Long Week.

It has been a long week. Well, maybe not long but it's been a rough one for sure. We recently dropped almost everyone so the days go slow. Lots of knocking doors. We did set a date last week though! That was the gem of the week. It's with Javier for the 28 of May. We just need to help him with drinking. The problem isn't so much the alcohol so much as giving in to pressure from his friends. Other than that, we don't have a whole lot going on right now. Wednesday was full of meetings. The first one, zone conference, went from 8:30 to 4:30 and then we had stake correlation from 7 to 9.

Last week I got to do exchanges. I went to Riverview with Elder Clayton. That was a fun experience.

It's weird that my last call home for Mother's Day is only 3 days before I actually go home. We are allowed to skype but I will probably just call. I can't believe I'm so close to getting home!

I can't think of any other news... I guess I will send this. Sorry it's so short, we just didn't have much happen this week. I love you!

Happy Easter!

Yes, the dog is pink!

WOOT baptism!! Fransisco.

This Easter was a great one! The mission is a great time to really focus on the resurrection and atonement. I love teaching the atonement so much! That really is our religion. Everything else only is important because Christ suffered for us.

Well last week we took kind of a road trip. Our area is so big that sometimes, in order to save miles, we spend the night at other elders apartments. Friday morning we left and worked all day in Brandon and went to the baptism in Ruskin and stayed the night there. The next day we worked in Brandon and Tampa again and stayed the night in Brandon and went to church in Ruskin the next day. It feels like every weekend we are taking road trips. It is fun at first but sleeping on the floor and old couches isn't fun at all. By Sunday night I was so happy to get into my own bed and get a good nights rest.

Friday I called about my pump. The buttons have been getting really bad lately and I found another crack down the battery casing. I called Animus and got everything all figured out and they sent me a replacement pump until the insurance approves a new one.

In other news, Jose Mercado from Haines City is getting baptized on Mother's Day! I told the sisters there to tell him that he needs to get baptized before I go home and he said yes! So I will be able to go to that. What a way to end the mission, with a baptism a few days before I get home!

I don't think much else happened last week. I got to call home, which was fun. I started writing down thoughts for my homecoming talk. I still can't believe how fast the end is coming. I'm way excited to see all the changes in the family.

Well I guess I'll get this sent. I love you so much!

Great Week!

Natasha's baptism.

So this last week was a good one! We ended up having Natasha's baptism on Saturday. It went really well. She got confirmed yesterday in church. We went over to teach another family but the dad was passed out drunk. That was a major disappointment. He had been doing so well about not drinking but caved. I guess he told his wife he was thinking about waiting up to a year to be baptized. We are pretty bummed about that. We have been teaching a lot of members lately. One, Carmen, was a Jehovah's Witness for 40 years before converting. She is such a nice lady.

Yesterday we had dinner with the Rebolloso family. It was one of the girl's birthday and she wanted us over. She turned 11. That family is so solid! They come to every meeting and do so much! The mom was asking us why her family didn't receive trials like everyone else. She said that her family really hadn't had many trials, which is really cool because they have been through a lot the past few years but they always look for the best in everything.

I got my "Trunkies" in the mail the other day. It had my travel itinerary and everything. It said that I land in SLC at 1:55 but that the flight duration was 4 hours and 5 minutes. I think that officially gave me the right to be trunky haha. I don't think I'm very trunky. I guess there are different kinds of trunky though, one you just are excited to get home but you still work hard, that's the one I am; the other is where you can't concentrate on the work and you just want to stay in all day, that kind is bad.

I have another funny story for this week! So one day we had a lot of member meals lined up and Hispanics always make you eat a ton! So we got pretty well filled on our first appointment after 2 big bowls of spaghetti, salad and cake. Less than an hour later we had another member meal lined up. We got there and they had 2 large pizzas just for us three elders. They ate in the other room and left us to ourselves with the pizza. I ate one slice and couldn't put down any more. Park ate 3 and Christensen couldn't even put down one. In order to not offend the members we had to stuff the pizza into our backpacks for later! We always carry plastic bags with us to use in such situations, so we started stuffing pizza into these bags! We had almost 2 full pizzas in Christensen's backpack leaving that house! And the dog kept coming and sniffing around the bag looking for the food. Later that day we got fed yet again! I'm weighing anywhere from 145 to 150 lbs. nowadays.

