That's sounds like fun! We didn't hear about a parade or anything, but we did have a good 'ol barbecue at a member's house. He smoked some wild hog, and had more good food. He usually has homemade fireworks, but his wife specifically told him, NO homemade fireworks, so he didn't. This guy is hilarious! But all is well, I am safe, and not in danger. I know what you are thinking, and I won't do anything stupid, and I'm always safe! :) We had s'mores in his front yard, and tried to watch the neighbor's fireworks, but there were too many trees.

Looks like y'all had a blast! I see that Ashton is taking good care of my Oakleys! :) I don't recognize anybody in that picture! I think I see Amanda? I'm not sure I remember her name right, Gracee's sister. Anyway, who is Jameson and Ashton both sitting next to? And Coree must be baking! She has the right idea though, best way to avoid sunburns is hiding from the sun! Dad also has a sweet hat! It looks like y'all managed to squeeze in there just fine. (Referring to a picture I sent.)

That's pretty impressive that Jameson's working so hard, he is definitely saving up! Or he is blowing it off on cool shoes and fancy shirts :). jk, Thanks for the mail, I didn't know about some of those guys leaving on missions. They have some good stories. It makes me want to work harder. We received a chain mail that I wrote in and sent to Cody in Virginia. Work is going a little better, we are focusing on the less actives. We had many good lessons, and good interactions this week. I was a little nervous a few days ago when we were trying to contact some LA's. Elder Lane said that he remembered one of these people really doesn't like us coming over, and he wasn't sure which one. So I was preparing to get a negative response from every house, when it turned out that we met one lady who was really glad to see us. The rest didn't answer, but the work goes on! Yesterday though we had a really good lesson with a LA, he usually didn't stay for lessons, but he did this time and we were prompted to share about God and how he helps us. We got to talking beforehand, and his dad and his uncle, who are twins, played for Alabama way back when. His uncle was in the pros for a while, playing for the Browns and the Chargers. His name is Terry Owens. I don't know if you know him or not. What was interesting was at first it was tense, finding things to talk about was a little hard. When we finished the lesson, he was a lot more friendly, and he even walked us out to the car. We knew that this was a huge step, and hopefully we will be able to go back and share more lessons!

I'm really starting to love the ward here. There are tons of fun members. We spent a long while looking at a member's Pinewood derby cars he made in his past years as a scout master. He wasn't a member then. He has the funniest cars! My favorite was the double wide. He made a two lane car that looked like a double wide trailer. His theory, that the time it took to get to the bottom, divided by half because of the two lanes, would beat all the cars! But it didn't, it was super slow! I need to get a picture of it still, it was hilarious! This ward is definitely growing on me! Hopefully the area is growing on me too! If you know what I mean! Well, I'll talk to y'all next time and share more things that happened. I am writing all the stories in my journal so y'all don't have to worry about missing all of them! They'll be a lot better in person also! :)

Love ya LOTS!