7-20 letter

hello family! i have missed you this week :) First i wanna answer kati'es questions:1: an 'awakening" i've had while out here on the mission... I would have to say the first thing that comes to mind is how important prayer is in our lives. I have always been pretty good at saying prayers before i go to bed and stuff but when we really think about what we're saying and ask with an actual desire to get help, the power is so real. i've had so many little examples of my prayers being answered, whether its just a little spritual boost that i pray for and then we get an awesome, powerful devotional. or even when we're teaching in the trc and i need the power of the holy ghost when i bear my testimony and stuff. It's just crazy how heavenly father really is listening to everyone of our prayers no matter how wuick and insignificant they may seem at times, I know that our prayers are answered, we just have to realize when we're getting an answer.2: is it annoying when you talk about summer plans, tahoe etc? it is definitely not anoying! I have planned out my day nicely so that when i get home at night, the last hour that i have is for writing in my journal and reading letters and getting ready for bed. Katie was worried that it was distracting me, but in all seriousness, letters from family and friends give me a HUGE boost! It is so great to hear from the boys and mom and dad and friends from home. It always puts a smile on my face when i read what's going on, but then when i wake up, it's back to work. So please don't hesitate on sending letters cause you think they are distracting me :). The hardest part is writing everyone back hahaha3:Last thought i think about before bed? Ummmm i dont know if i really have time hah! I usually get into bed, look at the underside of the top bunk and then roll over and pass out BUT if i do stay up which there are some nights where i just can't seem to fall asleep, then i'll usually think about something i was frustrated with that day ahah and then i tell myself i need to "learn" something from my frustrating experiences. That or i'll just think about the stuff that's going on from the letters. But just last night, i was thinking about a call back i had in the RC, and then i dreamt about me and my comp elder walker teaching someone the first discussion hahah!4:Tree of life showers? HA i laughed at this one but no we dno't. There are like 6 showers and two bathrooms on our floor, but it is still a mad rush to get there after gym and service and things like that. We have a bunch of elders on our floor and we have a threesome for our companionship so we have to book it back so we can all shower and get dressed on time.5: Most favorite thing about vbeing a missionary? there is a lot to love about this work i must say, but one thing that i love, is how i can really focus on other people. i think i'm a pretty good listener and enjoy hearing other peoples issues and stuff, so i kind of feel like a therapist in a way with a prescription that will heal any struggles ha (the RESTORED GOSPEL). So i like studying and reading and spending time, trying to help other people. I find that i'm most happy and focused when i'm thinking of how to better myself, in order to help others, not just for the sake of getting more talented at something (i hope that made sense). it's also cool not having to worry about the drama and stresses of normal life ya know. It's just nice to know that my whole day is planned out and that i know pretty much what i'm gonna be doing, every minute of the day. i don't have to worry about school work or drama and stuff, it feels great to have a goal and focus all the time. I love this work so much and can really see the differene that it is making in me. The first week or two, people kept saying "oh my gosh you sound so great and different like you're growing up and stuff..." but i didn't really see it ha! But now it's like ok, i still am travis edwards, but I just feel like a better person. Like i don't have to focus on me, me, me all the time. It feels great to always be (trying at leaast) thinking of others So that was the questions for this week ha. But i was so happy to hear about Jimmy and his 21! He totally deserved it too cause all my most recent memories of him at tahoe and vacation and stuff, have been good times and then some serious studying ha! But i'm soo happy for you katie and jimmy, i was praying for you guys a ton and i'm so glad that you can finally take a breath and feel relieved!!!! Also that is pretty cool about dad's ward missionary callilng. We just had a lesson two days ago about working with ward leaders and stuff and getting them to find referrals and whatnot. it sounds like a lot of the work can be done by the ward, and that can propel missionary work immensely! So i hope you take the calling seriously cause froma missionary;'s standpouint i've already started thinking about the ward leadership i will have to work with when i get to oregon hah. i liked that little story about peggy meeting my mission president and his wife too. i really am so excited to meet them and get to know them. gotta say thanks to grandma for the letter, i loved it! and i need an address for her, so i can write back, and i need austin white's address if you can get it??? I loved hearing about tahoe and all the stuff that is going on! i miss being with you guys and a part of me wants it to not be summer anymore hah so i don't remember what i'm missing :) thanks to the boys too for writing me, i will write you both back soon as i can! your letters gave me the biggest smile! This week, some cool stuff happened,. I had a great RC experience on thursday where i talked to 3 people for almost 10 minutes each! I talked about how we can spend forever togerther cause this lady, Felicia, had just gotten married. She was like oh my gosh i want that more than anything! so we talked about it for a while and told her i would acall her back friday so she had time to talk to her husband about meeting with the missionaries. So i called, and of course...she didn't pick up! i was soo frustrated and later, i had 3 other people to call back and NONE of them picked up! they all seemned intereested but i guess its hard to tell over the phone. I just thought though, how sad it is that people just ditch these opportunities to be together forever. I think some people think that If they just believe that they are together forevr, then they will be. But it's not like that. That's what makes our church different. We have what is necessary to make that happen but people just don't realize it! ahh it is so frustrating! Happier note though, we had to teacfh lesson 2 (plan of saklvation) on rfiday, and an hour befoer we went to go teach, my teacher hermano hidalgo comes to class and says hey" we need two companionships to teach in SPANISH!" So we volunteered hesitantly haha and tried to do it. It was painfully slow at first when we were just getting to know our investigator, but finally it picked up and we got into the lesson. it was really hard to conjugate all my verbs correctly like past tense and imperfect tense and future tense all lthis stuff. But i got the vocab down decently and often times if you don't know how to say something, you can say it anothe way that you know how. But it was soo cool to have never practyiced in spanish and just say a little prayer "heavenly father please HELPPP!!" haha and he did. We got through it with some definite struggles but taught it nonetheless. What was cool too, was that the investigator turned out to be hermano hidalgo's dad (my teachers dad) and so they talked on sunday, two days after we taught and his dad said, "you know it was cool to see those missionaries (referring to us) teach me and struggle through that lesson beacuse even though they weren't fluent speakers or they didn't know that much spanish, i could feel the power of their testimonies and i knew that what they were teaching was true!" It was toally cool to hear that beacuse it just shows how we don't need to be beautiful eloquent speakers to deliver a message, we just need that power and witness of the holy ghost. It was really cool that we got to hear what he said. other stuff, is this week i started feeling overwhelemd with how much doctrine everyone knows ha but it was awesome cause i started really digging into the scriptures and it became like a novel that i couldn't put down! i read soo much of it in like 3 days, and i just have this new sense of desire to read and learn about this powerful testimony of the things we teach. I know that as i read and grwo in the scriptures, my testimony of the power within, will really be strengthened. I dont have much time, but i just want to tell everyone how much i love them! i can really feel everyone's prayers and i've been surprised at times to see how positive i am being even when things are hard! I;m working on my laziness too haha and really trying to kick it into gear! i just know that this is the most important thing for me to be doing and i just can tell you how excited i am to teach and share this wonderfully important message! i m so glad that weveryone is doing well and i can tell that everyone is having fun and jstu enjoying themselves! last two things, i saw elder puilsipher off this week which was cool. he is on a plane right now to ukraine! haha that's gonna be weird when i leave this place! but until then, i will continue to update you and share with you my experiences! 30 minutes is so hard to describe everything thats happening! ahhhhhh i gotta run my times up! i love you all so much and i'm praying for you! reach out to those that need help! not everyone has this gospel like we do!