Monday July 30, 2012
Hello Todos.
What a great time it is to be a part of the Florida, Ft. Lauderdale
Mission. We set a mission record this week: 39 Baptisms! In a week!
Also, that brings our month total to 141!!! How crazy amazing is that!
141 people entered into a covenant with God and are now receiving more
blessings than they possibly could have before. AND they now qualify to
live with God. Forever. And their families. Forever. In perfect
happiness. What, honestly, could be better?
For me, the best part was yesterday when Marvin got baptized! He is
hilariously funny and so happy in general, but yesterday he was all
smiles. He showed up 2 hours early to church because he was so excited!
He was very much prepared before we met him, but I'm so glad that we
were able to steer him towards the truth that he was lacking in his
life.
Although he doesn't speak a lot of English, he understands it pretty
well. All of our lessons are pretty Spanglish with us mostly speaking
English and him always speaking Spanish (with Diana there to fill in the
gaps!). We saw him almost everyday this past week and taught him
everything from The Word of Wisdom and Chastity (which he had already
explained to someone else by the time we discussed it) to Following the
Prophet and paying tithing (which he can't wait to do). One day, he was
telling us about how he has gone to Subway almost every day for the past
9 months. He's been there so much that they gave him a $50 gift card!
When we asked him why he goes there so much he said "porque es
delicious". It was so funny since he said the word "delicious" in
English! Maybe you had to be there, but we laughed for a really long
time.
Last Monday, Sister Buckley and I drove downtown and visited the
Challenger Memorial and the Heat Stadium. It was closed, unfortunately,
and it was SUPER hot, but we took a lot of pictures. Then we picked up
Diana and went to the Mall of the Americas. My favorite part: Diana said
her heaven will look like Claire's.
We celebrated Pioneer Day by knocking the doors on Pioneer Road. There
was a Catholic church on that street and only two people even answered
their door, but it was worth it. If only we could have seen a parade or
something to top it off.
The next day we harvested with Diana. She was very helpful since there
were a lot of old Cuban ladies I just couldn't understand. Plus, Diana
wants to be a missionary so badly that she will do anything we do. So
even when it is 97 degrees and there is over 80% humidity, she will walk
down streets of Florida and ask people if we can leave the Savior's
peace and blessing with them. That's some true dedication.
We also had a wonderful experience with harvesting this week. We had a
goal to get 5 blessings on Thursday. We used the time before our
Correlation meeting to bless as many as we could, but even with an our
and a half, we only found 2 people to bless (plus, we found some members
that hadn't been visited by missionaries in a while and left a prayer
with them!). However, after our meeting, we made sure our investigators
and recent converts were doing well in Institute, then left to go out
and find some more. We did so reluctantly because we haven't ever had
much success harvesting after 8 o'clock at night, but we knew if we did
our best, God would bless us. So we knocked on a few doors with no luck
and were feeling like our time would be better spent doing anything
else. As we turned to walk back to the car, I got the feeling we
couldn't stop. I turned back to the street and saw a house with a light
on. We went there and found a YSA girl willing to let us bless her! And
although she had to work on Sunday, she said she'd try to come the the
activity on Saturday! It was incredible! I know as we continue
following the spirit and putting forth all our effort, God will continue
to bless us to find people who need us.
Friday was a fun day. We harvested and met 5 people who were all pretty
cool. Some just needed a prayer and that's fine. Others we invited to be
baptized, including a YSA guy and a cute little mom and two of her
daughters! Then we saw Anabell, and her nieces and nephew were watching
"Avatar the Last Airbender" cartoon, and little facts kept popping up
on the screen. My favorites were "don't play with spark rocks" and
"kids, don't eat mud." We went to Amy's to teach her the Gospel and she
surprized us with lunch! It was much needed. Then we drove all the way
down to Florida City (as in, where the turnpike ends) to meet a new
investigator that wondered into the Homestead chapel. We met Tyler, the
Elder's Quorum president, there and then proceeded to have the most
awkward lesson.
ever. Daryl came outside and immediately told us that his mom won't let
him have people in the house anymore. So we had to sit in the back of a
truck. Daryl is just an awkward person to begin with, but we spent 40
minutes trying to get to know him and get him to come to the activity on
Saturday and church on Sunday. He says some strange things and we
weren't sure if he was getting it, but he finally agreed to come.
Anyway, long story short, he came to the activity and church and liked
it, but is still SUPER awkward. It'll be fun trying to teach him.
On Saturday, we went to the ward Kickball activity and BBQ for a while
to make sure Daryl was okay. It was hot, we got sunburned. But it was
fun. Then we drove up to Riverside for Marvin's interview, but there
happened to be a baptism there, too. So we saw that, and then Marvin
came out of his interview giving us a fist pump. Success.
So, now we are going to go to a famous hotel and botanical garden.
Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Love,
Hermana Sheffield
Monday, July 30, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Pioneering in Florida
July 23, 2012
Hello Family and Friends!
I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the wonders and blessings of God. If you can't see them, open your eyes and find them. I promise they are there.
In case you didn't know, it is still summer here in Florida. That means that some hours it is ridiculously hot (usually while we are harvesting) and other hours it is ridiculously raining. It keeps
things interesting. Good thing we have a car and God loves us. We stayed pretty dry and air conditioning has never been so beautiful to me.
Last Monday, we went to the Lighthouse on Key Biscayne with Diana. It was awesome! We got to see the beach and this old cabin where the Lighthouse keeper used to live. Mom would have hated the walk up because the spiral staircase was a little wobbly and very closed in (even I felt a little claustrophobic!). Then we went to the Goodwill on Calle 8 and I got some sunglasses. We also ate some delicious Nicaraguan food at "Pinolandia." Good Preparation Day. Today should be good, as well, but I'll have to let you know next week if it is life-changing. ;)
We also stopped by a referral from the Elders. It was this kid named Jesus. He was all apologetic for being out of town, and wanted to know if we were having another baptismal service soon! It was great! We set him for the 29th and made an appointment to see him the next day. However, we never got to see him. We attempted to change the appointment and then could not get in contact with him for the rest of the week (we stopped by his house at least 5 times!).
On Tuesday we had district training and the Assistants came so they could go to lunch with all the sisters afterwards. Why? I still have no idea. I think the other sisters had been complaining about lack of attention. I would have preferred to see Jesus. Anyway, Diana came with us to District training and stayed with us all day. So we ended up seeing her 4 days in a row and then she came out with us on
Saturday. She is going to be a fantastic missionary!
We had a great experience with one of our newer investigators, Marvin. We had an interesting lesson with him on Tuesday where we taught him the Restoration and he was pretty confused the whole time and wouldn't commit to a date. We gave him 3 Nephi 27 to read before our next appointment. He texted us the next day and asked what page it was on. Later that afternoon he said that he was so happy, almost "in love." We asked him why, and he said it was because he understood the Book of Mormon! Then last Saturday we taught him the Plan of Salvation with a member present and he liked it, and finally accepted to be baptized on the 29th! He didn't accept until after the member had testified of her own baptism and showed him pictures.Then he gave a ride to a member that lives nearby and usually takes the bus to church! During church the next day he asked to borrow a Book of Mormon because he forgot his and read another chapter! We are so excited for him!
We also had an incredible Milagro Miercoles this week because of harvesting. We hadn't had the opportunity to harvest on Monday or Tuesday, but we knew we could bless 8 people before the end of the day, as we have been asked to do. So even though it was really hot and sunny, we persevered until we had found 8 people home and willing to receive us. We met some very interesting people, but we were able to set 2 dates for the Elders and get lots of return appointments! It was awesome. My favorite people that day were Gerardo (who is an 80ish year old man who accepted baptism and came to church on Sunday!), Janaski, who was sobbing during the prayer and also accepted a date, and Rudy, an old Cuban man dressed as a woman. Yes, he is a Latin cross-dresser, complete with tank-top, short shorts, low heals, fingernails painted, and pink lipstick. Good times.
I went to Pollo Tropical for the first time this past Friday! It is a pretty popular place here. Kind of like Cafe Rio, except Florida style. It was pretty good. Plus we had a good talk with Bradley while we were there and found out why he doesn't want to get baptized yet. I don't think he likes the Elders . . .
Thursday was an interesting day. We left at noon to meet with a Less-Active, named:
Wilfredo Hamburger.
Yes, that really is his name. But no, he really was asleep and wouldn't talk to us.
Then we tried to find a referral from the sisters at 8:30 at night and there were a ton of ducks on her lawn. They followed us! So cute. She wasn't home either.
Friday we taught Amy (a recent convert) the Plan of Salvation. She had never heard of it before. Strange, right? (way to go, Elders,) but she loved it. She is super awesome!
Okay, time to go do something drastic. Have a wonderful day!
Love, Hermana Sheffield
I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the wonders and blessings of God. If you can't see them, open your eyes and find them. I promise they are there.
In case you didn't know, it is still summer here in Florida. That means that some hours it is ridiculously hot (usually while we are harvesting) and other hours it is ridiculously raining. It keeps
things interesting. Good thing we have a car and God loves us. We stayed pretty dry and air conditioning has never been so beautiful to me.
