What are you going to be on Halloween night?

....A witch or a goblin or a ghost? What are you going to be, well [PLEASE] tell me. . . Yes, I want to know what all of you did to celebrate this entertaining and enjoyable Pagan holiday!

Holidays in Florida are very strange. The weather is all wrong for Halloween. It should have snowed by now and everyone should be wearing coats over/under their costumes. But not here. No one needs coats. Even when it is raining. You just get soaked because it is too hot to wear a coat. Holidays are also strange because our Preparation Day is on Monday, and lots of Holidays are on Mondays. Therefore, we will sometimes have Preparation Day on Tuesdays so we can be out and about when people are home and available. Just so you know.

For Halloween, we still have P-day (hence I'm writing this today) but we end a bit early. We can only be out working from 5 to 7 and then we have to be inside. I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm kind of excited to go harvesting for at least a little bit. "Can we bless your home? NO? Then can we have some candy?" Ha ha not really. Well, maybe. . .

Florida. I am really here. During this past week, my companion had the opportunity to turn to me and say "Welcome to Florida!" That was because we came out of an appointment and it was POURING rain. We had to run around the building and back to our car. There was about an inch of water on the ground, everywhere, with some puddles even deeper. The water has nowhere to go so it just pools. Plus it comes down so much all at once that there is no way for it to disappear quickly. We are very grateful for our car and windshield wipers.

Last Tuesday, the ward had a "Trunk or Treat." We met several new people who came with friends and are interested in the church, but unfortunately, none of them are in our area. We had one of our investigators come with her 4 grandkids. She even brought her neighbor and son, which was pretty awesome. Laverne is already being a good member missionary and she isn't even a member yet! She would totally be baptized already if she was married. Hopefully that happens this month so we can contribute to the goal of 100 baptisms. President Anderson told us today that there were 76 baptisms in our mission in October, but we're hoping for all 100 in November. It is definitely possible!

Speaking of President Anderson's email, he said they realigned our mission boundaries so we now have The Stuart Stake from the Orlando Mission. That means another Zone, another stake, and 24 new missionaries (5 sisters 19 elders), bringing the total to about 160 missionaries! Crazy! That's pretty much all we know about it so far How strange to be one of those missionaries and to suddenly be in a different mission! They could now be transferred all the way down to Miami. We'll see what happens at the next transfer.

While harvesting this week, we had some very interesting experiences. We met a lady who happened to be home early from her job and was very welcoming. We blessed her and she said we could come back on Sunday when her whole family was there. And they were. When we went there yesterday, we taught her, her 4 sons, and her daughter. They all shared their faith with us, but only Shirley, Scott, and Marcus were there the whole time and paying attention. They are Adventist, Catholic, and Baptist, respectively, but they all wanted their own copy of the Book of Mormon by the time we finished the Restoration Lesson. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately, we can't see them again until next Sunday, but they committed to read and pray about it. They've had hard lives (Shirley's daughter witnessed her own father get gunned down about 16 years ago and they haven't really gotten over it yet) and I know the Restored Gospel will help them.

We have been kind of stumped this week as to what to do around 8. We have trouble setting up appointments for that time (when did 8 pm become late at night?!?) and if they fall through, we have nothing to do. We can't go harvesting that late because no one wants us around at that time, and it is not the safest idea. But hopefully we'll figure out something to do because it is only going to get darker earlier and earlier and then we'll really be in a bind. We are very careful about where we go, and are perfectly safe. (Just so you don't worry!)

Our biggest concern this week has been Ardena and Jerry. They have so much faith and even knowledge of Christ. We taught the first half of the plan of Salvation and they both agreed with it and seemed to already believe in it. Ardena is a writer and she showed us some poems she wrote that discussed our purpose in life and how she is struggling to align her will with God's will. They didn't use those exact words, but same idea. When we got to the part about our life on Earth and the Atonement, we talked more about her smoking and drinking problem. We let her know of a "quit smoking program" we have and she is pretty interested. Then randomly during the lesson, Jerry (Ardena's boyfriend) said he was going to quit smoking, too. He was determined. So they are going to do this program together. It takes 7 days and has only 15 steps to do to make them smoke-free. Also, it includes daily prayer, and no alcohol, tea, or coffee, so it is like a total purge of all things against the word of wisdom. Hopefully it all goes well. We're starting it tonight! We have to see them every day while they are working on it, but lucky for us, she doesn't have a job so we can go see her all the time! I just hope they have more dedication to this program than to going to church yesterday (they didn't come because they were asleep!).

