26.

Elder Hartvigsen is Back!! Mason was SO excited to find out that Elder Hartvigsen was transferred to the offices this week. They will be living together and working in the mission offices together for the next 4 months.

6 months.

184 days, 26 weeks, 6 months, 1/4 done, and it's still not easy.

I miss him just as much, if not more now than I did on the day we said goodbye.

With that being said, it has gone by faster than I thought.

And I have grown in so many ways.

I've learned:

Missionaries are my heroes.

He is the hardest working/ most optimistic/ and loving man...ever.

He still makes me smile EVERYDAY despite being thousands of miles away.

Weekly emails are my saving grace.

Snail mail is the best mail.

I can do hard things.

25.

"I am still absolutely loving the mission!  It is so incredible!  Everyday I am just so happy with how good my life is right now!  I wake up thinking about what is the Lord going to do to bless Elder Bentley today.  And he never ceases to bless me.  It is incredible!  I love the mission!"

24.

"So with us being able to work in our area more it has been super sweet!  We got a big list together of all the less active members.  (Or the people in the ward list that we dont know) and we have been going around in our giant area knocking on the doors trying to find these people.  For the most part they have not answered or somebody else was living there…  We havent been able to find any of these non actives but it is a good priority for us so we are taking some time to do it!  We have also been contacting like crazy!  We have knocked quite a few doors and yesterday we hit success!  It was a sweet old lady.  Neli.  Yes!  We knocked the door and she yelled to us asking what we wanted from her window and we said we were the new missionaries getting to know people and then she asked us if we were jehovas witnesses and we said no that we were with the church of jesus christ of latter day saints… She didnt recognize the name until I said… “Los Mormones!”  And then she was like ohhh yea, I have heard of you guys.  What do you believe and right there we jumped on it to explain and she asked if we wanted to come in and she went and found the key to her house and let us in and we had super good lesson about Joseph Smith and the first vision and she was loving it.  That happened yesterday and today we went and got lunch from her house because we found out that she cooks lunches for people and we didnt have lunch today.  So that was super sweet!  Ahhh!  She is a golden investigator!  I left and I felt like I was in the clouds because I had missed feeling the spirit like that and doing the true missionary work of sharing the gospel!  She will progress.  I know it."

23.

I unfortunately didn't get to talk to Mason this week as he skyped home for Christmas, but I can honestly say I wouldn't have had it any other way. It means everything to me that he is obedient enough to follow the mission rules 100%, and I respect him for that more than he will ever realize. Plus he wrote me the most incredible email just 2 days later, and this was all he had to say to make it the best Christmas ever:

"What are you even thanking me for Michaela?!?!  You are thanking me for continuing to be your Best Friend?  Just because I am on the Mission doesn't mean that I am not your Best Friend!  I can still talk to you about anything!"

So in Love.

The End.

22.

Elder Bentley has been in the office for two weeks now, and it's been nonstop the whole time. He is still trying to adjust to all the changes, has had a couple rough days, but he still has the most amazing attitude.
"The Christmas Season has been really busy but I have been extremely blessed.  So many wonderful experiences to share the real meaning of Christmas and the members and missionaries are all so friendly and loving during this time of the year while we are away from our families.  I know that we have this Christmas season because we have our Savior Jesus Christ and I am grateful for him and the sacrifice he made for us.  I am also grateful for the sacrifice our Heavenly Father made for us to give us his begotten son. It is incredible and an incomprehensible amount of love.  Enjoy the Christmas Season!"

21.

"Remember that Jesus Christ is not our leader.  He is our Mentor. Leaders at time just tell us what to do or show us a path. Mentors are in the trenches with us. They very much care about what we are becoming on a very personal level. They live alongside us. Their involvement is real and palpable.

Jesus is a great mentor. His words, his life, the way in which he points us is very liberal, very different. It's a chance to start to see the world in a very different way. Many call it being able to present and act from love and understanding. However you describe it Jesus is very involved and interested in WHO you are becoming and that doesn't mean just checking boxes and following rules." 

-Elder B