Week 10

At Zone training last week

Hello to the world! This week was really good. We set a date with another investigator! We taught her the restoration, I asked her to be baptized, she said yes!! Its really fun to ask people to be baptized. I know that it is what God wants them to do, and they will take it seriously. I am working on inviting people to baptism whenever we teach a lesson, whether its from tracting or an appointment. 

Street contacting is so much fun!! I really love just talking to random people and asking them if they have faith in Jesus Christ. I've also learned that optimism is really important. Your attitude and your thoughts really effect your success. When you have a positive attitude, you are so stinking happy and people see that. I love being happy! And I love being a missionary. 

 We actually don't have to stay in on Halloween! We get to go trick or treating with a family, and hand out mormon.org cards with the candy. Woohoo! It'll be so much fun. We actually are going to the trunk or treat here too! It's on Tuesday. Apparently it is HUGE. They are expecting 300+ people to come to that event. So there will be lots of investigators!

On Saturday we taught 7 lessons from Tracting! It was really cool and we met some interesting people. One guy told us that he was a prophet and that he receives revelation from God. Another one was catholic and was telling us about Mary, the Mother of the Earth. Last night we ran up the stairs and got into the apartment by 8:59. We almost were late, but I know that exact obedience brings miracles!!

This week I studied about my purpose as a missionary. I loved reading and learning about that. I have gained a better understanding of what I am called to do here in Florida. I learned that even if people don't accept our message, if we taught them that God loves them then we have found success! We have invited them to come closer to Jesus Christ, and we taught them something they may not have known before. 

Fun Fact: I have 27 bites on my feet. They itch so bad, and I am trying really hard not to itch them. I've started bringing my hydrocortizone cream with me, and I put it on whenever my foot starts itching. Also: Scratching bug bites here turns them into scars. I've already got lots of lovely spots on my legs from scratching bites.  I don't want ugly legs!!

Anyway. 

With enough love for the whole, wide world,

Sister Minson

October pictures!

The view from my study desk.

A beautiful butterfly we found while tracting.

My favorite picture: We were tracting and found a street called Munson.  Which was so close to my name, I had to try it out.  What an unlikely event!

A dead bug we found (pen for reference.)

Sis T and I on a tracting adventure!  The camera wasn't pointing right but we look adorable.

At Save-a-lot. We found some bad sunglasses and decided to try them on. What do you think?  I think no thanks.

Week 9

Transfers!  My new companion Sister Tawzer.

Missionary Leadership training with zone leaders, sister training leaders and area authorities.

District meeting a few weeks ago

It is actually getting really cold here. Goodness. It was in the 60's this morning when we were exercising, and I was FREEZING!

Transfers was really cool. My new companion is Sister Tawzer... She is awesome!!   She is really kind and awesome. She actually went to a year of BYU-I before she came on her mission!! She is an amazing missionary. She really focuses on working and helping others, and she is very good at being exactly obedient. We are working really hard and I am excited to see the progress we will make together. 

And I have some important information for you: I am a Sister Training Leader!! We went to a specialized MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) where I got to meet the Area Authority over the mission, Elder Suarez. I am excited to be an STL, and excited for this new challenge. It is an awesome calling, but I am still just a missionary, and have the same responsibilities and requirements as other missionaries. 

Our investigators are doing really well. I don't know if I've told you about all of them, so I'll just do that really fast.

L: 9 yrs old, mom a recent convert. Baptismal Date was for 10/25, but his mom moved it back and she didn't set a specific date yet.

W: has 2 grandkids, really kind. She finally came to church yesterday! Her date is for 11/7. We are going to help her get baptized on that day!

D and M: 11/29. They are my favorite. M is so diligent in studies, and he is eating up the gospel! They both are gaining a testimony that the church is true. We are trying to push their date up, but we don't want them to feel pressured.

S: She's a mom that we met tracting Saturday night!!! At the door, we asked her if she would be baptized and she said YES! We set a time to see her on Sunday, and when we showed up she was asleep. So we haven't gotten to see her again since. But it was my very first time asking on the first encounter if they would be baptized. Woah.

T is doing really good. She doesn't want to set a date yet, but she is really progressing.

It would be nice if they could all be baptized while I was here, but that's not my purpose as a missionary. I don't need to have baptisms in order to be successful. My purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. If I am doing that, I am doing awesome missionary work!

You want stories? I'll give you stories:

I've really learned to act on promptings. I know that God is always directing us to the people we need to meet, and when we listen to promptings we are blessed. I am glad because I know how I receive promptings now! I absolutely love being immersed in the gospel. It is so good, and I am really strengthening my testimony. 

Crazy Story: We were tracting, my bike was killing my legs, and we went to a Publix to find for a little bit. We met a couple who invited us over for dinner THAT NIGHT and told us they wanted to have us over for dinner. It was really awesome, because it was just what we needed. We were feeling really discouraged. So we rode our bikes over to their house, had dinner, and taught them a lesson. They weren't really receptive to the message, but their kindness really made a difference. We'll see what happens for Thanksgiving;) 

I have more, but not a lot of time to email. Yikes!  If I have time I'll write you more.

Love you tons!

