I can't believe Bobby Dayley is leaving! Where is he going on his mission! Tell him farewell and thanks for being such a great example to me!
I got your package! Thank you for the new garments. Mine are gross.... yuck. But also the candies. haha super stellar. and POPTARTS! woo! I've been trying to get back in shape and start eating healthy. It hasn't really been happening but I'll keep trying. But I loved the hump day stuff. Kinda. haha still a weird phrase but a cute idea. Everyone has grown so much! I swear Riker must be like 6 feet by now! It came while I was gone on exchanges but it was fun to be able to come back and see it, and I was on another exchange. So I was able to show it to Sister Tiato! haha it's been a CRAZY week! We did 2 exchanges, and then helped some sisters with their weekly planning/ Comp inventory as well as did a blitz in their area. But we still managed to accomplish a lot of our goals and get 5 people to church!! hahah not quite the 17 that had been happening before in my last area, but we'll get there soon! :) It's so crazy to be able to plan for and help the sisters! And for one of the exchanges I got to stay here and take over the area. haha super stressful, but the Lord is great and very merciful and able to help me out a TON with everything.
Mostly what I have been able to learn this week is that I need to be MORE GRATEFUL! Our inspired President Clements is leaving this week :( and last week he had us fast for gratitude for the amazing things that we were able to do! Did I tell you this last week? I dunno. But it was AWESOME! I loved it so much! And we have been incorporating gratitude into all that we do and it is SO amazing to see the change as we thank God for all the miracles that we see. As well as thank our investigators, rcla (someone tell me what this means because I don’t know), members. EVERYONE! It's so cool. I love this. And in case I don't say it enough: I love being a missionary. It's the best things ever.
oh, also! Reginnah got baptized! WOO! haha from my last area. I had to call her brother living in Utah, commit him to get a plane ticket and fly out here to baptize her but it finally happened! And we were able to go to it and bring an investigator too!
So cool. I'm so happy for her.
Love, Sister Terry
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
June 16, 2014
MOM>
Well I got transferred to a new area! Honestly it was SO hard to leave Elm Creek, I love it SO much. But it was my time to go, and I'm so excited for the awesome work that is going on in that area for Sister Tingey! I didn't move far either, just one area over into Medicine Lake ward. It covers Plymouth and Crystal. So maybe you can just look that up on google maps. It's basically the same area. haha I love it. #moreafricanstoteach I am so obsessed with them. It's so great. It's so cool to see their culture and understand better about where they are coming from. AHH I want to go to Africa so bad. And Mexico. And Chicago. haha Minnesota is basically a melting pot of everything. I love it. I get to learn about all these cultures and places all at once. It's fantastic! (we saw a turtle today while we were out running #classic haha I don't know why I thought of that but I did! It was SO cool. But also scary cause it had a sharp...beak? mouth? I dunno. but anyways...)
Really the ward is basically the same dynamics as Elm Creek. But now I just get to meet new people! And we are living in a member’s home. There are elders in the area as well. They are the Zone Leaders, which makes it nice because we have to coordinate EVERYTHING. haha it's SO crazy. I never realized how much time and attention goes into helping out the missionaries! ahh but it's cool to realize how much of an impact we can have on them. I'm super STOKED for exchanges and all the fun stuff! It's been crazy to figure out how to be motivating and nice and humble and call people to REPENT. I LOVE missionary work! ahh I wish I wrote more to you every week before. Basically I'm just bad at writing. But it's SO fun. and you meet the coolest people whose lives will be forever changed as they hear the hope and healing that comes through the atonement.
My companion is Sister Macall Smith. There are like 3 Sister Smith's in our zone which is ridiculous. Oh, we are over 5 sister groups, which too is ridiculous. It's A LOT of work and their areas are so diverse because the areas stretch from Minneapolis clear to Maple Grove so we have people in the slums, the Africans, and the classic white people who are born and raised Minnesotans. Which is like saying born and raised Lutheran or Catholic. But back to Sister Smith.
