Monday, August 31, 2015

August 31, 2015


I found out on Saturday night that I'm getting transferred. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it, I'm trying to trust that wherever I go is where the Lord needs me to be. Transfers are on Wednesday. It was hard to say goodbye to a lot of the members on Sunday. But I do feel like it's my time to move on :) When they found out I was leaving, they asked me to speak in sacrament meeting. Like 10 minutes before haha. But the members here are so sweet. I'll miss everyone here a lot, especially Sister Rhodes, but hopefully there are some new adventures in store for me wherever I may go :)

Hurricane Erica was supposed to come through here, so that was fun to hear from random people. But now I think it'll just be lots of rain. Which is not too new :) It's been raining a lot the past few days. One day we were a few miles away from home and we were walking and a really bad storm was blowing in. A random lady offered to give us a ride, she saved our lives. That happens a lot actually, I never would've thought that I'd accept rides from random strangers. But on a mission you do a lot of things that you never thought you'd do and it turns out alright :)

We've also met some very interesting people this week, as usual :) We met one that was exactly like Mama Odie on Princess and the Frog haha. She was sweet, we couldn't understand her very well because she had no teeth (I'm coming to realize what a rare commodity teeth are), but she kept telling us how we she could see the image of God in us, and how she could tell we were Christian by our smiles haha. And we met another lady who came out of her back yard. She emerged from the bushes with her hammer and her eyes that look in different directions and I thought our lives were over.


We saw a huge miracle yesterday with a less-active Sister Rudd and I taught once over 6 months ago. He hadn't been to church in about 10 years I think, and he wasn't really reading the Book of Mormon at all. We invited him to read it daily and he said he wasn't making any promises. Yesterday he came to church! After sacrament meeting he came up to me and said he was halfway through the Book of Mormon for the second time. He told me that we never know what seeds we plant. I think I really need to hear that as I leave my beloved Lake Wales and journey into the unknown :)

Monday, August 24, 2015

August 24, 2015


I'd say this week has been pretty good. L GOT BAPTIZED! It was beautiful :) She was so happy. We had a few minutes for people to bear their testimonies and Lorraine said "May I say something?" and she talked about how grateful she is to be a part of this church and how everything she's learned has been such a blessing to her. She's amazing. 


I'm so grateful that God allowed me to have the opportunity to teach her. She told us how much closer she's felt to God ever since she met us. I am so so glad we talked to her that day by the lake. We just invited her to a 4th of July party the ward was having. She didn't even show up to the party. But we ran into her again a few weeks later. Definitely meant to be :) It has been so incredible to see her faith grow and to see the effect of the Atonement in her life.

Sister Rhodes said "this is my fried chicken face" :)

Transfers are next week, and I've been here for over 7 months now, the same amount of time I served in Tampa. So I'm pretty nervous about getting transferred. I love Sister Rhodes and I love all the people here. But I'm trying to have faith that the Lord will send me wherever I need to be, so we'll see!



We had a really great zone conference this week and we talked about the need to constantly make course corrections in life. President Cusick talked about a tennis coach that his daughter had, who would make her start all over every time she made a mistake. He said it seemed ridiculous and was grueling to watch, but now his daughter is like the best tennis player in Utah. The coach said he would never let anyone practice anything wrong. I thought that was a great lesson. 


This life is definitely all about change and becoming better, so why not change the moment we realize we've messed up? I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and for the chance all of us have to change and correct our courses every day.




Monday, August 17, 2015

August 17, 2015

"Twins!"


This week has been good, as usual :) L is getting baptized on Saturday so we've been meeting with her like every day. Since we set her date so soon, we have to go through all the lessons really fast. But it's been great, she's loving it. We really felt like she should be baptized on the 22nd, and she's so excited. She's been telling everyone she knows that she's getting baptized and how great the church is. She even told a random lady at the park about the Book of Mormon. Haha she's the best missionary ever :) I wish we could all have the enthusiasm about the gospel that she does!

"Florida has really awesome sunsets.
I wish my camera could capture it :)"

"Double Rainbow"

"Take at the same time as the rainbow."


The other day we had a neat experience with following the Spirit. We didn't know where we should go so we decided to pray about it. Sister Rhodes said a very sincere prayer and afterwards I said "I think we should go to the park" and she said "Me too". We were so pumped, we were like this is gonna be awesome! So we walked as fast as we could down to the park, and there were a ton of people down there (which like never happens). We talked to a few people, but nobody was super interested. And right when we were about to leave we saw a lady sitting on a bench. We almost didn't talk to her but I felt like we should anyway. So we did and she told us that she had been really angry with God and needs to strengthen her faith. I'm not sure if anything will come of it right away, but I know that God sent us there. I know he is aware of all of his children and can use us to help others if we just humble ourselves and listen :)

"Zone Conference fun."


And that will have to suffice because I'm out of time! I hope you all have a fantastic week and look for opportunities to share and to serve :)

Monday, August 10, 2015

August 10, 2015

Sisters Rhodes and Coleman
I don't have a lot of time today (what else is new?) because we're having a zone meeting this afternoon. We're playing games and stuff so it should be fun :)

"Highest point in peninsular Florida!"
"the oh so special door to Bok Tower
has a depiction of the creation and Adam and Eve, 
it's pretty cool"


Bok Tower


So brief synopsis of this week: We went to Bok Tower with L, it was great! She volunteers there so she knows lots about it and gave us the backstage tour :)



















And we committed her to be baptized on the 22nd! We're so excited!! It was awesome because the first time we invited her to be baptized she said no, but as she's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying the Spirit has been working on her. And yesterday she told us she wants to be baptized! Yay! She is awesome :)


"Top of the World"

"World's Largest Lillypad."
































I know with all my heart that this gospel is true. I know that it changes people. Not just our investigators, but us too, everybody who lets it :) I know that Christ lives and loves us more than we can comprehend. And I think that alone is reason enough to be pretty stinkin happy :) Haha have a great week everybody!





Monday, August 3, 2015

August 3, 2015


First of all, we've had a few interesting wildlife encounters this week. Once we rang someone's doorbell- like where it's an actual bell, not just a button- and a swarm of wasps flew out. It was terrible. Neither of us got stung, it was just a little traumatic. And then one night we got back to our apartment and there was a huge frog on the doorknob. It was evil. But Sister Rhodes used her bike lock to make it hop away haha. Good riddance.



It has been raining even more lately, I think it's rained every day this week. But thankfully we've been able to stay out of it, for the most part.



A few weeks ago we were knocking on doors and we met a lady named S who told us she was about to get saved in Alabama but then she moved here and that she wanted to come to church. We finally got to go see her again yesterday and we found out she really was about to get baptized right before she left. She had been trying to find the church here but couldn't find it, and then we knocked on the door. She is super awesome, we're so excited to teach her!


And L is still doing great, she's coming to church every week and loving it. At first she told us she'd already been baptized and doesn't want to be again, but the other day she texted us and told us she was reading a scripture about how we all need to be baptized and thinking about how she lacked in her past baptisms. It's so neat how it's the Spirit that really teaches people, not us :)

"People looooove giving us water. This is all from a few hours."

The other day we knocked on a man's door and he told us "Do you know where you are? This is Polk County! This is the redneck capital of the world! They'd just as soon chop you up and make ya into gator bait!" Thankfully we haven't been made into gator bait yet...

Pinata from Uncle Dustin and Aunt Kylee
And I'm out of time, but this is a really great new Mormon message that we watched today: