What! I can't believe there was a fire that close! That's so scary. Those pictures were incredible. I'm so glad they got everything under control though. Did all the evacuations promote summer cleaning as well? jk :)

Well it has definitely been hot up here. We're up in the 100s and they say it's supposed to get hotter. We drink so much water I feel like a fish. Our planning for tracting is now based on areas with the most trees and shade instead of proximity of houses. More people are more willing to let us in to cool down for a little bit and talk to them though so that's good.

This last week was absolutely incredible! Last Monday we had a church tour with two brothers we found on the street who looked a little rough around the edges. It was awesome! They were so excited to learn about God and that He has a plan for them that they both accepted a baptismal date right off. Unfortunately we haven't been able to meet with them since, but they still text us so hopefully we'll be able to keep them on-date for baptism. We got to teach Chris-the fighter- several times and he's awesome! If he doesn't agree with or understand something he asks us to let him study it and then he comes back telling us that he understands what we're saying now and he agrees. He's so great. Whenever we try to get a commitment out of him though he always says "God willing." It drives me crazy! And so we were asking him if he would come to church again and he said "God willing and if I'm not in the hospital from my fight." He picked up a few fights to help get him ready for his big fight in a few months and they're the first ones he's done in 3 years! So he told us to pray that he would win his fights so that he could come to church and not be too injured. I can't believe someone would ever purposely go get hit by someone it just really doesn't make sense to me, but we definitely prayed hard. I can't say I've ever prayer for anything violent before, but I really prayed hard that he would be able to not be injured too bad so he could come to church. The lengths missionaries go to for their investigators ;) Turns out he won both fights and only got a black eye and his body woke up at 6 am and he couldn't go back to sleep so he came to church. The power of prayer :) It turns out that God is definitely willing for him to come to church. That's 3 weeks in a row!

Next awesome story: The Elders had been teaching a lady named Michelle forever before we came in. She hadn't been progressing so they had to "temporarily discontinue teaching." We see her all the time because her daughter, Tera, is a less-active recent-convert. Michelle has definitely become more spiritual and open since we've come and so Saturday we asked her if we could start teaching her again and she said absolutely! Then she told us how far she had already come on her spiritual journey. It's a really twisted story. She used to be a major druggy with her husband Michael. Apparently he was really bad and she had tried to kill him several times. Then they divorced and he had a major stroke that completely incapacitated him. She lets him move back in so she can take care of him then she almost dies during a surgery and has a complete turn around in her spiritual life. She decided there is a God and she wanted to change her life. So she did. She started going to Celebrate Recovery classes, moved to the other side of the state, got custody of her grandson, is the care-giver for her ex-husband who lives with her and has become awesome. It's the most crazy story every, but she has worked so hard to completely turn her life around. This is the Atonement in action. Knowing her now I would never believe she was capable of hurting anyone. And the idea of love your enemies is real and she did it!

Huge awesome story! Last night we had what is called a Cottage Meeting. It is where we invite a small group of less-actives, recent converts, members and all of our investigators to basically a testimony meeting. We had a few musical numbers and asked some members to share their conversion stories. It was incredible. Chris, Michelle, Michael and another investigator Mandi came. The spirit was so strong and all of the investigators even shared their testimonies. Just about everyone was crying by the end. In Michelle's testimony she said that she's not a Mormon yet and yes she said yet! Basically she told us she knows the church is true and she wants to get baptized, but not quite yet. It was so great! All the big manly men in the group were even crying. Chris tried super hard to act all tough, but it didn't really work. It was so great! Everyone got fellowshipped and shared their personal stories and their love for God. The spirit was so strong it was almost tangible. I'm still on a spiritual high from it. The whole time I couldn't get this less-active out of my head though; Brother Stoltz. He's the one who I had an indescribable experience with a few weeks ago where I was completely overwhelmed with our Heavenly Father's love for him. For some reason I am always thinking about him. During the whole cottage meeting I could not get out of my head that God wants him back. That He loves him and He has a very special plan for him. We went right to his house afterwards and he was half asleep and didn't want to talk to us much. I told him that we have a message for him and he said he knows. I don't know why and I don't know how, but somehow Brother Stoltz and I have some crazy connection through which Heavenly Father is communicating. It's quite an incredible experience.

This church is true. I cannot even say how true it is and how much God loves ALL his children. This is the truth. Christ died for us. Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son. I know it! The Book of Mormon truly is the word of God. I love His Gospel!

I love you all so very much. I pray for you every day and am so very grateful that you are all safe.

Love
Sister Probst