Week 49

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING:

What a great week! (Not that the week itself was fantastic. We were able to find 3 new investigators, but it was actually pretty mediocre.) But because I did everything I could to be happy and positive, I FELT like it was the best week ever. I am grateful for that lesson. I will continue to apply it in my mission experience, and the rest of my life.

A quote I read last week "Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily." That was quoted by President Monson in his talk "Finding Joy in the Journey", but it was said by Horace, a Roman philosopher. It has become my mantra! I want to be able to say I was happy my entire life, even in the hard times. Rough spots can't get me down!

 We had an interesting experience this past week. I went on an exchange with Sister Sackley, and we found and taught a woman who was totally engaged and was feeling the Spirit. She was asking us questions and we could tell she was learning. We taught her the entire restoration and then at the end invited her to pray about it. We said "Will you pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet?" And she said "Honestly, probably not." It was soul-crushing! But I knew that she knew exactly what she was doing. We promised her blessings, testified of truth, and invited her to act. And she chose not to. It's sad when that happens because I just want everybody to feel the Spirit and want to keep commitments, but she chose to stay with the limited light she had. Which is very sad. But it was a great experience because I was able to teach her and testify boldly. I love being a missionary!

Me and Sister Sackley on exchanges!

All four of us after exchanges (Me, Sister Hunt, Sackley and Sutton)

 My mom sent me the following quote this week, and I just love it. Life is better when you're laughing. Missionary work is better when you're laughing. That is the truth. Have a great week everybody!


With love,
Sister Minson

Us in the rain!

A crazy foresty neighborhood we found

Week 48

11 Months! Tomorrow! 7 months left to rock it! I'm gonna work so hard, it's ridiculous :)

So I'm going to start out with the best news ever... Sister Hunt and I are going to the temple next Tuesday!!! Last Tuesday I got an email inviting me to the temple, and I accepted, of course. Then last night we got a call and Elder Duffin said that some room opened up in the van, and asked if my companion would like to go too. She did, so we both are going! The trip is July 26th. What a great birthday present, right? Woohoo!!

I've got a story. So we have this family that we've been teaching off and on for the past few months. They are super hard to get ahold of. We found out a few weeks ago that the Elders have found that family too, at a different time than us, and have been working to try to teach them as well! But we found different parts of the family. Sister Hunt and I have been teaching the father and the son, and the elders have been teaching the mother and the daughter. So we talked about it a little bit with them, and have been trying to figure out what to do with who's teaching them. So then we had interviews, and I talked to President Cooper about the situation. He said we need to coordinate with the elders and then call President and let him know what's happening. But President told me that it seems to him that Heavenly Father really wanted this family to be found. So we met with the Elders, and after we prayed with them and talked about it, we felt like we needed to have a lesson with both sets of missionaries and the family. So we've been trying to set that up. The family is going out of town on Tuesday, though, so I'm not sure if we will be able to teach them before they go. It's a crazy complicated situation!

Other than that, this past week has been okay. We've been working hard and doing everything we can to find new people to teach.  I definitely am growing closer to God. Actually, my studies are really carrying me through this rough spell. My personal study is going awesome! Yesterday I read "A Summer with Great Aunt Rose", and it helped me learn about the importance of being happy even when things don't work out the way you want them to. Also, I am reading in Helaman right now, and the stories about Nephi as a missionary/prophet are so cool! They apply pretty on point with my situation, so I am learning from his example and applying it. I am finding so much spiritual enlightenment as I read and ponder the Book of Mormon and conference talks. That is one of the reasons why I am so excited to go to the temple next week. I'll be able to receive more spiritual enlightenment as I feel the Spirit there.

I also took a picture that is just iconic of Odessa:

 I can't get over the Florida weather and ecosystem. That's the right word, right? Ecosystem?

Here is a picture of a CRAZY storm that blew in a few nights ago. I didn't edit it AT ALL. It looks kinda like a dust storm back home! Except there was lots of lightning.

 A cool picture of the trees, a street, and our car. Look at how big the plants are!

I love the spiritual lessons I am learning on my mission. These are memories I'll treasure forever! Have a great week!