Well I think that that is all my news for today. I can't believe how fast the time is flying. I am going to miss so much being a missionary. I love you!

So Bad but So Funny!

A sign outside of a church in our area.

Hey! So we had a pretty good week this week. We taught a lot of lessons and we will be having a baptism this weekend. Her name is Natasha Martinez and she is from Andalucia, Spain. She's 21 and has 2 kids and is a Book of Mormon reading machine! She reads at least a chapter everyday. We are trying to set a date with a guy named Javier Nuci. He is the dad of a family of 10. The whole family was baptized (except for 3 that were under 8) but he keeps saying that he wants to wait a little while more. We asked him if he was praying about baptism and he said that he wasn't because he knew what the answer would be. We have tried just about everything with him. We are going to try just not mentioning baptism to see if he's just being stubborn or what.

So about that dryer... we took dad's advice and tried to change the cord out instead of the outlet. We went and bought a cord from Lowe's and installed it all right. We plugged it in and pushed the button. Nothing. Turns out, the dryer we had is a lemon. So I spent $23 on that dryer cord for nothing. Now we have to air dry all our clothes.

So a funny story. We have, once a month, a sacrament meeting in the evening here in Plant City. So we were scrounging up all our investigators to come for the meeting and everyone was bailing on us. Even our most promising family was stuck at work. So we started visiting potential 'gators and found one that would come with us. We figured that one would look a lot better than zero. We didn't realize that the one we brought would be a lot worse than zero. So we showed up at his house and asked him if he wanted to go to church. He said he had already been to a church that day so we asked if he wanted to go again. We didn't even know the guys name but we got him a ride and when he got to the chapel he got down on his knees and started doing Our Fathers (the Catholic prayers). He was on his knees for a good 15 minutes before we started. We were having a nice testimony meeting and I bore my testimony and then he got up and walked to the pulpit. Oh, no! I thought. This guy is Pentecostal! He's gonna start speaking in tongues or something! He got up and started talking about how we has been Pentecostal for 4 years now and how he stopped taking his medications and thanks to a blessing from his preachers he was healed. At one point he said that he had a dream about him being crucified. He talked for over a half hour!!! The whole time I was embarrassed because our branch president can tell when we bring someone who really isn't interested. I was trying so hard not to laugh so I had my face in my hands the whole time! Oh, it was so bad but so funny!!

Other than that not a whole lot has happened. We rode 25 miles on our bikes one day in 90 degree weather. I am doing exchanges today with one of the district leaders in the zone until Wednesday. I can't believe that my last transfer is almost half way over. A week is a lot bigger when they are numbered. I can't imagine what I'm going to do when I get home. I don't hardly remember not being a missionary. I'm excited to get back, though. I love you so much!

What a Week!

On Tuesday I left Haines City at around 9 am and got here to Plant City around 10:30. We immediately set out on bikes and it about killed me! I haven't had to bike for quite a while now! We did a lot of follow-up visits and taught a few lessons. We have one date set right now for the 16 of April for a 21 year old girl named Natasha. Her mom was just baptized and now she is going to join as well. We have so many people to work with here! This is a brand new area. I guess we used to be in Brandon more but then we moved up to Plant City because there are tons of Hispanics up here. Our teaching pool is really big right now. The members here are great! We have a family of 10 that just got baptized (well, I think 5 of them got baptized, the rest were too young) and we are working on the husband now. There is the Regolloso family who brings us food every night at 9:30. This is one of the most solid families I have met! On par with the Vazquez family!

Conference was wonderful! I loved the talk on hope. I also liked the one where he said that to do without being is hypocritical and to be without doing is equally hypocritical. I don't know if that is exactly how he said it because I was listening in Spanish for all but the first session. I took so many notes! Probably 6 or 7 pages front and back.

