"Say both prayers, it'll be cool! All the way!"

Hello my people!

I'd like to start off my letter this week with a story that is an accurate representation of what it's like to serve in central Florida.

Yesterday we decided to call one of our recent converts (Betty) to see when we could meet with her. When we called her she said "hey! I just made a big pot of beans why don't you come over and have dinner with us?!" So we were excited for a surprise dinner and we headed over to her house. After dinner her husband Roy proceeded to pull out his dentures and licks them clean. He then said "I wouldn't trade these teeth for anything!"

And that my friends is what it's like to serve a mission in Florida.

This week has been good! We got David on date which means we have 7 people who have accepted the invitation to baptism! The struggle of our mission though is getting people to come to church. So keep praying for them and that the people we meet will have the desire to come to church as we didn't have anyone come yesterday.

This week has consisted of a lot of funny quotes. One of my favorite of which was when we had just finished reading a scripture to one of our investigators (Louis) and we asked him what stuck out to him and he responded "the chant..." We all panicked because there wasn't a chant in the scripture of any kind... then he said again "the chant... verily, verily." LIKE WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? haha Sister Guynn said "ya, verily means this is something really important and then he talks about baptism so that means it is important that you get baptized. Louis is usually a very confusing person and he always follows every comment with the phrase "do you know what I'm saying?" and we usually not our heads in agreement when on the inside we are yelling "no! We have no idea!" haha it's always a good time.

One of my other favorite moments of this week was when we were teaching Willy and all of his friends were coming in and out of the house interrupting and he got up and locked them all outside so they wouldn't interrupt. haha He's such a star and he loves the gospel.

haha so we have been laughing a lot this week.

I am also loving how much closer I feel to Christ when I wear his name on my tag everyday. I can never get enough scriptures in our hour of personal study in the morning and I have felt that my prayers have become a thousand times more meaningful. One of my favorite things that I heard this week at church was that we should make our knees the first part of our body that touches the ground everyday, not our feet. So I give you all the challenge to try that this week! I feel that God is my very best friend and I know for a fact that He does answer every prayer and that He has sent angels to walk with us everyday.

For those of you at home I also give you the challenge to do something nice for your missionaries in your ward, be it giving them a referral, serving dinner, or something else.

Here is a non-comprehensive list of out of context funny quotes from my week... I also decided to follow the example of my trainer and give you an out-of-context-quote as my subject line every week. Enjoy!

Has anyone ever told you that your name rhymes with quinoa?

It's better to be have to wait than to be dead!

Did you see me chinging on the swandelier?

I'm so excited... It's Christmas!!!

He didn't want to stay with you...

The chant... Verily verily

Say both prayers, it'll be cool! All the way!

Are you okay? Need water?

There's an alien... In my tree!!

Where's the wisdom??

The Holy Ghost descended in the form of a dove. The Holy Ghost

descended in the form of a dove!!

I think he really wanted to get put on date if you know what I mean

Have you ever seen a seahorse give birth?

Oh yes. The time change.

Gwynn you coming?

It's like my son has football practice, my daughter has cheer

practice. Like, did I even make it to that dinner?

I touched a snake today

Who's shaking a gourd outside my house??

Wait.. Blind people can't read sign language

Shoots out the bosom

Good thing we have that big box of.. Ehhh....

Down at the water trough like, hey Dave! Wait... Doesn't Dave have mono?

Hey cowboy boyfriend, can you show me how to sacrifice a Guinea pig?

Then get all competitive and sacrifice it BETTER than him!!!

So many cowboy points...

Man I'm DONE with these birds

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL week and keep me posted on all the amazing and hilarious things in your life. (also the mediocre and horrible things.... I want to hear those things too. Attached is a picture of us with the horseshoe crab I mentioned last week... and for those of you who were wondering it wasn't still alive. And the other picture is a picture of me and my trainer sharing a pair of shorts we got.

I love you all and hope you have a swell week!

p.s. Tomorrow is our first exchanges and I am leading out Leesburg as both of my companions are going to a different area. Ahh! Wish me luck!

 

 

The epistle from L-Beezy to L-Town

Hello friends and family!

I hope you are all having a marvelous week!

Okay so are you ready for God's choreography to blow your mind?!

So before my mission I used to go to lessons with these two sister missionaries; Sister Goormastic, and Sister Kapelli... They were the two sister missionaries that were there when I opened my mission call for those of you who were there... are you ready for this?

So Sister Mohenoa (my comp) knows Sister Kapelli's brother and kind of knows her from Tonga, and sister Guynn (my other comp) was one of Sister Goormastic's best friends in high school... like she drove her to school all the time.

