The days/weeks seem to be flashing by. It feels like there must be less than 6 days between Sundays.

  

The Singletons continue to learn all the things they need to know for their office callings. They are excellent learners – much better than I was – and so we are know that by the time we leave they will be able to handle 90% of what needs to be done. The other 10% they will just have to learn by themselves. As I see them start from basically scratch, I am very glad that we had a three months just to get to know how the mission and the office ran before we started learning about our specific office jobs. It is very helpful to know how different parts of the mission operates. Sister Singleton found the Zones With Picture board and realized that she could see the whole mission in the one place. The Assistants, elders Gust and Shipley helped her understand the board a little better.

  

Sisters Stegelmeier and Merrill came in to see elder Bare and I kidded her that she could not talk without moving her arms and hands. She said I was rude…but we always say this to each other and laugh. When I looked at the pictures I took while they were here, I found proof of my statement. In the first picture she is talking to the APs and her arms are a blur. In the second she is listening and of course her hands are quiet! Sister Merrill’s hands are still if she is listening or speaking…

Elders Turek and Gray came through the office this afternoon and got to meet elder Singleton. Of course they had to stop at the departure board to see where they or their friends were.  They serve together in the Palm Beach North area.

Usually I just post experiences that President Anderson shares in his weekly letter but this one is so good I just had to post it. It shows why the Florida Fort Lauderdale mission is having such great success finding and baptizing sons and daughters of God. The missionaries have such great faith and testimonies of the power of prayer. They go to the Lord in faith, ask for blessings, work hard and the Lord blesses them by answering their prayers. We hear experiences such as this from many missionaries and every time they say how it was the Lord who led them to those he had prepared.

“Last night as we set out to harvest we poured our hearts out to Heavenly Father to guide us to a family who was ready to be baptized and praying for us. We then set out to find them. Before we knocked on Michelle’s door I turned to Sister Merrill and said “We are going to testify and teach the doctrine of baptism till this person convinces us otherwise.” As we left the blessing on her home the Spirit was super strong – there were tears in her eyes. We invited her to be baptized and she told us that she had actually been baptized as a Mormon when she was 11. (Heavenly Father has a great sense of humor.) We invited her to come to service and she is coming on Sunday! We also left her a Book of Mormon and she can’t wait to read it, then we asked her who she knew that needed a blessing. She sent us to her friend Kurt and his family. When we knocked on their door and testified they let us right in. They told us how the Lord had sent us there and that this was an answer to their prayers. We left the blessing on their home and after the blessing the Spirit was so strong. Kurt was crying. Cristen asked us if we could stay a little and help her son understand and choose Christ. We testified and taught them about the power of baptism in their lives – they are so amazing! They are coming to church and preparing to be baptized! Wow. Immediately after we left their house could do nothing but express gratitude for the MANY miracles that are happening. I LOVE this work!!!

 You will have to pardon a proud grandfather for putting in a picture that is not from the Fort Lauderdale mission but from the Spain Malaga mission. Our grandson Elder Webb had his first baptism on the last Sunday. The picture includes his companion and trainer elder Keller and the new member Fausto. Elder Webb also got the news that after just 6 weeks in the mission field he is going to become a trainer! It seems that they have so many missionaries coming in that almost all the elders are going to get a chance to train.

 It was a perfect winter day in Fort Lauderdale – warm, not humid, and no rain. We are going to miss this. But it was also perfect in other ways. We got to see a number of missionaries as they passed through the office and later at the Fort Lauderdale ward’s missionary correlation meeting. We spent much of the day training the Singletons. I must confess that I am not a very good trainer. I tend to show elder Singleton something once and then sit back and let him work it out for himself while helping when he gets stuck.  That is probably not the best way to train but it is how I like to learn. They are both doing a great job for only being here for three days.

  

Elder Shipley was on an exchange with one of the Coral Springs ZLs elder Hunt. I really like elder Hunt who served as ZL in the Fort Lauderdale zone with elder Smoot for a transfer. He is a hard worker and always has a ready smile. While they were here the Collins came in to do some paperwork before heading out to try and find some housing for the many new areas that will be created for the next massive group of missionaries coming in April. Sister Singleton dressed perfectly for Ft Lauderdale’s Blue Wednesday but Mary chose pink.

  

Elders Jones, Van Wagenen and Hafen stopped by and talked to sister Bare. Elder Singleton got a chance to meet the dynamic duo of elders Rondo and Pond. I asked elder Pond if they were going to have some baptisms this weekend and he said of course we will. The two red carts are strictly and in joke for Mary and myself. I will let you try to imagine why we find them interesting.

  

At the Ft Lauderdale correlation meeting I embarrassed elder Burt by starting the group singing happy birthday. He turned a lovely shade of red. Elders Burt, Andelin and Thorne wait their turn to discuss their investigators. Brother Acevedo always is the last one in because he has to work until 6:00 when the meeting starts. Since the rule is that the last one to the meeting says the closing prayer he gets lots of opportunities to bless the missionary work in the ward.

  

Notice the pink thing sitting in front of bishop brown. I talked about how he got it in an earlier post. When before the meeting the bishop stepped out to take care of something elders Gust and Shipley plotted to pick up the pink thing. Unfortunately I missed the money shot and for some reason got a very fuzzy picture of the two culprits. As I took the picture bishop brown came in and caught the two in the act! There is never a dull moment when you are in Fort Lauderdale ward.