Much Needed!

We had Zone training this week which was fire! Lots of fun. We got to teach Maria a lot this week too. She's so awesome! Her baptismal date is for the 30th, but it'll most likely be moved to this weekend. We also had interviews with President! Which was much needed. I love sitting down with President and just doing a quick reality check. And then we spent ALL DAY sitting in the car in traffic. It was the worst. Definitely got some good studying of the scriptures in this week too. Much much needed. I loved reading my patriarchal blessing too.! I'm just really glad I'm in Florida! The end is way too near! I hate it! Anyways, I love you and thanks for everything! I wish there was more I could do for y'all! Have a good week!

Zone Conference! We went with a cardigan theme.

Zone Inspiration

Haircuts

Extent of Hurricane Matthew Damage in Miami

Hurricane!

This week was a party! Haha I know that sounds crazy but we had a blast! Of course the hurricane came and I'm sure all the parents were freaking out a little bit, but I just was so excited and had no worries! Anyways, they evacuated us out Wednesday morning to a house of missionaries in Hialeah and we stayed there until Friday morning! The most we got was a little rain and some wind. As Elder Alexis said to me in his email, I've biked through rain storms worse than what we got hit with. But I know that further up in Florida they got hit pretty hard. At least not in our mission though. So we're back to work and working hard! We're seeing tons of miracles though! The zone was still able to have a baptism this week even with everything crazy going on! We also found this lady on Saturday and she came right to church and is already super excited for her baptism! It's going so well! The weather here now is PERFECT. This is why people live in Florida. It's just so pleasant and bearable. We love it as missionaries. Thank you and love you! 

These were the living/fun conditions we were living under in the "Doral House."

Conference!

Conference was so great! I loved especially Elder Rasband's talk. But I also loved the talks calling us to repentance. Cause boy do we need it. And of course you have to love the call to do better missionary work as members too. We're excited to see the fruits that come from members being more involved. As for how the work went this week it was great! We have some great people we have found to teach and are continuing to teach! We got some great members to come out teaching with us and we even have people coming to church! It may not seem like we're having success because we haven't baptized in a while, but I know we're doing all we can. And I'm excited for that. I was thinking about how a big fruit I saw with Jensen and Alexis was just an overall happiness come into my life. Now, I still have that. But there's more! I have a legit desire to learn new things! Gospel related and not. I actually want to learn because I want to learn new things! Not take classes just to pass or fail, but to come out having the best knowledge possible on that subject. Too cool. Anyways, we have a good week ahead of us and a fun BBQ activity planned for the zone today. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures! Love you and thank you! 

Transfers!

First off, we don't have much to report from this week. We had some great lessons with Natascia who is slowly progressing towards baptism, but she has A LOT of hurdles to get over. The great thing is we can already see the difference in her countenance as we teach her! It's all because of her desire too. It's so amazing to see what people will do once they believe that they need to be baptized into Christ's true church! So great! The other great thing from this week was transfers! I got paired up in Miami Beach English (same area) with Elder Bedke from Bakersfield, CA. It was sad to see Elder Alexis go, but I'm having a blast and already learning lots too. Can't ask for much more. As for conference this weekend, I'm so excited! We have such a great opportunity to learn and feel the Spirit and I love it on the mission. It's weird listening to conference with "mission ears." But it's uplifting and edifying for all us of. My next temple trip will be October 28th with Caliane, Andrew and Andrew's wife Ingrid! I'm super grateful for them! And then I'll go with Karla and her family 3 weeks after that. 

Staying Put!

I too am sad to report that this week little to nothing happened. 3 out of the 4 missionaries in our house were sick. But we are improving. We feel much much better after 3 days at home sleeping. A sister in our ward named Sister Finlinson (different from the one in the mission office) dropped off some homemade chicken noodle soup and THE MOST AMAZING SALAD I HAVE EVER EATEN! Yep. I just said that. I told her that never have I had a meal remind me so much of home. It was that good. I have some good pictures though from last P-Day and the last few days of the week. We had a great week then when we did get out to work, tons and tons of miracles to be seen and there's tons of energy! We also got transfer calls last night. Elder Alexis is leaving me! I'll be staying in Miami Beach for yet another transfer. My new companion is Elder Bedke. I've heard lots about him and talked to him once or twice, but I have no idea anything about him. But I'm super excited to be here for October! It's gonna be wild! We're gonna finally hit our mission goal of baptisms too! Anyways, I love you tons! Thank you for everything!

We made another trip to Wynwood because the Sister's wanted to go and needed protection.

We had a night where we had the whole zone sleep in Proselyting attire so that we could get used to be uncomfortable and going above and beyond the call of duty. 

And then I fell asleep in the shower and Elder Alexis came in to check on me and feed me.

Same old, same old!

It's been the same old same old here. We did see a ton of faith and miracles this week from the zone though. That was a blessing. But we seem to be teaching a lot, having people understand what we say, and then still choose to not act or be committed. It's super sad. Oh well. I have a ton of pictures for you! And a recording we made this morning. I love you so much! Thank you for everything!

This was after an activity we did for our Zone Training. All about setting goals. Of course it was a blast just to see everyone get really messy. 

Me and Elder Walker caught cats and put them in some other missionaries bathroom. 

We invented our own version of Wackbat from "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and played it last P-day. It was HUGE. Everyone really loved it. We had tons of fun. We posed as the scenes from the movie during the Wackbat Match. Too much fun.

The Best and Worst of TImes!

THE TEMPLE WAS AMAZING. I never wanted to leave that place and never wanted to leave the Boca Rio branch. It was very amazing being able to see what a sealing was like. And it was in Portuguese! And I understood everything which was cool. MLC was fire. So cool. Literally walked out of President's house and was just so ready to go so hard. It's been really frustrating lately though cause we've been going so hard and trying to get the zone to go hard too. But we can't control people (which sucks sometimes) but we're definitely getting there! I have a voice recording about that dad. It's sad. I have tons of pictures too! Sorry there's not much to write about this week, but I have some good recordings that sum up the week. In a nutshell though. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. BUT I STILL LOVE IT ALL! And I love you all too. Have a good week!

What it felt like outside in the rain during the hurricane!

Elder Alexis and Elder Thorderson

Caliane and Ingrid outside Olive Garden

Karla and family outside Olive Garden

Julia and Lehi Santos and family after temple sealing. Such a great day!