She's super stellar! She was actually my stl for the past 3 transfers. So I already knew her pretty well. She's from St. George, loves running marathons and has been out for over a year. She's short and blonde. haha I don't know what else to say about her.. she went to byu.... and went to byu in Jerusalem. SO COOL
Things have been going well, we are teaching really awesome people who I love dearly already and I'm so excited to help them prepare for baptism! I'll tell you more about it later.
The gospel is true, I love it SO much and I love being able to preach it to everyone that I come in contact with! This state is SO beautiful and I feel so lucky to be here and be anxiously engaged in this righteous cause! Have a fantastic week!
Love, Sister Terry
Well I got transferred to a new area! Honestly it was SO hard to leave Elm Creek, I love it SO much. But it was my time to go, and I'm so excited for the awesome work that is going on in that area for Sister Tingey! I didn't move far either, just one area over into Medicine Lake ward. It covers Plymouth and Crystal. So maybe you can just look that up on google maps. It's basically the same area. haha I love it. #moreafricanstoteach I am so obsessed with them. It's so great. It's so cool to see their culture and understand better about where they are coming from. AHH I want to go to Africa so bad. And Mexico. And Chicago. haha Minnesota is basically a melting pot of everything. I love it. I get to learn about all these cultures and places all at once. It's fantastic! (we saw a turtle today while we were out running #classic haha I don't know why I thought of that but I did! It was SO cool. But also scary cause it had a sharp...beak? mouth? I dunno. but anyways...)
Really the ward is basically the same dynamics as Elm Creek. But now I just get to meet new people! And we are living in a member’s home. There are elders in the area as well. They are the Zone Leaders, which makes it nice because we have to coordinate EVERYTHING. haha it's SO crazy. I never realized how much time and attention goes into helping out the missionaries! ahh but it's cool to realize how much of an impact we can have on them. I'm super STOKED for exchanges and all the fun stuff! It's been crazy to figure out how to be motivating and nice and humble and call people to REPENT. I LOVE missionary work! ahh I wish I wrote more to you every week before. Basically I'm just bad at writing. But it's SO fun. and you meet the coolest people whose lives will be forever changed as they hear the hope and healing that comes through the atonement.
My companion is Sister Macall Smith. There are like 3 Sister Smith's in our zone which is ridiculous. Oh, we are over 5 sister groups, which too is ridiculous. It's A LOT of work and their areas are so diverse because the areas stretch from Minneapolis clear to Maple Grove so we have people in the slums, the Africans, and the classic white people who are born and raised Minnesotans. Which is like saying born and raised Lutheran or Catholic. But back to Sister Smith.
She's super stellar! She was actually my stl for the past 3 transfers. So I already knew her pretty well. She's from St. George, loves running marathons and has been out for over a year. She's short and blonde. haha I don't know what else to say about her.. she went to byu.... and went to byu in Jerusalem. SO COOL
Things have been going well, we are teaching really awesome people who I love dearly already and I'm so excited to help them prepare for baptism! I'll tell you more about it later.
The gospel is true, I love it SO much and I love being able to preach it to everyone that I come in contact with! This state is SO beautiful and I feel so lucky to be here and be anxiously engaged in this righteous cause! Have a fantastic week!
Love, Sister Terry
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
June 9, 2014
Dear Mom,
Welllllll this week has been super awesome! woo! But I can't remember much of it. haha #missionarylife I'm sending ya'll a package since I have to de-clutter my life. You can ask me if you aren't sure what some of the stuff is.
Welllllll this week has been super awesome! woo! But I can't remember much of it. haha #missionarylife I'm sending ya'll a package since I have to de-clutter my life. You can ask me if you aren't sure what some of the stuff is.
Highlights:
On Monday some guy thought that we were drug dealers. But we're not. We just come and share eternal salvation.
REGINNAH IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON THE 21ST!! ahh I'm so stoked for her. We've been waiting for her brother to buy a plane ticket and come out so he can baptize her. No joke, I called him myself, like a dozen times to get in contact with him. (with approval from pres. Clements of course) AND FINALLY we got in contact, and he bought his plane ticket! Bitter sweet though, cause I'm leaving. But more on that later.
