So MUCH water

Dear Parents

Did you know that florida doesn't drain?

so over the past couple of days we have had a total of about 10 inches of water that has fallen, and being from utah i'm used to things just running off the road and into a pipe that will take it to some river or something, well here not so much,

on either side of the road it's usually just grass and a little bit further on each side they have grass ditches that run the entire length of the road, now there are areas where pipes are place in the ditch and they now can build a driveway from it. well anyways so when it rains a lot the water just stays. it doesn't really get absorbed into the ground and it really doesn't move anywhere, so we have the perfect spot for a swamp, which I guess is the reason why florida has so many swamps.

well anyways this week has been a very inspiring week for me and for those that i've been able to talk to.

most of the people when we enter a store look at use from a distance and then just divert their eyes just so they don't have to talk to us, it's kind of sad so when you see people who just look a bit out of place don't make them loners, it's ok to say hi.

well anyways this week we have been able to visit a couple of less actives in the ward, one person in particular was having a very rough week when we decide to visit him, we brighten his spirits and made him feel a lot better, then a couple of days later we could see that he was just beaming with joy, mostly because he was happy just to have the simple things in life, ex family, visits, scripture study, and prayer.

we had another experience with another less active, she just didn't seem as happy as she once was, so we stopped by while she didn't change to much i thought i saw just a little bit of her starting to brighten up after our visit.

while these aren't the average type of visits we get, most of them are people who barely crack the door, we get one sentence out and then they say something to the effect that they are busy but maybe sometime later. so when those two happened i felt very much more happy then previous.

one other thing that i think worth mentioning is that children are often times for me great mirrors of what we are spiritually, so when children are trying to master a new skill they often become discouraged because they can't do it right away. i feel the same way when it comes to developing Christlike attributes. so that is something else i've learned.

well that's about it for me today i hope that everything out in the world is going great, especially in Haiti.

well with much love i send out to you

Elder Gillespie

Jethroyblincophia
i've decided if you have another kid it's going to be really hard to put all the names into one name. but other than that it sounds like your happy and learned some from your talks.

Ben Gains
RUSSIA?!? holy cow that is amazing and a bit crazy also your words of advice were well placed and well timed so thank you, also one correction, while people may say "emcee" the correct term is MC or Master of Ceremonies, yeah i know Tech Crew will never leave me.