Amazing and Wonderful!

One word to describe this week!? Actually two...Amazing and Wonderful! Tuesday: On Tuesday we had a district meeting, we had our ZL's (Zone leaders) came and they taught about teaching. It is always a good time when they come.

Guess what! We found out we can NOT go to the BEACH anymore...good thing we went the day before we found out...!!Super bummed about that, but hey! We couldn't even go in so it is okay! .....Goodbye, beautiful Florida beach....I will miss you. But the work goes on! Tuesday afternoon we did some AWESOME service for Angel, the lady we met two weeks ago. She was SO grateful for the service we did, the Elders mowed the lawn and cut bushes and we did the weeding...hmmm...who did the harder job? I'll let y'all decided on that one. ;) Service: I like to think it is the outward love to show our love to God's children. Just like the Mormon message Lift, service does lift, it lifts hearts, and brings smiles. I love service...still not the dirt and sweat. Ha!

Tuesday late afternoon my sweet companion and I dressed in matching shirts (have you noticed that striped shirts and print skirts are in style this year?). We were able to go meet a new family in our ward,they are actually from Utah! Woot woot! I am excited to get to know them! We had a great dinner with the Cronin family, we taught them about prayer, scriptures and church and why and how they are such a good foundation in our lives. I think it is pretty cool that they are linked together...God is smart! :) Wednesday: Today was a good day! We went by and saw the Myers, they are such a good family! I love them lots! We were able to try to contact a few families, which is always a good time in Florida in August...mmmhmm. Love the heat so much...! Wednesday night we didn't have a dinner appointment, but a ward member gave us money to go get Whataburger (best burger place here in Navarre...haha) We are so spoiled here! I am so so thankful. Wednesday night we had correlation meeting where we talked to our ward mission leader about mission work. It was awesome! Thursday: Thursday! Weekly planning always! But I have learned...if we don't get distracted..which we do a lot of the time...;) we can get weekly planning done faster! Crazy huh!? Mind blown. Hahah! But I am thankful for the time that we do have to plan. Planning is good! Something I will always do because of what I have learned about it here on the mission! Thursday evening we had a great lesson with Wendy and Issac about tithing and fast offerings! It hit me pretty hard that tithing is so important! While we were talking about it and how Heavenly Father will give us blessings because we pay tithing and fast offerings, I thought about it, and really Heavenly Father doesn't need our money...He created money...so why would He need it? It is His already...I think it is a way for us to show our faith and devotion to Him. Do we have enough faith to pay 10% of our earnings? Faith is key. A good lesson for me, a good lesson for all! We had such a fun dinner with the Atkinson family and the Hall family. They are are fun and I am grateful for FOOD. Happy belly...happy Sister Missionaries. Ha! Friday: Friday is always a good day in Gulf Breeze! We were able to see Kathy and share with her a message about callings, she is coming back to church now and is hoping for a calling super soon! Callings are awesome! Sister Kinghorn spoke in church about magnifying our callings, so she was able to share some of her talk to Kathy...SHOUT OUT TO MY COMP for speaking in church last Sunday! YOU KILLED IT. ;)

