Good morning! His mercies are new and His sun is shining in the cold state of UT. It is soooo cold! Kate told me that I became a Texan and I am afraid that she is correct, because my blood must have thinned out or something... I AM FREEZING all the time. BUT... because God is good and put sympathy on the furnace man's heart, he came and fixed both the college house and the girl's furnaces for free the other night. It was a welcome sight to see his van pull in with snow on it and know that I was going to wake up to a warm bedroom for once. :)

So, the parade is a contest for the best float. Haha... we obviously did not win even though the entire town has been talking about that AMAZING badger head and question mark that the "Badgers for Jesus" had. Irony. In TX there is still a large amount of prejudice between the races. In ME it is between the Mainah's and the Somolians. Here, between the Christians and the Mormons. Except that we welcome them with open arms and they kick us out of Institute classes. That's right... one of our girls, one of the sweetest by the way, got kicked out of Institute classes - compare to LU's Bible classes and you will have an idea, except they aren't allowed to ask ANY QUESTIONS. She was kicked out yesterday after being out of class for a week to work on float stuff because she "makes the learning enviroment and the teaching environment uncomfortable for the professor and class by asking questions." How's that for ironic? By the way, her prof was at the parade and freaked when he saw our float. Something about saying that "QUESTIONS ROK." bothered him greatly.

Heh... it's all good. Count it all joy when you face trials or even little things that point out that the world doesn't like you for Christ's sake. Right? We do. If this is the worst that we face, we are very blessed.

I spoke with Pastor Bud yesterday for a long while. That was pretty cool. I love hearing about how all of you are doing. I am incredibly bad at letters but if you ever want to call me or email, PLEASE do so. I will respond as soon as I can. Private conversations are few and far between but I try to make it a point to have them. I miss you guys like crazy. Still and seriously. Kate said the other day, "Your family is here (TX)." She is right. It will take time for me to grow with new family here but you guys are still hardcore close to my heart.

I have to tell you about the Delta church the other day. We went on Sunday and spoke, did music for worship, and just tried to encourage. Man, it was AMAZING. Like, wow. Ok, so we did not plan any of our testimonies or scriptures or coordinate anything. The only two planned portions of the service were the sermon and the music which were not coordinated together at all. But, since the Holy Spirit is amazing, He organized it so that we all had the same general idea on our hearts. When I spoke, as usual, I did not plan anything. I prayed over a couple of ideas of what to say but what came out was totally different. It was one of those moments when He puts the words in and I spew them out before I realize what they are and I am hearing them for the first time as well as everyone else and learn from them, too. I LOVE moments like that. When you have NO earthly idea what to say or do and then suddenly things that you didn't know that you knew come forth and you are saying exactly what He wants you to say. If only I were always that moldable. I'm not but it would be great if I were. The church seemed really excited that we were there. They cried.

My heart broke for the man behind me. I looked him in the eye and I saw things in there that no one should ever have to face. His pain was so deep. I don't know anythign about him or his story. I just know the pain that was in his eyes and surrounding his countance. Pray for him. God knows his story and his name.

One last story and then I should go because this is crazy long. Sunday afternoon, as Liz and I were baking, I looked out the kitchen window. It was a beautiful picture. Fall leaves falling down and snow on the mountains and a lazy Sunday afternoon street with a man all dressed up carrying his scriptures on his way home from church. It should have been one of those "wow" sights. But the understanding that he is an LDS man and is so decieved and lost and broken made it almost disgusting and definitely heart wrenching. Think about it.. what is more attractive than a man in love with Christ and praying and carrying his Bible? Absolutely nothing in my mind but knowing that this man does not love the same Jesus that I do... well, his attractiveness just fell about a 1,000 notches. It was incredibly sad. That's the reality that I live in, though.