July 15, 2019

Hello everyone!

Gonna be honest, it's a little harder to write letters in this area. Only because we only have so many things happen in the week that it doesn't feel like there is much to report on. But here we go!

We bumped up our service hours this week, which was SUPER great. I like making sure we get those in. We started volunteer work at the Humane Society, which is a shelter for dogs. So we go in and walk the dogs so they get some outside time. It's pretty great. I've never been around dogs this much in my life. I learn just how much effort there is to having one and really makes me think if I will ever get one. Probably not. I would be good without one. We also volunteer at the Salvation Army food pantry, which is pretty great. You get to talk to some amazing people there and get some amazing experiences with that. I love it. We met some really cool people there this week. Almost got a couple people to teach.

We are still kind of in the same place with our investigators and working out the logistics with our area and our plan for it. It's a process, but hopefully we can get somewhere soon. But we still go out and work, which is great.

This week I learned about the true nature of virtue. When you think of virtue, you typically think of chastity and keeping you mind pure of that sort of thing. But really it goes beyond that. Virtue is controlling your thoughts on righteous, uplifting things. It is truly striving to live those commandments from the Sermon on the Mount and keeping your thoughts centered on Christ and focusing on being positive and keeping yourself from dwelling on things that won't lift you up. This includes not only on how you feel about others, but also yourself. You will find yourself more courageous, more happy, more confident when you focus yourself.

So with that I would challenge each of you to find ways to focus more on having uplifting thoughts. If you don't know where to start, studying it out! That's where you will find inspiration and praying for help from your Heavenly Father will give you strength and encouragement to do so. I know it will change things so much for you and you will find happiness more often in your life. It will take time and isn't an easy thing bump off of your checklist, but with the idea of doing it and getting started with it, you can improve a little bit each week.

I love you all so much!

Your good pal,

Sister Savannah Johanson