We met the coolest lady the other day. Her name is Miss Williams. Like her first name is Miss. I joke you not. It was so great! And she started talking about how all these hardships have happened like a family member has cancer and is dying, and she got in a life-threatening car crash. And I was just like, "me too." And the spirit was so strong and she had multiple spirit tears but she committed to baptism, Chastity, Word of Wisdom all in one lesson without us teaching the last two. I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.
Then we met the other Lady named Martou, she's so cool, and she had the lessons like ages ago with a senior couple, but she really wanted to meet with us and we set up this awesome joint teacher who lives really close to her, but the problem is that he doesn't have a car. And then she called us saying she's at her sister's house but still wants to meet. So then we call our JT (named Lincoln) and just tell him the situation, we can't give him a ride cause rule of 3, and we drive over to the address and it's an apartment complex and we don't have an apartment number, Martou isn't answering her phone and all is lost. BUT then I say a prayer, Martou calls lets us know the apartment number, we go inside and we get a call from Lincoln and he's THERE. What?? It was the coolest thing ever. And then we had a super stellar lesson and she came to church the next day, wants us to teach her boyfriend and be baptized. YAY!
Then on Sunday we went to teach Miss. But she had something come up unexpectedly and had to reschedule. So we decided to stop by this less active that the elders haven't been able to get in contact. His name is brother Sua'pa'ia. No joke, he's related to Big Buddah on Forever Strong. And HE WAS HOME! We had an awesome lesson where I gave him a For Strength of Youth pamphlet and he committed to read it. And then he said the prayer at the end and started crying. the Spirit was SO STRONG!
It seriously has been the coolest week ever, full of so many miracles and so many fun times. And then president called today. I'm being transferred to Medicine Lake ward and I'm a sister Training leader. Man. It's so overwhelming to think that I could ever leave this area. I'm heartbroken but excited as well. I thought it would be hard to leave my family at home, but honestly it's 100% harder to leave these people that I have come to love so much. They have grown, and experienced the fruits of the Atonement and along their path I have grown with them. I will miss them SO much. But I also know that Sister Tingey will do a super stellar job taking over the Area!!
Well, I have to go pack up all my life from the past 6 months! Have a super awesome week and Go read PREACH MY GOSPEL!
Love, Sister Terry
On Monday some guy thought that we were drug dealers. But we're not. We just come and share eternal salvation.
REGINNAH IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON THE 21ST!! ahh I'm so stoked for her. We've been waiting for her brother to buy a plane ticket and come out so he can baptize her. No joke, I called him myself, like a dozen times to get in contact with him. (with approval from pres. Clements of course) AND FINALLY we got in contact, and he bought his plane ticket! Bitter sweet though, cause I'm leaving. But more on that later.
We met the coolest lady the other day. Her name is Miss Williams. Like her first name is Miss. I joke you not. It was so great! And she started talking about how all these hardships have happened like a family member has cancer and is dying, and she got in a life-threatening car crash. And I was just like, "me too." And the spirit was so strong and she had multiple spirit tears but she committed to baptism, Chastity, Word of Wisdom all in one lesson without us teaching the last two. I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.
Then we met the other Lady named Martou, she's so cool, and she had the lessons like ages ago with a senior couple, but she really wanted to meet with us and we set up this awesome joint teacher who lives really close to her, but the problem is that he doesn't have a car. And then she called us saying she's at her sister's house but still wants to meet. So then we call our JT (named Lincoln) and just tell him the situation, we can't give him a ride cause rule of 3, and we drive over to the address and it's an apartment complex and we don't have an apartment number, Martou isn't answering her phone and all is lost. BUT then I say a prayer, Martou calls lets us know the apartment number, we go inside and we get a call from Lincoln and he's THERE. What?? It was the coolest thing ever. And then we had a super stellar lesson and she came to church the next day, wants us to teach her boyfriend and be baptized. YAY!
