Week before Thanksgiving

Thanks for the advice about the members. We actually had a really amazing expirence this last Sunday with working with the members. We were asked to teach the adult Sunday school class for fifteen minutues and the topic was "what can the members of our ward do for the missionaries to help with the work?" Talk about an answer to our prayers! It went so well! We were able to use the talk that M. Russell Ballard gave in this last conference and we talked about our missionary expierences before our missions and I really connected with our ward and the Spirit was so strong. We challenged everyone to have a non member family over for family home evening by January 31and told everyone to expect a call from us checking up on them. The best part was at the end the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency stood up unexpectedly and bascially used his authority to call the members to action. He told them very specific ways that they could be doing to increase the work within our ward and stake. 

This week we had an amazing lesson with Sophie, Kim, and Gracie. They are so precious, and they are progressing so much in the gospel. I love to see their faces each week as the light of Christ shines more and more. This week they wrote us letters telling us how much we meant to them and how much we had impacted their family. They were really nervous that we were getting transfered and they prayed every night that we would stay. When we found out last night that we were staying together for one more transfer we called them and they were so excited! They literally shouted for joy! They are the reason that we are here and they make all of the hard times and hard weeks worth it. I don't know how the rest of my mission will go, but because of them I will feel successful. We are hopfully going to set a date for them all to be baptized this December! What a glorious day that will be! 

Also on a funny note, this week we were out trying to contact in the park and we passed by these two black guys who were speaking another language and I stopped right in front of them and started to ask them about Jesus Christ. We gave them a mormon.org card and invited them to church. It was great because I never do that!

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is this Thursday! It seems like just yesterday I got here! But by the time I speak with you at Christmas (which is less than a month away) I will have been out for FOUR months! Time is seriously flying by! I can't wait to skype you all on Christmas!

For Narnia!

Visit to St. Augustine

So we have continued to have a rough couple of weeks as far as numbers go, we just can't seem to find people to teach and some of our investigators have dropped us which is really frustrating, but, we still keep pressing forward. We actually had a great experience this week with Sophie and her family. We went and had family home evening with them and they we all really excited to have a time set aside to bond as a family. After FHE Kim gave us a ride home and she told us how grateful she was for helping her girls and she talked about the light that she has seen come into Sophie's eyes. We got her cell phone number and sent her a text just to let her get our number and she responded again thanking us for helping her girls as well as herself grow closer to each other by growing closer to God! It was a miracle that she recognized the changes that were going on with her and her daughters. She also invited us back this week for FHE and dinner (She is Italian and from Jersey, so you know it's going to be good!).

Also I had a strange experience last night/this morning, I had a dream that I was trying to give a lesson to a lot of our members and I kept trying to tell them to read Alma 5. They would not listen to me, but I kept insisting, and it was so weird. So during personal study I decided to look up Alma 5 and see what it was all about. In it Alma is talking to members of the church and he is asking them why they think they are going to end up in heaven. Alma tells them that if they do not repent and receive the image of our Savior in their countenances they will not be saved at the last day and they will be forced to see their errors before God. It also goes on to talk about those in the church who were needy and unable to help themselves, but who had received the image of our Savior in their own countenances and their doings were meted unto repentance. It rebukes the members for not helping the less fortunate around them and for not being an example, but instead letting themselves become lifted up in the pride of their hearts and thinking themselves to be better than one another. It was so interesting because that is one thing that we are really struggling with as a ward. Our ward is very competitive and they like to put themselves into classes. They have good intentions, but they do not want to change the way that things are. I don't know exactly what to do about it but something tells me that the answer is in the scriptures. So if you have any suggestions on how to help with ward unity they would be much appreciated. 

So this last week the sisters in our district all went and had fun in St. Augustine. We had a blast and it was so beautiful! All of the walls are made of sea shells and the fort was magnificent! I felt like I was in Narnia the whole time it was great! We also got some cool postcards and a supprise that I am sending home for Christmas! It was so fun and it felt great to be able to have a fun day instead of a stressful one! 

So we also had another Zone conference this week. This one was just a normal one that we have quarterly as a mission. We talked about listening to our investigators to really find out how to help them progress within the gospel. We also talked a lot about inspired goals and planning. Our plans are the blue print for our investigators and without them they will not be able to progress the way that they should.

Nov. 11, 2013

I cannot believe that Christmas is just around the corner, it doesn't feel like
it could be comming anytime soon down here. Florida is the wierdest
state I have ever been in, this week it has gone from freezing cold to
80+ in a day and it does that quite often.

So this week has been the hardest week of my mission! We had basically
zeros on all of our days this week for lessons and investigators and
everything else for that matter! Sister Davidson and I had a little
crying session in the car but we are alright now. Also because this week was so bad we
decided to cut it out of our calander and burn it in the sink last
night. Let me tell you that was one of the most satisfying things that
I have done. We then got to watch the sunrise on our run along the
dock this morning and it was a beautiful start to a much better week

So, in other news, I have started to eat OATMEAL and I actually like
it. Which is so weird because I have hated oatmeal since forever.
Anyway one night this past month Sister Davidson had woken up and she
heard me talking in my sleep and this is what I said "And that's why
you read the Book of Mormon, to know that Joseph Smith is a
prophet..." So I guess I can say that I really am a missionary because
I seem to be giving the first discussion in my sleep :)

One of our investigators, a sweet 9 year old girl, has decided that she
would like to push back her baptismal date until the first of the year, because she feels like
she is not ready. It was kind of a bummer when she told us this, but
she really isn't quite ready to get baptized yet and Sister Davidson
and I realized that we were pushing her a little too hard. But She is
still progressing beautifully! She came to church this last week even
though she had gotten home at 2:00 in the morning and she even paid tithing! It is so amazing to see this sweet 9 year old girl making such big decisions and steps in her own life and it is
really affecting her family. Her mom came to church with her and is
now an investigator and it is all because of the example that she is setting.

I just realized that we only have 44 days days until Christmas! That is so
exciting!

Nov. 4, 2013

But this week has been an crazy week. We have had a lot of ups and downs and inbetweens. We have also walked, a lot. We walked 8 miles on Thursday and about 6 more yesterday. It is hard when no one wants to listen to what you have to say. I wish I could just let them really know what they are missing out on, but I can't and so we just keep walking.

We actually had a surprise zone conference this week and Elder Zwick came and talked with us. It was all about the work and how it is hastening, but it really emphasized member missionary work. It is so hard for missionaries to find people these days purely by tracting. All of the investigators that we are working with are member referrals and let me tell you, it is so much easier to have them progress when they are with members. They understand more and are more comfortable coming to church when they have a friend. They are also more apt to listen to the gospel when it is an invitation from their friends instead of two 19 year old kids.  It is crazy how fast the Lord is hastening his work. Elder Zwick really emphazised that NOW is the time, not tomorrow, not next week, but NOW.  I am starting to realize that my mission will not end when I get home, but will continue for the rest of my life.  There were a lot of other really good messages at the Zone Conference, but a what stood out to me was, "Never limit yourself by what you feel you can do, but rather let the Lord expand your capacity".

We have had a rough week this week with some of our investigators. They are choosing not to progress and it is really hard for me because I want to let them know what they are missing out on and what they could have in their life, but I can't make them do anything. They have their agency and they get to make their own decisions, whether they will make them happy or not. I have learned to have a lot of patience.