I hope everyone has had a great week! This week has been one of the most amazing weeks of my whole mission!
Last week started off great. We got back from doing service in Miami, started off the week with a pretty normal P-Day, and then did our best to get back into normal missionary routine after all of the craziness that has been happening. On Tuesday night we were going to visit a former investigator, turns out they had moved, but the lady who answered the door agreed to listen to our message. Her name is Fitore, and she is such a sweetheart! She is a young mom, and she has a sweet little 1 year old girl named Athena that is always trying to crawl onto our laps. We taught her about the Restoration of the gospel, and she just kept saying "wow, that is so cool! I've never heard that! Wow!" It was a fun lesson with those kinds of comments inserted every few minutes. She is really excited to read the Book of Mormon, and hopefully she will be able to come to church this next Sunday.
We also had zone conference this past week, and it was awesome! President Garns showed us some of the work he did as a photographer, and it was amazing. Then he talked about how our personal conversion to the gospel will increase our desire to share it, so as we become more personally converted, we will have more motivation to work hard as a missionary. It was amazing. Sweet Sister Garns talked about how much Heavenly Father is aware of us in our work. They are so wonderful, and I am so grateful to be blessed to serve with them. I have so much respect for the way they have been handling everything lately, and they just never stop telling us they love us.
On Wednesday we did a full-day exchange, so I went to Port Saint Lucie with Sister Wingert. We had a great day, we visited lots of potentials, knocked on lots of doors, and found a new investigator at the very end of the night. I learned a lot from Sister Wingert about trust in the Lord. She came out on her mission at the same time as me, then she had to return home for medical reasons. She came back out, but is now experiencing medical problems again. She told me that she is doing well, and that she is just willing to go wherever the Lord needs her to be. She is awesome.
On Thursday we had a long drive to exchange back because Port Saint Lucie is an hour and a half away from our area. That took up a lot of our morning, which made the rest of the day a little crazy. We were able to see Freddy and Darlyne though. We haven't been able to meet with them for a while due to the hurricane, and then they were sick. They have been going through such a hard time. A lot of their things got ruined in the hurricane because one of the windows of their trailer blew open and a lot of wind got in. As soon as they got back home they all got sick, and then Freddy lost his job. We are trying to help them stay motivated, and I am so impressed with their faith. They understand so well that as we turn to God we will be supported in our trials, even though it might be tempting to turn away. They seemed a little down, so we talked about that, and they told us that they still really want to get baptized. They will need at least another month in order to get the divorce/marriage/smoking figured out, but we prayed about a new baptismal date with them and they chose November 11. They are just wonderful, and I love them. Darlyne texted us this weekend to say she got a a job at McDonalds, and they were so grateful for that blessing.
Friday morning we woke up, packed, ran to the store, and then a couple from our ward came to pick us up so we could head down to the Keys. They had 3 stakes going, and missionaries from all over the mission. We all headed down to the Keys to camp for the weekend and serve with the Helping Hands. The lady we drove with told us that they had 270 registered volunteers, but most of them arrived on Saturday. The drive was about 4 and a half hours, so we got there around 5:30 pm. Sister Peterson and I were the only sisters there, and there were a couple of other missionaries from our zone so we spent a few hours clearing the church parking lot of trees and branches to make spaces for more cars to park as they arrived. After that we headed to the campground to set up our tent, but we found out that the owner of a nearby museum was going to allow the missionaries to stay in the museum so we would have air conditioning. That was a huge blessing! The Elders slept on one side of the museum, and the Sisters slept on the other. Most of the other ward members and stake leaders slept in the chapel down the street. It was quite the interesting experience to sleep in a museum. We were blessed with an air mattress, but it was still a little creepy to sleep surrounded by taxidermy. We had fun though, and we were so grateful for the AC.
On Saturday morning we woke up around 4:45, got ready, and walked with the other missionaries from our zone to the chapel which was about 1/2 mile down the street. Somehow we got assigned to help with parking so we spent an hour and a half directing traffic. We were grateful when one of our ward members came to pick us up to head out with a work crew, we wanted to feel helpful! We headed out with our Bishop, a few members of our ward, and 3 of the Elders from our zone. We had an awesome work crew, and we did not stop! The first house we went to was right on the beach, and there was a fantastic view. There was trees and branches all over his yard, it took us about an hour and half to clear everything out and haul it to a huge pile on the main road. We spent the rest of the morning doing work orders like that one, mostly just tons of tree removal. We would use a chainsaw to cut the trees, and then carry the pieces out.
