Where do I begin?? I guess I should go in order of when things happened... Saying goodbye to everyone at Mizzou was pretty hard. Qing cried :( 

But she wrote me a beautiful note that I will always cherish. That branch is in good hands with Sister Herdman and her new trainee there. Sister Herdamn emailed me today and told me that they taught Etienne the plan of salvation and he loved is AND came to church!!!! Miracles!!! Oh I am so happy!

Taira and Sarah

TAira is our recent convert and Sarah is a cool member :)

Jake is our recent convert and Jacob is the best branch mission leader I've had on my mission.

Elder Reall is the area 70 that taught institute at the U of M and he is incredible- learned so much from this man.

At our transfer meeting I got to see Sister Huppi!  I love her!

Also at the meeting there was a sister there who served in Sandy Creek right after I opened it and she said that Angela is getting baptized!!!!!!!!!! Last I heard, Angela wasn't taking the discussions anymore but look! Now she's getting baptized!!! As well as the Hammer family!!! The Lord's work is moving forward! Oh I just love this. I love seeing the gospel fill the earth and the best is being a part of it!

After transfer meeting I found the sister that I would be taking her place in Jacksonville and she introduced me to the people who would be driving me back to Illinois. My new companion was waiting for me in Jacksonville and I drove up with a couple and Elder Phillips who is now my district leader. It's so funny to be back in Illinois. It really is different from Missouri. Lots and lots of fields.

 When we got to Jacksonville I met my companion Sister Richardson. She is twenty years old, from Ogden, Utah and is studying math. She plays the clarinet and is the best whistler I have ever heard. We are very different but we get along great. 

My new apartment is awesome! Well, now that I cleaned it, it is. I really like it.  (I spent hours cleaning it.)

My first night in Jacksonville we went to choir at the church because Sister Richardson plays the piano for them. It is a tiny choir haha but it was fun to sing with them. After choir we went to sing language class! Oh it was so fun. I learned the alphabet and some vocabulary. Now it's Monday and I already know how to pray and have small conversations in sign. It's SO AWESOME! I love it. Thursday morning we had district meeting and got to know the other missionaries in out district. My disctrict leader as well as the Pittsfield Elders are almost four years younger than me.. it's really funny. They are basically my little brother's age! Zac is going to be an awesome missionary. It's really cool to see how the Lord qualify's whome he calls.

After district meeting we had lunch and Sister Richardson and I went to go visit a less active couple. They were so cute! Man, I love this little town. Then we went to go teach one of our new investigators at a place called Azkaban. Just kidding, it's not really called that. The missionaries call it that because it's an apartment complex for disabled people and it is just scary. I felt like I was walking into a movie when we signed in at the door and got buzzed in. Our investigators name is Rich. He's old and can't really hear or see.... so we have to yell as we testify, it's really amusing. But he's definitely interested. We taught the restoration and committed him to pray. He said he wouldn't do it. I still don't know why he won't pray but hopefully his heart will be softened.

Later that night we went back to Azkaban to teach another investigator that we have named Brenda. She has a mental disability and has been taught the discussions more than four times. But hasn't been baptized yet because she doesn't fully understand what she is being taught. The mission president wants us to continue to teach her though because she keeps her commitments. She's awesome. She has a hard time communicating but we had a good lesson with her. We are teaching her again tonight.

I'm running out of time but this weekend we had stake conference in Springfield, Illinois and it was amazing. We found two new investigators and are working on finding more. I love this area and I love my mission! Love you all!!

Sister Collett