Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Coral Reef March 6, 2017 Welcome Hermana Carling!
Hello everyone!
I hope that you are all doing well :)!! This has been an amazing week, and we have seen so many miracles!! It has been great being a trainer so far! My trainee is Sister Carling, she is from Logan, Utah. She went to Utah State before the mission to study Spanish and social work, and she is amazing! So ready to work hard, and she is so good at testifying to people. I love her to pieces and I am so excited for this upcoming transfer!
Like I said: so many miracles!! We started off on Wednesday with finding a new investigator. A sweet little old Nicaraguan lady named Lila. She said that she has some Mormon friends, and so she was open to listening to our message. Sister Carling did great in her first lesson. It was funny because we went back to see her the next day, and she was having troubles with her car. Well, neither one of us knows much about how cars work, but we spent about 20 minutes in her driveway trying to help her figure out how to turn her lights off inside (the button wasn't working). Well, eventually we figured it out, but then next we know she says "gracias", gets in her car, and drives away! We were like "well, I guess we won't be having our lesson with her right now." We won't be able to keep teaching her, but she was so cute, and we definitely planted a seed!!
On Thursday we had some awesome miracles!! After knocking in a super rough area with lots of bible bashers (poor Sister Carling, first time knocking and we run into some HARD CORE bible bashers, the kind where all you can say is "we are going to leave now, have a nice day"). However, later that night we knocked into Rose and Shakira, two of our AMAZING new investigators!! They are progressing so well! They weren't able to come to church yesterday because their grandma wouldn't let them use her car to get to the "Mormon church". Well, we went over last night, cleared up some concerns, and now they are set for baptism on March 25th! The Spirit is so strong with every lesson we teach them!!
Other miracle we saw last night was when we were knocking we ran in to two old ladies that let us share a prayer, but afterwards they wouldn't rest until we'd left the neighborhood (because it was too dangerous). We relented and drove a few streets over, turns out that is where we needed to be anyways because we found another new investigator Laquita!! She is a young mother with 6 little kids, she is looking for more spiritual guidance, and she also has a baptismal date for March 25th!!
Other crazy stories: the police showed up to interrogate one of the formers we were teaching (we managed to slip out unnoticed before things got too crazy), and Sister Carling accidentally dropped our phone in the toilet!
I wish I had more time, but things are a little crazy!! Just know that this week has been absolutely amazing!! We found 7 new investigators!! I am doing so well, I know that this gospel is true, and I'm so grateful to be sharing it with the people here in Florida.
Love, Hermana Monson
Turns out, we actually have a little bit more time, so I can explain things better!
So, on Thursday we ended up finding Rose. Rose is a young black mother, and she has a 5 year old daughter. She is really looking for spiritual guidance right now, and she accepted baptism right away at the end of our lesson on Thursday night. When we went back the next day, she had invited her friend (Shakira) to join us, because Shakira had been curious after Rose told her about our visit. By the end of the lesson they had both promised to read from The Book of Mormon, and Shakira had committed to baptism as well. We were so excited!! The spirit was so strong during that lesson, Sister Carling and I had a miniature freak out on the street outside their house. We were supposed to give them a tour of the chapel on Saturday, but Rose's daughter was sick so we couldn't. However, they both promised to come to church. We went to go knock on their door on Sunday morning so they could follow us to church, but their grandmother answered the door. She did not seem thrilled to see us there, and she told us that they were asleep so they wouldn't be coming to church, and also that they would probably be sticking with their religion. We were so disappointed! Well, we decided to go back and see them on Sunday night. Luckily, Rose answeredd the door instead of her grandma. She let us right in and explained that they had wanted to come to church, but their grandma wouldn't allow them to use her car to get to the "Mormon church." They both had some concerns about polygamy, about the Book of Mormon, and they got us confused with the Jehovah's Witnesses (their grandmother had heard some things), but we got it all cleared up, taught a very powerful lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and committed them both to baptism on March 25th!! So exciting!
On Friday we were out knocking and we ran into a lady named Johanna, she let us right in and we taught her the message of the Restoration. At the end of the lesson she committed to baptism, and to come to church. Right as we were about to leave another lady walked in the door, and Johanna introduced us to her wife. We got out of the lesson, looked at each other, and just started laughing. What do we do? So funny. Well, we called the Bishop and Relief Society president to let them know that Johanna (and possibly her wife) would be coming to church. Then anxiously waited for Sunday to roll around. Johanna had to cancel her lesson with us on Saturday, and she did not end up coming to church. We haven't had much contact with her for a few days, but we are hoping to be able to stop by her house later today.