So funny story - we didn't have a washer or dryer but the APs got us one of each and brought them over. Well it turns out that the washer works but the dryer has a different plug than the outlet. The outlet has 4 holes but the dryer has only 3 prongs. No problem, we thought, we'll just go to the hardware store and switch out the outlet for the right one. Well in the process of changing it out we turned off the breaker and got to work. Once Christensen got a little shock we turned off a few more breakers. While unscrewing some screws we saw a few sparks and decided to call it quits for the day. Well that night we were at it again. We decided to powerbox the whole house, just to be safe. I guess Christensen stood a good minute in an ant pile and got covered! They started biting and he got naked so fast! Since we had no power I had to hold the flashlight while he showered so he could see. Finally we got everything figured out and plugged in the dryer. Turn the knob. Push the button. Nothing. Push the button, again. Nothing. Disappointment. Oh that was frustrating. We are going to try again today, though.

The zone here is great. I like all my elders. My comps are the best. We have so much fun together. The members here that I have met are great. I'm really looking forward to serving here. I am so sad that it has already been a week since I got here. When there are only 6 weeks left a week is a big deal. I am kind of sad with every day that passes but I'm so excited to get home. One of those bittersweet things, I guess.

I'm so thankful for the chance we have to hear the words of the prophets twice a year. They are really inspired to help each of us individually. One thing that really stuck out to me was the story of the gold miner who was so busy looking for the big pieces of gold that he ignored the little pieces and lost out on a lot of treasure. That is helping me to look at the little things that are going well and value those things more than being disappointed when the big things don't work out.

Well I think that is everything I have. I love you tons!

Nothing As Constant As Change

Well, the news is in and I'm out. Friday night Elder Bell and I decided that one of us was going to be super upset the next morning but it turned out that both of us were mad! Elder Bell is going down to Imakolee and I'm going to Plant City. I will be with Elders Park and Christensen and I guess we are all zone leaders. I'm not super thrilled about the added responsibility for my last little bit but it will be alright. When they announced that we were leaving the whole branch gasped! They were so sad! The area is being whitewashed again and sisters are being put in.

My new area should be good. There is a family that just got baptized that bring us food every night and give tons of referrals and there are tons of Hispanics in the area. One month they had 15 baptisms! I'll still be on full car but I hear we bike a lot because our area is so big. I can't believe I only have 6 weeks left! I'm excited to get home but super sad to leave here. I've been thinking about what stories to use in my homecoming talk and it's going to be weird not having things like that happen regularly.

I'm super excited for conference this week! It should be really good! Well I think that is pretty much all my news. All my investigators are going to the sisters. I love you!

Week 6 Already!

Bribing the mailman?

Me, Elder Bell and the Sanchez girls.

I can't believe how fast transfers go by now! In the beginning of the mission a transfer seemed forever long but now they are hardly enough time to get stuff done! It doesn't seem like I have been with Elder Bell for very long. This Saturday we will find out about transfers. I have been praying that I will be able to stay here in Haines City this next transfer. I really don't want to go into a new area knowing I will only be there a short while. We'll see how it goes I guess.

This week was a good one. On Monday we went to the Sanchez family's and they had tacos and cake. It was a really nice cake as you can see from the picture. They sang to me and then had me follow a Hispanic tradition called "que la muerda" or "take a bite" where you have to take a bite of cake and 9 times out of 10 you get your face pushed into the cake. I was definitely one of those nine. After cake we went to a wildlife reserve near Lakeland and walked around and looked at gators and other animals. We saw a bunch that were 5-6 feet and a ton that were 10+ and one or two that were 14-15 feet long. Huge animals!! Thursday we had a leadership meeting that everyone was invited to so it was really like a zone conference. Saturday and Sunday were stake conference and it was excellent! A lot of really good talks were given on work, following the Spirit and Rigobert Vazquez bore his testimony of his conversion in front of everyone! I remember one of his fears of being baptized is that he would have to speak in front of people and now he is in the branch presidency and speaking in stake conference! What a change! and Kevin Vazquez, the youngest of the kids, is getting baptized this Sunday and they are planning on going to the temple April 9th.

Great birthday cake.

Gotta love tradition.

I'm 21 now so you know what that means....

One of the 14-15 footers.

Since it was stake conference it was tough for people to get to church so we didn't have any investigators show up. Sunday night Sister Draper performed an organ recital and had over 150 people there including the mayor of Winter Haven. She did a really good job. There were a few Bach numbers and several hymns. I think that is all the big stuff that happened this week. We have been doing a lot of finding, so that is fun...

I love you and can't wait to see you all again!

I'M 21!!!

Well this week I have got bad news and good news. The bad news first: remember Elder Hickman from the MTC? Well apparently he developed a benign brain tumor on the back side of his brain. He left for home last Thursday to have it operated on. He was serving in Naples so that left a vacancy in the area and since we had a companion to spare they pulled one of us out. Nav got a call from President Summerhays Wednesday night telling him he would be leaving Friday morning for Naples. When Friday rolled around the APs came and got him and started the 3 hour drive to Naples. Now I can sing with Timon from Lion King, "our threesome's down to two". Transfers are in another 2 weeks and I am pretty sure Bell is out. Pres told me I would finish in this area so I am pretty sure I'll stay, but I'm still nervous for calls.

Now for the good news: I'm 21! My birthday was pretty fun as far as missionary birthdays go. Luckily I spent it in an area where I already have 6 months here. The members were excited for my birthday. First we went to the Hernandez family's house to teach their nephews and niece on the condition that we would help the 8 year old, Jonathan, burn ants with a magnifying glass before the lesson. We played with them for a while and then went to the Zelaya house. We got the rest of the information we needed for the confirmation record and then went to the Lugo's for dinner. They made some awesome seafood soup. It had shrimp and octopus and tons of stuff. They brought out some cupcakes with two candles in them, one an "A" the other a "T". They sang cumpleanos feliz. After that we had to run to Legna's house. We hung out there and talked a while. They made birthday brownies for me, and that was the end of the night! Today we are going down to Bartow to be with the Sanchez family all day for p-day.

In other news: we found a few families to start teaching. One of them threw a party on Saturday for their son, Alexander, whose birthday is March 13th! Small world. We taught a few good lessons. Friday we had a branch party for the elders quorum where they watched Fireproof in Spanish and the kids watched Toy Story 3. Since I figure I don't need to be thinking about marriage right now I watched Toy Story. That was SO funny!! The beginning is epic. The Mansenares family, the ones who were inactive for forever, came to the activity and had lots of fun. The kids are not members so hopefully that will be something we can work with. I think that is all the exciting stuff that happened this week.

I love you guys so much. I am sure that I have the coolest family ever. The thing I am most excited for about getting home is just to be with the family, to sit around the table and play nerts and have dinner. Just a couple months left! I love you!

Who put the stapler in my jello?

The newly wedded Zelaya family! Yay!!

A dead water moccasin. Sister Hernandez killed it with a stick and we stuck it in the trunk to scare the other elders with. It was a big old thing!

Well I think the highlight of this past week was Sunday. Sunday we had a few new families show up. Legna showed up with her family. That was super good! She hasn't been to church in a few months now. I hope that they will start coming more regularly. The Mansenares family showed up. They were the ones that have been inactive for years. The first thing they said to us when we showed up was, "We don't want to go back to church." We brought them homemade cookies and the next Sunday they were at church. The first thing she said when she walked through the door was, "Venimos" or "We came". They liked class and we found out that the two teenagers are not baptized. Hopefully we will be able to start teaching them! Another guy showed up from Lake Wales. I guess his son was baptized by the English elders and he is interested now.

The rest of the week was fairly slow. Lots of knocking doors. We found a few families to teach. We haven't taught them yet so it's too early to know if they will go anywhere.

Ariel was married yesterday. They have been living separately for a few months now but finally got married. He was also confirmed and ordained to a priest yesterday. A memorable day, to say the least.

I think that is all the exciting stuff that happened. It's a short one today but I'll get a letter out this week. Next email I send I'll be no longer a 20 year old!

Baptism.

At Ariel's baptism.

Guess who got baptized on Sunday! Ariel Zelaya! The baptism was great! He asked me to baptize him so that was neat. I messed up on the prayer the first time and had to do it again. They had a lot of family show up for the baptism. After the baptism we had food and drinks and then we went to the Figeroa family for dinner.

Nothing real big happened last week. Wait, we did have my last zone conference. Every missionary at their last zone conference gives their departing testimonies at the end. Well we apparently didn't plan for ZC to last as long as it did and planned a lesson at 3:30 so we had to bail out early and I didn't give my farewell testimony.

We found an inactive family last week. We had no idea they lived here but a member family told us about them. The very first thing they told us is, "We don't want to come back to church." We told them that we weren't there to drag them to church but to help them in any way they needed. They thanked us and sent us on our way. Half way to the car they offered us some water, so they at least called us back. The other day we made them cookies and dropped them off and invited the kids to come play basketball on Wednesdays and to mutual. I hope they'll have the desire to go. I guess they are inactive because when they lived in Maryland they changed wards and the new ward didn't know they were there so no one was there waiting with open arms and that offended the family so they decided never to go back to church. That was 8 years ago. Hopefully the Lord will soften their hearts and they will come back.. I think that is all my news and big stories for today. Love you!

I am a man of few words, an enigma of sorts.

I caught a fish. I was the bait catcher.

Me with Elder Nav and Elder Bell setting up for the branch Valentine's party.

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a week! Honestly, being in a triple-up hasn't been that bad. I thought it was going to be awkward but it flows pretty well and the lessons usually go great! Driving is really nice! I drive, Nav helps look for streets and Bell sits in back and looks up directions. We are getting along great though. Nav and I try to get Bell trunky all the time. Bell and I are planning a trip for the beginning of August to go to some Spanish country with Hickman and DeHoyos. We all want to go to Mexico but I hear it's super dangerous there right now. Then we thought of Colombia but that's dangerous too. So we pretty much have settled on Puerto Rico or Costa Rica. Puerto Rico would be cheap since we wouldn't need a passport.

Investigator-wise, we set a date with Ariel. He is getting married this Saturday and baptized on Sunday. I am sure it's going through this time. I will make sure it does! We had a great lesson with Adriana. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. We didn't have the chance to meet with Alejandro or Felicites last week. They are reading still though. I think that is all the news about our 'gators this week.

I don't think I can remember what else we did last week... actually I think I'm all out of news. I guess I'll wrap this up then. I love you all!!!

~Elder Alex


Letter from Alex

Dear Family,

Things here are great! I still love the area and the members. This last week we had a member meal every day and got 3 or 4 referrals. We are still working on contacting them but we are going to do an FHE with them and the Clavijo family. Alejandro and Felicites kept their commitment to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and liked reading it. We are going to see them tomorrow again. Adriana, who lives two doors down also read, but did not pray so we committed her to pray by Tuesday, our next appointment.

A few days ago one of our less-active members passed away, so today we went to see his brother who is in town from Puerto Rico and asked if he would like to learn what his brother believed, specifically about the Plan of Salvation. He said he would love to so we'll see how things go. He leaves back to Puerto Rico in 3 weeks or sooner but hopefully we can plant a seed for other missionaries to harvest.

We still haven't heard from Ariel. We keep trying to get a hold of them, but they are still in Miami. That is pretty much all the work we have got going now. Things are picking up slowly but surely. Transfer calls come in tomorrow morning. My predictions are that I stay and Nav leaves. I'll include what happens at the end of this letter.

My studies lately have been awesome! It all started from D&C 98:12 where it talks about how we learn "line upon line, precept by precept" and then I thought about the last few chapters in 2 Nephi because it also talks about "line upon line" and in Chapter 31 verse 3 it says that the Lord gives light "unto the understanding." So t hose who understand are given light as they are ready for it. Obviously the people who understand the doctrine apply it to their lives and are entrusted with more doctrine. The ancient Israelites clearly weren't ready for the ordinances of the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God, so Jehovah gave them the base of ordinances that could be performed with the lesser Priesthood: the Law of Sacrifice or the Mosaic Law. A set of physically demanding ordinances that regulated almost everything to keep a people prone to wander on the straight and narrow path.

Through many apostasies the laws and rituals made it to the days of Christ, though largely distorted. When Christ came, He fulfilled the Law of Moses, and , as Paul taught, instituted a higher law, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The faith we gain in Christ and His atonement leads us to repent and be baptized. Confirmation and receiving the Holy Ghost is necessary after baptism (by the Melchizedek Priesthood) and we then endure all things until the end of our lives; this constitutes the Gospel. The early Saints after Christ were called to live the Higher Law because they were prepared for it. Obviously, the Lord knew the Gospel would be adulterated not long after its placement but He will never withhold blessings we deserve for future disobedience (see D&C 130:20).

On the other side of the world, the Nephites were righteously obeying the Mosaic Law. Since no indication is made to the contrary, we can assume that there was no perversion of the rituals. Because the understood the base laws they were given more as they were ready. It started as a knowledge of Christ's mission which led to faith, the first principle of the Gospel. Eventually, line upon line, they were given to know the precious parts of the Gospel. Repentence, previously being done through sacrifices, was made by crying to the Lord in prayer. Baptism was being performed hundreds of years before Jesus was actually baptized. The righteous Nephites, being ready for more knowledge, were granted "line by line" until the casting off of the natural man.

The Prophet Joseph did not receive all the knowledge or keys to the kingdom at once but received revelation as situations arose. One example, while translating the Book of Mormon, they desired to know more about baptism so they inquired of God. We are told that John the Baptist appeared to them and conferred the knowledge and authority to baptize.

Even Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, was not born with all the knowledge He would later know. The scriptures tell us that He learned "grace by grace" just as we do.

Isn't it amazing, the infinite potential we have? We have the capacity and destiny to become as God Himself is, to understand the mysteries and laws of the universe and of Him. While we must learn these things line by line, the distance between each line in only as long as we allow it to be. Through learning the how's and why's of the commandments and applying them, we will receive more. We've got such a distance to go and can't afford to waste our time here.

Well, that has been about a weeks worth of studying! A lot of what I wrote actually just came to mind as I was writing! I had better get to bed now. I'll finish this up in the morning.

I can't believe Dani gets home Wednesday! That is so crazy! I missed her whole mission. By the time you get this letter she might actually be home! It's hard to believe it's all winding down. I know I have to give it my all this last little stretch.

Well I guess I'll get this sent out now. I love you all so much! Thank you for all that you do.
Love,
Elder Alex Talbot

Transfer News

Well transfer news came in Saturday... I am staying, Nav is staying, Bell is coming. We will be in a threesome with Bell, probably the rest of my mission. At first I was not very happy about the news but the more I thought about it the more I think it will be good. Thus far we have no work to warrant us to go to Winterhaven much but Bell served in Winterhaven before it got shut down and knows people there and can get some work done there. We are going to leave him with the ZLs for a week so he can get some stuff established. This serves two purposes, gets rid of Bell and we get more work done. I'm just kidding about getting rid of Bell, but I think this will really help the work.

Elder Talbot with the Vazquez family. A family he taught and baptized when he was in Lakeland last year.

Last night I went and saw the Vazquez family again. They are still doing so awesome! Not much has changed with them. They are going to the temple the end of the month. We went there to drop off Elder Lowe's backpack because he is leaving down to Naples and needed it back. We spent the night last night and are going to stay here for p-day.

This email is going to be short because I wrote a letter and you should get it tomorrow. For all my blog followers (it's awesome that I can say that!) my letter will be posted shortly, I'm sure.

I love you all so much!

Transfer calls this Saturday!