This week we were harvesting and came to a home that had many people inside. The man who answered the door was a little wary of us, but let us in. When we introduced ourselves to the rest of the family, one woman asked, "Are you Latter-day Saints?" When we said yes, a little shocked, she responded that she was, too! She introduced herself as Jesula and we realized that she was a less-active sister in the ward we have been trying to get in contact with! We were so excited and immediately recognized that God had sent us to that street to find her. We look forward to visiting her and teaching her family (who all really enjoyed the blessing we left with them).

By the way, I received on Saturday the first letter since coming here. Thanks to my cousin Cheryl! Usted es La Mejor! Anyone else who cares to join her in the ranks of awesome needs not but to write to me. The title will be granted immediately.

Last Saturday, we found this street and the first house we knocked on was a Haitian lady that spoke only a little English. She said that sister missionaries had stopped by her house before and had invited her to church. We're pretty sure that was from at least 6 months ago because we didn't recognize the hand-writting. We blessed her home and said that we would send the Creole Elders to her. Her grandson (age 7) showed us his sweet dance moves. As we kept walking down the street we ended up giving 5 blessings. It was pretty cool especially since they told us the Jehovah's Witnesses had been there earlier in the day. We clarified that we were not the same but didn't really get any return appointments either. Except the Creole families, which we passed on to the Elders. Oh well, you win some you lose some. They'll just be ready later.

I miss home and all of you. I would love to hear from you all. I have learned so much here and can't wait to share it with you all.

You all should go read Mosiah 23 and 24. Alma is such a great leader. People are so blessed when they turn to the Lord and hush their fears and trust in the Lord. He will answer your prayers and bless you in ways you don't even realize or expect.

Everyone, I bid you fond farewell for the week. Have a wonderful Halloween. Take pictures.

Love, Sister Anna Sheffield

First "Hola" from Florida!

Hello people of the world who love me enough to read this,
I am finally in Florida. It was an interesting journey. Let's delve right in.

On Tuesday morning, (Oct 18) I woke up at 2 am and went to the travel office with all my possessions. We got on a bus and left (without 3 of the Elders) at 3:30. We drove to the airport and checked in. I called Mom and Dad and Thomas at 5 in the morning just for kicks and giggles.
Then we boarded the plane and flew to Dallas. I sat next to my companion who was pretty much asleep the whole time and across from a family who were obviously members of the Church. I think I might have slept a little.

In Dallas, we hurried over to get our boarding passes and then they announced a delay for maintenance, so we got some food at McDonalds. Eventually we made it onto the plane (only about 40 minute delay). We sat in the back of the plane and I was in a row that was entirely missionaries. There were nine of us travelling together (the 3 missing Elders made it to the airport just in time) so I didn't really have a chance to talk to anyone. Most of us slept on
that flight too, but I'm pretty sure that's not possible for me. I tried to read scriptures instead of watching NBC comedies without sound.

As soon as we got off the plane, I could tell it was humid. President and Sister Anderson, and the APs were there waiting for us and taking pictures. They were super nice to use the whole day. No one lost any luggage and we made it safely to the Mission home, but it was raining a bit so our suitcases were a bit wet. We had a moment to freshen up before dinner (which was "supper"-delicious if you catch my drift) and got to know our mission president. We were introduced to "Harvesting the Field" which is how we contact people. When we knock on doors, we introduce ourselves as "representatives of Jesus Christ and we have come to leave the Savior's peace and blessing on your home. May we come in and leave that blessing?" It took me off-guard at first, but it is actually really awesome. I'll explain why in a minute.