Then on Sunday we went to teach Miss. But she had something come up unexpectedly and had to reschedule. So we decided to stop by this less active that the elders haven't been able to get in contact. His name is brother Sua'pa'ia. No joke, he's related to Big Buddah on Forever Strong. And HE WAS HOME! We had an awesome lesson where I gave him a For Strength of Youth pamphlet and he committed to read it. And then he said the prayer at the end and started crying. the Spirit was SO STRONG!
It seriously has been the coolest week ever, full of so many miracles and so many fun times. And then president called today. I'm being transferred to Medicine Lake ward and I'm a sister Training leader. Man. It's so overwhelming to think that I could ever leave this area. I'm heartbroken but excited as well. I thought it would be hard to leave my family at home, but honestly it's 100% harder to leave these people that I have come to love so much. They have grown, and experienced the fruits of the Atonement and along their path I have grown with them. I will miss them SO much. But I also know that Sister Tingey will do a super stellar job taking over the Area!!
Well, I have to go pack up all my life from the past 6 months! Have a super awesome week and Go read PREACH MY GOSPEL!
Love, Sister Terry
June 2, 2014
Sister Terry didn't send an email to her mother last week but she did send a written letter. Here is what she had to say:
Mi Familie,
Oh dear, I’ve been meaning to send a package for so long and I keep forgetting, sorry…But I love you! and I hope you had a fantastic time at Snowbird! So cool!
I guess I didn’t really email much about what happened this week. Marco and Brittany got baptized! Woo! They are so awesome! they are the children of Sister Interlith, a Laotian lady who was up about 20 years ago in Washington but once upon a time Sister Hudson and I tracked into her. And now 2 of her 3 kids are up! So awesome. I love the mysterious ways God works. He’s so legit.
There’s a really cool scripture in Isaiah. It’s Isaiah 2:3. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. It makes me miss my Utah mountains :) Sometimes in the morning I sit on a hill of dirt and pretend like it’s a mountain. And then I meditate cause I don’t know how to exercise :)
Sister Tingey and I started collecting the pennies we see on the ground. We have a lot of $ now. Who knew?!
The other day this guy asked if we knew Christ, so we said yes and he said, “I knew it, you had that aura around you” and walked off. Ha ha so great!
Have a great week!
Love Sister T
Mi Familie,
Oh dear, I’ve been meaning to send a package for so long and I keep forgetting, sorry…But I love you! and I hope you had a fantastic time at Snowbird! So cool!
I guess I didn’t really email much about what happened this week. Marco and Brittany got baptized! Woo! They are so awesome! they are the children of Sister Interlith, a Laotian lady who was up about 20 years ago in Washington but once upon a time Sister Hudson and I tracked into her. And now 2 of her 3 kids are up! So awesome. I love the mysterious ways God works. He’s so legit.
There’s a really cool scripture in Isaiah. It’s Isaiah 2:3. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. It makes me miss my Utah mountains :) Sometimes in the morning I sit on a hill of dirt and pretend like it’s a mountain. And then I meditate cause I don’t know how to exercise :)
Sister Tingey and I started collecting the pennies we see on the ground. We have a lot of $ now. Who knew?!
The other day this guy asked if we knew Christ, so we said yes and he said, “I knew it, you had that aura around you” and walked off. Ha ha so great!
Have a great week!
Love Sister T
| Sister Terry, Brittany, Marco, Sister Tingey |
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Memorial Day, 2014
Warning!! I usually edit her letters and take out all the periods that she throws in at the most random spots but this letter made me laugh. Just imagine Sidney having a conversation with you and every time there is a period she's trying to get her brain back on the topic at hand. I love to see her personality still shining through, as crazy and erratic as she is.
Oh, sorry. All my letters are so short. But I'm sure they are super stellar! haha um... oh my goodness so much happens every week and then I get here...and nothing. so here goes nothing.
