All the babies!!!

That's right. You heard it. We're going to have so many trainees in our 2 zones. I think we're getting 4 of the 8. So I'm excited to have so many new, little missionaries!! It's a little intimidating to be their first STL though and have to be a good example... ahh... Cuz I remember my first STL's and they were AMAZING!! Shout out to Sister Knapp and Sister Padgett. So I hope I can live up to their legacy a little bit. Literally every companionship besides us is changing. It's so crazy!

Highlights of the Week!

~We took some youth out with us this week which was a unique experience. We helped the Beehive class president track down the less actives on her class rolls. So that was kinda fun. She was really nervous but I think us being there gave her more confidence. And one of the girls answered and they got to meet each other. She told us we were super brave hahaha but I hope we were able to encourage her to go on a mission one day.

~ We biked home in the rain which was actually a party. It was at the end of the night so it was one of those moments when you throw care to the wind and just go for it. It was actually super fun once you just decide you're going to get wet and accept it. I feel like that's also a good philosophy for life too. Once we accept what's going on in our lives and take it for what it's worth we can enjoy the ride. Because biking in the rain is not super fun but that night it was.

~We found some cool people at a park! They walked by us and I kinda felt impressed to talk to them but we missed the opportunity so then while we were walking through the park to this neighborhood, there they were in the middle of a field sitting on the grass! So I decided I couldn't deny the prompting again no matter how awkward it was... so we went up and talked to them. It was a super short contact but they said t;hat we could come and teach them more. So that was really cool.

~We taught Paul twice this week! He is really progressing. He is reading the Book of Mormon and he has come to church twice. He really loves everything we're teaching and he keeps every appointment. Which is super rare for Tuskawilla. I can hardly believe he's real. Sometimes you wonder if he's getting it b;ut then you have him explain the concept back to you and he gets it perfectly. So that's awesome. Some people have been giving him some anti which isn't good.. but we've told him to focus on how he feels and what God tells him, not other  people. We're hoping to put him on date this week.

~ We also taught Michael twice this week. He's super energetic but he is also super fun to teach. We get to come up with cute object lessons and visuals to help engage him and help him understand more. If anyone has good lesson ideas for 10 year olds with ADHD definitely let us know. The Ward has  really been fellowshipping them more as well which is awesome. They are going to fit right in! We're also hoping to put him on date for baptism this week as well.

~Funny story... we actually figured out that I am not the designated driver.. but I've been driving all transfer.... so It looks like I will no longer have to drive for the rest of my mission. woohoo. I hate driving.

~We got to go on an emergency transfer with Winter Park because Sister Russell was sick and Sister Rennert needed to go to church for the people they were teaching.. So I got to chill with my homegirl for like an hour and we just talked and ate popcorn as I babysat her. Perks of the STL life lol. That girl is crazy but I love her.

This was like the one normal missionary week and now it's over and we're going right back to the crazy meetings like everyday.. ugh. I can't get a break... I can't believe I only have 2 transfers left.... ahhhhhh.... what??? This one went by super fast.. I can't handle it. And this week will also scream by with all the business of General Conference and exchanges with 5 sets of sisters now... ahhh.. Bring it on.

Out neighbor got BAKER...ACTED

So once upon a time we have this crazy neighbor who lives across the street with his sister named Steve. He sits outside a lot.. Sometimes on his porch.. Sometimes he sits in front of our driveway. Sometimes in the middle of the road. He's a little crazy. He tells us weird things about Joseph Smith.. asked for $5 once.. some Vick's vapor rub. Interesting guy. But harmless. Anyways he got picked up the other day... that's a story for another time LOL.

This week just flew by super fast haha. I can't believe it's already the last week of the transfer. We had some cool things happen this week!

~I went on exchanges with Sister Heywood. My 2nd exchange with a previous companion and it was a blast! We felt super led by the spirit and it was awesome. We had a cool member dinner where they invited a non-member and we talked to her about temples and the Plan of Salvation and she really liked it. She wanted to learn more. Then we found 2 other cool people the next day. We also taught some really good lessons and Sister Heywood and I felt super in unity!! It made the days at the MTC worth it. hahaha. it was really cool to see how much we grew and how much fun we had together. 

~ Less of a highlight but I just had an amusing member dinner... this lady took us to Taco Bell?.... and then she ordered for us?... I've never had that happen before Lol it was really interesting... I didn't mind but It was just weird.