That first night, we learned all about car and bike safety, our credit cards, and insurance. Then we did a Book of Mormon "activity" where we wrote our testimonies in a book and then were dropped off on a street. They said we couldn't get back into the car until we had given them away. The first house we went to, we gave away the book and got a return appointment. I thought it was a set-up, but it was real! This girl really wanted to know about our church. It was crazy. The second house didn't answer, but the third house was this nice, shirtless old man who has a lot of family members who are Mormon but is catholic. He already had a Book of Mormon but I gave him mine anyway because it had my testimony in it. He didn't really want to hear why our church was different, but he was nice and tried to give us hugs before we left. Fun.

The next morning, we had transfer meeting. I found out I was going to be companions with Sister Hawkes in Boynton Beach South. This is her 5th transfer and her first time being the senior companion/training. She is really nice and knows the ward really well. She is from Idaho and was born the same month as me! They just split this area into Boynton Beach South and Boynton Beach Central so now there are four sisters here. There are actually 8 missionaries in the Boynton Beach Ward! Crazy. Since it is an English ward, I am considered to be serving in an English area. One set of Elders is speaking Creole, but the rest are English as well. Strange, right? It is for the best, I'm sure.

The area we serve in is about an hour north of the mission home. We live in Boynton Beach but we serve in Delray Beach. We are the southern- most area in the Northernmost zone in the mission. The other district up here has a Spanish branch where my MTC companion is serving. Anyway, our area is heavily populated with African Americans and Haitians. There are lots of people we meet that we cannot understand, but we have been able to see a few Spanish families and leave blessings with them. Or rather, by companion leaves the blessing. (She was called Spanish-speaking as well).

When we got here on Wednesday, we went to the store and then we met Hna. Rincon. She is a less-active sister that has been meeting with the Sister missionaries for a while. She actually speaks great English, but we can practice our Spanish with her as well. That night we went to our first real appointment. The stake was having a missionary night so a bishopric member and his wife and a member of the stake presidency came with us. We went to visit Laverne and Anthony. They have been investigators since February and have a baptismal date set for November. They still have to get married and work through a few other things, but they are really nice. They have about 12 grandkids that are in and out. I'm pretty sure 4 live there (under 7 years old), and are quite the handful, but they love to read the Book of Mormon and can't wait until they are old enough to get baptized.

Thursday was Weekly planning and it took pretty much all day because we were separating the areas.

We met with a lady that the other sisters had blessed last week. Her name is Loma and she is taking care of her Mother with Alzheimer's. She also got really close to having a stroke and was in the hospital for 5 days. So by the time we came back to see her, she was full of faith and the love of God. She also was confused about what church was right. Perfect! That's why we're here! We taught her the restoration lesson and I invited her to be baptized! She said yes! But she really wanted to pray about it and she didn't know what here schedule was like so she didn't commit to a date, but we could see the change that came over her as we shared the Book of Mormon with her and committed her to read and pray about it. I have no doubt that she will do a lot of reading and praying. We don't get to see her until Thursday, unfortunately, but we are definitely going to commit her to a date.

The Mission has a goal to get 100 baptisms in October. When I first heard that I thought they were crazy, but after being here a few days, It is totally possible. People are just so ready to hear the gospel! We just have to find them! (And find them during the day because it is just a little sketchy to go out after dark. Don't worry mom, I'm perfectly safe.)

At one point, we weren't entirely sure which direction to go, but we saw a woman walking down the street. We jogged over to her and introduced ourselves as representatives of Christ and she welcomed us to follow her home. Her name is "Sista C." We actually ended up at her Grand-niece's home and were able to leave them with a blessing and set up a return appointment for the next day. When we went to visit her on Sunday, she was ready and waiting for us. As we got to know Ardena (the niece), we found out that she has met with missionaries before, about 14 or so years ago. She still had the Book of Mormon in her home and had been to church a few times before she moved and lost contact with the Elders. She has a lot of faith, but has been struggling to follow Christ and really understand her purpose in life. She was very eager to learn more of our message and committed to be baptized on Nov. 20. Her children and boyfriend were there as well and, while not as eager, they also said they would consider baptism. They want to come closer to Christ as a family.

It was so awesome!

