It has been some time since I have written so decided I needed to do that before another month passes.
We have really been busy the past 2 months. I can't believe how fast time is going. In 2 more weeks will be 6 months into our mission. Things are going pretty good here. Missionary work is kinda slow but we keep busy trying to reactivate people and we have had a bit of success with that but still a long ways to go. I think with some of them there is no hope but I guess you never give up on a person so we keep going to see them when we have time. There are some wonderful people here that we love to death, both members and non-members.
This past month has been busy getting ready for our Partnership for a Revolution which was held today. It was organized by Signature Health and a half dozen other organizations along with some churches and other non-profit groups to help the poor kids in Ashtabula county get ready for school. Our ward offered to help collect and hand out socks and underwear and we got a lot with the help of generous ward members and community people too. Others gave out shoes, hygiene kits, school bags and school supplies, free physicals and haircuts and tons of other things. We planned for 500 kids but had tickets for 700. They gave all those out and had tons more people waiting to get in. They told them they could wait but there was no guarantee that they would get anything. Many stayed. We had plenty of socks and underwear but the school bags and supplies went pretty fast. They are hoping to make it a yearly event. We also had a church table set up with information about the church and the missionaries staffed that one. Gave out tons of Books of Mormon and other literature but only got 3 people who signed the paper saying they wanted more information. But hopefully we planted a few seeds and made ourselves known a little more in the community. We'll see if the ward is interested in doing it again.
Our weather this summer has been absolutely perfect. Other than maybe a dozen days from the end of May to now, it has been such a nice summer. Not hot at all. In fact the past weerk has been in the 40's in the morning and only into the 70's in the day. We have also had lots of rain and a couple of tornado warnings but nothing developed other than bad wind storms. When it rains out here it comes down in torrents and you can't see to drive, bad as blizzards out west. I have been pretty scared a couple of times. I was really worried about the humidity but I have found that the humidity doesn't bother me as long as it is not above 85 degrees. In fact I kinda enjoy the humidity.
We are a little worried about the winter though. It has been so cool that the trees are already turning colors and we are wondering if that means we are in for a long hard winter. Hopefully not.
July was a fun month for us as we had my niece Jackie Bosshardt here with us on the 4th weekend. We went to Kirtland, the Johnson Farm and Middlefield, which is a big Amish community. It was so much fun. She also taught us how to catch fireflies. Then 10 days later we had Ivan's brother Glen Banks and his wife Jackie here to visit. Did some touring around the area with them too. It was so nice to have them here. We are hoping that a few more of the family will make it out here before the end of our mission.
We hope all is well with everyone and we would love to hear from any of you.
Love, Elder and Sister Banks
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