Friday, August 2, 2013

07.29.13 | Week 16 | Fort Lauderdale


FAMILY!

Long time no talk eh? Hows my family doing in Utah? I miss you all like crazy! Everything is great here in Florida! Remember when I said that it wasn't that hot here? Well...I think that I may have to correct myself. The weather is CRAZY HOT. I cant yet decide if its hotter than STG. But I also didn't go out knocking doors in STG;) our car tells us its about 97 degrees plus how ever much humidity we've got goin on here. Who knows! I don't know if i even want to know! Thanks to mom and sending us that amazing bag that has insulation in it, Sister Bean and I pack about four water bottles in it when we go out, and drink 1 every 30-45 minutes. Its the kind of heat where it sucks out your energy. We have never been so tired in our entire lives! That's when I remember, shoot, I am here for two summers!!! Wish me luck! haha. As long as we've got the lord on our side, we'll be ok:)

So like I have told you before, sometimes you forget that you are in america when you're in Florida. When you see white people, its a rare cause. (at least for our little area) Basically everyone is from South America. As we knock doors, people tend to ask us where we are from. We let them guess most of the time. Mostly EVERYONE tells me that I look like I am from Argentina! HAHAH I cannot get over it. I have people ask me it all the time now! I just look at them and say, "have you heard my spanish?" ;)
Mom wanted to know about Sandy. We had to pass her to the Elders because she is English. We can harvest in English, but when it comes to the discussions, we have to teach in spanish. Its kinda sad sometimes because we find some of the most prepared people, but they only speak english. It's ok though:) We are still trying to find the people that are prepared for baptism. We know that we will be lead to them soon!

After reading through presidents email about the ministering of angels, I couldn't believe it! Just recently Sister Bean and I had such an amazing experience with this. As we were harvesting, we started thinking about the conversation that we had, had with one of the branch members just earlier that day. He was telling us stories from his mission. Him and his companion had somebody come up and asked them "Where is your third friend that was just with you?" They began to explain to this man that they were always just with each other. Just the two of them. Never three. That's when they knew that they were not alone. We asked ourselves, "Do you think that we have angels with us?" Just then, the most powerful, calming, yet spiritual feeling came over us. Nothing like we had ever felt before. It stayed with us the whole time we were knocking doors. We knew that an Angel was with us. No doubt in our minds. We came to a door. A man opened it and began to tell us about himself. His wife had just died a week ago, and he was trying to help her kids come closer to Christ. My companion and I both knew that this mans wife, had accepted the Gospel on the other side of the veil and was now with us, and she had guided us to her husband. We walked away from that home, knowing that we were lead there by angels. The feeling did not go away. We walked to the car, trying to describe this feeling that was over us at this time. No words could describe. We felt that all of our energy had been taken away. It reminded us of when Joseph Smith saw God the father, and his son. After seeing them, and having such a spiritual experience, he had no energy left. We didn't quite experience what Joseph Smith experienced, but we did experience something that built both of our testimonies of the ministering of angels.
I have learned this week, that we do not have control of the agency of our investigators and the people that we come in contact with, but we do have control over what we do, and the examples we set for these people. As long as we have faith, and do what we can, than God, and his angels will lead us to those people that are prepared. All according to Gods timing.

Almost being done with The Book of Mormon, I have really been able to sit back and realize how much we as missionaries can relate with the stories. As missionaries, we go through the same things as Nephi, Ammon, Alma, and Moroni go through. I have gained such a love for reading The Book of Mormon while I have been on my mission. I have had the opportunity to look at it is such a different light, and its been so great! I can hardly to wait to read it again!

Sister Bean and I have been doing great together! We have learned so much from one another, and how to work together, with our different ideas. We are really loving our area, and finding so many great people! We have had to realize though, that every thing is God's timing. People fall through on their commitments all the time. With the faith though, we know that good things are to come! As long as we are working hard and being obedient!
I love this work. Just like the quote, "There are few things in the world that bring as much joy, as assisting others to better their lives."

Thank you for all of your emails! I love them all! Don't worry about me, loosing my personality by the way:) Its just been a little bit of getting used to trying to balance everything out:) I hope that everyone is having fun doing whatever they may be doing! I love you all !

Sister Rogers





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