It is very interesting to see the differences in our MTC experiences. Their new programs are coming together, for the best, but just not all at the same time. We're pretty much together, but most of the things we are learning in our extra hour of study each day is stuff we learned at the MTC. But I could always learn and practice more. (By the way, did I tell you about that? For the first 12 weeks in the field, we now have 2 hours of companionship study everyday so that by the end, we will be ready to train other new missionaries if we need to. Pretty cool stuff.)

Oh, and just in case y'all were wondering, I am totally perfecting my southern-black-lady talk. All the people we meet are so wonderful and hilarious because they have that unique way of speaking. So, even if I don't get to perfect my Spanish, I'll still sound different when I come home!

I really do like Florida, so far. It is more humid than Salt Lake but it really hasn't been too bad. The weather is actually great. Yay for fall in Florida!

I love you all! And I'd love to hear from you!

Hermana Sheffield

This is Anna's new address for the next 16 months:

Hermana Anna Sheffield

Florida Ft. Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33324-3211

All letters (and packages!) will be forwarded to wherever she is located at any time.

Last post from the MTC

Real creative title, I know.

Holy wow! I can't believe I'm leaving this place! I have lived an entire life here, so it's going to be very strange to leave.

Because I have so much to say, I'm going to give you a brief update of everyday so I don't forget anything.

Thursday, October 6: After writing last week, in anticipation of receiving our travel plans, our district participated in the MTC tradition of the Tower Challenge. We successfully ate an entire tower of cereal (frosted flakes). It was about 66 bowls of cereal. Three of the Hermanas, including myself, ate three bowls each (Hna. Andrus chose not to participate), and the Elders ate the rest. One elder ate 13 bowls by himself. AND he reused his milk! So gross. None of us felt super great afterwards.

But later we felt better, and happy because we got our TRAVEL PLANS!!! The 4 going to Argentina are leaving at 11:30 Monday morning, but the rest of us are leaving Tuesday morning. And by morning I mean madrugada. We have to be at the travel office at 3 A.M.!!! So early! Our flight leaves Salt Lake at 6:40am and we get to Dallas around 10. Then our flight to Florida leaves at 10:50. Entonces, we will have very little time to talk then.

Friday: Our last day in the TRC and the only time we taught an old man. He was over 70 and served with Elder Scott in South America. He went off about something, I'm not really sure what it was, but it took up most of the time, so we didn't teach much.

Saturday: We learned the importance of asking questions and using scriptures and a bunch of other great stuff that I can't remember right now.

Sunday: We had an awesome Relief Society with Jean Stevens from the Primary General Presidency. She was awesome. She reminded us how Christ shows his love for us and how we can and must show our love for others. After R.S., we had to stay for the new sisters meeting AGAIN because they had a guest speaker. This "special guest" told us all about image and how what we look likes communicates to others. She spent 40 minutes saying it wasn't about beauty and then showed us how to be more beautiful. Then they gave every sister a baggy of make-up. Hmm.... But the best part: They also gave us the new 2012 Primary manual! Woot for that.

Sacrament meeting on Sunday was also great. It was good to have a normal day after having so many different Sundays. I conducted the music. We took pictures on the Temple Walk after. Choir was fantastic as usual. We sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace?" Go look at that song and realize how amazing the Atonement is, and how much The Savior loves you.
The Fireside on Sunday was another repeat speaker: Richard Heaton. This time he spoke about a topic the Missionary Committee said is important for retaining converts: Tithing. It was actually are really good talk. So, pay your tithing.

Monday: Our progressing investigator got "baptized."

Tuesday: Great workshop about committing people and following up. And, because we are the most blessed district, The devotional speaker this week was Sister Julie B. Beck!! We were so excited when we found out we were jumping for joy. As appropriately as missionaries can. She is such an amazing woman. She told us about being a little girl in Brazil when her dad was a mission president. She also discussed the importance of the temple and how everything we teach is for families. Love your family, they are the best.
In our discussion after the devotional, I learned a lot more. Por ejemplo: "Those who are the hardest to love are the ones who need it the most" -Elder Stevens
"If you have an enemy, pray for them and soon you will be friends" -Sister Carter
Also, I have a strong testimony that companionships are divinely created. And I love my district.