With love,

Sister Minson

Week 47

I would like to share a few cool experiences this week: (If you get grossed out easily, you might want to skip the middle paragraph)

On Tuesday we were parking lot contacting in a Publix parking lot, and we walked by a woman who just got in her car. I heard the ignition click, but it didn't catch. She got out of the car and popped her hood. There was a guy walking by, so I asked him if he had jumper cables in his car. He did! We went over to her and he offered to help. She declined, saying she just needed to hit something under the hood, and then it would work fine. So she did, and it started! The guy left, but I thanked him for being willing to help. Then we went and offered to pray with her. She said she would love to! We prayed for her son who was fighting an illness, and afterwards she asked us where our church was so she could visit it. She lives out of our area, it turns out, so if she calls us, we'll refer her to the Palm Harbor missionaries. But it was an awesome experience!

Thursday was the craziest of all crazies. We taught some interesting people that day, but that evening, disaster struck. We were walking down a sidewalk and I walked into something hanging in a tree. I thought it was a bug so I was swatting at my head and wiping away. Sister Hunt tried to tell me not to, but I was kind of panicking. I didn't want a spider in my hair! When I stopped (after a few seconds), Sister Hunt told me I just wiped green bird poop into my hair and forehead. Gross! It was hanging on a spiderweb for an unsuspecting missionary like me to walk through. We went back to the car and washed it off with water bottles and hand sanitizer. That night I washed my hair... very thoroughly. It was so gross! On a different note, we met a woman who was very open and said we could come back and learn more! We are going to see her tonight.

Friday we ate food. We had a lunch with a Part Member family. We taught them about family history. There was a big thunderstorm today. It didn't rain and the lightning didn't get close, so we kept proselyting. But the thunder was so loud! It boomed and banged and crashed and rolled. It made me jump a few times. We ate dinner (PB and J), and then we went to a lesson with the Q's. Sister Q made us empanadas and quesillo. It was so yummy, and I was really full afterwards. We went to a member's house after that for a lesson and they made us Strawberry Shortcake. We had to get going, so we brought it to go, but I was so full by the end of the day.

 

This is my favorite kind of palm tree that Florida has to offer. Especially when it is orange on the tips.

My hair is getting long!

I have had so many fun, interesting, weird experiences on my mission, but bird poop is horrible.

Hope you all have a great, interesting week!

With love,

Sister Minson

Week 46

Happy Firework Day from Odessa, Florida

Did you know that in Florida, it IS NOT illegal to do big explosives on your own? So the 4th of July was scary from around 8:00 on. There were lots of fireworks in the sky that were super close, and lots of loud bangs and noises at 10:00, while we were trying to fall asleep. Thankfully, we slept well. The library was closed yesterday, so we are emailing today.

Last Monday we bought watermelon and that is the result. Yummy!

I hope you all had a great week! Ours was a little hard, but we won't give up working and doing our best. We will have a lot of finding opportunities to look for and teach new investigators, and we also have some appointments set up with the members for this week. I am working hard at teaching everyone we see and being obedient. I know miracles will come as we do!

President and Sister Cusick left last week, so now President Cooper is our new mission president! He and his wife are so sweet and kind. I am really excited to work with them.

The Tampa Zone with President and Sister Cooper

That's about all of the updates for this week. This next week is going to be great!

With love,

Sister Minson

Us sneaking out of a gated community and a gorgeous sunset along with it!

My fantastic tan lines. Look, I'm tan!

Florida skies are unbeatable. Gorgeous gorgeous

A rainbow we saw after it rained all day on Saturday. It was a gorgeous rainbow.

Week 45

FLORIDA IS SO HOT!  But it's weird, because its a very different kind of hot. I still don't quite get it. I'm just glad I'm only serving one summer here. Woohoo! The spring, fall, and winter are really nice.

Well, both Sister Hunt and I are staying in Odessa for another transfer!  Our new mission president, President Cooper arrives tomorrow! President and Sister Cusick leave on Wednesday, and we are having zone meet-the-new-president meetings. Ours is on July 1st.

