Week 15 on the Mission Front

Hiyah family and friends!

Well, its been a LONG week. And its because I've been sick! ALL week! But I'm feeling better this week and I'm super excited to work.

My new companion, Sister Saxton is the best! We're so excited to be working together. For awhile there, I thought I was being punished by not being able to train Sister Rasch anymore. Now I know that President didn't want me to slow down the work, which I was doing. Now, Sister Saxton and I have the same work speed and style, so it's going to be great! The funny part is that we're exactly alike! Its just great!

Miracles this week; Grady was baptized! Yay! I only taught him a few times and he isn't technically my baptism since we handed him over to the other sisters because he knew them better. But, still it was amazing!

Also, we had three people in sacrament meeting yesterday! Record for this area! And this week, we're going to find a family of 4 that's ready to be baptized. We prayed and we know we'll find them. :) That's so exciting! I can't wait to teach a family!

So, all in all, even though I've been in bed most of the week (which has practically killed me because I want to be working!), its been an amazing week and I've only learned how to rely on the Lord more! :)

I love you all! Thank you so much for your love and prayers!

Week 14 (day 95) on the Mission Front

Hiyah family and friends!

Well.... What to say about this week....

All of our baptismal dates have fallen through. One needs to move out of her boyfriend's house which she will hopefully be doing this month. Another doesn't "feel up to it." And the other two decided that they didn't want to continue learning; they thought we were Pentecostal... So there's that. And second week in a row that we didn't have anybody at sacrament meeting.

So all in all, a very long week. Everything that could go wrong, did. It was frustrating! But, that's what I get for praying for patience, right? :P hehe.

Thursday was awesome! We had three lessons (the most we've had all week combined), and we biked 14 ish miles. My thighs are still so sore, but it was awesome!

In other news, I'm a part of an Emergency transfer. They're taking my trainee away and I'm staying in this area. Which I have mixed feelings about. Hopefully my new companion will know the area more and teach me how to build it, which is exciting!

Also, my address is 3553 Victoria Manor Ln Apt 210 Lakeland, Fl 33805. So feel free to send me letters and things. I didn't send it out last week because my companion had decided to go home and I wasn't sure what was happening. Now, I'm staying here, for sure.

I read a really cool talk this week called the Fourth Missionary that I think can apply to everyone in every situation. One of my favorite parts is where it talks about how the only thing we can give Heavenly Father, the only thing He doesn't already have, is our will, our hearts and minds. And as a missionary, and I think for anybody, to show our love to Him, we need to give Him that. We need to turn everything over to Him and let Him take control. It was a really amazing talk.

Anyway, there are a lot of exciting things happening here. I talked with my Mission President earlier this week and he told me he wants me to build this area. So, be ready for some miracles in my emails
because it's happening!

I love you all!

Week 13 on the Mission Front

Hello all family!

This has been a long week! Before transfers, I was so busy packing. I was so excited to be training and all that fun jazz! Well, transfers came and now I'm with Sister Rasch in Gibsonia! Which was unexpected. Everyone thought I was going to Hudson.  The work here is slow. Most people drive, and this morning we were told that we aren't allowed to talk to people in our complex.... Well, I don't know where to find. So that's been super hard. Especially because I was trained to always be moving and here, everything is just slow. It's rather frustrating.

The ward is great! The bishop gave me a blessing yesterday, which I didn't ask for, but I needed. And they always are volunteering to feed us, even though we can't eat with members unless we have an investigator there. It's still kind to offer.

And it's been hard because my trainee is in charge of the area, but I'm the trainer, so.... Well, it's hard. But, I think there will be some changes made soon, so excited for that!

I don't know what else to say there.... I haven't been homesick :) just Temple Terrace sick. But we will get things worked out! :) change is good, even though it's hard. And I know that Heavenly Father is walking me through my trials.

I love you all! Thanks for your support!

Week 12 on the Mission Front

Hiyah family!

Oh, I don't even know where to begin!!! It has just been a week full of miracles! R and T were both baptized on Saturday!!! It was just amazing! I cried... It was just... R was a miracle. She was baptized in another church two months before and when we met she just fell in love with the church and the Book of Mormon (she's almost done with Mosiah and its only been three weeks). Her husband came and we were able to have a lesson with him. He'll be baptized on the 30th! As soon as he quits drinking... Small obstacle. He loved church and he loved the baptism. Both he and R were just crying through the whole service. He knows its true.

And T.... oh, T.... he's 12. And he's been coming to church for years! Less active family, but his grandparents bring him. But his dad wanted him to wait until he was 12 before he decided to be baptized. So us missionaries have been calling him daily for over 5 months, just waiting for his mom to finally get a Saturday off of work! FINALLY!!!! she did. But on Wednesday, we get a call from the grandmother, because his mom lives in another ward boundary, the bishop from the other ward wanted to postpone the baptism until he could come.... WHAT?!

DO NOT PANIC!!! He was baptized. A lot of prayers, and the Lord's help (also, his grandmother wrote the bishop an email, and probably not a very nice one...) and Tyler was baptized! It was great! He's been waiting so long for this!

Also in big news.... TRANSFER WEEK! And yes, I am being transferred... And yes, I am also training. Well, finishing training, but that's almost white washing! I'm super excited! Very sad to leave here, especially after the baptisms, but I know it'll be great no matter where I am! (Also, I may or may not have had to buy ice cream for everyone in my district.... I was so sure I wasn't going to train... bad bet I guess? Haha!)

