Letter #44

Dear Family!!!

This has been a great week :) Very exhausting; but GREAT!!! :)  I am pretty sure I told you, but just in case the highlight of the week had to be Klyer getting baptized! (I'm pretty sure I told you a little about him a couple weeks ago.) He is 16 years old and just the sweetest young man. He is very polite and well behaved. :) He say's "Yes Mam." which I honestly don't like only because it makes me feel old :(  He just showed up at church one day (BTW I love that when it happens) with his grandma. :) She is the loudest Italian Grandma you'll ever meet. hahaha! She brought him and he really enjoyed church and he wanted to learn more. He hes been researching different church's for a while I guess. He just had not been able to find one that fit... until he came to ours! :) He was raised Catholic and that didn't fit, he tried Lutheran, some Southern Baptist and even tried being a Jehovah Witness. He said he loves that our church actually practices what it preaches. :)

We taught him and he was ready to get baptized since the first lesson, he is just so great!! :) I love seeing how the Lord prepares people... he gives us experiences so we will be ready for the next part of our plan :) It was so neat while I recited the first vision to him... he was so great! I've never had anyone react like he did. His eyes just got wide during the lesson and I could tell he was just soaking and taking it all in :) He was saying "WOW" when we got to the part about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith. It was very refreshing for me... not everyone reacts like that. hahaha So this baptism was great. :) I wish we would have had more support from the ward, but it ended up fine.

It might just be in my case... but the day before a baptism is always crazy and hectic. (maybe it's just some missionaries idk?) We have the craziest day before the baptism. It started off that we were out of miles for the month for the car. (and that's part of the reason this week been so exhausting) So we have been biking and tracking a lot! Oh yeah I have been meaning on telling you for a while; in Brooksville we are on full time car. I hate it... I've gotten really fat! Well... not really fat, but my clothes are getting a little to tight for my liking! hahaha I have to do "6 months to sexy" before long, have you heard about that? I guess some of the elders do it, when they are getting close to getting home so they want to look good. So they start working out hard to get rid of all the mission weight. hahaha  I have heard that missionary weigh just falls off. I'm banking on that so hopefully the Lord will bless me :0  Well that was a weird tangent. ANYWAY..

I have learned I get easily distracted or I get off topic easily... What was I saying? hahahahaha... Saturday the day of Kyler's baptism. We didn't have any miles left so we got a ride with the a member. Her car broke down and we had to walk to go get gas. We ended up having to stall for the baptism font to fill up! It was crazy but great. We got to spend all day with this awesome lady that just move into our ward. We got to hear her conversion story! Those are my favorite stories to hear.

So Monday we biked and it felt so good to be on a bike again. It's weird but for whatever reason I don't feel like a missionary being on full time car. However, everything is so far between in Spring Hill area that we biked around all night and didn't get as much done. (so I see the advantage of being on full time car; it just doesn't feel the same) Oh, and we got lost in the dark; Sister O's GPS died. It made for an interesting night to say the least! hahaha
 

On Tuesday we got to see one of my favorite investigators :0 Disha! :) She is so fun, I just love teaching people close to my age. :) Sometimes we get off topic and talk about boys! hahaha She has got a lot of boy troubles. I keep telling her she needs to find herself a "good Mormon boy" :)  ahahah

Then Wednesday was the craziest. I almost to a ticket!! We were parked on some guys lawn... (btw everyone does that in Flordia) however this guys called the cops on us. I was freaking out! Luckily the Lord was watching over us and sent us the nicest cop I have ever meet. She just gave us a talking too... but really she just turned her back from the people's house and told us it wasn't a big deal, and not to worry about it to much. :) After that we went to the best Chinese Buffet ever!! Seriously it was good! They had a make your own chow mein! We may have skipped breakfast and lunch so we could eat more! haha 

 

I have been trying to read more General Conference talk throughout the week. I was reading last months Ensign and found the best article. It was called Move Forward With Faith... I took a little part and wanted to share it with you :) 

"During my time in Finland, I taught and baptized three people. Up to that time I had never experienced the great joy I felt as I watched someone accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. But the truth is, there was a fourth convert—me. Had I labored all my days and converted only myself, the experience would still have been worth it to me.

The Lord needs you on a mission, but perhaps even more important, you need a mission for yourself. It is there you will feel and understand the sweet whispering's of the Spirit and learn the lessons you need to know to be a good husband or wife, a good parent, and an outstanding member of the Church.

If you are worried about serving a mission, follow the Savior’s call. You will need to exercise both faith and courage to leave the roundabout of indecision, but choosing to serve a mission will be one of the most important decisions you make in your life."

I just really loved it... it just really hit me and it is so true!!!!!! I have learned and have grown so much from my mission. I have gained a testimony and feel like I have converted myself to this gospel. I know it's true with all my heart and couldn't deny it. I always say it's the reason why I am so happy.
Well yet again I'm running short on time :(  I love you guys all!! Thank you for all the love and support you give me :0 I love you all so very much :0 God be with you till we meet again :) LOVE YOU!!!! 

~Sister Sharon Andersen