Anyways! We were able to do some fun, good service at Helping Hands! I love that place, if y'all ever come to Gulf Breeze FL, Helping Hands is a must to go. Favorite store here. The manager, Steve, is the funniest person ever! Today he told me while I was organizing the costumes, "You don't need a costume" "Why not!?" I asked. Steve: "You're already a Princess." Okay how nice is he. Favorite. The people and the love - so great. And thank you, Sister Kinghorn, for the photo-bomb silly face. So, I really felt like we needed to visit Max, so we did. He is struggling a lot more than he was before, so it was good to share him a uplifting message. We had a fun dinner with the Bank's family in our ward! We do volleyball every Friday night, and a lot showed up this week! It was great! Guys! I can hit the ball! Haha woot! Saturday: Saturday was fun! Today was Issac's birthday! He is now 14! We got him a few things and balloons for his birthday which is was really fun! We did some service for the Cooper's. They are in our ward, but less active! But once again...service can lift the soul! We were able to clean her boys' room...let me tell ya...3 little boys in one room....mmhmm...crazy messy! But! It is now all clean! Sister Cooper, is a small lady..but she is good at getting things done. She is one of my favorite ladies here. Saturday night, Sister Long took us out to dinner to Cactus Flower, a way good Mexican restaurant - I highly recommend it! It comes close to Mi Ranchito back home! We had a fun fun time playing basketball! Saturday night had a Sister mission call, which means all the Sisters in the mission were on a conference call, the head STLs (Sister Training Leaders) came up with an idea to fast on Sunday for Monday, to receive guidance at our Half Mission Conference, it was wonderful! Saturday = Good day! Sunday: Sunday was awesome! I love, love, love church in our ward. It is funny going to ward counsel meetings! Who would have thought...me going to one of those! Ha. Super great! We had a fun time with the Hall's, we went to their house, they took us to the Sound...the water before the beach! I found a stellar seashell! Yep. We had a great dinner with Kathy, and guess what!!? She came to a lesson with us that night to the Myers! Let us think about this! Sister Kathy Thompson, not going to church at all for over a year, but now coming back to church and now feeding us and GOING to lessons with us...How amazing is that!?! Heavenly Father is SO good to his children. That is the beauty of the Gospel,to see other progress in this work. So Wonderful. Sunday night we went to the Woolstenhulme's and it was a good time with them, talking about families...reminded me how AWESOME MY FAMILIA IS. Love you guys!

Monday: MONDAY! Usually we have P day on Monday, but this Monday we had a Half Mission Conference which means, half of our mission met.

I got to reconnect with Sister Stradinger, from the Provo MTC! That was so cool!

Here is me, Sister Kinghorn and Sister Stradinger with our awesome Mission President, Pres. Smith

And here we are with our Mission President's wife, Sister Smith! She is so loving and wonderful! And the Smith's are from American Fork, Utah, so close to where I live. We heard from some great leaders! Elder Brett Nielson and his wife came, and also Elder Vern Stanfill and his wife came. They both are AMAZING! At the end of the meeting, my brain was full of spiritual knowledge. Some of the things that really stuck out to me, Sister Nielson talked about Holiness. What is Holiness and why is it so important for missionary work? The Holiness of everyday life, all we need to do is look more in depth about our lives. Yes missionary work is hard and somedays we want to give up! But are we looking at those kind of days as Holy? Example of that - let's say someone rejected us? What is so Holy about that? Well that person is one step closer than they were before. They now have heard a bit of our message about Christ. That is holiness. I love that so much! Elder Nielson talked about the enabling power of the Atonement... using Elder Bednar's talk. The Atonement can strengthen us, although it might not be able to change our situation, but it can give us the strength and guidance we need. Something Elder Nielson taught...Salvation never comes for a cheap price. It was never easy for Christ to sacrifice for us, so why would it be easy for us? Mind blown again. I thought about this and was like WOW, YEAH. I get it! *Light bulb* Anyways! So many good lessons learned. Elder Stanfill talked about how we are true witnesses of the gospel. "Missionary Work is a work of witnesses." That is what we do! We witness that Christ lives! That the fullness of the gospel is here on the earth again! So cool. Sister Stanfill talked about Unity. "There are no passengers, only crew members on our ship." Unity that we are united as one! Overall Monday was just a great day! I loved every minute of our conference!

I love this work. It is so fun! Once mission work becomes mission fun work, it truly can change our hearts. I am grateful for the hard times, because that is when we learn the most, just as President Spencer W. Kimball would say. "Give me this Mountain. Give me another challenge." Thank you so much for all your support and love towards me! I am so blessed and so thankful for y'all. Quote of the week. "What matters in our life is what we do for the Savior." -Sister Stanfill. Every day matters, all we need to do is "Go forth with a twinkle in our eye, a smile on your face but with great and strong purpose in your heart." -President Hinckley. I LOVE YOU. -Sister Sabrina Nielson