Is it really December?

Hello all from the hot and humid land of Port St. Lucie, Florida. I am still confused about what month of the year it is. why would people put up a Christmas tree in september? 

This week was actually a ton of fun. And trial-full, but that's what makes life exciting.

Tuesday we had Zone Council. We are in a zone with 20 elders. Just the 2 sisters and 20 elders. Kind of crazy. we are kind of the "mom" of the zone and made sure lunch was taken care of and everyone was happy. We also practiced our song for Mission Conference: O Holy Night in french! With Sister Dougal on Piano and me on violin! It took quite a bit of practice to get them to pronounce French words and such, but it was good.  We also ate dinner with a member family who is half-peruvian (as in she is Peruvian and he is whitewhitewhite). They liked that I spoke to them in Spanish. The only other lesson we ended up teaching was to a woman from Columbia who didn't stop talking! But she is awesome. More on her later.

Wednesday, We realized that we don't have enough miles to go to all our meetings this month, so we will need to bike everyday. We biked and found 3 people that are awesome and want to be baptized! We also found Pat Baddish, who was baptized 30 years ago and didn't really remember much other than that. She was looking for the church here in Port St. Lucie but ended up going to a different church. It was a really long day, hot and humid, on bikes. However, we were happy because President gave us permission to ride down with the zone leaders to the mission conference!   BUT when we got to correlation, the Elders said they were taking Okeechobee Elders! We were crushed, and distraught. AND no one in Correlation wanted to help us! Lame.

Thursday, We woke up and the Elders said they changed it up and they could take us. Rejoice! We left at 7:30 and got to Ft. Lauderdale at 10:00am. Good long drive. then We practiced our song, reunited with old companions and friends, ate a delicious lunch, had a white Elephant exchange, then we had our musical talents.  All the zones did a musical number. We went last. And, if you ask me, ours was the best. Although, some were pretty entertaining. We also had an awesome devotional and took a lot of pictures. Then we drove home. we finally got back to our area around 6:30. 

And, as I told President: "We also were able to have a lesson with a man named Jesus as soon as we got back from Mission Conference. He is so awesome! He said he loves when we come over and it makes him feel good. He mentioned that he sometimes feels the adversary working really hard to get him to not meet with us or read the scriptures. We told him it wasn't uncommon for that to happen when he was doing something so great, such as changing his life for the better.  He also asked if we could have more people with us so that he could learn from them and feel of their spirit as well! He asked us for member present lessons! We were so excited to tell this to our ward council, but it was cancelled because the bishop is still out of town. Anyway, Jesus is awesome and I can't wait for him to come to church (when he isn't in Orlando for the weekend) and then to get baptized!  It is definitely going to happen soon."

Friday, We drove 30 miles to District training in Jupiter. yay. We tried to see our awesome people from Wednesday, but only one was home. We also spent about an hour listening to Pat and Randy Baddish talk about how they are going to live in their camper and then build a house out of sandbags. They also told us how none of their family members like them anymore. It was kind of sad, but I understand a little because they are kind of crazy. Got to love Floridians!  we also had our only member present lesson with Bro. Rivero who really helped us out teaching Nadia. Her aunt came over and had a ton of hostile questions about coffee and the Book of Mormon. He softened her heart and she wants to come back and learn with us again!  THEN, we went back to our car and had a flat tire! It being 8 at night and being pretty far away from anyone we knew, we were pretty determined to change that tire ourselves. We were going pretty well and had the car up on the jack, but we couldn't loosen the lug nuts! Luckily this woman had pulled up and left her headlights on and then went and got her husband who could loosen them for us! Good times.

Saturday we spent 2 hours at Tire Kingdom getting a new tire and watching the CNN report on the shooting in Connecticut. sad. The Ward Party was Saturday night and none of our investigators came and not many members came. It was pretty lame actually. Oh well. 

Sunday, wasn't the best either. Except the Elders had a baptism before church (which I played violin at)! Yay for baptisms!  The Grants (a young couple in the ward) invited us over for dinner. The Garrets were there too and they all told some very funny and entertaining (and scandalous) stories. I think Alan and Kristin would fit right in with them! I miss you guys!  we blessed 9 people yesterday, none of which accepted baptism. And we saw Lea who did not get baptized as she was supposed to, but instead told us she didn't want to quit smoking. We have to drop her. sad day.

Well, Today is a new week! And it is going to be awesome! right? Christmas is coming and even though it doesn't feel like it, the Christmas season is upon us!  Hope you all are enjoying the wonderful blessing that come from our Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you all!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Hermana Sheffield