I have finally eaten alligator!!!!!

Wowza kazowza what a week! They just keep flying by so fast. I can't believe transfer 5 is over... Good news! My lovely Sister Russell is sticking around for another transfer so we can party hard for another 6 weeks preaching the gospel and baptizing everyone! It's gonna be good. We hit our goal of having 3 people on date for baptism with 2 more hopefully in the upcoming weeks. We've worked hard and the Lord has blessed us. We did not have a baptism yesterday but the goal gave us and the ward the spark we needed to get the work moving forward, so ultimately it was very successful. A ton happened this week so I'll do my best to keep it brief and exciting.

~One word. Tabling. Oh my goodness it is extreme. Imagine 65,000 people. It's 93 degrees and there are 15 other tables. You're trying to proclaim the restored gospel of Jesus Christ but klondike bars are more appealing to 20-somethings. It's a little crazy. But we had Popsicles and Popcorn so we didn't come empty handed to this rodeo. We met some super cool people and got multiple return appointments with them. One guy messaged us and that never happens! Miracles.

~ Because of the craziness of figuring out how to table we have had zero time to clean. We get home and we just collapse. So our car and apartment was a disaster. Guess what happened this week? Random car and apartment checks!! We weren't notified about either! So at 8:00 in the morning my companion is in the bathroom and I get a knock on the door and the housing inspectors are here... oh boy..

~We saved someone's life on Thursday! We were driving home and there's this guy convulsing on the side of the road... We freaked out and pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant and call 911. This dude was definitely trippin on something. Luckily some other people stopped too and the police came and an ambulance and it was intense. But we got to do some major seed planting! 

~ We went and got to eat gator tail with our neighbor S-- and his family. Let me tell you, S-- is a hoot. He is the funniest guy I've ever met and he was SO excited to take us. We've been planning it for weeks. We went to this random little dive called Black Hammock right on Lake Jessup which is infested with like 10,000 alligators or something.. So those things are fresh! It was super good! We did our best to have gospel conversations but S-- got a little tipsy..haha...ha.. He said he also wants to take us with his family to Disney World and he was so upset when we said we couldn't go. One day! One day...

~ We met J-- from the Avalon park Elders who wants to be baptized. She is hilarious! She has some family who are members and has wanted to find her purpose in life and something that can be consistent for her. She's already read the entire first book of Nephi. She's also struggling with her manager at work. So when we asked if she'd been praying she's like "yeah.. that he gets hit by a bus" Lol!! The Elders sugested that she should try singing something when she starts to feel upset and she says "like what? Oops I did it again?" We couldn't take it. it was so funny. 

I'm so excited to see what this transfer has in store! I'm mostly excited to see the progress of these wonderful people. God is so good. I've also come to learn that in YSA you're not only here for non- members but for the members as well. This is a critical time in their lives too and if we can make them feel valued and strenghten their testimony we can help them be the leaders of the church they need to be one day. It always means so much when members tell us they appreciate us or write sweet notes. It gives me confidence knowing that even if we don't have 15 baptisms that we are still impacting people's lives. We are all helping each other on the road back home to our loving Heavenly Father. Reach out to someone today and make them feel valued! Thanks for making me feel valued!