Hello.

So, um, uh... I'm training a Greenie for the next three months or so... and, uh the area here is splitting, so I'm going to be riding a bike..
Hmm. Sounds like fun?

I'm actually pretty excited about this. I didn't want to really ride a bike until the end of my mission so I could be in shape when I got home but, It's all good. I just think my sweat glands will all run out because of the humidity. July is the hottest and most humid month of the year here. It will be fun. It will be a very good learning experience for me as well, especially where I have been a Jr. companion for practically my entire mission. The only thing I'm really nervous about is that instead of having one hour of companion study I have to do two on the days we don't have meetings or things like that. So, I'm not really sure what we are going to do for that time. The MTC came out with this very intense training program for the field for new missionaries. It's crazy. It's something that I'm very glad that I get to be a part of because these missionaries are going to be so good and so far ahead of so many other missionaries out here that if you aren't a part of this you very well could be left behind. The objective of this is that at the end of their three month training period they will be of enough caliber to train. at three months! that is insane!

Yesterday I had to attend a training meeting in Cleveland, that is a long drive! a long meeting too. after wards we went contacting in downtown. that was a lot of fun. mainly because people can only run away from you and even then you can start walking with them so they have no where to go but to listen to you! So, we would just walk with them down the road and invite them to learn more. I will tell you what. I really want to serve there now! I love the big city and I find it so much easier to talk to people in a metropolitan area like that than somewhere Like perrysburg where people are well off and not really walking around outside. It's still a lot more fun and easy than tracting.

What is it? a month until Jayme is married? that's coming up soon. That's really cool though what Blaine is doing. I have always liked him, even though at times you can get caught up in all the gossip and things that people say, but I have come to the realization that it was Spanish Fork and the way they do things there. I'm glad that Ammon is getting those opportunities to prove himself. I didn't think he wanted to wrestle through the summer either? this guy never makes up his mind! haha that's funny though. I guess that is just how he is.

This week was a bit harder to get things done because we didn't have very much time to be out proselyting because of other circumstances. but it's all good now, because the area is splitting and we will have two sets of elders in the ward. It's a bit harder to coordinate things but I think it will be fun. Mainly because we will be living together too so there will be four of us crammed into our apartment! I just realized that this last week was really long! and something else. I have almost been out a year. It's an amazing thing to try and understand, that subject of time that is. Now as I start to think about how we are going to help the investigators we have progress I'm looking at the calendar and I ask myself. how can we have enough time to help them get baptized this month when everything goes so quickly, where as at the start of my mission I was just like yes, we have a whole month to work with these guys and they are going to progress super quickly and we can baptize them pronto! Just always seems like we don't have enough time at all. it's hard for me to think about how quickly some people can come unto Christ and others very slowly. It's neat to think how much some people have been prepared and how much preparing we have to help them with. as we go back and talk to these people, most of them have had encounters with the church or something has happened where they are unhappy with the situation that they are in and you can just see how God put down his hand and was like "hmm, it's your turn, you are ready now!" -- Just a thought.

Love ya

--
Elder Michael Stone.

Ps got your package. Thanks a million!