Today I am emailing from Sister Smith's home. I hope you all are having a spectacular memorial day! Wallaby's is delicious and I got your letter this week. WAA HOO! Thanks for the magazines. and Sabrina! man. she's awesome. one day she'll be baptized. and then we'll be neighbors in the celestial kingdom.
But this week was super great! it rained on Monday hard core, and I danced in the rain while sister Tingey tried to glue her fake tooth back onto her retainer. it was a fantastic day. And we were able to visit with the Lopez family! I love them. they are recent converts, but are also kind of less active. But they are stellar. And we have been working with them to prepare for the temple. Hey dad, where did you go on your mission? what part of mexico? Sister Lopez is from Mexico, moved here when she was a kid. But she's going down to Mexico next summer. Which reminds me, I really want to go to Mexico. Maybe next summer? that would be awesome. I want to eat tortillas and rice and I actually like refried beans. And other beans. It's growing on me. Plus there is mangos. So basically a lot of pros. and the only con is that there is a spanish mafia that could kill us. Worth it.
We had exchanges this week as well. I was able to go to the Medicine lake ward with Sister Smith. It was my first time out of my area in 6 months! ahh I was excited. But also, I love being here. And we had some awesome appointments and miracles. I was happy to be back in my area. Guess what! This week we taught 37 lessons! no joke. it was the most exhausting thing ever. We had some days when we taught 8 lessons. Complete chaos. But one day, we went to go to an appointment, and the lady wasn't there so we went to stop by someone else but on the way I had to go to the bathroom SO BADLY. so i stopped by someone's house and borrowed their bathroom and then set up a return appointment to teach them the gospel. And we did. And it is a family of 10 people. No joke. AND THEY ALL CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY. 8 of them are over the age of 8. we are pretty stoked for them. THEY are SO prepared for the gospel. Moral of the story. Use every situation as a finding situation. hahahaha and sometimes God works in mysterious ways.
So basically we got 15 people to church. And set 2 new dates for June. And MARCO AND BRITTANY are being baptized next week!! WOO! I am so stoked for them! They are the coolest kids ever, and have grown so much since we started visiting them! It definitely has been a miracle filled week and I am so excited to see the miracles continue to grow. We've been working so hard at what it truly means to serve with all your heart might mind and strength. And sister Tingey has been such a blessing in calling me out on things that are not in harmony with my call. Ex. sarcasm, worldly music. And then we have worked SO hard at getting rid of those bad habits. It's been so awesome. Who knew that the cleanliness of the apartment would affect the spirit so much? As much as I detest cleaning, it's definitely worth it!! AHH I love being a missionary So much!! It's super hard, and difficult, and stressful. But also the most amazing thing you could ever do. What could be better than devoting 18 months to serving the lord? Absolutely nothing!! Have a great week!
Love, Sister TERRY
P.S. I gave a talk in church and I forgot to bear my testimony at the end about my family. but I love you. Even if the people here didn't get to hear it over the pulpit. I think you all are pretty cool kids. Keep up the great work!
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
May 12, 2014
Well, not much to say that I didn't say yesterday. But also, a bit of an explanation of why I was so emotional yesterday!
We've been working a lot with Sabrina, and she is SO prepared to be baptized! But the more we work with her so that she can make that important promise to God, the more Thomas (her husband) pushes against the church. Finally we decided to all fast and pray about what we should do, if she should be baptized next week. We got the answer that we should wait and it was super cool and awesome and full of the spirit. But then when she came to church yesterday she told us that Thomas had looked up a bunch of anti stuff online and got completely freaked out. And if she comes to church again he will divorce her. We are no longer allowed to meet with her or really have any contact with her. It's so hard to know that she knows it is true, but that Satan works so hard to make sure the God's children are miserable. Right after church we sat in with her while she got a priesthood blessing and then we just watched her walk away. It was literally one of the hardest experiences I've ever had on my mission.
But then as I was praying all day, and night about it, these quotes came into my mind. And as you, mom, and family know I'm not a lotr (Lord of the Rings) fan at all. SO it's pretty crazy that this is where my solace came from. But the quote is,
"It's like in the great stories, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness, and danger and sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand.”
