President Anderson chose these three stories to illustrate his letter this week. They represent the idea that great missionaries, above average missionaries like there are in the Florida Fort Lauderdale mission do not let opposition stop them from bringing the gospel to God’s sons and daughters. In fact they turn opposition into opportunity!

“We knocked our first door of the day … and we were met with an aggressive shout from within the house of a man asking us what we wanted and how we shouldn’t be knocking on people’s doors and how he wanted us to leave.  He wasn’t very kind at all as we were explaining through his window of how we were representatives of Jesus Christ and that he had sent us here to leave a prayer with him, until we said that Jesus Christ loves him and because of that love, we were sent to pray with him.  Right after we expressed that love of the Savior for him, he quickly opened the door and welcomed us in to pray with him and his wife.  He told us that they needed that love from the Savior right now to mend their breaking relationship!  We left the blessing and baptismal invitation with them and they explained how they had both been thinking of being baptized and that they were also looking for a church to join!  Expressing the love that the Savior has for them, unlocked and changed a heart and created a new path for them both as they now are preparing to be baptized.”

 

You are testifying with love in every moment possible:

 

“My companion and I had an awesome harvesting time and it got to the point where we just wanted to continue but yet had other appointments to head out to, so we decided to knock on one more home. We came across Jo, whom had such a bright spirit and accepted the Saviors peace and blessing. After leaving the blessing with him and identifying the spirit, we invited him to church but he was kind of hesitant and wouldn’t give us a for sure “YES”. So Sunday morning we head out to round up our investigators for church, and we came across Jo. Jo stated that he wouldn’t be able to attend church as he was waiting for a phone call in regards to a job. We did what we do best and that was “TESTIFY” letting him know that it’s something Heavenly Father wants him to take part in and that he will truly be blessed throughout that week! Then eventually he said “YES” and he came to church with us. Then yesterday we go out to his house for our scheduled appointment and he stated that he liked church and that he plans to come again this Sunday. We had an awesome lesson with him and invited him to be baptized 01/20 and he accepted knowing that we as Representatives of Jesus Christ will be there every step of the way to prepare him for this exciting moment in his life!”

“That day we set a goal to get 21 blessings (something none of us had done before), and it wasn’t going well. I expressed my frustration to my companion. I was really beginning to feel hopeless. I was desperately introspecting trying to fix the problem… AND didn’t have anyone solid for baptism for the month.  My companion lifted me up and helped me realize I needed more faith. I humbled myself, and repented, realizing I needed to depend on my own strength less, and God more. If we were going to baptize, it was going to be by His hand. We were at 15 blessings and 4 yes’s. The next home was  a Haitian Family who accepted baptism! Then the following 3 did as well! All of which were super cool miracles (1 lady reopened her door after rejecting us, another who wouldn’t open the door, but accepted baptism thru the window); and finally, Marlene and her family of 11, we blessed them and they all clapped after the blessing. They readily accepted dates and to come to church. It took 3 cars to get them all to church, and we saw them last night and they are preparing for baptism this Sunday! I think this has been my lingering problem, trying to do it all on my own, without depending on, and seeking the grace of the Lord.”

I put that last thought in bold because I feel that there are too many times when I have the same problem as this young missionary…depending on the arm of flesh instead of the strength of the Lord.

 In case you have not noticed I carry my camera everywhere I go. It is something that I started doing when we were in Indonesia and it just seems natural now. It takes me a while after we get home to not carry it on my belt. I guess I should get a phone with a camera and then I would only need to have one case instead of two.  I must confess that there are times when I completely forget to take a picture that I should…I am busy doing something else and my older, one track mind just does not register.

These are pictures I took Friday through Monday…

  

For each transfer Sister Pier makes cards for the missionaries that give the date of the transfer, companion’s name, what area they will be serving in and their position. The copies are laminated and trimmed so they can be used on the two transfer boards to show where the missionary is serving and then moved around before transfer to where they will serve. Usually I get to do much of the laminating and trimming – unless of course I can do a Tom Sawyer and get others to do it.  Sunday morning was unusual in that there was quite a bit of fog. But even that could not hide the beauty of our lake and the reflections.

  

One thing that being on other missions has taught us was that we were often called on to transport members and non-members to church and other meetings. That was one of the reasons we bought a good used van to take on this mission – that and the fact that we brought half our house with us. On Saturday the missionaries start working on Round-Up where they contact all their investigators and try to get them committed to going to Church. They will then contact us and ask for rides – they can not provide them in a mission vehicle. On Sunday the APs – Elders Gust and Shipley – met us at this apartment where they had committed some investigators to attending. Unfortunately as sometimes happen either the people decide not to go or just do not get up in time. In this case they did not answer their door or their phone. We were of course sorry for the elders and the people who do not realize what they are missing but it allowed us to go pick up our other investigator for Elders Thorne and Rondo.

 

After picking up Jean we headed for Church. On the way we pass over this small draw bridge and since we had time I stopped and took a picture of the canal with the many boats and nice yards. When we got to Church we got a call from Sisters Bean and Lake who had another contact who needed a ride and was close by so we dashed over there and picked him. It is fun to meet these people who are interested in seeing what services are like. I do not imagine many of them have been to 3 hours of straight church but most seem to enjoy it – especially primary age children – but too few come back for a second time.

The last picture was taken on Monday of elders Shipley, B. Jones  (we also have an elder K. Jones) Gust and Torres. Elders Jones and Torres are the Coral Springs zone leaders and stopped by to pick up some supplies for their area. We love to see and talk to the missionaries when they come through the office. They are so full of the spirit as they talk about how the work is doing.