~I've actually enjoyed biking lately because our area is super beautiful and the weather has been surprisingly nice haha. I feel like Heavenly Father is like don't worry about missionary work, just enjoy this really nice biking tour throughout Florida. We've seen some beautiful sunsets and clouds. Everyone we talk to while we're on bikes isn't super interested... but hey.. the view is beautiful.

~We got to go to the temple with Amanda!!! It was so amazing! She brought her Dad's name to get baptized and it was so special. There was a little bit of insanity though because for a second we couldn't find her dad's name in the pile. We watched her hand it to the recorder and then we couldn't find it. They checked the Boy piles they checked the Girl piles and nothing. So Amanda leaned over and was like "Oh this is definitely my dad... he's such a prankster" So her theory is that his spirit was defiinitely there pulling a fast one on all of us so she would know that he was there with us. Then Sister Richards accidentally got baptized for boy names... it was a mess haha but it was quite entertaining. Amanda had an amazing time. 

~Friday we actually had the most full weekly planning session of my mission since probably training lol. It was very satisfying. I needed that.

~We had a really cool lesson with this guy named Paul. He is from Arizona and he is searching for God in his life. He's always been skeptical but he really wants to turn his life around. He really connected to Joseph Smith and seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon so that was exciting. And he came to church!!! He really liked it! He's super solid and we're way excited to teach him.

~Saturday we did a blitz in Lake Mary's area. That's when you have multiple companionships go and try to find people to teach for that set of missionaries. It was really cool! All together we found them like 4 new people to teach so that was awesome. Then we all got dinner together and that was a lot of fun too. 

Again this week was full of learning. I think the Lord is just trying to beat out the last of the pride in me before I go home. I won't lie, I'm used to having busy areas with lots of people to teach and tons of cool miracles and it seems like no matter what I try... it's not possible here. I'm not giving up hope that it could be amazing but I think the Lord's trying to teach me something. My mom shared a scripture with me from Alma 29. I really relate to that whole chapter. It talks about how Alma just really wants everyone in the world to accept the gospel. And I feel that I wish I could talk to literally EVERYONE. And that's not a bad desire to have but it's not what the Lord wants me to do right now. He wants me to have joy in other's successes. That's something that's always been hard for me because I compare a lot.. but I know that there is joy in others successes and when I find the key to that it will be a breeze. So if anyone has any suggestions for that I'd greatly appreciate it.

I'm a trooper...let's do it!

That was Tyra's response when they asked her if she wanted to be baptized for more names lol. She was super stoked to be there and it was so fun to be able to see some of my College Park friends. Again it's just such a crazy turn around to be in the temple doing baptisms with someone that I just saw walking by on UCF campus. God works in strange ways like that. It's just cool.

This week has definitely had it's ups and downs but such is life. We've tried to stay optimistic as things are starting to pick up. It's a slow process and I'm still trying to adjust my expectations from Daytona Beach which was super busy crazy to where I can just be content extending an invitation to learn more and not care if they accept it or not. Just be happy fulfulling my purpose. So there's tons of learning opportunities!

Some Highlights for the week:

~The weather has been super beautiful! We had a bit of a cold spell and it was in the mid 50s-60s (I know I'm a wimp now) but it was chilly!!! We biked for like 5 hours on Tuesday just street contacting and I did not thaw out until that night. But I will tell you I definitely appreciated that way more than biking with sweat dripping down my back all day. So it was a blessing.

~ We had Interviews with President Clark and it went really well. He always has such nice things to say. He told me that when I get stressed I should go lay down on the bed and ponder who's work this is and that I shouldn't be stressed and let Christ take it over. Then I asked him how long I could lay down on the bed for..... LOL he laughed and told me at least 30 seconds which isn't long enough if you ask me. I would love a nap sometime.

~Thursday we met this super cool lady Sharon while we were bike contacting. She was the one lady we bike contacted that said we could come back and tell her more. She's just super busy because she's a flight attendant so we're working on setting up a return appointment with her. Also while we were on the trail I saw this super cute young mom with kids in the distance that I wanted to go contact and then as we got closer we found out they were members who had just recently moved in, so they were too perfect for the gospel haha.

~We had a fun relief society party and got to know a lot of the women. They had a silly game where we had all written down a fun fact and had to guess which sister it was. It was hilarious! We also got our recent convert and a less-active mother there and they had a great time.

~We are now teaching a family who's son hasn't been baptized and we'll be meeting with them a couple times a week so that will be good. HIs dad is working towards the Melchizedek priesthood so that will be good.