Sister Rasch and Sister Wheeler

I'm out of time, because one of the sisters in my apartment went home today. Sad! But she finished her mission strong (really strong).

Hermana Miller

 Anyway, I love you all! Thank you so much for your love and support!

Week 11 on the Mission Front

Hiyah family!

It has been one of the all time craziest, roller coaster weeks of my mission!

To start off with... L was baptized!!!!!!!! Which was a miracle! On Wednesday, he was done, and didn't want to do it anymore. But then Thursday he changed his mind and tada!!!!! It was super amazing and also completely chaotic.... But great! Ever try to organize a baptism in one day? It takes so much effort!

We also did exchanges this week! Sister Bowe and Sister Kitchen both came down to our area to help build it, so we were finding for a lot of the time. Sister Bowe is amazing. I didn't get to work with Sister Kitchen, but Sister Bowe is like my twin sister! She wanted to know what I did before my mission and what I did in my free time, etc. Well, guess what! Exact same things. It was so amazing to geek out about stuff like that! She's really great! She's going home next week, so I'm going to miss her, but it was such a good day!

Sister Bowe and Sister Wheeler

Sister Kitchen and Sister Goodman

We have two baptism coming up this week as well. A twelve year old who's been ready to be baptized since April, but his mom couldn't get a weekend off to come, so finally! he'll be baptized Saturday! Yay! And Rosie who is just the coolest person you could every meet! And her husband came to church yesterday! :) Yay! He loved it and will also be joining us for FHE tonight! We couldn't be happier about that!

I think that's it for now! I love you all and I'm thankful for your love and support!

Week 10 on the Mission Front

Hiyah family!

Well, where to begin?! Its been a miracle week, again! We ran in to three of our former investigators and they all came to church yesterday! It was such a miracle! And two of them had dates set before they stopped meeting with us! And both want to keep meeting with us!

One's crazy though... I don't remember if I wrote about this, but remember the girl that we gave a church tour to and she wanted to be baptized and found an answer to her prayers because her father's name was Joseph? Anyway, long story. We thought she was the golden investigator. Her name's J. And she turned out to be homeless and severely bipolar. She came in to church one time and had a seizure... Well, more like convulsions... I don't know, it was kinda over dramatized. But she bore her testimony in church yesterday... which was not as bad as we thought it was going to be. But then she promptly walked of the stage and passed out... Bishop ran over and gave her a blessing and everything... Oh boy... But she brought her fiance with her and he seems somewhat normal, so we're going to try to teach him. We'll see.

We're teaching a lady named R, who is one of the happiest people I know. Every lesson she goes on and on and on about how much she loves the Book of Mormon and how excited she is to be baptized! She'll be baptized next week and we almost wanted to push it to this week, but sometimes its hard to actually get a lesson in.

And then L is getting baptized this week! Which is also a miracle because he talks a lot too! So its great that he's going to be ready!

Oh! I get to try alligator today!

Sister Wheeler and Sister Howard get ready to try alligator

And, one of the Elders in our district bought a toy snake and tried to scare another Elder, which worked. Anyway, somehow it ended up in our car and now in our apartment and we're all trying to scare each other! Its rather amusing.

And I'm pretty sure I was bit by the spider again... stupid bug. I don't know why it hates me! I'm the only one that gets bit!

That's all for now! Thank you all so much for your prayers! I could definitely feel them this week!

I love you all!

Week 9 on the Mission Front

Hiyah Family!

I hope all is going as well with you as it is with me!

It has been a wonderful week! To start, Saturday we had two baptisms! Brother C and Sister F were baptized! Yay! They were both miracles! To say the least. And the Elders had two at the same time too! Our district rocked baptism this month and we passed our zone goal! Yay!

On top of that, we passed our max lesson! We got 40 lessons this week! I can't believe it! And we had zone conference one of those days, which took up the majority of the day. It's so amazing to see the miracles we have seen! Heavenly Father is just the best! Sister Goodman and I have a lesson goal that we have to get before the next transfer in three weeks. We don't think we'll be staying together, so we have to - have to - have to reach this goal! So, hopefully, our lesson count will only be increasing! :)

There's this other woman that will be getting baptized soon, Sister D. Ah, she's just amazing! Every time we see her, she has to spend ten minutes talking about how much she loves the Book of Mormon! Its great! Its so amazing! She'll be baptized in two weeks and she's already offering to bring meals to members. Its so amazing!

We had 5 investigators at church yesterday! One of them, Sister T, we had to go by her house to wake her up. And she didn't get up! So we thought there was no way she was going to make it! And then, low and behold, she walks through those double doors! It was a miracle! And she loved it! As did Sister D, as well.

Also, I chopped my hair off. It was too hot! And I want to get it even shorter, but we'll see. Maybe in a few weeks. :)

Zone Conference was great! I got to see a bunch of missionaries that came out with me, which I loved. Oh! And President bought a big metal sword and told us that, if we were willing to commit to serving the Lord as a warrior, we should sign it. Which was apparently really creative for him. :P Hehe, it was great though! We got to take pictures of us holding the sword in warrior like posses! Haha!

I'm out of time, but I love you all! Thank you so much for your support!