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!

Another Temple Day!

We are having tons of fun! And we definitely feel like we're doing our best to lead well and have others look up to us. It's so hard sometimes! This area is a rough one, but we are so glad to be in it with our nose to the grind stone. Or however that saying goes. This week was a blast for us. It went by slow, but we found tons of people to teach this week. Most of them already fell off, but our miracle family this week is Mirlande and Erica. They're an Americanized Haitian family. The mom and daughter are super interested and the Dad is quite rude. But he doesn't care that they come to church and meet with us. As we were teaching the restoration we asked if she had ever had the question "Which of all the churches is the same on that Jesus Christ established?" She said she'd been wondering that so much that she even took a class about it! And she ended up being even more confused! So, she knows now and has a baptismal date with Erica for the 11th. Pray for them! It's such a great experience watching the Spirit testify of things to them. When Mirlande hears something that answers her questions, she looks at you dumb struck, and then says, "OHHHHH, that makes SO much sense!" It's so amazing. We love it! We have a quick and fun week lined up for this week though. Tuesday AP Elder Johns will be on exchanges with me in Miami, then Thursday we have a boss meal appointment, Friday is Mission Leadership Council, and Saturday is Julia Santos and Lehi's sealing in the temple! GAH!!! First sealing ever witnessed. And it's in Portuguese! GAH!!! I have been terrible, once again, at recording. But we took some pictures. Love you all! 

These pictures we used for our zone activity invitation. It's called Wackbat Wars. Ya know, like on Fantastic Mr. Fox. 

URSpecial

Revelationary?

Ah man. Adornetto's.....that sounds so good. I might even be down for a salad there. You heard me. Salad. I've taken a liking to it. I'm a changin man! Hopefully. We have two sisters in our zone singing the words from a sacrament hymn to the tune of Abide with me tis eventide. Or maybe it's vice versa. I'm excited to hear the finished product. As for us this week we had a great zone training! Usually President Richardson gives us the training, and then the ZL's give it out to the zone. But this time we had to make our own! Kind of scary but it went OH SO GOOD! We had a little bit of revelation one night and it was also revolutionary for the zone and maybe mission. So we call it "revelationary." Clever right? Anyways, the zone training was a huge hit. Lots of laughing and the Spirit was SO strong. So we know everyone is converted to it, but now we just need them  to go find people to teach! We talked in the zone training about being quality missionaries in our contacts, teaching, who teach etc. because we know our purpose and because we have real intent. It was awesome. We even had a rap battle! (Of course I attached it). The rest of the week was spent finding people who quickly fall away. We've seen lots and lots of people accept baptism and the restoration, but then we lose them and they ignore us. It's the worst. But we're having fun and doing so good! I love Elder Alexis! He's been one of my favorite companions so far! And he's from Michigan. So that helps. Go Blue! Love you all!

Elder Thorderson and Elder Alexis

Bonesaw Zone

Getting a much needed pedicure with Elder Jensen!