I've got a few experiences I'd like to share with you all:

We met a less active while we tracting last week. She has children and a husband who are not members of the church. We ran into her again on Tuesday and she told us she would like to have Family Home Evening in a members house so she could see how to hold FHE for her family. It was super awesome! We are working on getting that set up.

On Wednesday I had an interesting experience. It wasn't necessarily fun, but it was something. We went to contact a potential, and she was busy. But her neighbor was outside, so we went to talk to her. She told us that her neighbors(on the other side) might be interested in a prayer because their father was having some major health problems. We went over to offer the prayer, and a daughter answered the door. She told us kindly she wasn't interested. So we kept tracting the loop. As we came down from a house, an angry looking man was standing outside. He asked if we were just working the neighborhood, because he's the son of the man with health struggles. We told him his neighbor thought he might need a prayer. The man got really angry at us and started yelling and cursing at us for offering to pray. He said his dad didn't need Mormons to pray for him, and said some things about why Mormons are always persecuted. We walked away, and he stopped and went back inside. It was pretty scary, I'll be honest, but afterwards I mainly felt bad for him because he was under so much stress and pressure for his father's health. That night I prayed for him and asked that Heavenly Father would help him feel peace and one day have his heart softened to the gospel. I think I learned the importance of forgiving others that day. That was a powerful experience for me because I felt charity for him, even though he was yelling and cursing at us. I know God and Jesus love him, and he is my brother. I love him too.

On Saturday we had a fantastic experience which was definitely a miracle from faith. We have been diligently asking for referrals from everyone, even though most everyone says no. We were tracting and met a lady (named H) who appreciated what we were doing but said she was too tired right now. We asked her for referrals. She told us her neighbor across the street recently had a death in her family, and we could go pray with her. So we went, and we met Natalia. That was a fantastic experience because we were able to pray with her and help her feel peace. We also had the opportunity to testify of truth to someone who was genuinely listening. I miss having those opportunities. I really needed to meet her, and she really needed to meet us. It was definitely a miracle. 

I hope these experiences were able to inspire or help you in some way! I am so grateful for my mission. We are working hard and I love this gospel.

Me with one of our recent converts! I love her!

With love,

Sister Minson

Week 44

Transfers are this week!! We are stressing! Sister Hunt and I both feel like a change is happening, whatever that means. We'll see what happens!!! Yikes. We think it's about time to transfer because we are getting pretty good at guessing what the other is thinking. haha, We know each other too well. :)

The Beach Party last Monday was SO much fun. It's also why I didn't email y'all last week. I was out of time for emails. At the beach, we played in the sand, built sand castles, took lots of pictures, and just hung out with other missionaries. I have TONS of pictures! (See below.)

As far as investigators go, we are still working with O, he is doing really well! We are going to help him be baptized in July, hopefully. He feels like this is the path God has for him. And other investigators, that is mainly just follow up. We are working on helping them to set return appointments!

Yesterday was my 10 month mark, can you believe it?! I think it's so crazy. I only have 8 months left of my mission! That time is going to fly by.

It only rained once or twice this week! That meant that it was HOT outside. We sweat A TON. Well, I did. I don't know about Sister Hunt. I am carrying a sweat rag with me to make myself look less wet when we talk to people. It's gross, but necessary. Gotta look presentable for Florida!

I ate spinach pie this week! It was actually pretty good! A Part Member family had us over for lunch, and we ate that, and also shrimp pasta, and fruit. It was super good.

That is basically my week! We'll see next week what happens with Transfers.

With love,

Sister Minson

On our way to Bradenton Beach.  Going over the exciting SKY Bridge.

Sister Hunt and I at the Mission beach party at Bradenton Beach last week

Old friends/new friends! With previous companions and district members.

With President Cusick, and Elder and Sister Wilson

My MTC district!

Our zone's sand castle

Other pics from this week. HUGE storm clouds!

Mission Beach Party!!

Monday June 13, 2016:  

Mission Beach Party at Bradenton-Coquina Beach, FL

The whole Florida Tampa Mission

Sister Minson and Sister Cusick

Eating a delicious lunch with fellow missionaries

At the beach

Building sand castles!

And of course we followed the mission rules!