RIGHT?!? We freaked out for several hours about it yesterday.

So here's my crazy awesome week:

We DOUBLED our number of Gators with a baptismal date yesterday! So right now we have Louis, Willy, Julia, Kiki, Kristi, and Ana! Pray for them that they will continue to progress in the gospel! They are all set for November so the month of thanks is going to be a hoppin’ month! I love them all so much I can't handle it!

We also have David and Justin who are pretty golden if I do say so myself. We are hoping to get them on date this week! Pray for them! We also have several other amazing gators and LARCs we are teaching such as Sister Trembly who is a recent convert that came to church for the second time in 15 years on Sunday! And Betty who is a RC who also came to church on Sunday, and Matthew and Babeann's family who have been coming to church!

We also have a potential named Tig who has like 18 motorcycles in his house and he has a white beard that has ponytails in it. He is super cool and the nicest person ever! We went to his house this week and he had a huge horseshoe crab just hanging in his tree. It was the weirdest thing and I really wish I would have taken a picture of it! (I have been terrible at taking pictures this week.)

The weather is great here! It's perfectly cool and the sky is always beautiful. I'm in a full car mission so I don't have to ride my bike in the sun, although I did get a nice tan (sunburn) this week when our car battery died and we had to stand in the sun while we got it jumped (twice) but we got a new battery and my burn has faded so life is good!

In response to my mom's questions from last week; we have dinner appointments a few times a week, but the craziest thing I've eaten is hamburgers thus far. haha. We do have a washer and dryer in our house so that's a blessing! I do Steph's conditioning every morning for a half hour so S/O to Steph for keeping me from getting fat on my mission! You're a peach! My skin feels great in the humidity and my hair is only slightly frizzy so that's a good time.

Also, S/O to my tumbling friends and students! Send me an email telling me how tumbling is going because Coach Sister Reid wants to hear! Also, tell all the other kids on team to do the same!

I want you all to know that I love you and that I love this gospel. God is so present in our lives and because He loves us He has given us so many gifts; my favorite of which would probably be my amazing friends and family. Thank you for everything and keep sending me love.

"God is good all the time, and all the time God is good."

Keep reading your scriptures, and don't forget to say your prayers.

     -♥-

Sister Reid

Greetings from Leesburg, Florida

Whitney's first letter from the mission field.  

October 10, 2015

 

Hello my people!

I'M A REAL MISSIONARY, IN A REAL AREA, WITH A REAL COMPANION, TALKING ABOUT THE REAL GOSPEL!

I am LOVING it here in Leesburg! I am in the Leesburg Ward in the Leesburg Area and my companions are Sister Mohenoa (on my right) from Tonga and our trainer is Sister Guynn (on my left) from Connecticut. They are both super great and we have a lot of fun together!

The work is going AMAZING here. There are so many people ready to hear the gospel which makes for a slightly stressful time because there is not enough time to see everyone we would like to. But, that's okay and I am thankful for it. Some of our most prepared "gators" are Willie and Julia. Willie always says "I love the gospel! I'm a Mormon!" and then whenever he reads the scriptures he just says "THAT’S RIGHT!" And another one of our investigators that we just met this week is named David. He is so prepared and after I bore my testimony to him he told me I could lead a football team with my testimony... which I thought would make a pretty funny Mormon message if I do say so myself. I mean.. can you picture a 4'10" white girl bearing her testimony of Joseph Smith to a bunch of football players right before a game? I thought it was funny.

The hardest part about missionary work is having to drop investigators that you love because they aren't progressing. It basically rips your heart out. It also is a lot of getting out of your comfort zone because talking to strangers is not something that comes naturally in the slightest but "there is no growth in your comfort zone.

Some of the other crazy events would include the crazy Romanian guy that tried to convince us we were going to Hell... and the door contact where we taught the restoration to a guy wearing only a towel. I have yet to see an alligator but I will see one soon I can feel it! We know of several places where they are, but they have been hiding every time we have looked. GOTTA LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

While I'm not able to email any time except for Monday, I am able to read emails just about every day on my iPad! So send me emails! Also, send me pictures because I love seeing all of your faces.

For my scripture study this week I have studied John 21 as well as the talk by Elder Holland called "The First Great Commandment" I recommend you study both of those together!

And my ponderize scripture (If you don't know what that is, please go watch conference!) for last week is D&C 68:6 (surprise...) and mine from this week is D&C 122:9. What are your ponderize scriptures? Fear not my friends!

I love this gospel and I love being a missionary and I love all of you!