We had dinner with the most amazing member family on Saturday. They invited us, the sisters from YSA, and the Elders over for dinner. We had the typical Cuban arroz con gris, maduros, pork, and tres leches cake. It was amazing! After dinner the YSA sisters shared the spiritual thought. One of them is Brazilian, and so they shared the first vision in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The Brazilian sister is a convert to the church, and she got very emotional as she was sharing it. The spirit was absolutely amazing! This family is so on fire with missionary work! We normally walk out of a member's house with 1 or maybe 2 referrals if we are lucky. They gave us 11 of their neighbors to go visit!! They are so awesome!! Victor and Rosabla were baptized about 4 years ago, then they met each other in the temple, and now they both LOVE the gospel and are always trying to share it with everyone they meet. It was funny because Victor speaks a tiny bit of Italian, just enough to invite this Italian couple he met on the street to church. It threw us all for a loop when they actually showed up to church, and no one actually knows how to speak Italian!! Thankfully they could understand a little bit of Spanish, so we were able to introduce them to the Bishop. They don't live anywhere near the chapel, but we are going to find out if missionaries from their home ward could pay them a visit. Also, Sister Carling accidentally dropped the phone in the toilet at this meal appointment, it stopped working. Thankfully, we already had a new phone in our house, we just hadn't transferred the contacts. Well, now all of our contacts are lost, so we will have to put them in manually. I guess that is our punishment for procrastinating transferring the contacts. Oh well, we had a very good laugh about that!!
Another crazy thing that happened was when we went to go visit a former investigator named Barbara. We show up, she opens the door, we introduce ourselves, and next thing we know another lady comes storming around the side of the house and starts yelling at Barbara in rapid Spanish. Barbara starts yelling right back. They were speaking way to fast for us to understand everything, but we knew they were calling each other names, and they kept gesturing to us as if we knew what the heck was going on. We stood there for about 10 minutes, trying to interrupt and excuse ourselves, but they ignored us. Finally the lady went back around the side of the house, and Barbara apologized and let us in. She explained that the lady was a tenant, that she wasn't paying rent, and that she was demanding that Barbara fix her outlets in the room she was renting, but Barbara didn't have the money because she got robbed. She literally has 5 dollars and that is it. She is pregnant, and going through a very rough time. Well, we are sharing a scripture with her, and trying to help when there is a huge knock at the door. Barbara answers the door, and the police are standing there, they start asking her about the situation. We just look at each other. What do we do? Will they need us to testify? We decide to kind of just slip out the door, thankfully the police didn't mind. It was so crazy!
Anyways, it has been a crazy busy, but absolutely amazing week! We are so exhausted, but so happy!! I hope that you all have a great week!!
Meet Sadie's new companion Hermana Carling! Also, at transfers, Sadie got to see her trainer Hermana Root, so they took a "three generation picture."
Hermana Monson
More pictures from February 28, 2017
Coral Reef South February 28, 2017
Hi everyone!
I hope this email finds you well, I am doing great! It has been a good week of missionary work! We have not found any new investigators, and not really any potentials either so we have spent a lot of time knocking doors, contacting former investigators, and visiting less-active members.
Yesterday we saw a cool miracle. We had planned to spend our whole day in a city called "Lakes By the Bay." We had some people to visit over there, but for whatever reason when we had planned our day we had decided to go see Sister Ferro at 3:00. When we looked at what we had next on our agenda, we were confused as to why we had put her right there because she lives about two cities away from Lakes by the Bay, and so to visit her we would have to drive all the way back to this other city, and then return to Lakes by the Bay for the evening. We weren't sure what to do, sooooo....we prayed! That's what we always do. We felt like we should still go see her, even though it would take some extra driving.
We have visited Sister Ferro in the past, she is from Honduras (so she loves Sister Hernandez). She has some health challenges that make it difficult for her to get out much, and when we have visited her in the past she did not seem interested in coming back to church. Well, by the end of our visit yesterday, we knew that it was Heavenly Father that had put her on our agenda. She needed a visit. Her husband is a member of another faith, and since she can't drive herself, she has been going to church with him. She told us that she has been attacked for her beliefs a lot at the other church, but she still hasn't lost her testimony. She told us that she has been reading from the Book of Mormon everyday, and truly desires to come back to church! We were so glad that we had gone to see her. We shared some scriptures with her, and she loved the visit.
