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| My New Bike |
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| My goal of eating a Georgia peach is about to happen. Thanks Trader Joe's |
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| Florida Creatures |
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| Gainesville Stake Pioneer Picnic |
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| What happens when the Elders use your ipad for a mirror while applying mustaches. |
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| Watermelon Eating Contest |
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| Where are your ancestors from? |
Can I just say I LOVE being in
a ward with children! Holy cow! I didn't realize how much I missed
being with those Celestial Beings! I got a lot of opportunities to do
things with kids this week (well as much as you can get being a missionary!)
This week we were trying to
visit a potential investigator we found while riding our bikes last week.
She didn't answer so we started knocking the doors around her. We knocked
three doors and the first two only spoke Spanish. Sister Stitt knew just
enough to explain who we were and what we were doing. One invited us to
come back, and the other invited us in. We found out she had a Book of
Mormon! We are sending the Spanish Elders over there for sure!
There are a TON of Spanish speakers in that complex for some reason. The
third door was a super nice woman who spoke Spanish and English, I believe she
was Cuban. She wasn't interested in our message, but wanted to know more
about what we do. She was very impressed. Before we left we asked
to leave her with a prayer. She accepted then said she wanted to leave us
with one also. In her church you stand and raise your hands when you pray
(apparently they take the Bible very literally.) It was almost more of a
chant compared to how we pray, but it was very sweet. She told us to stop
by any time we wanted.
I also got an investigator on
Facebook! I have been praying to find someone to teach online! I
got a friend request from a man named Suleman and decided to start messaging
him. It turns out he lives in Pakistan. He has talked to other
missionaries and wants to be baptized, but he does not have access to the
church, and the Book of Mormon has not been translated into Punjabi.
We'll keep sharing lessons with him, and praying for him to be able to live the
gospel as he desires.
Thursday we had dinner with
Michael and Mallory Gooch, and my bike from CTRbikes was shipped to their home
that day so we biked over early to put my bike together. It worked out
perfectly! The bike comes mostly assembled. I just had to
add pedals, handlebars, and lights. Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as I
had hoped. I was able to get it together except for the pedals, but we
were running late for an appointment with a less active member, Sister
Trench. Gratefully Sister Gooch offered to drive us to the lesson and
stay for it. She needed to bring her daughter, Allison, though.
Allison is ADORABLE!!! (and not just because of her name) She is
almost 1 year old and she is just so darn cute! The lesson went so
well! Granted, Allison was a little distracting, but that is so ok!
She kept coming to me and reaching for me to pick her up! But that's
against missionary rules... so sorry Allison! On the way home Allison was
getting grumpy. She was tired, and she had a cold, and it was past her
bed time, and she was NOT ready to get back in the car. She screamed and
screamed. We sang songs, I was in the back seat by her so I read her
stories, but no go. After a few minutes of crying so hard she threw
up! It's a good thing Heavenly Father helps us with weaknesses, because
one of mine happens to be a weak stomach. We pulled over for Sister Gooch
to take care of poor Allison and once she calmed down again we headed out
again. The only thing that calmed her down was for Sister Gooch and
Sister Stitt to sing songs from Shrek the musical. I've never seen that,
but it did wonders for Allison. We made it to the Gooch home and Sister
Stitt and I biked like mad women to get home on time... without lights on our
bikes. It was an adventure! I had to leave my new bike with the
Goochs for the night since there wasn't time to put pedals on. We had the
car on Friday so we drove to the Gooch home and picked up my bike. I have
since put the pedals on and am excited to take it out!
Saturday the Gainesville had a
HUGE stake Pioneer Picnic to celebrate church and Florida Pioneers. There
was a pioneer town set up in the gym with different shops, a church, a jail...
and square dancing! There were pioneer games and good food! They
took a huge picture of everyone who was there even! Sister Stitt and I
were in charge of the room where children (or adults) could make bonnets or get
a neckerchief and a fake mustache. It was super fun! The kids
especially got so excited and I loved being able to help them!
Saturday evening Sister
Moffett picked us up for dinner and a lesson. Sister Moffett is
amazing! She went to Ireland for a study abroad program and ended up
meeting her husband in a ward there! They got married, but soon her visa
was going to expire so what do they do but move to China together.
Eventually she needed to come back to America and his papers still haven't gone
through. But he should be able to come in the next couple weeks or
so! We are so excited to meet him!!! I can't imagine how hard that
would be to have your husband in another country. About a month ago
Sister Moffett started talking to a 19 year old man on a bus. His name is
Caleb. The Sisters started teaching him and he was pretty much Bible
bashing them all over. He knows his Bible! He is studying for a
Christian ministry. Finally Sister Stockett (who was here before me) told
him they would only teach him if he was willing to listen. Then I was
transferred here and he has been very receptive. He has been studying and
praying, and on Saturday we set a baptismal date with him for August
9th!!! He still has to gain a testimony, but he has a date to work toward
which is very important! Also, because I followed my prompting to start
reading the Bible again I was able to help answer one of Caleb's
questions! Thank you Heavenly Father for preparing us!
Sunday Sister Stitt and I
taught primary sharing time! So, so, so fun! I was kind of nervous
to be honest--it's been a while since I've taught children. We used a
ball from the nursery and taped numbers all over it. Then I threw the
ball to the kids and whatever number their hand was covering connected to a
question about baptism. Then we looked up the answer in the
scriptures. The junior primary was pretty wild and the Senior Primary was
pretty dead quiet, but it was fun.
It was a good week. The
work is still going slow, but it is going to pick up. I know there are
great things in store for the Gainesville 3rd ward!
P.S. Elders and Sisters can no
longer live in the same apartment complex so we are looking for a new apartment
to move into. I'll keep ya'll updated for an address change! Pray
we can find an apartment with a good location and that isn't too
expensive! Most of the nice ones are a long ways from our area.
Unfortunately the ones in our area are pretty sketchy. Even the one we
thought was the nicest had policeman and firemen outside of it. Some
of them had on those protective uniforms... they must have found a drug house
or something... fun stuff! Don't worry though, we'll find a safer
one! :)
