Hola everyone!!
I hope you are all doing well :). I found out last night that I will be transferring out of Fountainbleau, I will definitely miss this area, the people, and especially my companion Sister Whitney. However, I am super excited about my new area! It is called Coral Reef South, and my companion's name is Hermana Hernandez. I don't know much about my companion, or the area, except that it is still in Miami, yay :)!
Last Monday we had an amazing zone activity. We met at a huge park that was right along the beach, it was so pretty. Then we took of a bunch of socks and nylons and filled them with flour. We used them to throw at each other for capture the flag and "hunger games". It was so much fun, by the end we were all covered in flour!
Towards the beginning of the week we had a lot of lessons fall through. It is especially frustrating when we bring a member to the lesson, and the investigator is not home when they said they would be. We ended up dropping a lot of our investigators at the beginning of the week, but that left us a clean slate to work with!
We have been biking pretty much everyday this week because we don't have a lot of miles left with our car. On Friday the craziest thing happened, both Sister Whitney and I got hit by a car! On two separate occasions! No worries, we are totally fine, it was just so crazy! We were biking along next to a really tall hedge, and all of the sudden the hedge opened up into the entrance of a parking lot, a car came zooming out of the parking lot, and so I yanked on my brakes, but I wasn't fast enough. The car hit my front tire, and sent my handlebars flying, I nearly tipped off my bike, but I managed to stay up. The man got out to make sure I was all right, I assured him it was all good, and we kept biking. A few minutes later, the exact same thing happened to Sister Whitney, only she got clipped on the back tire. Thankfully there was no damage done to her or her bike. We know that the Lord was protecting us that day, the only repercussions was that my thumb was pretty bruised for a few days from being hit by the handlebars of my bike, so we are very thankful that Heavenly Father was watching out for us.
One amazing miracle that we saw this week was that we knocked into the most adorable old lady named Lupercia on Saturday. Hers was the first house we knocked on, and she let us right in. We taught her about the Restoration, and she agreed to come to church. Well, we waited and waited and waited, and we were so sad when she didn't show up! We went to go visit her on Sunday afternoon to see what had happened. Turns out, she had gone to church, but once she got to the parking lot she was too afraid to go inside! She has a prosthetic leg, and she told us that the church was much farther away than she'd thought. Her daughter drove her on Sunday, but she told us that if she couldn't walk to church every Sunday, she didn't want to commit to come. We assured her that the members would be happy to give her a ride, and she happily promised to come next week, and go inside. We promised to bring a member to our next lesson so that she could know someone from the church, she readily agreed saying that she would need to know the members because she was going to be one! We taught her about the Book of Mormon on Sunday as well. She loves it! She has lots of memory problems, but when we went to visit her on Monday she was so excited to tell us all about the chapter she'd been reading, and she really understood it well. She says the most humble, and heartfelt prayers. She had never been taught to pray before, so it is very special to listen to her pray. She is always sure to thank God for sending her the "dos angeles hermosas" (two beautiful angels), to teach her about the gospel. I love her so much!! I will be so sad to be leaving her, but we will make sure that the new missionaries will continue to visit her.
Another funny thing is that Lupercia lives right next to a HUGE Catholic seminary, and during our lessons there are always Catholic priests walking home from their classes. We always just smile and wave, but be sure to let them know that Lupercia is OUR investigator. So funny!
Last night we were able to teach a young mother named Aumara. It was an amazing experience to be able to teach her because she is extremely set in her ways, but she also has a lot of faith in God. She told us right from the beginning that she was simply there to learn about what we believe, but that she would not be likely to change her mind. Well, by the end of the message of the Restoration, she had agreed to come to church, and accepted our baptismal invitation! The Spirit was so strong during that lesson, and we know she felt it. She has studied almost every religion you could think of, and finally ended up choosing to be Catholic, because that is what she grew up with. She told us that she doesn't really believe what the Catholic church teaches, but that she felt the need to have religion in her life. We promised her that this is what she's been looking for, and she wholeheartedly agreed. We were a little confused because for a moment she seemed really upset, she told us that "while you were teaching you made me have doubt, and I don't like doubt." We then realized that she was doubting what she thought she knew to be true about God, and accepting the truth, that he is our loving Heavenly Father! She wants us to come back and teach her whole family, so cool! Once again, I am so sad to be leaving her, but I know the new missionaries will do great.
Another wonderful thing that we saw on Sunday was that our recent convert Mari is being fellow shipped so well by the ward. We have been really worried about her because she is going through a lot of challenges in her life right now, including a lengthy court case with her x husband. On Sunday, the bishop made sure to get her a temple recommend interview, and the family history coordinator sat down with her to help her find some names. Now she is ready to take her grandmother's name to the temple, and she is so excited! I love Mari, and I will miss her a lot, but it gives us peace of mind knowing that she is in good hands.
That is all for this week, I will be excited to let you know about my new area! I just want to end with my testimony that I know that God answers prayers. I can't even tell you how many times this week I was absolutely exhausted, and didn't think that I could keep going, but then Heavenly Father put a little something in our path to make it all worth it. He loves us so much, and I am so grateful to have that knowledge. I love you all, and I hope it is a great week!!
Love, Hermana Monson
Pictures:
Palacio de Los Jugos, the most amazingly delicious Latin food.
Our zone activity on Monday, such an amazing view of the ocean with the Miami skyline. Mari, our recent convert.
Sister Whitney and I drinking Coco Frio, a Latin drink where they just drink coconut water straight out of the coconut! It didn't actually taste that good, but hey, it was super cool.
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