Cane fishing

One more week down. They seem to go by so quickly now! This last week was fairly eventful, so that is good. We found a couple to teach in Little Mexico, Alejandro and Felicites. They are a young couple with a 6 month old baby boy. They are both Catholic by tradition but don't really attend church ever. We taught them the message of the restoration and gave them the Book of Mormon. As we explained baptism they asked us what the correct form of baptism is, so we told them the way Christ did it, by immersion from someone who had the priesthood authority and they liked that answer. We told them their newborn did not need baptism seeing as he has done nothing wrong in his life. Hopefully they will be able to come to church soon and feel the Spirit that will bless them as a family. A couple doors down from this family we found another woman named Adriana who seems fairly interested as well. We will see how things go for them.

On Tuesday we got a call from a member asking us to help a friends mom move some stuff out of a house. Turns out this lady has been dating this guy for over 3 years. She sold her house and moved in with him. One day he decides that all his problems are "her fault" so he told her to get out. So she calls her daughter and eventually we get called. We took everything out of that house!! The fridge, washer and dryer, all the food (they gave it all to us!), all the toilet paper, everything! Afterward they took us out to eat at Sonny's BBQ. It was a way fun day!!

We had a lot of member appointments again this week. I think it will really start to pay off soon. This is something that President Summerhays is pushing a lot. I guess the whole church is pushing member work. The branch is really starting to step up its game lately. We are holding all the meetings we are supposed to and filling all callings. Transfer calls are coming up. Saturday we get the news. I think Nav is gone but if he doesn't leave this one he'll be with me to the end and then he'll finish here. All I know is that I'm going to finish up here.

Flying By the Seat of My Pants

Well this week was interesting to say the least. So our baptism that was scheduled for Sunday did not go through... Ariel and his member girlfriend were supposed to get married on Saturday and then he would be baptized the next day. Last week the members son got picked up by immigration and is being deported soon. They canceled the wedding so they could scrounge up all the documents he'll need for when he gets moved out. They are all in Miami right now so we haven't even been able to talk to them. We will try to regroup this week and I'll report more next week!

Sunday was a great day. Well, not really but it wasn't bad. Nav and I had to give talks in sacrament meeting. 20 minutes. each. It actually ended up being easier than I thought. We talked about member missionary work and tried to get the members more excited and involved in the work. I guess it worked well because we got a family referral from a member. In between talks we sang a special musical number with 2 of the young women in the branch. We sang Called to Serve in Spanish. Basically we did everything for sacrament meeting, prepared and passed the sacrament, gave talks and sang.

Last Tuesday we were out working when we got a text from the office saying we needed to go back to the apartments and stay in the rest of the night due to a tornado warning in the area! I was all excited for a tornado but all we got was a little rain. I guess the Lord works in mysterious ways; I was debating going home (and by home I mean the apartment) to take a nap since I was feeling sick and then we got the tornado warning so I had to go in. Saturday night I think we got food poisoning from some pizza. Luckily I didn't throw up but I was feeling sick all night.

That was pretty much our week last week, very slow and hectic but good I guess. That's life as a missionary, flying by the seat of your pants (whatever that means).

Finishing here!!

So last week was a crazy week! We had 12 different meals with members. We are focusing really hard right now on helping the active members to get excited about doing their own work. We are telling them that they aren't supposed to help us with our work, but that we are there to help them with their missionary efforts. They just have to invite and we will do the actual teaching. We are also working on reactivating all of our inactives. President Summerhays told us that until we reactivate and retain the members we already have, the Lord isn't going to pour out people who are ready. This Fast Sunday I am going to be fasting that we can find a family who is ready to apply the gospel to their lives and hopefully that will jump-start the branch in their efforts.

We also had interviews last week. The first half of my interview was us talking about the member-work program and the second half was more about me. I asked him what the rest of my mission could expect and he asked what I want. He said that missionaries can receive inspiration on their transfers so he likes to hear what we want and desire. I told him that I really wanted to stay here the rest of my time and he said that that seemed to go right along with the Lord's will. I talked about serving with Elder Lowe and he said that he'd see what the Spirit counseled him to do but that that seemed like a righteous desire.

