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.

Oct. 28, 2013

So this week has been a crazy week of miracles! First off, for the past month we have been praying to find a single mother and three children (random, I know, but that is what we felt like we should pray for). This past week we were able to go and have dinner at a members house and they had invited their step-grandchildren and their biological mother over for dinner as well, we really connected with the two younger daughters and the mom was asking lots of questions. We really didn't think much of it until this past Saturday when they came to the trunk or treat and were really excited to see us and tell us that they were going to come to church the next day. It was then we realized that this was the single mother and three children that we had been praying for! They came to church and the mom was really touched and she wanted us to come back and eat with them and teach them more this next week, and they plan on coming to church again! It has truly been a miracle!

We had some sad news this week, a less active sister that we had been working with passed away. She had been really sick and had kidney failure and cancer in her throat from her smoking habit. We were one of the first people to find out and so it really came as a shock to the rest of the ward. I am so glad that we spent the time with her and showed her that we cared.

So this week was also the trunk-or-treat! Me and Sister Davidson were a hoot! Everybody loved that we dressed up and decorated our car!  Anyway, we had a lot of miracles at the trunk-or-treat we honestly had more less active and nonmembers join us than active members! I hope that the pass along cards we passed out will be great and that we can get some good things from that!

So funny story for the week, we contacted a media referral and she introduced herself as a Pastor. She has just started her own church and has exactly 7 members, but not all of her children have joined yet. She basically wanted us to become missionaries for her church and she wants us to help recruit members for her. It got even better when we were saying the closing prayer and she stared talking and praising the Lord after every sentence I uttered. All of this happened on her doorstep and in the mean time Sister Davidson got two large fire ant bites on her arm, it was quite an entertaining night!

There are so many blessings that come from being here and the biggest is getting to see the light of Christ come to the eyes of those we teach! 

Oct. 21, 2013

I can't believe that Halloween is just around the corner!  So here we have a trunk-or-treat this Saturday and we are going to put suckers on pass along cards! We have a lot of non-members coming and so we felt like it would be a good way to get some good "PR".  We are also dressing up, Sister Davidson is going to be a cheetah and I am going to be a witch, we spent like $5 at the store buying our costumes and we are so excited! I have a cute blue and black hat and some black and green striped tights, I am going to wear them with my black skirt and it should be super cute.

So one really exciting thing that happened this week is that I saved a turtle from being run over! It was great the car had stopped to try and let it pass, but it stopped right in the middle of the road, so I went and picked it up, took a picture, and then put it back in the pond it had come out of.

This has been a really good week! It has actually been our most successful week as far as numbers go. We have had more referrals than ever this week and a few of them are really solid. We are finally establishing trust with our members and the ward absolutely adores us sister missionaries. We actually had some media referrals this week which is a miracle in and of itself. We have been able to contact one and he wanted a Book of Mormon. He wasn't really into talking with us at first, but then the Spirit took over and we talked about the restoration and the plan of salvation for about 15-20 minutes. I have never had an experience like that before, he kept asking questions and I knew all of the right answers and words to say to him. The most amazing thing was that he didn't argue with anything we were saying, he was really interested and he basically agreed with what we taught him. He even asked what the Holy Spirit was like in our minds and we explained exactly what he was thinking (and feeling) the Holy Ghost was. It was absolutely amazing!

So in other news, we have not been able to see our investigator and her family this week because they have been sick with the flu. We also have been temporarily dropped by another investigator. She has been in the hospital for the past few days because of panic attacks and then she was in a car accident and so she isn't ready for us to visit her yet. It is so frustrating to know what we know about the Gospel and its power and then to have our investigators not realize it. Satan is working so hard to keep them from coming to church and is really working on their minds to use "valid" excuses to keep them from progressing.

Thanks for all of your support! Can you believe it has almost been two months already! I will be back before you know it.

P.S. I tried sushi for the first time today, I am not sure if I like it or if I want to throw it back up.

Oct. 16, 2013

It has been a hard week numbers wise, and I needed a little encouragement. I LOVE the picture of Katie in my lab coat! I miss that little cutie so much! I love all of the pictures that you send me of home! I especially love the leaves, everything is green here (which is great) but you don't get any other colors, just light and dark green. 

So things have been going good here! Yesterday was transfer calls and so we didn't have p-day until today. Sister Davidson and I are staying here in Fleming Island.

This week we got to go do service at a horse farm in St. Johns. There were some BEAUTIFUL horses there and there were some really sad looking horses as well. The owner rescues horses and she is an investigator for the St. Johns Elders. She was very nice and she had some cool stories. One of her horses is from Secretariat's line and she was absolutely GORGEOUS!  A lot of the horses that are there are former race horses who were injured. We put up a fence lining and we got to use machetes and other fun stuff! 

We have been seeing a less active woman in our ward. She lives in a nursing home in Green Cove and she is so funny! She tells us stories about how she is the nurses least favorite because she doesn't take any slack from them. She also tells us about a particular nurse she wants to fight with out back. She lived a hard life when she was young and so she feels like she has to defend herself from everyone. She also is very forgetful and she forgot that she was a member of the church and she asked what church we were from several times, but she remembers faces really well. 

Last night we were eating at a members home and the Hibernia Baptist missionaries knocked on the door, it was pretty funny. It's like they knew we were there ;) We also go a couch from Germany yesterday! A family in our ward donated it to us and they bought it when they were stationed in Germany and they shipped it overseas when they retired, and now it is in our living room.

October 7, 2013

So this week has been a bit long. It was actually the longest week I have been here, but it contained the best day of my mission so far. No one has been home this week, it has been absolutely frustrating! Every time we would go to visit someone we would get no answer. Then we went and saw a less active sister (she has multiple personality disorder) and we got her bad personality. It was so weird and you could just feel the tension on the doorstep.

Amidst the terribleness of it all we were able to meet with a great family. We had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and out of the blue the 9 year old daughter said that she wanted to be BAPTIZED! She is going to be baptized on the 19 of November (her birthday) and hopefully we can have her sister and mom baptized on the same day!

Conference was great this week! It definitely was the spiritual kick in the pants that I needed to move forward with the work. I was so excited that basically all of the Saturday talks were about member missionary work! That is really what is effective, because people don't want to hear about the Gospel from someone on their doorstep. In order for the work to progress we need to be on the same page as the members and they need to be with us. I hope that you at home will try your best to find missionary moments and help others feel our Savior's love. I hope that members here will be able to find people for us to teach in their homes, because it is the greatest feeling to know that you have helped someone accept their Savior and that they have the opportunity for an eternal family.