, it was really cool to see some naturally occurring water for a change.

Well, on Monday we got our new Mission President. His name is President Smith. On Tuesday there was a special "meet the president" meeting where we all got to, well, meet the president. He seems pretty cool. We only got to talk to him for a few minutes each, so the Assistants are probably the only ones really getting to know him personally right now, but it'll come with time. I'm looking forward to

whenever he does interviews, so then I'll have more time to sit down with him one on one. But anyway, just from that first impression he seems pretty nice. So that's good. I still miss President and Sister Center, and I think I always will. They were fantastic, and President Center was my mission president for almost 3/4 of my mission. But I'm looking forward to getting to know President Smith and helping him in any way that I can. And I'm sure he'll be great too"

Oh, random observation, I think President Smith looks A LOT like Mac Wilberg, the director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Seriously, if he said Mac was his brother, I'd totally buy it (except the different last name is a dead giveaway). Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Well that's all for this P-Day. I hope everyone has a great week and a fantastic Independence Day. On this day, I love to ponder how thankful I am for this great country we have been blessed with. God's hand is very present in our national history, and if you look for it, you can see it. Our Founding Fathers were great inspired men, and our constitution is truly an inspired document. We won our independence against all odds against the most powerful empire in the world at the time. Throughout that war, during the victories and the hardships, miracles big and small attended the patriots. And throughout our history, as long as we have stood for Liberty and Justice, we have been preserved and prospered, and we've been built into the greatest country in the world. And despite the best efforts of some politicians, The United States of America is still pretty great, though this nation does have some repenting to do in some areas. Because God brought forth this great nation, not only do we have a

government that guarantees us Liberty and, at least in theory, is for the people and by the people, but it also paved the way for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the time of Joseph Smith, this country was the only one that guaranteed religious freedom and provided an environment where the restored church could take hold. There was still tons of opposition, and Joseph was even martyred (the anniversary of which was just last Monday), but in the end, religious liberty prevailed. I'm so grateful to those early saints and pioneers who made it possible to have the restored church and gospel today, and I'm so grateful for those early patriots who were instruments in God's hands in bringing forth this great nation. And I hope we all can try to be like those founders and other great American leaders. If there were more people like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, or Ben Franklin nowadays, imagine how much better things would be. Imagine how much better things would be if the majority of us still really lived by our nation's motto "In God we trust". We can't control others, but we can control ourselves, and if we each decide to follow the example of our leaders of old, then the world be be that much better. It might not make a huge difference, but a small difference is still a difference. Consider today what you can do, and consider the the things we're blessed with here in the USA. We have a lot. Let's not take it for granted.

God bless America!

-Elder Oswald

P.S. OIndependence Day we got a cool surprise. President Smith said we could go to watch the fireworks! It was super cool. Anyway, just another highlight I wanted to share because Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays.

The first set of pictures is the from the zone activity.

The second set is from Dixie Rock when we were waiting for the fireworks. Pictured are Myself, Elder Robinson, Elder Fairbanks, Elder Moore, Elder Doeling, and Elder Schweers.

The rest are pictures of the city that I took from Dixie Rock.