hey everyone!!!!

how is everythig?  i hope everything is good. 

so i found the coolest thing that i wanted to share with you guys.  I found a talk in the april 2011 conference by M. Russell Ballard. and i just LOVED a story that he told that helped me refocus myself again.  (ive gotta do that like once a week.... its funny how we can relearn the same thing over and over again and stillneed to learn  the same thing...)  but it says:
"Oftentimes we are like the young merchant from Boston, who in 1849, as the story goes, was caught up in the fervor of the California gold rush. He sold all of his possessions to seek his fortune in the California rivers, which he was told were filled with gold nuggets so big that one could hardly carry them.
Day after endless day, the young man dipped his pan into the river and came up empty. His only reward was a growing pile of rocks. Discouraged and broke, he was ready to quit until one day an old, experienced prospector said to him, “That’s quite a pile of rocks you are getting there, my boy.”
The young man replied, “There’s no gold here. I’m going back home.”
Walking over to the pile of rocks, the old prospector said, “Oh, there is gold all right. You just have to know where to find it.” He picked two rocks up in his hands and crashed them together. One of the rocks split open, revealing several flecks of gold sparkling in the sunlight.
Noticing a bulging leather pouch fastened to the prospector’s waist, the young man said, “I’m looking for nuggets like the ones in your pouch, not just tiny flecks.”
The old prospector extended his pouch toward the young man, who looked inside, expecting to see several large nuggets. He was stunned to see that the pouch was filled with thousands of flecks of gold.
The old prospector said, “Son, it seems to me you are so busy looking for large nuggets that you’re missing filling your pouch with these precious flecks of gold. The patient accumulation of these little flecks has brought me great wealth.”"
I was trying to find a way to help my companion feel better and i was reading this and i realized how as missionaries we pray and pray for miracles.  we want to see the great big miracles like "we found a family that wanted to be baptized and they had gone to church all the times they needed and had a testimony of the book of mormon so we baptized them saturday..."  I know that these miracles exist... but there arent a whole lot of them. theyre like the nuggets of gold.  but more times than not we have the little miracles.  Like when they read the book of mormon its a little miracle. or they go  to church. or when you see a change in their lives ad you just know they are progressing.  And i realized that as we pay attention to these litte things and try to have them more. help them progress little by little- in time they are going to turn into baptisms but also into happy memories. and you are going to be full. as ive been paying attention to the little memories i dont remember a whole lot of the bad things. 
we had a mini missionera this week.  (we have people who are preparing to go on missions come and work with us for like a week ... well she was just there for a weekend.. but we study with them and teach tem ad its kinda fun...)  but the purpose is to do more work.  we go on splits with them. but we only had her sunday so she was going with us to all of our appointments and she asked where was the worst day of the mission... and i realized that i have no idea. there are hard days but no bad days.  well im sure i thought they were bad when i had them but right now i dont remember a whole lot. and i know that as we focus on those little miracles. the little happy things everyday in our lives. we are going to be happy and we are going to not notice the bad things as much. and i think that god wants us to be happy... what do you think?
I love you all!!!!
have a great week
hermana applegate