Last Monday, we went to the Lighthouse on Key Biscayne with Diana. It was awesome! We got to see the beach and this old cabin where the Lighthouse keeper used to live. Mom would have hated the walk up because the spiral staircase was a little wobbly and very closed in (even I felt a little claustrophobic!). Then we went to the Goodwill on Calle 8 and I got some sunglasses. We also ate some delicious Nicaraguan food at "Pinolandia." Good Preparation Day. Today should be good, as well, but I'll have to let you know next week if it is life-changing. ;)
We also stopped by a referral from the Elders. It was this kid named Jesus. He was all apologetic for being out of town, and wanted to know if we were having another baptismal service soon! It was great! We set him for the 29th and made an appointment to see him the next day. However, we never got to see him. We attempted to change the appointment and then could not get in contact with him for the rest of the week (we stopped by his house at least 5 times!).
On Tuesday we had district training and the Assistants came so they could go to lunch with all the sisters afterwards. Why? I still have no idea. I think the other sisters had been complaining about lack of attention. I would have preferred to see Jesus. Anyway, Diana came with us to District training and stayed with us all day. So we ended up seeing her 4 days in a row and then she came out with us on
Saturday. She is going to be a fantastic missionary!
We had a great experience with one of our newer investigators, Marvin. We had an interesting lesson with him on Tuesday where we taught him the Restoration and he was pretty confused the whole time and wouldn't commit to a date. We gave him 3 Nephi 27 to read before our next appointment. He texted us the next day and asked what page it was on. Later that afternoon he said that he was so happy, almost "in love." We asked him why, and he said it was because he understood the Book of Mormon! Then last Saturday we taught him the Plan of Salvation with a member present and he liked it, and finally accepted to be baptized on the 29th! He didn't accept until after the member had testified of her own baptism and showed him pictures.Then he gave a ride to a member that lives nearby and usually takes the bus to church! During church the next day he asked to borrow a Book of Mormon because he forgot his and read another chapter! We are so excited for him!
We also had an incredible Milagro Miercoles this week because of harvesting. We hadn't had the opportunity to harvest on Monday or Tuesday, but we knew we could bless 8 people before the end of the day, as we have been asked to do. So even though it was really hot and sunny, we persevered until we had found 8 people home and willing to receive us. We met some very interesting people, but we were able to set 2 dates for the Elders and get lots of return appointments! It was awesome. My favorite people that day were Gerardo (who is an 80ish year old man who accepted baptism and came to church on Sunday!), Janaski, who was sobbing during the prayer and also accepted a date, and Rudy, an old Cuban man dressed as a woman. Yes, he is a Latin cross-dresser, complete with tank-top, short shorts, low heals, fingernails painted, and pink lipstick. Good times.
I went to Pollo Tropical for the first time this past Friday! It is a pretty popular place here. Kind of like Cafe Rio, except Florida style. It was pretty good. Plus we had a good talk with Bradley while we were there and found out why he doesn't want to get baptized yet. I don't think he likes the Elders . . .
Thursday was an interesting day. We left at noon to meet with a Less-Active, named:
Wilfredo Hamburger.
Yes, that really is his name. But no, he really was asleep and wouldn't talk to us.
Then we tried to find a referral from the sisters at 8:30 at night and there were a ton of ducks on her lawn. They followed us! So cute. She wasn't home either.
Friday we taught Amy (a recent convert) the Plan of Salvation. She had never heard of it before. Strange, right? (way to go, Elders,) but she loved it. She is super awesome!
Okay, time to go do something drastic. Have a wonderful day!
Love, Hermana Sheffield
| From the lighthouse, overlooking the beach. |
| L to R, Hermana Sheffield, Diana, Sister Buckley |
| Sister Buckley, catching the wind |
| The ducks! |
| Sisters Lira, Sheffield, Buckley |
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Mid-July Update from Florida
Monday July 16, 2012
Here's the run-down of this week:
Monday: Instead of going to Calle Ocho, we stayed home and wrote
letters and then we went harvesting. We blessed 6 people in an hour
and a half and then took a short break to eat Frosty Wafflecones from
Wendy's. Worth it.
Tuesday: We had a good District Training (although it lacked in Ice
Cream) and then we read Sister Buckley's letter from her friend
because it was filled with Quotes from the Harry Potter Riftracks. So
funny. We also saw Dinorah at her work at Dunkin Donuts and then
decided we needed some lunch. We went to Burger King and enjoyed a
very special:
BACON SUNDAE
Yes that's right, ice cream, chocolate sauce, carmel sauce, and bacon.
It was delicious.
We picked up Diana (our favorite member!) and saw Fernando who doesn't
believe in God, Marvin who came to church once and wanted to know
about the 10 Commandments, Allan who fully enjoyed the Plan of
Salvation and accepted a date for July 29th!, and Victor who enjoyed
drawing 1 Nephi 18. We also stopped by Arturs and gave him some
pamphlets in Russian just in case he still wants to know.
