December 29

I sure enjoyed talking with yall this week. I miss you so much. I can't wait until I get to be with you all again!

I hope everyone can get back into the routine of things. One thing I don't think you will have to worry about me when I get home is laziness. I will probably be able to be lazy for like two days and then I will have to be doing something. I can't stand not doing anything. My companion has been sick the last few days and so we have been inside, after about three hours I was bored out of my mind and so I started organizing my stuff to occupy my time. 

Not much has happened since talking with yall. But we did have a miracle! While sister Whetstone was resting we got a phone call, from the Elders and they told us that they had just eaten at a members home and our investigators were there. They had a fantastic lesson, and our investigator Valarie had a huge aha moment with them and is now working towards a day when she can soon be baptized! 

So I am actually making New Years resolutions for the rest of my mission. I am going to have 4 more baptisms, bear testimony as often as possible, repent daily, and endure/enjoy to the end :) I have been trying to think of how I wanted to end my mission and I feel that these are good goals for me to work towards. Yall should make some spiritual New Years resolutions and work towards them this year.

This week has been fantastic!

December 22

This week has been fantastic! Thanks for the awesome package! It was like the Mary Poppins bag of packages! We kept pulling more and more out it was awesome! Before I forget I sent home a package today it should get home on Christmas Eve, but you may not be able to get it until after Christmas because of your plans. It has presents for the whole family, nothing big, just little things, and some more of my clothes that I want when I get home (I used them for extra padding). There is a note explaining what is for who. 

I can't wait till I get to skype you all on Thursday! Plan on 12:00 your time to skype. I hope that time works for yall. I figure it will be after all the presents are opened. I am seriously so excited I can barely stand it. 

This week has been wonderful. We had our Christmas program on Sunday and I sang in it with a sister from our ward. We gave out the cd's that we had made to the ward and we had 5 investigators at church! It was amazing! 

Right now we are working with an investigator named Valarie. She has come to church the past 2 weeks and absolutely loves it. Everything that we teach her she just eats up and loves it. Please pray for her and that we will be able to set a baptismal date with her for the month of January. It is so nice to see the miracles that are happening here in Macclenny! Seriously this place is on fire! 

Ryan's Baptism

This week was phenomenal! Ryan was baptized and he had so much support from the ward. He is truly a remarkable guy! I know that he will do well in the gospel as he tries his best to live it. We actually had 7 nonmembers at his baptism! It was such a great day! President Craig called us after and congratulated us. It was seriously the best day ever! It is incredible to see how happy the gospel has made him. 

We will be skyping sometime after 5:00 our time. I will get back to you next week about a more specific time. I can't wait to see yall! It will be the best day ever! 

Today I am getting my hair trimmed! There is a lady in our ward who is amazing at hair and she said that she would do it for me! She is also doing my companion's hair with some cool highlights and lowlights.

Phenomenal!

December 9

So this week has been phenomenal! Ryan is still set to be baptized on Sunday! He is progressing so well! We had a great lesson with him yesterday in one of our member's home. It was probably the best lesson I have ever had. The spirit was so strong. A young 18 year old girl bore her testimony about how the gospel is joy, and how it is the only way we can truly be happy. 

It is amazing to see how much the members love us here. Everybody comes up to us and asks us how we are doing, and if we need anything. They love us so much! It is so rewarding to see the difference from when I first arrived here. 

I am so excited to skype yall in just a few weeks! Just think, after that you only have to wait 2 months and 2 weeks to see me in person. The office called me this week and asked me which airport I would be flying into. It doesn't really hit me how much time I have left until I get calls like that. I only have 12 weeks left. 

We also had presidents interviews this week and I probably received the greatest compliment ever from president Craig. He told me that he could always count on me and that he never has to worry about me. It was amazing. That is exactly what I wanted to have my mission president say about me.

Post Thanksgiving

December 1

So our thanksgiving was eventful.  On Wednesday I got terribly sick and threw everything up all night long. So thanksgiving I slept all morning and then we went and I had as little as possible at another member's house. My stomach had settled by then, but I was still taking it easy. 

We had a great time at the cane grinding, but it was the grossest thing I have ever tasted.  it was sure fun though! 

Ryan seems to be coming along well. He has the whole world against him though. People are not giving him any credit and they think he is joining because of a girl he likes in our ward. I just wish people would let him be and believe him about why he is joining. It makes me sad. I think he will do well though. He is gaining a testimony little by little, just like everyone else. I think we forget that converts are just like little sunbeams when they begin their journey into the gospel. We expect them to have a huge testimony right off, but that is just not realistic. 

In response to your question, yes the second coming is coming soon, but a lot still has to happen before that time will be here. We have to tell everyone about the gospel, and right now we still can't reach everyone. Barriers still have to come down, wickedness has to increase, and the righteous must be more righteous. We have to be better, and we have to work hard, but now is the time to prepare (spiritually and physically). 

Also we should totally go see Mike and Nat when I get home and then come as a family here to Florida! Yall would love it here! 

This week...

Mark Thatcher will make an excellent Bishop! Also, I am so proud of my Aggies! Hopefully next year they will be better than ever!  

So I started to bawl when I read that you have my release date papers. I don't know what I am going to do when that time comes. It will be very hard for me. I am really going to miss it here, but I am super excited to see yall! So many emotions all rolled into one, it is crazy. 

So this week we set a baptismal date with a young man named Ryan. He is awesome! It was very interesting when we set the date we told him that it was going to get very hard in the next few weeks for him to keep that date. We told him to recognize the adversary and his ploys to try and stop him from getting baptized. The day after we set this date, his mom got put into the hospital, his ride for church got put on restriction for driving and coming to church because her father has some problems with Ryan and the church. I have been attacked more by satan than probably ever before and basically all hell has broken loose. It is amazing to me the lengths that satan will go to to try and get someone to not be baptized. But we are winning the war against him. I feel like Ryan is meant for something extraordinary. There is just something about him. He has been remarkably preserved for the situation that he has grown up. I think Heavenly Father has some big plans for him. 

So this week we are having like three days of thanksgiving. We are having dinner on Wednesday and then on Thursday we have 2-3 dinners we have been invited to, and then on Friday we have more cane grinding with a lot of nonmembers at a members home. It should be a really great week! I as afraid because we only had one person half signed up on the dinner Calendar and I was sad, but the ward totally came through. 

No transfer…Macclenny is such an amazing place! I really am so excited to see what is going to start happening in the next few months with the work! It will be awesome! 

Baby Alpaca

November 17

So this week has been good! We have been having more success. We actually found some new investigators! We have also been having some investigators come to church! Things seem to be looking up here in Macclenny! I hope it continues that way. 

This week we got to help our Ward member who has an alpaca farm and she just had a baby alpaca! It is so cute! Seriously! We get to hold it tomorrow! It looks like a little lamb with a really long neck. I love animals so much! It is ridiculous. 

Oh also transfers are the week of December 10. I will know the 9th of December if I get transferred or not.