The Long and Short of It

Hello All!

What a week it has been. And yet, has it been a week? I can't tell. We do SO much everyday that I can't be an accurate gauge of time.

Por ejemplo: last Friday we went to Coral Springs for the day. They say that was only 3 days ago, but it feels like a month. However, it was a very interesting experience. Sister Sobkowicz was there for Leadership training (because she is awesome, not because she actually has an official leadership position), so I went on exchanges with Sister Lake. She is still finishing her training, but doesn't really need it, she is one of those missionaries who basically has it all figured out before she got here. We had a member take us to lunch (at Sweet Tomatoes) and then we had several "solid" lessons lined up. Unfortunately, all of them fell through. We ended up harvesting for over two hours, some of it with some random guy from the ward. For some reason, we only blessed one home, and it was in Spanish so I had to do it. All it all, it was a very interesting day that made me appreciate even more, if that's possible, my companion and area.

A former Mission President (from the Preach my Gospel, District 2 videos), President Donaldson and Elder Watson, Director of Proselyting, came to the training. Sister Sobkowicz told me all about it and it was awesome! Great things are in store for the people in this area!

The ward here is great. El obispo [bishop] even went to pick up a recent convert and investigator between PEC and Sacrament! How cool!

We still have a car. Our area is huge and we definitely need a car to get to most of our investigators, but we will have to be on bikes this week because we are running out of miles. The Church is 9 miles away from our apartment so that takes a big chunk.

We had some very amazing experiences following the spirit this week. After leaving an appointment, we drove past a woman sweeping her driveway. We smiled at her and kept going. But before we got to the end of the street, we both felt impressed to stop and turn around. So we immediately stopped and went back. We pulled up, jumped out, and introduced ourselves. She gladly let us in to leave the blessing. After the blessing we felt impressed to keep talking to her. We taught her some of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized. She accepted! We created a calendar for her and explained all that would need to happen for her to be baptized on the 29th. She was very grateful we had come by. Although she wasn't able to come to church yesterday and will therefore need to change her baptismal date, I know that we were guided there at that moment to see her.

Then a few days later, we were trying to see some referrals from the English Elders and were nearing the road when we turned around and went back to a house we had just passed and knocked on the door. We blessed the home (from the doorstep because three guys lived there) and had a really great experience with them. Afterwards, we looked up our referrals and realized that one of them was on the street we had just stopped on. Then we realized they had the same name! We had unknowingly contacted one of our referrals! And it really was perfect timing because that day was the anniversary of a personal event of one of the men and the prayer really touched him. It is such an incredible experience to be led by the Spirit to people's homes at the right moment.

I am so grateful to be in this area! The people and ward are amazing. We actually got to contact a media referral (a first for me) and we are now teaching him! Sister Sobkowicz is an amazing missionary. There is so much I need to learn from her, the first being Spanish. She has helped me to be a better missionary, even though I feel like I still have a long way to go. She has shared with me some things from the training that have already had a positive influence on our lessons. I look forward to learning, and putting into practice, more of that great wisdom and counsel.

Have a most wonderful week. Share the Gospel with someone because they deserve to feel the power of the atonement like you have.

Love you all!

-Hermana Anna Sheffield