Wednesday: We served for the last time by being hosts to the new missionaries. We were told that there are 420 sisters right now in the MTC and there will be 480 by November. Good luck, rooms and cleaning staff! We also got two new roommates. English speaking sisters from Rigby,Id. (Sister Kidd) and Minnesota (Sister Patrick).

Thursday: Write letters.

Friday: Tomorrow is in-field training all day long
Saturday: We have some time to pack during Gym
Sunday: We are performing a musical number in Sacrament meeting
Monday: Last day
Tuesday: Gone.


Love you all, Adios! Hasta Florida!

--Hermana Anna Sheffield

OCTOBER, the greatest month ever.

No really, I love October.

Reason #1 : The month of my birth.
I must thank ALL of you that wished me happy birthday! It was a great day (or three, just to keep with tradition). Friday night (the 30th) I got the package mom sent with a pie and a birthday box full of fun. We, as a district, enjoyed it thoroughly! We wore party hats, took pictures, listened to the singing candle (it worked and it was hilarious and out of tune!), ate pie, and laughed, as usual. My companion decorated my bed and desk with the decorations and we have been eating the candy ever since. (P.S. Coldstone jellybeans are not that great. But we had real ice cream on Sunday, so don't worry about it.) I received many birthday wishes and I appreciate them all. Even the MTC president and his wife sent me a letter! It was great!
On Monday, my teacher, Hermana Nelson, gave me a rose, a card, a bag of chocolate, and a forever balloon! How cool is that?! I bought and drank a Sobe just so I could have a bottle to put the rose in! It is still in our classroom for everyone to enjoy!

Reason #2 : La Conferencia General.
My actual birthday was spent listening to and learning from the prophet and general authorities. Still my favorite birthday present! Conference was filled with so many great things that I needed to hear, either for myself or for my current/future investigators. It was fantastic! I'm not the biggest fan of sitting on the bleachers in 19M for 12 hours in 2 days, but it was worth it. (We actually watched the Relief Society broadcast from the week before in 1M, but it is the same general idea.) There was so much that I learned from conference that I couldn't possibly mention anything in particular. I hope you all watched it. If you didn't, you can go watch it right now! And then go back and read all the talks again when the Ensign comes out. You won't regret it!

Reason #3 : Me encanta otono.
Yes. Fall is here. The mountains are beautiful and the weather is cooler. It actually rained here (only like the second time ever.) Of course, I was planning to go to Florida, so I don't have a lot of warm clothes, but it won't last long and we're inside most of the time anyway.
On Saturday and Sunday, we got to walk up to the temple. It was really nice and pretty weather both times. On Sunday, we had just started to walk back when someone drove by and said, "Sister Carnes?" It was her friend from California that was in Provo for a mission reunion and conference! She was so excited to see him that she was literally bouncing! It was really entertaining to watch.

The fireside on Sunday, and yes we had a fireside even though we had so many hours of conference, was awesome. The speaker was Chad Lewis. For those of you, like me, who don't know who that is, Chad Lewis was a BYU football player that played for the Eagles. He also went on a mission to Taiwan and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with other football players and war veterans. It was a great talk and was filled with lots of pictures!

The Devotional was given by an Emeritus General Authority, Elder Lionnel Kendrick. He gave a great talk, too! Fancy that, it's like they pick these people for a reason. He talked about missionary work. Sorry, I don't have my notebook to tell you any specifics, but it was very inspiring and we had a great testimony meeting afterwards. I think I learn more in those. My district is so cool.

I am so grateful that I am here. I have learned more in the last 7 weeks than I could possibly ever imagined. I have had more experiences and teaching opportunities then ever before, and I can speak another language! (not entirely. Actually hardly at all, but I can explain the Plan of Salvation and I think that counts)

I will hopefully get travel plans today, and hopefully no one will throw-up during our "tower challenge."

I can't believe we are leaving in a week and a half!!

Our roommates, and all the other Hermanas in our zone left this week. It was super sad to say good bye, but they were ready and are probably doing awesome now. I don't feel as ready. but I'm still excited to go there and try.

I love you all! Keep going to church and reading the Book of Mormon everyday!

Les quiero mucho!
-Hermana Sheffield