I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something, that there is still some good in the world. And it's worth fighting for.
I really do know that there is good in the world. That there is hope. Even when the world would say otherwise. That's the great message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The atonement. It is there for each and every one of us, and we have to come to the alter and offer our whole souls unto him. But why hold back? There's nothing we can accomplish without him anyway. I know this gospel is true without a doubt. And even when these setbacks come, and they come often-even in missionary work- much like Jeremiah the words are in my heart like a burning fire and I can't help but proclaim the glad news of this gospel. I testify he lives. We will all live and that he has a very specific plan for each of us. And the spirit tells each one of us that this is true as we listen to his still small voice. I love you!
Love, Sister Terry
We've been working a lot with Sabrina, and she is SO prepared to be baptized! But the more we work with her so that she can make that important promise to God, the more Thomas (her husband) pushes against the church. Finally we decided to all fast and pray about what we should do, if she should be baptized next week. We got the answer that we should wait and it was super cool and awesome and full of the spirit. But then when she came to church yesterday she told us that Thomas had looked up a bunch of anti stuff online and got completely freaked out. And if she comes to church again he will divorce her. We are no longer allowed to meet with her or really have any contact with her. It's so hard to know that she knows it is true, but that Satan works so hard to make sure the God's children are miserable. Right after church we sat in with her while she got a priesthood blessing and then we just watched her walk away. It was literally one of the hardest experiences I've ever had on my mission.
But then as I was praying all day, and night about it, these quotes came into my mind. And as you, mom, and family know I'm not a lotr (Lord of the Rings) fan at all. SO it's pretty crazy that this is where my solace came from. But the quote is,
"It's like in the great stories, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness, and danger and sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand.”
I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something, that there is still some good in the world. And it's worth fighting for.
I really do know that there is good in the world. That there is hope. Even when the world would say otherwise. That's the great message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The atonement. It is there for each and every one of us, and we have to come to the alter and offer our whole souls unto him. But why hold back? There's nothing we can accomplish without him anyway. I know this gospel is true without a doubt. And even when these setbacks come, and they come often-even in missionary work- much like Jeremiah the words are in my heart like a burning fire and I can't help but proclaim the glad news of this gospel. I testify he lives. We will all live and that he has a very specific plan for each of us. And the spirit tells each one of us that this is true as we listen to his still small voice. I love you!
Love, Sister Terry
The first four pictures are from their visit to the
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
May 4, 2014
Things are going well. People are awesome. And I will see you on mothers day WOO!!
This week was stake conference. Elder Reall and his wife came. it was really cool. It was about hastening the work of salvation. So most people talked about missionary work. But Elder Reall talked about our own individual salvation. So that was cool. And President Toronto mentioned that his son runs track and xc and as he was praying with his son he prayed that as his son recognized that the Lord's work is hastening that he would run faster than ever before. I thought that that was really cool. Obviously I love running and I love thinking of this as a race. But Satan's race is on too, and he wants to win. The question is, "Who am I racing for?" and I know that as we think of the reasons we are racing and what we want to accomplish God will give us greater light and understanding about what our purpose is, and that we will be filled with the strength and energy needed to be able to accomplish the things he has in store for us.
I love YOU!!
Love, Sister Terry
This week was stake conference. Elder Reall and his wife came. it was really cool. It was about hastening the work of salvation. So most people talked about missionary work. But Elder Reall talked about our own individual salvation. So that was cool. And President Toronto mentioned that his son runs track and xc and as he was praying with his son he prayed that as his son recognized that the Lord's work is hastening that he would run faster than ever before. I thought that that was really cool. Obviously I love running and I love thinking of this as a race. But Satan's race is on too, and he wants to win. The question is, "Who am I racing for?" and I know that as we think of the reasons we are racing and what we want to accomplish God will give us greater light and understanding about what our purpose is, and that we will be filled with the strength and energy needed to be able to accomplish the things he has in store for us.
I love YOU!!
Love, Sister Terry
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