On Saturday we were both feeling a little off, and pretty discouraged. We were trying to figure out why, and then we realized that it was because we hadn't taken the sacrament for 2 weeks in a row. Sister Hernandez had been sick, and then we had Stake Conference. Sunday was so wonderful to be able to take the sacrament! It made me appreciate what a huge difference it makes. My week has already gone so much better. I know that having the Spirit makes the biggest difference, it is what allows us to feel peace and happiness even during difficult times.
So, this week is transfers!! I found out last night that I will be staying in Coral Reef and I will be training a new missionary!! I am so excited! I will have more details next week.
Love, Hermana Monson
February 21, 2017 Coral Reef Week 5
1. I burned my hand making arepas. It was so worth it. I have 3 blisters now. haha.
2. Sister Hernandez with blonde hair
3. Me with black hair
4. Us driving to church
5. and 6. Sister Jess and I doing a face mask. I feel like half of my pictures are me doing a face mask ;)
1. We went to a little churro stand, (Juan the Churro man)
2. Regular, Chocolate, and Dulce de Leche fresh churros. Oh me word.
3. Us with the other sisters at the smoothie place
4. and 5. The super cool little beach, so pretty
6. Sister Hernandez caught a Renaquajo, (a tadpole)
Hola Everyone!!
I hope that you are all doing well, it has been another great week in Florida :). I can't believe that this transfer is almost over, I guess time flies when you are a missionary, because being a missionary is so fun!
We had a couple of cool experiences this week that I would like to share. First of all, we found an old teaching record in the back of our area book. We weren't sure who the person was, but it said that Augustina had been baptized a few years ago. We'd never seen her at church, so we decided to go stop by her house to see if she still lived there. We were so glad that we did. Augustina is 83 years old, she is from Cuba, she lives alone, and is really struggling with some health challenges that make it hard to come to church. She has not been visited in a very long time, and so we were so glad that we found her record. She was lonely, and needed someone to talk to. It was awesome to see how Heavenly Father knew that she needed a visit, and so he helped us to find her.
Another experience we had this week was on Sunday. It was Stake Conference, and before the meeting started we had gone to knock on our investigator, Carla's door. She didn't answer, and she didn't answer our phone calls either. We were sad that she wouldn't be able to make it. However, Charo came to church again. Charo is still trying to stop smoking, but she backtracked this week. We were both feeling very unsure of what to do, if we should keep working with her, or if she needs more time. The whole meeting I was praying that Heavenly Father would guide us and help us know what we needed to do. After the meeting was over, an awesome couple from our ward came over and started talking to Charo. They were baptized 3 years ago, so they know what it is like to be investigating the church. They kept asking Charo, "when are you going to get baptized?" Charo was still not accepting a baptismal date, she feels like she has not gained a testimony yet. I was just praying and thinking "Heavenly Father, please help us know what to say to help Charo. Help us to know if we should keep working with her. We love her, and we don't want to drop her, but if it isn't her time please help us to know that." Eventually that member couple left, and it was just us and Charo. We were talking to her a little bit more about baptism and everything, and then I had the strongest impression come into my mind. The words "if it was her time, she would have already received her answer." Those words were so clear, and I immediately felt the Spirit confirming them. We told Charo that we could not keep working with her, but that of course she is still invited to church and everything. She promised to keep praying, reading from the Book of Mormon, and coming to church. After such a stressful morning of not knowing how to help her, we walked out of the chapel feeling a lot of peace. Charo will get baptized someday, but it isn't her time right now.
None of our other investigators came to church, so it is time to start over again! This week we will be looking for new people to teach.
Something that I read in the Book of Mormon this morning that I want to share is in Alma 25, the very last verse. "And now behold, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and Himni, and their brethren did rejoice exceedingly, for the success which they had had among the Lamanites, seeing that the Lord had granted unto them according to their prayers, and that he had also verified his word unto them in every particular." I love how it says that these faithful missionaries could see that the Lord had fulfilled ALL of the promises He had made to them. I have also studied a little bit about hope this week. In PMG it says that "hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you." It all fits together so nicely! We can move forward, and have peace in knowing that the Lord will always fulfill His promises to us, but in His own timing. Even then, we can still have the assurance that "all things will work together for our good."
I love you all!! Have a wonderful week!