Wednesday we had weekly planning because on
Thursday we had Specialized training. We got some new (or regularized)
Key indicators, some instructions on setting goals, using the "Mormon
Moment" and harvesting. We ended up waiting for Sister Lake to talk to
the Assistants for a while so we ended up standing around while Elder
Georgino drew a picture of each of us. Good times. We also had a fake
lesson with a kid on his porch because he asked us a whole bunch of
questions and wouldn't let us pray with him. Dumb. You could have felt
the spirit, kid. Then we went to institute because Emmanual was there
and it was all about communicating in relationships. We found out our
Love languages for our companions, it was hilarious.
Friday we blessed this really cool woman named Alicia who is from
Trinidad and is very spiritual, as well as a woman named Ester who
wanted us to come back and teach her six year old daughter even before
we blessed her. We also ate lunch at Tyler's again with Bradley and
Amy, which worked out well. That night we saw Erique and talked about
Ether 6 and how the trials we face in life are always "blowing us to
the promised land." Sister Buckley shared an experience of a trial
that led to her coming on a mission and then Erique realized that he
had a trial that led him to meet the missionaries and he was grateful
for it. If only he would take that a little farther and get baptized,
he would be so much more blessed!
Saturday we had Diana with us again and we saw Allan again to review
the Restoration and the Gospel. We committed him to come to church.
We also saw Marvin and taught him the Gospel. The thing with Marvin
is that he doesn't speak a lot of English, so it was really Diana and
I teaching him the Gospel. Diana used some great analogies like how
the Holy Ghost is deodorant after the shower of baptism or how prayer
is like an envelope with Christ being the stamp. It was an awesome
lesson and he was SUPER close to accepting a baptismal date!
Sunday we went early to see the Sisters sing with their ward choir. (3
Spanish songs with marching: classic) and President Anderson came to
our ward to do the 3rd hour presentation on Mormon.org. Everyone needs
to go, check it out and share it with others!
Okay, That was my week. How was yours?
You should all go read Gospel Principles on page 142. 1st line.
I love you all! I love the Gospel! Stay Cool! Stay blessed!
Love, Hermana Sheffield
Here's the run-down of this week:
Monday: Instead of going to Calle Ocho, we stayed home and wrote
letters and then we went harvesting. We blessed 6 people in an hour
and a half and then took a short break to eat Frosty Wafflecones from
Wendy's. Worth it.
Tuesday: We had a good District Training (although it lacked in Ice
Cream) and then we read Sister Buckley's letter from her friend
because it was filled with Quotes from the Harry Potter Riftracks. So
funny. We also saw Dinorah at her work at Dunkin Donuts and then
decided we needed some lunch. We went to Burger King and enjoyed a
very special:
BACON SUNDAE
Yes that's right, ice cream, chocolate sauce, carmel sauce, and bacon.
It was delicious.
We picked up Diana (our favorite member!) and saw Fernando who doesn't
believe in God, Marvin who came to church once and wanted to know
about the 10 Commandments, Allan who fully enjoyed the Plan of
Salvation and accepted a date for July 29th!, and Victor who enjoyed
drawing 1 Nephi 18. We also stopped by Arturs and gave him some
pamphlets in Russian just in case he still wants to know.
Wednesday we had weekly planning because on
Thursday we had Specialized training. We got some new (or regularized)
Key indicators, some instructions on setting goals, using the "Mormon
Moment" and harvesting. We ended up waiting for Sister Lake to talk to
the Assistants for a while so we ended up standing around while Elder
Georgino drew a picture of each of us. Good times. We also had a fake
lesson with a kid on his porch because he asked us a whole bunch of
questions and wouldn't let us pray with him. Dumb. You could have felt
the spirit, kid. Then we went to institute because Emmanual was there
and it was all about communicating in relationships. We found out our
Love languages for our companions, it was hilarious.
Friday we blessed this really cool woman named Alicia who is from
Trinidad and is very spiritual, as well as a woman named Ester who
wanted us to come back and teach her six year old daughter even before
we blessed her. We also ate lunch at Tyler's again with Bradley and
Amy, which worked out well. That night we saw Erique and talked about
Ether 6 and how the trials we face in life are always "blowing us to
the promised land." Sister Buckley shared an experience of a trial
that led to her coming on a mission and then Erique realized that he
had a trial that led him to meet the missionaries and he was grateful
for it. If only he would take that a little farther and get baptized,
he would be so much more blessed!
Saturday we had Diana with us again and we saw Allan again to review
the Restoration and the Gospel. We committed him to come to church.
We also saw Marvin and taught him the Gospel. The thing with Marvin
is that he doesn't speak a lot of English, so it was really Diana and
I teaching him the Gospel. Diana used some great analogies like how
the Holy Ghost is deodorant after the shower of baptism or how prayer
is like an envelope with Christ being the stamp. It was an awesome
lesson and he was SUPER close to accepting a baptismal date!
Sunday we went early to see the Sisters sing with their ward choir. (3
Spanish songs with marching: classic) and President Anderson came to
our ward to do the 3rd hour presentation on Mormon.org. Everyone needs
to go, check it out and share it with others!
