Week 6

Training meeting

First things first. Is it hard for y'all to pronounce my last name? I never thought it was, but Floridians would tell me otherwise. One member of our ward says he has to think about "minion" to remember my last name. My companion, Sister Dalley, has been in this ward for 9 months so they all know her but its kind of funny when they're talking to us on the phone and the say "You and...... your companion" because they either don't remember my name or don't know how to say it. I've actually had a lot of investigators ask me if Minson  is my first name. I'm like, "Noooo, it's not." People are silly.  A lot of people think I say "Benson" when I say "I'm sister Minson." 

This week was super cool. We met an awesome lady who is getting a priesthood blessing on Tuesday for her leg. She's had a lot of pain in it and can barely walk. She is so sweet, and we know she will be a great member once we can teach her. We also took a Young Woman from the ward out for a couple of lessons on Thursday and she wants to go on a mission! It was super cool.

 We had an investigator come to the women's broadcast! We weren't sure if she was going to come or not, but she made it! And afterwards she said "Well, I got my answer." She loved it so much. It was awesome!!

Debbie and Matt (Our investigators with a baptismal date set) are so great. Yesterday in Gospel Principles (The lesson was on Eternal Families), Debbie made a comment about them getting sealed in the temple... Everyone was so astounded! They are totally ready for this. And they have so many good questions! We gave them a pamphlet on the Plan of Salvation, which is our lesson this next week, and Debbie told me at church that she read it and she loved it. She said it made so much sense to her and it answered so many of her questions. 

Like every girl on the face of the planet, I wish I had more clothes. I am getting used to wearing skirts all the time though. I put jeans on to clean today, and it felt so weird. What is happening to me?! I love jeans! I don't want them to feel weird!!!

Funny thing I learned: Black people here say "I'm finna go to the store" or whatever. We finally asked a lady we're teaching what finna meant. Apparantly finna means fixing to. Huh. 

 I've been getting so many bug bites on my legs, and if I scratch them they turn into scabs and then leave scars. They are from a bug called "nosee'ems." They are so stinking frsutrating, because they are biting the tops of my feet, I hate them. But what can one do.

 And I am looking for tender mercies from the Lord every day! I write at least one down every night in my journal. It has helped me stay positive.

Anyway. I hope you all are having a good week

With love,

Sister Minson

Week 5

Kaylie with President and Sister Cusick

First day in Tampa (Sept 2, 2015)

Hello all,

I've been on my mission a month already! I've given a talk in church, taught the Restoration like 2,000 times, and even have 2 baptismal dates set!! Woohoo! I love Florida, my companion, and the ward. They are all great. President Cusick (my mission president) is really awesome too. He really emphasizes obedience, because it's the first law of heaven. Something they quote like 12,000 times a day is "Obedience brings success, exact obedience brings miracles." And it's true. So that's something I've really been focusing on. I biked on Thursday, which was great. Never done it in a skirt before. Probably should have practiced that before I left. Oh well. We got caught in a rainstorm (which was really fun, and we got soaked), met a lot of really nice dogs, cats, and sometimes people, and I got to say the opening prayer in our Zone Training Meeting!

We tracted literally all week this week. That's because we didn't have any people to teach, so we went and knocked doors. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Goodness. We taught 17 lessons this week, though, although honestly, the majority of them were on Friday and Saturday.

So still no pictures. The computers at our apartment complex are locked by the administrators. We can't plug anything into them, and that includes flash drives and HDMI cables. It's killing my mom, and I feel so bad! Sorry about that, but there's really nothing I can do about it. If we get the chance to email at a different computer, I will be sure to upload pictures. But until then... Sorry:/ Have a great week everyone!

With love,

Sister Minson

Zone Conference

Pictures finally!  Kaylie has not been able to upload her pictures since she's been in Florida. I'm so glad her mission president takes pictures whenever he sees them at Zone Trainings and posts them. We love to see her smiling face!

Zone training!

Fellow sisters!

Snack time!

Week 4

Hello All! This week was awesome! I've been out for almost a month already! 

Tuesday: We had a district meeting! We talked about what it means to be obedient and how to avoid distractions. We then did 3 hours of tracting.  I forgot to wear sunscreen today because I didn't know we'd be in the sun for 3 hours. guess I just forgot. So I had a lovely burn on my chest and arms. Yuck. We went to dinner at China 1 (Because they don't have Panda here, Sad day) and then we drove back to the church for Correlation Meeting.  After that, the 1st counselor in the bishopric wanted to meet with us and the elders. So we went in there, and he wanted to pray for us! It was really awesome, because he prayed for each of us individually, and for our families. I really appreciated it. And then he asked me to give a talk. Woohoo!

Wednesday: the 9th was really rough for us and it was difficult to go out and tract. But we did! 3 hours of it, again. This time I remembered sunscreen. Man, it is HOT here! Much worse than Arizona. We taught some potentials and new investigators. We then had dinner, and then went right back out and did it again. Tracting and potentials. Loads of fun!

Thursday: This past week we've had to exercise outside because one guy was using the gym when we got up in the morning. We can't be alone with a male, so we had to exercise in the humid, dark outside. Joy.  We did our daily stuff, and then we started out tracting! Woohoo for tracting! It actually isn't that bad. I don't get nervous knocking on doors or getting rejected. When we tract, we offer to show a video about Jesus Christ. If they accept, we show them Because he Lives or Because of Him on the iPad. We then went to go see some potentials, but none of them were there. Great afternoon, right? We went to dinner at a member's house. They had some recent converts there, and the food was great. After dinner we went to another family's house for a brief lesson. That was nice, because they really welcomed me into their home. They are kind members. It felt like they were including me in their family. I didn't realize how much I miss my family!!!

Friday: 9/11. Friday was interesting. We started the morning off tracting, and we met two potentials!  They asked us some deep questions of the soul, so we had the opportunity to teach them some simple doctrines that they needed to hear. After we were done tracting, we went to go see some investigators and teach lessons. We taught 1. Yay! We went to Steak and Shake for Dinner, because we had some coupons! It was really yummy. I got a Cookie Butter Shake, which is one of the best things I've ever tasted. We then went to go see a couple who are both converts, so we taught them the Restoration. President Cusick asked us all as missionaries to practice teaching the restoration to members, so we did that with them. We then went and saw a referral. We got the referral in our Area book (Which is on the iPad), and I'll tell ya the story just briefly. The background info in the area book said that they are interested in meeting with the missionaries because the ward helped their daughter (who's a convert) when she moved. So we went and saw Deb and Matt. And they are my favorite. I feel like they are golden investigators! They definitely had been prepared through past experiences with the members and some missionaries, but they are ready for us!! I love them so much. I feel like Deb is my mom here in Florida; I can tell she really cares for us girls. Such a sweet thing. And they wanted to come to church on Sunday! So we told them where it was and invited them to come.

Saturday: 9/12 was really difficult. We were able to use the gym today, thankfully. but then we just had struggle after struggle. But we tracted for a while, taught a couple lessons. We had dinner and then went to teach someone. We invited them to watch General conference, since it's coming up soon. Then we went home. Yay for sleep!

Sunday: I gave my talk! It was great. We had ward council before church, which was good, and then I sat on the stand. And let me tell you: our building is freezing. I was shivering. Seriously. I even had a cardigan, but I was still so cold! My fingers and toes hated me, man. Deb and Matt came! It was wonderful. So I gave my talk on the Sabbath Day, and how it is a sign between us and God. We took Debbie and Matt to Gospel Principles, and then we took them to Primary! Brother M had actually suggested that for us, and it was a good move on his part. I felt like that was definitely revelation. Because Deb and Matt love kids, and they were preparing for a primary program. They sang lots of songs that were about simple truths, and it showed Deb and Matt that their grandkids are going to a good church. We fasted for someone today, because she didn't come to church and cancelled our lesson with her that night. Yuck. We went home and ate enchiladas and peanut butter balls (which I made). They were delicious. We then tracted for a little bit, and met with Debbie and Matt again. We visited with them about church, and they are really ready for us to teach them. We are teaching the first discussion on Thursday. And that sums up my week!

I think it's really cool to notice how the week has good days and bad days,  but the spirit is with you no matter what.

Have a good week everyone!

With love,

Sister Minson

Week 3

Well hello there! Florida is awesome! Some things about my mission before we get started:  

I am in New Port Richey, in the Palm Harbor Ward. That is also the name of our area: Palm Harbor. We have a car (A toyota corrola 2015, so its super nice), but we have our bikes here as well, so if we need to use them we can. We have 1000 miles a month on the car, though, so we don't use our bikes very much. My apartment is on the third floor, and it is really nice! We don't get furniture, since we're not supposed to be in our apartment except to eat or do morning studies. We aren't allowed to eat dinner with members unless an investigator is present, so I haven't had any member-present dinners yet. That's okay though. President and Sister Cusick are wonderful people. They are really kind, and are very friendly.

 I'm so sorry, but I don't have any pictures this week. It was so busy and because I was so new I spent a lot of time learning how to do things and didn't have time for pictures. I'll have lots for you next week though!

We have a laundry room in our apartment, so it's basically running all day as we wash our sheets and clothing. I'm so excited to go to the store and buy necessary things, like food! For exercise, we go to the gym which is in the clubhouse. It's nice because they have treadmills!! I really like treadmills. We get up at 6am, go exercise, and then get ready for the day. I'll tell you about that in a sec.

The weather is great. For the first few days, actually, the weather was dry! There were tons of clouds, but it didn't rain. And then all of the sudden it was thundering and raining. It's fun though. I haven't been caught in a downpour as of yet, so that's good. The humidity was really difficult my first morning because the AP's made us run 15 laps around a parking lot, so I was struggling to breathe and everything. I have never sweat so much in my life. In all honesty. The humidity definitely makes you sweat. I also noticed that I drink more water than I do in AZ. But its great. I haven't had the chance to ride the bike yet, but it's here for when I need it. Having a car is great.

