I hope you all had a great week, and especially a great conference weekend! I will start out with the disclaimer that we did not get to watch Conference this weekend because we were in the Keys. We will have to watch in whenever we get time over the next few weeks, so I don't have too much to say about that yet :).
Last Tuesday was our P-Day, and then we went out to work at 6:00 like normal. We saw so many miracles that night which was a huge blessing because we had been in the Keys all weekend and we hadn't had much time to work in our area. We knocked into a sweet girl named Ciara, she is 17, and she is trying hard to regain her faith. She said she has felt such a difference since trying to learn about Jesus Christ, and then she was so surprised when we showed up at her door! She loved the lesson, and was excited to learn more. It was so cute because in the closing prayer she thanked Heavenly Father for sending his angels to talk to her. Unfortunately we haven't been able to meet with her since then, but we are trying hard to get back in contact with her this week!
After that we went to go and visit a potential, but she wasn't home. However, her two younger sisters were, and they loved our message. They are twins, and they love going to church so they said they would definitely be willing to give our church a try. Hopefully they will be able to come next week. They weren't broadcasting Conference at our chapel because a lot of people were going to the Keys to help, so we will have to make sure they are at church next week. We came home that night feeling so blessed to be able to find 3 new investigators in one night, Heavenly Father was definitely making up the time that we spent serving in the Keys.
Wednesday was a fairly normal day, we drove around to visit a lot of less-active members. We tried to meet with Fitore again, but she wasn't home. We were able to meet with Freddy and Darlyne and talk about temples. I love visiting them, I just always come away so much happier. Freddy always loves to tease us so we started teaching the lesson, and he says "Um, sisters, I learned all of this on my first day at church." He told us that they'd talked about temples in Priesthood, and he remembered a lot of what was said. They are excited to go to the temple after they are baptized.
Thursday we had our first District Training of the new transfer. We have an additional set of Elders in our district now because they opened the Creole area for the Winter (apparently all the Haitians leave in the summer, and return in the Winter-no one is really sure why). Anyway, that was great. Most of our lessons that night fell through as well, but it was a good day.
Friday we did our weekly planning, and we were both feeling a little off. It was just one of those days, but thankfully we had another lesson with Freddy and that lifted our spirits right out of the slump. Darlyne was gone to help her sister, so we taught Freddy a little more about the Priesthood. We had an awesome couple from our ward that came with us, and they helped a ton. Freddy was telling them about how he'd lost his job, and they can't get married because they have to have money to get divorced first. Brother McFarlane just expressed his own testimony, and so much love for Freddy that it was just what he needed to hear. Freddy said the closing prayer in which he thanked God for "his sisters" and "his new friends" and then he said "until we talk again" before he closed his prayer. It was so cute, and it made me think of how that's really how prayer should be-an ongoing conversation with Heavenly Father. I love Freddy and Darlyne so much! They were supposed to be able to watch conference with a ward member this weekend, but we are not sure if that worked out or not. If not, we will make sure they are able to see it this week!
Saturday morning we woke up at 3:30am and met at the home of a couple from our ward. They loaded up their 15 passenger van with 8 people and a lot of camping gear, then we made the 4 hour drive to the Keys. We arrived, set up camp, and set out to work. They gave us a bunch of work orders to fill with our group which consisted of the sweet old couple who drove us, 3 other brothers from our ward, a few teenagers, and us. We spent all morning pulling branches, seaweed, and debri out of people's homes. The Keys looked a lot better than they had the week before, but there was still so much destruction. We drove down one street that had been hit really hard, one of the trailers had completely blown away and all that was left to show it was once there was the tile floor. It was crazy. People were so grateful, especially a spunky little 86 year old lady named Mary Ann. She really couldn't do the work for herself, so she was very glad to have help. Sister Peterson and I noticed her neighbor across the street needed some help as well, so we went to go rake her yard as well. She told us it had taken her an entire week to rake the seaweed off of one half of her yard. We helped her finish the other half in an hour or two. She was so grateful. We spent most of the day outside doing tree/branch/seaweed/debri removal so by the time 6:00 rolled around we were thoroughly exhausted. We all headed back to the campground, and thankfully they had portable showers. I don't think I would have been able to sleep smelling the seaweed on myself all night. They allowed the missionaries to sleep in the same museum again (we were so grateful because none of us have tents or sleeping bags). They broadcast Priesthood session, and re-broadcast women's session so we got to watch that before bed.
The next morning we woke up, got dressed, had some breakfast, and we all set out to work again. When we arrived at the church they decided to send our group further south because they needed more help in some of the other islands. The further south we got, the worse the destruction was. We arrived at a Boy Scout camp on the beach where they had headquarters. They didn't have any more formal work orders, so they just sent us out and said "see what you can find." A lot of the houses are built on cinder block stilts, so the house itself is raised off the ground about 10 feet. We ended up helping one man muck out his garage, which was underneath his house, and it got filled with garbage and mud. We cleared everything out, trying not to slip on the mud, then shoveled mud into wheelbarrows, and dumped it in a pile for the city to pick up. Sister Peterson and I got so muddy, but it was fun. Next we went to his next door neighbor, her yard was knee deep in seaweed and trash. There was a hot tub, a refrigerator, a desk, a sopping wet mattress, and a fence in her yard that weren't even hers. We couldn't even begin to move the hot tub, but with all of us working together we were able to clear the rest of the debri out, and we made some good headway on the seaweed before we had to head back to the campground and return our supplies. We were all smelly, and so so tired for the drive home, but we made it! It was another great weekend in the Keys. I have learned so much from being able to serve these people.
It really helps you prioritize, and it has given me a whole new perspective on attitude. Some people are absolutely hopeless, self-pitying, and bitter. Others are so full of faith, and are so grateful for the help they receive. Those are the people that are happy, they know it is in God's hands, and they are able to move forward. I hope to be able to emulate that attitude, because I have definitely seen that it makes all the difference in the world.
I hope it's another great week for you all! Love you!
Sister Monson
Her District
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