"Only in Dubuque!"

Well, hi! A theme of this area is that we say "only in Dubuque," several times a day, because this city is SO characteristically random. Fun times. This week has been crazy, but good! Tuesday morning, we finished the marathon service project of pulling Greta's giant weeds. She was so so happy, and grateful. She is still surprised by our love and willingness to help. We had an appointment to teach her this week, but when we showed up she told us she hadn't realized how busy she'd be at the time. She is trying to get all her plants in the ground (where the weeds used to be) before it's too late for them to take root, and she needed to keep working. We told her it was alright, and rescheduled. We had arranged for a member to meet us there and teach with us, when she arrived, we told her that Greta had cancelled and why, and she said she wanted to stay and help her plant! Greta was so grateful and surprised. They had a good time from what we heard. I am so grateful for the members here. Greta was not ready to set a baptismal date when we invited her to, but the best thing- she came to sacrament meeting! This is HUGE everyone. It is a struggle to get investigators to church most of the time. She is awesome. We are so happy to be teaching her. She is still fervently trying to read the book of mormon, and is liking it so far. Please pray for her to gain a testimony. The Armstrongs are doing well. They are not making a ton of progress towards baptism, but they are doing a ton of growing in knowledge and understanding of the gospel. It is wonderful. They are both keeping commitments to read, which they have never ever done before. We were able to teach them at a member's home this week, and it went very well. The friendship and fellowship of the members is going to be huge for them, we are pretty sure. We are continually learning more about the marshallese members, and getting to know them better. It is so wonderful. They warm my heart. OH, and HUGE news. This last Saturday, we were all waiting on transfer doctrine. (They call you the week before transfers and tell you if you're going, staying, training, etc.) We thought for sure that at least one or two of the missionaries in our district would be going, and I was afraid I'd get called to train someone else after only six weeks of my own training - that happens a lot to sisters in our mission right now. But, finally at 10:15pm, we found out that we are ALL staying here. This is so crazy and practically unheard of. I love our district, and am so happy to be in Dubuque with all of them. Because of transfer week, we still e-mail today, but p-day is on wednesday, so I won't be able to write actual letters until then. I love you all! Thank you for all of the love and support! -Sister Monroe