So as to my week. I'll try not to do this very often, but because it's my first week, I feel that it's necessary:

Tuesday: We got picked up at the airport and drove to the mission home. It was really fun with all the new missionaries. We went there, had a short orientation, and ate dinner. It was some really good mexican food. We then, because we were exhausted, drove to the hotel and went to bed early (at 9:00).

Wednesday: We got up bright and early to exercise. the AP's conducted the exercise session, and we were struggling with the whole 'water in the air thing' and it sucked. But it was great! I ran and ran and the next day my legs were more sore than they had ever been before in my life. We then got ready for the day, and then drove to the mission church headquarters, which is where we did hours of orientation and things. We got our iPad's set up (I can't use it till next month sometime), got our driving stuff figured out, did brief health screenings, and did personal interviews with President Cusick. My interview was awesome. He really cares about me doing well, and I felt like he got to know me a lot. After that we had lunch, which was great, and then it was time for us to meet our trainers! 5 trainers came in for us sisters, but we didn't know which one was ours until the transfer meeting. I met Sister Dalley when my name was called, and we got all of my stuff. We loaded our stuff in the car, and then we went to our mission! We actually had to go straight to a lesson, so I didn't get to go and unload and unpack anything until after dinner. It was a great first day!

Thursday: Mission life. How to describe it? It's great, it really is, but it's so busy that I don't know how to explain it all. We got up at 6 to exercise. We came back to the apartment at 7, got ready for the day, had personal study at 8, had companionship study at 9, and did 12-Week from 10 to 11. We then have lunch. Then we head out! We've had a pretty consistent schedule of going and visiting potential investigators, progressing investigators, and recent converts. We also spend a lot of time tracting. I enjoy it all. We go back to our apartment at 5 for dinner, and then we're back out by 6 and don't come back until 9. We then get ready for bed and go to bed at 10. It's really simple and I like the consistency of it. The first few days were hard because I felt so tired at the end of the day, but I'm getting used to it.

Friday and Saturday were the same. I met lots of cool people that we're teaching, and I love them all. I don't have time to tell you about them, but that's okay. You'll hear about them as the weeks go by.

Sunday was fast sunday, which was great. We didn't have ward council or the missionary meeting (whatever thats called). so we didn't get to leave our apartment until 12. Church starts at 1, and it's a half hour away from our apartment. I met so many people there, my goodness. They all were excited to meet me, and I remember none of their names. We then went to an investigators house for dinner. She made us steak, potato salad, corn on the cob, watermelon, and then banana splits for dessert. It was absolutely delicious, and she gave us the leftovers!!!

Monday: Today we went and got our nails done by an investigator who does nails. I got mine done for $5, so it was super fun. We then went to lunch at this California taco grill place, which was yummy. Then we came here to email! After I'm done emailing, we'll go shopping and buy food (yay!), and then we'll go home and finish our laundry and cleaning. Then we have dinner, and then we're back to missionary work things at 6.

I love it in Florida!! Every day I thank God for allowing me to be out here, and serving with Sister Dalley as my trainer.

 With love,

Sister Minson

Arrival in Tampa!

Kaylie left the MTC Tuesday 9/1/15 at 3:30 am and boarded a shuttle for the Salt Lake City airport.  She called us around 5am.  The first time she called she told me that one of her bags got lost... it wasn't in the shuttle like it should have been when they arrived.  That was not good news!!  So we hung up and I made some phone calls to the MTC and tried to track it down, to no avail.  She called back and we got to talk for about 20 more minutes where she told us more details and a few neat experiences about the MTC. She and her companion got to sing in a musical number together the previous Sunday.  She also had a really touching interview with her Branch President where he reinterated how much the families of missionaries are blessed. She shared with us how important it is to be obedient as missionaries to the mission rules. Unfortunately we had to hang up too soon. 4 months till we get to talk again!

After praying for the lost bag to turn up and making several more phone calls to the MTC travel department and Delta baggage department and got NO help, I contacted the Florida Tampa mission office. They informed me that they just got a call from Delta saying the bag was found (somehow) and that it was on the next flight to Tampa, arriving 3 hours after Kaylie's flight. Phew! Thank goodness for answered prayers. I think another missionary accidentally grabbed it when getting out of the shuttles and realized it wasn't theirs when they got to the baggage check.  How Delta knew to call the Tampa mission office, I don't know, because only her name and my phone number was on it.  Small miracles!

Some pictures were shared by the mission president on the Florida Tampa Mission facebook page later on yesterday. It was so exciting to see that she arrived safely and was being taken care of by her new mission.   https://www.facebook.com/groups/floridatampamission/

Welcome to Tampa!

Tampa International Airport

 The next day more pictures were posted of the new missionary training and then getting their new companions (trainers) before heading off to their areas. We can't wait to hear from her on Monday with all the juicy details of her first area. We are so proud of her for serving the Lord and know she will be such a wonderful missionary!

New missionary training

Sister Minson and Sister Dalley

Off they go!

They are going to have a lot of fun together!