Okay, That was my week. How was yours?
You should all go read Gospel Principles on page 142. 1st line.
I love you all! I love the Gospel! Stay Cool! Stay blessed!
Love, Hermana Sheffield
Heat and Humidity and Humility?
July 2, 2012
Hello Family and Friends!
I hope you are all staying cool and safe in the wild summer weather
that is all around the nation! (Yes, I may have seen a piece of a
newscast this morning!)
What a week. My first week in Miami with only one companion instead of two!
On Tuesday, we went to Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with a member
to say good bye to Sister Holladay. Then we had an awesome lesson with
Erique where Jacky (a recent convert) testified like crazy about not
drinking when others are drinking. It was great, I'm pretty sure
Erique cried.
Then on Wednesday we drove up to Plantation for Transfer Meeting.
Here's the News:
Sister Holladay is in Coral Springs.
Sister Hong (Angie's friend from Blackfoot) is training in West Palm Beach.
Sister Sobkowicz is White-wash/training in Miami Lakes.
Sister Keyworth is whitewashing an area in Hialeah (her dream come true!).
The sisters in Coral Reef North got replaced by some elders (that
Sister Buckley isn't too fond of).
We got a new Zone leader and a new District leader (I still haven't
met him in person!)
Sister Buckley is going to die here. I get to kill her and take all
her stuff. It should be pretty fun. She's going to BYU in the Fall, so
maybe you can meet her! She reminds me of Cheryl sometimes - awesome
and funny and likes to draw!
On Friday, we got to see Amy, who got baptized last week and teach her
for the first time. We had to explain what YSA was because the Elders
clearly dropped the ball on that one. But she came to the party at
Juan's house last Saturday and then came to all three hours of YSA
after going to all three hours of the family ward she got confirmed
in. crazy. But she is awesome and super cute.
We also saw the 26 year old in Homestead that the Elders baptized and
never told us about. She is super solid, even though she had problems
with almost all of the commandments before. She came to the YSA Ward
too! and brought her YSA brother!
We had a very interesting experience harvesting this week. We weren't
having much success (only blessing one person in each street that we
knocked is no fun) and it was hot. But on Saturday we really needed to
find people to reach our goal. So we prayed and looked at the map and
I selected an area. When we got there it was a little nicer than we
were expecting. As we drove down the street to check it out, I felt
impressed to knock the doors at one end. We parked at the other and
knocked on doors as we walked down the street. No one let us in. After
getting rejected so many times, we were losing some enthusiasm, but I
felt very prompted to continue until we got to the houses I had seen.
We knocked on a door and we could hear the vacuum on inside. We had to
knock a few times for her to hear it, but a woman named Mayda answered
the door. She didn't speak any English and she was only working there.
But she let us pray with her and she cried when we asked her how she
felt. She told us that her back had been hurting and now it felt
better! Then she told us that her cousins were members and she had
Mormon relatives in Utah and in Honduras! She said she'd read the Book
of Mormon a bit and she liked it, but that she is Catholic. She even
shared her testimony of receiving a blessing 27 years ago when she was
pregnant and in a lot of pain. She said she lived in Kendall and we
invited her to church. She even knew where it was because her cousin
had sent her the address! We invited her to be baptized and she said
she'd think about it, but gave us her address and phone number so we
(or the Elders) could stop by sometime! It was incredible! She may
have been the only person in that area that listened to us, but it was
definitely worth it! We were clearly sent there just for her!
On Saturday Night, Juan hosted a game night that turned into a
surprise birthday party for the Elders Quorom President - Tyler. We had
just eaten lunch with him (and his crazy friend who was visiting!) so
it was strange to be there again, but we came to support Amy and
Arturs (a Latvian non-member who is Diana's Ex-boyfriend. Don't worry,
we're going to teach him finally!). It was sort of strange being at a
YSA party. But it turned out really well. Everyone got there around 8
or 8:30 and we left at 8:45 to get home on time! That's how it should
be when you are a missionary!
Yesterday was pretty great. David and Amy received the Holy Ghost!
Yay! and almost all of the recent converts came to church! We were
very happy.
I am also very much enjoying reading in the Book of Mormon each day.
Some days it is all I do for personal study! We had an impromptu
lesson after church yesterday with Emanual and he asked us about
repentance (along with some other really great questions!). We both
thought of the story of Alma the younger as we talked with him and
were able to share that with him. I think it will really help him. It
is so "convenient" that the Book of Mormon answers so many of the
questions people have! And by "convenient" I mean "evident that it
was written by men inspired by God." Go ahead, read it and find out
for yourself!
I love you all! Have a wonderful 4th of July! Celebrate the
Independence of your country by blowing up a small part of it!