~We went to the temple with Tyra like I mentioned. But I also saw my favorite people from my  Greenie Area, Palm Bay!!! it was so much fun! Tender mercies!!!

~I got to go on exchanges with my homegirl Sister Russell from the golden days in College Park. It felt just like old times. We had so much to talk about holy cow!! We just reminisced about the glory days and all the crazy experiences we had together. We also found 2 new people for them to teach and put someone on date! So overall it was a great day! We ate at this park in downtown Orlando which was beautiful! And this guy came up and talked to us who had been taught by missionaries 10 years ago but got in a car accident and lost touch with them. So we referred him to the missionaries who live in his area. It was such a cool moment that shows God's timing is perfect. 

I love you all so much! I can't believe I just hit my fourteen months mark yesterday! Time is flying! But life is good. Life is hard, but it's good. It's full of so many beautiful lessons and experiences and I'm grateful for the person it's shaping me to be.

British accents whilst we bike!

So Sister Richards and I figured out how to make biking more entertaining. We talk in British accents and have conversations as if we lived in the 1800's. We're both HUGE Jane Austen fans so we probably took on fake British personas for a solid 3 hours.... Have we gone crazy?? Most likely... Biking does that to you. But we learned that to bike to even the middle of our area it takes about an hour.... haha.. ha.. ha..

Well... again this week was insanely busy but all in all the Lord provided and showed us some miracles. It was actually quite a refreshing week. It just flew by though holy cow and this upcoming Saturday I will have 100 days left ahhhhhhh! Then I'll be down to double digits. No way. 

Highlights of the week!

~I went on exchanges with Sister Boyd! It was my first one as an STL and I hope I didn't corrupt her hahaha. It was a good day! I was over in Oviedo which is an area similar to ours which has its slow moments... but we had a really cool lesson in the morning and then I got to introduce Sister Boyd to candy survey! Because they live in this super busy community which is just ripe with people to talk to! And it actually worked even though we weren't on a college campus! The only downside is that it was raining... So it kinda ruined our plans at the end of the day because we were on bikes. So we did some phone contacting and got lots of responses it was cool! We helped them set up some appointments for later in the week which turned into new people to teach!

~We had Zone Conference on Thursday! Sister Young and I did a musical number, she played the flute and I accompanied her on the piano. It went really well. I had a few questions that some of the trainings totally addressed which was another testament to me that God was listening to my prayers and wanted to help me.

~Friday we had our bi-annual temple trip! We had to be there at 7:00 am but got to stay till 12:00. We were able to do an endowment session, sealings and initiatories. I was able to take a family name and help her get endowed and sealed to her family.  But now the wait won't be quite as long because I'll get to go in 3 months! For the departing temple trip which is insane... but I'm excited to be able to go whenever I want!

~Saturday we had a huge weekly planning day.... wow we haven't been able to have a really solid weekly planning session in awhile so it was good. We still didn't get all of it done but we kinda know what we're doing. We decided we needed a change of scenery so we biked to the park to scope it out for finding. We also wanted to be closer to our lesson that night. But then our lesson cancelled and we had to bike back for nothing.... So I was kinda bummed but to make the ride back fun we talked in British accents. It was quite the experience and really good for our companionship!

~Sunday we had a slightly scary experience. G- the one solid guy that we're teaching was planning on coming to church so we texted him to confirm and then he decided he didn't want to meet with us anymore. I decided that wasn't an option so we drove to his house and told him to go get ready for church. He told us about some concerns he was having and we addressed them and then we made a deal with him that he needed to come to church one time, and if he didn't like it, we didn't have to meet with him. So he got dressed and came to church. And he loved it!! (He took pictures of us at church lol) So that was a blessing for sure. We just need to go a little bit slower with him but he still has lots of potential. 

~Sunday night we had a special meeting with the missionaries in the zone, we bore our testimonies and shared some scriptures and watched some motivational videos. The spirit was super strong holy cow!! It was amazing and it brought us way closer together as a zone. It was a really great night. 

~We also were able to make our finding goal for the first time since I've been here! Tuskawilla kinda has a reputation for being sorta slowish.. but we had faith and we pressed forward and it happened! The solidness of the people is to be determined but it just reminded me that God will help us achieve goals. And no matter what happens to these people I'm just going to have satisfaction that God did answer our prayers and there are people who want the gospel in Tuskawilla. 

Love you all! Keep your head up and keep going!!