Now is the month of Maying

Monday, May 21, 2012

Hola familia y amigos!

I am currently sitting in a Miami-Dade Public Library. Yes, I'm in MIAMI!! Snapper Creek YSA to be exact.

Talk about different. I was up north in West Palm Beach in a large Spanish Family ward with 6 missionaries, and was living in a huge apartment with just me and my companion.  Now I am in the southern tip of Florida in a mostly English YSA branch that has at most 60 members, in a TRIO, and living in an apartment that is smaller and there are five of us sisters living there. Needless to say, it is very different.

Biggest of all differences, I have 2 companions: Sister Buckley and Sister Holladay. Both of them go home in August. They have been together 1 transfer, but have previous experience in tri-panionships. So by all means, I am the newbie.  However, Sister Buckley lived in
Boynton with me, so I already knew her (and she is hilarious) and Sister Holladay was in the Orlando Mission. They are both form California.

The other two sisters in our apartment are Sister Lake and Sister Lira. Sister Lake came in one transfer after me and is in the Killian West Area. She is training Hna Lira, who is from Mexico! She spent a transfer in Mexico waiting for her visa, then spent 9 weeks in the MTC
to learn English before coming here. She is super cute and has learned a lot of English. I wish we got to spend more time with her so I could work on my Spanish.

Speaking of Spanish, I do get to use it, because, after all, we are in Miami.  All of the wards down here are bilingual (as in opening prayer is English, closing in Spanish, translations available for all), but YSAs normally speak English. We have a few investigators that speak
spanish and contact a lot of people in Spanish, so I get to use it everyday, still. Sister Buckley knows some spanish, but has never served in a spanish area and Sister Holladay was called English Speaking, so it is really left up to me when we meet spanish people. It is rough, but at least it gets done.

So, our area covers 2 zones, Miami and Homestead. It goes from the Dolphin Expressway in the North all the way down to Key West. However, that is about 3 hours south of here and we never go that far.  One of the interesting things I have noticed is how much time it takes to drive in these big areas, as in, we spend hours in the car everyday. Not my idea of fun.  Actually, this past week, they didn't really have any investigators when I came in so we harvested a lot (which generates referrals for lots of other missionaries and we just hope
that someone will stumble across a YSA and pass them to us.) It is kind of frustrating to not be able to teach all the people we meet, but I'll get used to it.

Also, Since they were a normal 2-person companionship before, they weren't really ready for a third. Por eso, I don't have a bed, desk, chair, or closet. Hopefully they will bring the bed today so I won't have to sleep on the couch in a different room anymore. (Actually, the
couch is really comfortable and I told them we could just move that into the bedroom) But I am looking forward to not studying on the floor. And mom, I totally understand how you feel about living out of boxes because I have been living out of my suitcases all week. I still
don't know how we're going to handle that situation, but I'm sure it will all work out.

I have to hand it to the Branch, though. They are certainly amazing people. The ward mission leader is super helpful (and the son of the branch president) and the New Elders Quorum President is from Utah! Ha! The recent converts are great, too!

Speaking of Recent Converts: We had a baptism yesterday! Not that I did anything about it, but it was still great. Juan Contesse is 30 and has a girlfriend in the MTC. He was supposed to get baptized last week but his family wanted to come see it, so he waited a week. His baptism was really great because the font slowly drains and the water was just above his knee when they stepped in. He was super determined and so after the prayer was said, the crumpled to get all the way under. It was epic!  He is a really nice guy that lives in a 9th story penthouse and feeds the missionaries every week!

Also, we had a potluck/ice cream social afterwards and a recent convert brought her friend. While we were eating, she told us about Nicaragua and also mentioned that she wants to get baptized before she goes back to visit in August! So, we're going to teach her!

Well, I have to go now. Off to Publix to buy real food! Yay!

Love you all! Can't wait to get some sweet letters this week!

Love, Sister Sheffield