After a quick lunch break we went to a house that had been affected really badly. The poor homeowner was feeling so overwhelmed because the water had come into her home, and the watermark was at about 2 feet. There was already mold growing on the walls, and all of her appliances were ruined. We helped her carry her things out, remove her appliances, then we all put on masks and took out the drywall and the insulation to prevent further mold growth. We felt pretty official walking around with masks and scorers, but mostly it was just amazing to be able to help this poor woman in her time of need. By the time we finished her house was pretty bare, but a lot more manageable. At least she had something to work with. She was so so grateful for us, and was very emotional as we left her with a prayer. We were about to leave to go to the next work order, but a few of her neighbors stopped us and begged for help. They had some large trucks and cranes working their way slowly around the neighborhood to pick things up, and they needed help to get everything out before they arrived. We hauled more branches, furniture, and other things out of people's yards for a few hours. We finally burned out around 6. Just as we were leaving, there was a woman that came running up to us and begged us to come eat in a nearby parking lot where they were serving free dinner for all the volunteers. Who doesn't love free food? We headed over there, and had a delicious meal with some volunteers from other groups. It was so cool to see how people from all over, and all walks of life traveled down to the keys to help with cleanup.
We returned to the campground that night, and they had set up a little portable shower. There was not much privacy, but we were grateful to be able to wash off. The mold did not smell good, and I am pretty sure I have never been so sweaty in my whole life! It was such a great day. To make things better they brought a tv over from the chapel and set up Women's Conference for the Sisters so we were able to watch it in the museum. What a great meeting!
Sunday morning we woke up early again, walked to the chapel for breakfast, then walked back to the campground for Sacrament meeting. They had us stand outside the museum in rows (kind of like pews) for the meeting. We have not been to actual church for 3 weeks now, but we have been blessed with the chance to take the sacrament every week. I have come to really treasure the few moments of respite it offers, no matter where we are. After the meeting we cleared our stuff out of the museum, cleaned it inside and out, then headed to the chapel to get assigned to our work crews. We ended up in a work crew with our Bishop again (he is awesome by the way), a few more ward members, and the same 3 Elders from our zone. The first house we went to was the worst one I have seen by far. The street looked like it was from a 3rd world country because the houses were so badly thrashed. This house was covered in smelly muck and seaweed, pretty much everything inside was ruined. We helped haul out furniture, and then the Elders helped her remove her fridge and her storage freezer. Even though we zip tied them closed the smell of rotten food was overpowering, and when you combined that with the seaweed and the muck it was absolutely disgusting. I felt so bad for the poor homeowner, but she was pretty positive about it. After that we helped a few more people on her street, and at one point a little Latin family came over to talk to us. They called me over to translate, it turns out they were in desperate need of food, water, and diapers. We gave them everything we had, and promised to return with more. We drove back to the church for more food, water, and hygiene kits, but realized we were out of diapers. I remembered (and I'm pretty sure it was the spirit) passing a chapel called Church of The Keys that had some free supplies, diapers included. We made a quick stop by that chapel on our way back, and they had plenty of diapers for this family. It was funny because inside this church they all kept saying "Oh! You're the Mormons! We love the Mormons!" It was so cool to see the missionary opportunities that will surely come from all this service. Anyway, we rushed back to this family with boxes of food, water, and diapers. They were so grateful, and promised to share with their family and friends.
We spent the rest of the day with tree removal, and ended the day at a house that was built on stilts so the inside was fine, but the outside was a disaster. There was seaweed, debri, trash, and furniture from all over the place. A single woman lives there alone, so she was very grateful for our help. We got it mostly cleared up, and wished we could have stayed longer, but we still had a 4 hour drive home. We met our ride back at the chapel, drove home, took a MUCH needed shower, and tumbled into bed.
This weekend has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It definitely helps you to sort out your priorities, and realize how blessed we are the things we have. I am so grateful that I was able to serve my brothers and sisters, and just to see the smiles on their faces made everything so worth it! Service is truly the quickest solution to happiness! I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Sister Monson
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