(or don't because that's illegal)
Love, Hermana Sheffield
Hello Family and Friends!
I hope you are all staying cool and safe in the wild summer weather
that is all around the nation! (Yes, I may have seen a piece of a
newscast this morning!)
What a week. My first week in Miami with only one companion instead of two!
On Tuesday, we went to Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with a member
to say good bye to Sister Holladay. Then we had an awesome lesson with
Erique where Jacky (a recent convert) testified like crazy about not
drinking when others are drinking. It was great, I'm pretty sure
Erique cried.
Then on Wednesday we drove up to Plantation for Transfer Meeting.
Here's the News:
Sister Holladay is in Coral Springs.
Sister Hong (Angie's friend from Blackfoot) is training in West Palm Beach.
Sister Sobkowicz is White-wash/training in Miami Lakes.
Sister Keyworth is whitewashing an area in Hialeah (her dream come true!).
The sisters in Coral Reef North got replaced by some elders (that
Sister Buckley isn't too fond of).
We got a new Zone leader and a new District leader (I still haven't
met him in person!)
Sister Buckley is going to die here. I get to kill her and take all
her stuff. It should be pretty fun. She's going to BYU in the Fall, so
maybe you can meet her! She reminds me of Cheryl sometimes - awesome
and funny and likes to draw!
On Friday, we got to see Amy, who got baptized last week and teach her
for the first time. We had to explain what YSA was because the Elders
clearly dropped the ball on that one. But she came to the party at
Juan's house last Saturday and then came to all three hours of YSA
after going to all three hours of the family ward she got confirmed
in. crazy. But she is awesome and super cute.
We also saw the 26 year old in Homestead that the Elders baptized and
never told us about. She is super solid, even though she had problems
with almost all of the commandments before. She came to the YSA Ward
too! and brought her YSA brother!
We had a very interesting experience harvesting this week. We weren't
having much success (only blessing one person in each street that we
knocked is no fun) and it was hot. But on Saturday we really needed to
find people to reach our goal. So we prayed and looked at the map and
I selected an area. When we got there it was a little nicer than we
were expecting. As we drove down the street to check it out, I felt
impressed to knock the doors at one end. We parked at the other and
knocked on doors as we walked down the street. No one let us in. After
getting rejected so many times, we were losing some enthusiasm, but I
felt very prompted to continue until we got to the houses I had seen.
We knocked on a door and we could hear the vacuum on inside. We had to
knock a few times for her to hear it, but a woman named Mayda answered
the door. She didn't speak any English and she was only working there.
But she let us pray with her and she cried when we asked her how she
felt. She told us that her back had been hurting and now it felt
better! Then she told us that her cousins were members and she had
Mormon relatives in Utah and in Honduras! She said she'd read the Book
of Mormon a bit and she liked it, but that she is Catholic. She even
shared her testimony of receiving a blessing 27 years ago when she was
pregnant and in a lot of pain. She said she lived in Kendall and we
invited her to church. She even knew where it was because her cousin
had sent her the address! We invited her to be baptized and she said
she'd think about it, but gave us her address and phone number so we
(or the Elders) could stop by sometime! It was incredible! She may
have been the only person in that area that listened to us, but it was
definitely worth it! We were clearly sent there just for her!
On Saturday Night, Juan hosted a game night that turned into a
surprise birthday party for the Elders Quorom President - Tyler. We had
just eaten lunch with him (and his crazy friend who was visiting!) so
it was strange to be there again, but we came to support Amy and
Arturs (a Latvian non-member who is Diana's Ex-boyfriend. Don't worry,
we're going to teach him finally!). It was sort of strange being at a
YSA party. But it turned out really well. Everyone got there around 8
or 8:30 and we left at 8:45 to get home on time! That's how it should
be when you are a missionary!
Yesterday was pretty great. David and Amy received the Holy Ghost!
Yay! and almost all of the recent converts came to church! We were
very happy.
I am also very much enjoying reading in the Book of Mormon each day.
Some days it is all I do for personal study! We had an impromptu
lesson after church yesterday with Emanual and he asked us about
repentance (along with some other really great questions!). We both
thought of the story of Alma the younger as we talked with him and
were able to share that with him. I think it will really help him. It
is so "convenient" that the Book of Mormon answers so many of the
questions people have! And by "convenient" I mean "evident that it
was written by men inspired by God." Go ahead, read it and find out
for yourself!
I love you all! Have a wonderful 4th of July! Celebrate the
Independence of your country by blowing up a small part of it!
(or don't because that's illegal)
Love, Hermana Sheffield
Land of the free, home of the brave: Scotland!
July 9, 2012
We did a really good job this week of visiting our recent converts. Partly because they're the only ones who would talk to us! We saw Javier and David on Monday, Diana Cardoza and José on Tuesday, several on Wednesday, Annabel and Thomas on Friday, and Amy on Saturday. They are all doing pretty great.We had an awesome lesson with José about not being happy when you aren't keeping the Commandments. He finally realized that he isn't happy (because he has been refusing to live certain Commandments) and we committed him to begin the repentance process. It was a big step for him!
