"The Lord is on my side"

Hello everyone!! Everything's going really well here!! The days are all kind of starting to blur together haha...in a good way though!! I'm feeling a lot more comfortable sharing the Gospel with people and talking to random people. We've done a lot more tracting this week than last week and it's so fun! It's nice to have set appointments because then you know that they're interested...but going door to door is my favorite I think. I have met so many...interesting people haha. It's so funny too because there are SO many Jews around here...like SO many. There's like a higher concentration of Jews here than in Israel even!! We can prepare ourselves for when they answer the door, though, because they have a little thing called a mezzuza on their door that has a little scroll with the 10 commandments in it so it kind of gives us a heads up to not say "We're here to share a message that can help you come closer to CHRIST" hahaha they aren't very fond of us when we mention Christ... :)

But yeah...I'm sorry to tell you but Monticello is actually pretty sketchy. It's not super bad but I think that's just because, like you said, I'm looking at everyone through "missionary eyes" and no one seems that bad but yeah...it's like the crack capital of the United States or something like that and when we drive (because we have a car and don't really walk many places) we can see people that are like talking to themselves and stuff. But anyway...I haven't really felt scared at all and I know that even if I did feel a little scared, the Lord is on my side so it's whatever :)

I had one point where I was feeling like the most useless missionary ever but that moment's passed and I'm starting to feel a lot more confident.

My companion, Elder Witbeck, is absolutely great! We get along really well and we're always joking around and laughing about funny stuff that's happened. We have like a quote board already of funny stuff people say because there's just so much haha! One time we were praying with a less active lady and during her prayer she said (and I kid you not) "...please bless my baby-daddy that he'll start paying child support..." and I know that it was sincere but seriously...I almost started laughing just because she said baby-daddy in a prayer...

I'm really started to love studying my scriptures even more. It's really nice to not have anything else on my mind besides the work and studying...it really helps me focus. Monticello is really starting to grow on me, though. We have so many great (yet very, very interesting) investigators and less actives to work with, that every day is new and even more exciting than the last...it's only been a few weeks and I already have so many stories and stuff. I have to go now but I can't wait to share some next time! :)

Sorry about the short letter again. P-day flies by...literally.

I love you all!! 

-Elder Stafford