With love,

Sister Minson

Week 8

Hello Lovelies!  So bad news: Transfers are this Wednesday. And Sister Dalley is leaving. She is transferring and training. Which means I'll be getting a new companion here in Palm Harbor!! Hopefully it'll also mean I'll get to drive. ;) I really really love driving. Goodness gracious.

I am doing really good. I am happy! I love doing missionary work, and I thank God for allowing me to be here every day. We do have a couple new investigators. T is really cool. She has 2 kids and she gets answers to prayers through dreams!! I've never met anyone who's had that gift before. So that's awesome. She said she would like to get baptized, but she needs to pray about it before we can set a date with her. We also have a couple more, but they aren't close to baptism at all, or even extending the invitation, so to save time I won't mention them. We are tracting some, but we actually have about 30 lessons scheduled for this week, so there's not a lot of time for tracting. I've taught the Restoration, Book of Mormon (President Cusick wants it to be a seperate lesson), Plan of Salvation, Gospel of Jesus Christ, and some of the commandments and laws and ordinances! So I'm pretty familiar with all the lessons by now. I can teach the Restoration in under 4 minutes! We're working on getting Book of Mormon and Plan of Salvation down to 4 minutes right now. They're in the 6 minute range. But that goes along with President's whole "Simplify and Intensify" quote. He wants us to be able to teach simply and powerfully, because people are accustomed to short, powerful pieces of information and testimony. And I can feel it! After we teach about the first vision, and I say "I know that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ." it is SO powerful. Then we pause, and Sister Dalley continues with her testimony then continues teaching. But it is amazing. I love bearing my testimony because I can feel the spirit testify when I do!

I am getting used to not knowing about events in the world. But it's really weird at the same time! I still want to watch movies. It's difficult to keep my mind focused on spiritual things all the time, but I appreciate the blessings I can see it giving me. I know I am more spiritually focused since I've been depriving myself of worldly things.

I am so grateful for my mission, and everything it is teaching me! One last thing: members are SO important to missionaries. Without members, missionary work just doesn't happen. Members are friends to investigators. Without friends supporting them and encouraging them, where does their encouragement come from? What will keep them in the church? Without members there to help investigators continue forward, it will be very difficult for them to continue forward in investigating! Members all know someone who needs to have uplifting and encouragement.

Keep up the fight!

With love,

Sister Minson

Week 7

 

Watching General Conference!

This weekend we got to watch all the sessions of conference. On Saturday, we watched the morning session at the Delucas( They're converts, and an amazing couple), and the Afternoon session at the Clawsons (It felt like I was home because there were kids messing around and talking and distracting, etc. Lol). Sunday we watched the morning session at Bishop Patera's house (His wife made us waffles for breakfast) and the afternoon session was at the Glaus' house (Debbie and Matt came to that one and watched it with us! Sister Glaus made us Lasagna for dinner. It was delicious). 

Now for Investigators:

So one of our investigators now is dropped. She went to the hospital because she's not mentally sound and she OD'd on drugs again. So she's going to rehab, and we won't see her for a while. But we did get 2 new date sets! So I have 4 now. D and M, L, and W. L is a 9 year old kid who's mom is a recent convert, and I think I told you guys about W. She has a lot of trouble with her daughter, and is basically taking care of her two grandkids. 

K, one of our investigators who is struggling with pain and helplessness, got a priesthood blessing on Tuesday. We haven't been able to follow up with her yet because she's been sleeping the past week. Goodness. She's really sweet though. She wants us to start a garden for her!

We got flu shots last week! So I won't be getting sick this winter. Yay!

Speaking of winter... Its cooling off here! We walked outside one morning and I actually needed a cardigan! What is life. 

Funny story: we went to a recent converts, who gave us cookies and milk. The milk tasted really off, so I only had like 3 sips of it. Then we discovered it was spoiled! Sister Dalley drank half of her glass. And I was the one with stomach issues the next day! Ugh. So I ate hardly anything and had to take it easy the day after. At least I didn't get the flu, right? ;P

Real quick: I have a strong testimony of personal revelation. I went to general conference with a question, and it was answered in the best way possible. I know that when we have questions or concerns, we need to ask God. When you pray and ask God, he will answer you. Just like Joseph Smith, we can receive answers to our questions through scripture study and prayer. I know it! 

Well, times up. Gotta sign off. And if you want to come and see me in Florida? Too bad. :/ You're not allowed to come see me, because it distracts me from my mission. Also, it is one of our mission's rules. Sorry. But we can converse via emails on Monday! So that's good.

Have a good one, everyone!

With love,

Sister Minson

September pictures!

Finally much awaited pictures! Here's a brief story of each one. 

  First sunburn, only one so far.

A sunset to rival AZ! The trees are weird here.

Tiny, the stray cat who went tracting with us one day.

Me!  Selfie.

A dead bug we found on the sidewalk. Just so you can see how freaking big they get here!

A street in the neighborhood off of highway 19 and 54.  I took this picture and then not 5 minutes later it was pouring.  Sister Dalley forgot her umbrella, poor girl.

Sister Dalley and I before it started raining.

Some of the diverse trees they've got here.

Me, cuz you need pics of me.

Patricia and me. She's sweet.

Princess, she's another stray who went tracting with us for a couple of houses. She had blue eyes, such a sweetheart.