Today was also successful because we finally got to meet Erwin. He's studying to become a math teacher and already had a Book of Mormon from when he visited a church down in Homestead several months ago. Said he's too busy to talk with us, but we got his number so we will certainly be in contact! We also saw Alan who is progressing well. We started the Plan of Salvation and he had a ton of questions about Adam and Eve. We didn't get any farther than that, but before we ended he asked,"What happens after death and before we are resurrected?" We can certainly answer that! I love good questions!
The Fourth of July is interesting as a missionary. They say that holidays are a good time to catch families at home, but we couldn't find anyone! We had a not so good lesson with Eric (he basically said he'd rather continue to social drink and get baptized :( ) who needed an explanation of why he didn't have work. In honor of his first Independence Day, we threw some Pop-Its outside in the parking lot. Woo hoo.
We tried to find an old investigator but she was at work and we tried to find a recent convert at her work, but she had the day off! So, in summary, we didn't see anyone until 8 PM when we went to an FHE at Juan's house. Aracely gave a great lesson and Victor, Jacky, José, and Yina (all recent converts) were there, as well as Emmanuelle (investigator)! Before we left, we got to stand on the balcony and watch the fireworks! It was so cool to see them all over! Juan's ninth floor penthouse is my new favorite place! When we got home, we threw some more pop-Its with the sisters. We would have used the sparklers we had but we didn't have any matches! It was fun anyway!
We did a really good job this week of visiting our recent converts. Partly because they're the only ones who would talk to us! We saw Javier and David on Monday, Diana Cardoza and José on Tuesday, several on Wednesday, Annabel and Thomas on Friday, and Amy on Saturday. They are all doing pretty great.We had an awesome lesson with José about not being happy when you aren't keeping the Commandments. He finally realized that he isn't happy (because he has been refusing to live certain Commandments) and we committed him to begin the repentance process. It was a big step for him!
Today was also successful because we finally got to meet Erwin. He's studying to become a math teacher and already had a Book of Mormon from when he visited a church down in Homestead several months ago. Said he's too busy to talk with us, but we got his number so we will certainly be in contact! We also saw Alan who is progressing well. We started the Plan of Salvation and he had a ton of questions about Adam and Eve. We didn't get any farther than that, but before we ended he asked,"What happens after death and before we are resurrected?" We can certainly answer that! I love good questions!
The Fourth of July is interesting as a missionary. They say that holidays are a good time to catch families at home, but we couldn't find anyone! We had a not so good lesson with Eric (he basically said he'd rather continue to social drink and get baptized :( ) who needed an explanation of why he didn't have work. In honor of his first Independence Day, we threw some Pop-Its outside in the parking lot. Woo hoo.
We tried to find an old investigator but she was at work and we tried to find a recent convert at her work, but she had the day off! So, in summary, we didn't see anyone until 8 PM when we went to an FHE at Juan's house. Aracely gave a great lesson and Victor, Jacky, José, and Yina (all recent converts) were there, as well as Emmanuelle (investigator)! Before we left, we got to stand on the balcony and watch the fireworks! It was so cool to see them all over! Juan's ninth floor penthouse is my new favorite place! When we got home, we threw some more pop-Its with the sisters. We would have used the sparklers we had but we didn't have any matches! It was fun anyway!
Thursday we
did our weekly planning then went to harvest. We knocked on two or three doors
before anyone came out. But it wasn't just anybody, it was Bob. And he
proceeded to talk for almost an hour! He had some crazy ideas that are
the result of drug use, the medicine to reverse the effects of said drug
use, and way too much God channel. The cool thing was, he let us bless
him and he actually felt the spirit! He couldn't understand it, but he
definitely felt it. He is also a lonely old man who has AIDS and other
issues so he was glad to have missionaries come back and even said he'd
think about coming to church!
After ward coordination, we
drove up to Calle Ocho to see Arturs. Actually Arturs is Diana's ex-boyfriend from Latavia who speaks Latvian and Russian and very
little English (how do they communicate? I don't know.) He's come to a
baptism and church and has a Latvian Book of Mormon, so we finally got
to have a lesson with him. We went over the Restoration, which Diana had
already taught him, and set him with the date for the 28th!
Unfortunately, he didn't come to church on Sunday and Diana said he's
only meeting with us for her. Sad face. Friday was great because Bradley
invited us over for lunch. He will technically be the zone leaders'
investigator, but we love it when he invites us over because he's really
nice and his house is super cool! He said they almost filmed "Burn Notice"
there!