I can't believe that Dani comes home in 3 and a half weeks!! I only have 3 and a half months left. It seems to be going too fast and too slow at the same time. I just keep telling myself that I still have forever left and that I can't start thinking about home yet. It will come soon enough, I suppose.

Baptism!!

Guess who got baptized this week! Luisa! We got a call on Friday saying that they wanted to do it on Sunday, so we got it all prepared and it went through! We had planned that I would do the baptizing but at the last minute the branch president authorized the dad to do it. It turned out way awesome! We had to scramble to get everything ready for the dad to do it and the water ended up really cold for some reason. I felt bad about that... but it went really well and we have a new member here in Loma Verde!

Luisa and her family, with Elders Navarette and Talbot

So last week we had the exchange Monday and Tuesday and that went great! Got to visit a few different families. Wednesday we started the leadership conference by leaving Lakeland at 6:30 to get there by 8:30. We did a lot of role-playing to practice all that we had learned. At the end of each night they had arranged member visits for us to go see. The first night President Summerhays stayed with us to visit the family, which made me nervous that pres had chosen us, but it was great! After the visit, pres took us out to dinner to a restaurant I chose and we had an awesome dinner. The next day we had another member visit that went really well. Friday Elder Gibbons came and talked a lot about member work and how to get referrals from them. It ended at noon and we headed back to our respective areas. Now to put into practice what we learned. This week we have 10 member meals planned so hopefully we can get a few referrals.

That was pretty much our week. Not a whole lot to report on, just a lot of boring meetings.

What a Good Week!

Wow! What a week. The ward had a baptism of an 8 year old kid we have been working with. It was a child of record baptism but it was still really good. We had a few good lessons.

We ended up dropping Misael because he won't come to church and we can never get a hold of him. Ariel is still in Miami but has a date for the 30th of this month, that will be after the wedding they have planned. Luisa should get baptized within a week or two. They are just coordinating with family to find a good date.

This week we have the leadership conference, three days of meetings, 10 hours a day. Yay.... but it's in Sarasota so that is good. I will also be going on exchanges Monday and Tuesday so I will be out of my area for a solid 5 days. It'll be nice to get back.

Sorry this email is so short. I really don't have much to report on today. Not a whole lot happened, but it was a great week.

Week 13

Transfer calls came and I got the call that I would be leaving Haines City to go to New Tampa and be with an English elder named Elder Jensen in a "zebra companionship"(one English, one Spanish). I was devastated to hear the news and even more mad that I would be with an English elder because that means that there are very few Spanish people in the area. I was busy ranting and raving when I heard a strange buzzing sound. Then I opened my eyes. Just a dream, thank goodness! Right at 6:30 I called up Elder De Hoyos, my man on the inside, and got the real news. Staying. Another 6 weeks with Elder Navarrette, exactly what I wished would happen.

From outside our chapel.

For New Years we didn't want to stay up but all the fireworks and guns going off kept us up until midnight. After that we tried to go to sleep.

Happy New Year! Peace Out.

So last week was pretty slow. Nav kept getting sick so we stayed in a lot. Half the zone is really sick right now. The other Spanish elders both have bronchitis. Ariel didn't get baptized last week because he was in Miami the whole week. We are still trying to regroup and get a new date hammered out. Luisa didn't get baptized either because they had other stuff going on that day. I think her date will be moved to next Sunday. Next Sunday we have an 8 year old child getting baptized that we taught. Not a convert baptism but still exciting. I don't know what is going on with Misael. He bailed on our last lesson and won't come to church. He keeps telling us he will but never does come.

Other news, there is a 3 day leadership conference in Sarasota the 12-14 of this month. We are packing like 10 missionaries in each apartment in the area and the meetings will be all day long every day. All on new rules, the new simplified doctrine and member work.

Well that is all of my news. Like I said, slow week. Lots of down time in the apartment. Luckily we found a keyboard so I have been practicing hymns all week. I'm super excited to be staying another transfer here. I am hoping to finish here.