Crossing the Mississippi.....

 The brown stuff is water.  And yes I know it is sideways.

Typical Skaggs face in a picture.

Sunday marked a whole month that I have been in Kirksville! It is crazy how time flies, hopefully it is going just as fast for you all at home. It's amazing that I lasted this long without getting bit, but I got my first chigger this past week. It's a bug bite (I think) that's supposed to itch like crazy, but I like to think I took it like a champ.

This past week we got to go to Quincy, Illinois for interviews with President Jensen! It is almost two hours away and a pretty drive through the country. We went trough maybe five small towns and only one of them had more than 500 people. We needed gas and forgot to get it in Kirksville before we left, but luckily Brashear was on the way! So we decided to stop real fast at the quaint gas station there. I don't know if you remember but Brashear is outside of Kirksville about ten miles, it was the place that we almost got our car stuck and my shoes got full of muddy clay. The place where the population reads 297 on the sign, but one third of the houses are abandoned. So we stop there for gas, we go inside to pay before we pump and the lady told us to go pump and then come inside to pay. So we head back outside and start to pump the gas from this really old machine. We look at the machine and the numbers are running by! They are ticking by on a wheel behind glass! There was nothing electronic about it. Sister Ramsey and I were laughing so hard and were amazed, all while trying not to look like tourists. We went back in to pay and I overheard  two old men say "what you doin' today George?" "oh nuthin' much, just babysittin' some cows." That's Brashear for ya. I love it even though it is so foreign and people look at us like they have no idea why city girls like us are there.

We got close to Quincy and Sister Ramsey reminded me we would cross the Mississippi River! It was so HUGE! It was amazing to look at even though it was all brown and dirty looking.

I was really nervous for my interview with President but it went so well. He is so great and supports us missionaries so well.

On Thursday we went to a Relief Society activity. We invited all our investigators and some less active sisters and none of them came, unfortunately. But I did learn something really great during the spiritual thought/lesson. I shared it with the group because it was so awesome that I learned it just sitting there and listening to the lesson by the spirit. We were talking about the difference between being comfortable and having peace. Being comfortable is dangerous. It leads us to a slippery slope to complacency, where we do not progress. But peace comes in and strengthens us amidst trial or not, bringing us closer to our Father in Heaven and enabling us to progress. I am definitely uncomfortable a lot out here. But I know that is a good thing. Relying on the Lord for peace, strength, and growth is the best way to make it through taxing situations. Don't sit back and be comfortable, get out of the "comfort zone" if you are there. Obtain peace from the Lord and move forward.

Love yall,

Sister Skaggs