We went harvesting (in the blazing heat in the afternoon)
and we're challenged to set someone with a baptismal date. Only two
people let us pray with them one Maria, who goes to a local church called Rey Jesus, and
to Crystal, who had a distracting little boy, but accepted a baptismal
date for the 28th! It was so cool! I can't remember the last time
someone even accepted baptism at the harvest blessing, let alone a date!
We were super shocked! Hopefully her husband joins her!
Then we saw Thomas, who is always hilarious. He told us about Spiderman, and
how the worst part of the old one was how they try to make people think
Kirsten Dunst is attractive. We drew Helaman 9 with him and he managed
to use "I have a dream" in it. So funny.
Being way behind in
blessings, we went harvesting again. The second door we knocked was
Noni. She stood outside and preach to us for 45 minutes!! She told us
all about how sin keeps us from God and how we had the grace of Christ
to be saved, and how we need to read the Bible. At some point she hugged
me – a sweaty hug – and kissed the top of my head! Our only moment of
escape was when she went inside to get the book she had written about
inspiring youth to keep going! But, we decided that would be rude. She
also said that the elders were enslaved and that works are not necessary. We finally told her we had to go and she said a closing prayer and
we left. When we got home, Sister Lake and Sister Lire were freaking out
because there was a gecko in their room. It took 40 minutes, some
screaming, laughing, joking, and jumping, but we caught him and I took him
outside. They're literally hundreds of them outside, but it it is so
unsettling when they are in your home!
So today we did our
mandatory 45 minutes of Mormon. Org (you should check it out!) — Set out
to bless nine people. We are blessed a Hindu family, a cute – Catholic
woman, a Haitian man, and a banjo list, a female pastor, and a young
father who went to the church in Argentina. It took three hours because,
once again, we got stuck listening to Genova prophesy to us for 35
minutes about how change is coming and we will be preaching on TV and
radio and how God will impregnate us with abilities that we will need to have them multiplied five-fold and other similar
things. But she also told us we were angels sent to her and then she
gave us water and cold oranges. Best. Oranges. Ever. So it was worth
it!
We also got to teach me the restoration with Django
because she didn't really get it before she was baptized. She is super
sweet and made us cake and ice cream! Then we knocked doors for another
hour and a half and no one would even let us pray with them! Come on,
people! I'm beginning to see what it feels like to be a missionary and
other missions! And the most interesting day of the week:
Sunday.
Church was canceled.
Seriously.
The
YSA a branch was canceled because almost everyone went to the YSA
conference up in St. Cloud at the church ranch. So we did our best to
get our investigators and recent conference to go to the family ward.
Didn't work. We went to the Blue Lagoon ward with Diana (and no
investigators :( ). It was kind of nice to see another ward (bilingual).
Plus, we got a referral! We ate lunch under a gazebo at a park while it
rained and then we checked on the farmers, including Nancy who was
actually home this time! Yay! She also told us about going to prom in a
zebra hummer limo. Nice.
We drove down Joseph Serat's
(a member) home to have a lesson with Enmanuel. We again taught the
restoration with Jenga (third time!) and after two hours and discussing a
lot of questions, we set him with a baptismal date for the 29th! We
then harvested again and God blessed us with three more people to bless
so we could reach our goal!
I love you all! Have a wonderful day! Share the gospel! Love Hermana Sheffield
Sunday, July 1, 2012
What's Snappering?
June 25, 2012
Yes, transfers have come. And I am
Staying.
Here. In Snapper Creek (south Miami).
With
Sister Buckley!
(And the peasants rejoice.)
I am so glad I get to stay here! and to be in a normal two-person companionship will be a welcome change.
This week was pretty great. Last Monday we went to the Miami Zoo! We saw a koala and a bengal tiger and a lot of "nature". But there were a lot of animals so it was worth walking around in the heat to see them.
Speaking of heat, it is hot. And very rainy. It has been raining all week (which is way better than the hot hot heat of the sunshine) and no, we were not otherwise affected by the tropical storm.
On Friday we got a phone call from Elder Ho Ching and Elder Hanna telling us we were going to have a baptism on Sunday. They were teaching a family and their 21 year old daughter decided to get baptized with her brother. So, they were supposed to pass her to us
when they met her, but instead they taught her and she got baptized before church on sunday! Which is great, except she's never been to our Branch before. At least we know about her now, unlike Victor, who got baptized a few months ago into the family ward and then was promptly abandoned/forgotten by his missionaries and the ward. Oh well, that's another story.
Also on Sunday, David got baptized! We've been teaching him for a few weeks, but he has been taught by sisters for months and months on and off. He used to disappear sometimes, but now he's here for good! Plus, Javier (a recent convert) got to baptize him!
And Juan, the best convert ever, spoke at his baptism after speaking in church and making me cry because it was so good! AHH! I love this work!
I love all of you! Hope you have a great week!
Love, Hermana Sheffield
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