Hermana Monson
Pictures from Coral Reef: Week 4 February 13, 2017
1. Us eating frozen pizza (slightly burnt, but hey.....pizza is pizza)
2. Sister Hernandez has helped me to stop biting my nails, and we gave ourselves French Manicures (I feel so fancy!)
3. Us at the doctor's office (We waited for 45 minutes for the doctor to come in, say "follow my finger" *move his finger back and forth*, "yep, you have pink eye." I was like "are they paying you? I could have done that!!", but we needed the medicine, so it's all good.)
4. Last P-Day we discovered a hole-in-the wall Honduranian restaurant near our house with delicious baleadas!
Coral Reef: Week 4 February 13, 2017
Hola everyone!
I will start off by saying last Monday I was pretty excited to get out of the house after a day inside (Sister Hernandez was sick), but I think that the Lord knew I needed to learn patience because we had to stay in for 3 days this week!!
First off, Tuesday was a normal day of missionary work. We knocked doors, did some service at the Habitat for Humanity, and contacted a bunch of former investigators. That night we had dinner with a lady in our ward named Sister Robinson. She is the cutest little black lady, with an awesome Southern accent, and she is a midget. We loved talking to her because she has such an amazing conversion story. She was baptized about 5 years ago. Her mom had just passed away, and she had been thinking a lot about the afterlife when two sister missionaries knocked on her door. At first, she didn't want to hear anything they had to say, but then one of them mentioned living with her family forever, and she let them in. She was baptized 3 weeks later! Now, she is still in contact with those sister missionaries, and she LOVES them. She works in the temple every Thursday, which is amazing because she has a lot of health challenges, and she teaches early morning seminary. She is such a sweet person, and it was awesome to get to talk to her. She told us a fun fact: most of the Angel Moronis (on top of the temples) weigh about 350 pounds, the one in Florida weighs 650 so that it won't blow off in the hurricanes!
On Wednesday we had an awesome Zone Training! We talked about how "we do it for Christ." Every time we go out to knock doors, or talk to someone, or do anything we do it for Christ. It was awesome.
On Thursday we had a lesson with Charo. She is still doing well, but she is feeling pretty depressed right now. She is in a very difficult situation with her daughter, and she is struggling with her health. I wish we could help her to see that the gospel is what will bring true happiness into her life!! This week we are focusing on helping her quit smoking. We are calling her every morning to check up, and keep her accountable, and we will try to visit her a few times this week. We are still praying that her heart will be softened, and that she will recognize her answer about the Book of Mormon. After our lesson with Charo we were out knocking some doors, and Sister Hernandez's eye starting doing some weird things. There was a TON of mucus coming out, and it was really red. We weren't really sure what was wrong with it, so we called the doctor. He told us that he would get back to us. Well, we had a lesson to teach with our investigator Jamie, so we decided to go for it. Even though we had to keep it really short, it was a great lesson. Jamie is really receptive to the things that we are teaching. She is usually just nodding her head and saying "yeah, that makes sense." We committed her to read from the Book of Mormon, and she promised to do it. The Spirit was so strong during the lesson, so we are excited. The only thing is that we have not been able to get a hold of her for a couple of days, and we know that she wasn't at church, so we are praying that everything is still good! After the lesson we got a call from the mission doctor, he told us to go to the urgent care, because she probably had an eye infection. By that time it was already past curfew so we had to call President Richardson to tell him we would be home late. We waited at the urgent care for 45 minutes, but finally the doctor diagnosed her with pink eye. When he told us that we should not have contact with people for 3-5 days our faces fell. 3-5 days?!
So, after going to fill her prescription Friday morning we barricaded ourselves in our house. Pink eye is super contagious, and even though we wanted to go proselyte, we knew it was better to stay in than getting everyone sick. So......for 3 days we cleaned the house, read the scriptures, painted our nails, talked, watched "The Testaments" 75 times, colored, and napped. We had fun together, but it was definitely a long 3 days, so we are super excited to get back to missionary work today!! Miracle of the week is that I did not get pink eye as well! We were praying so hard that I wouldn't get it, because that would mean another 3-5 days in the house. So far so good, so we will be back at it tonight! Having to stay inside for a few days helped me to realize how much I love missionary work!! It is truly such a blessing to be able to talk, teach, and testify to people all day everyday about our Savior Jesus Christ. One of my favorite parts of the testaments is when Christ finally comes to visit the Americas, and he goes to heal a blind man, and all he says is the man's name "Helam." It makes me think of the day when we will see Christ, and he will call us by name. I think that the only thing I would be able to say is "thank you." I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ, I know He lives, and we are so blessed to have His church on the earth so that we can receive all of the blessings He has to offer us.
I love you all, I hope it is a great week!
Love, Hermana Monson
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