"What's the leading cause of dry skin?" "towels!"

Jan. 04, 2016

Hello my wonderful people!

So.... TRANSFERS! I have been transferred again! haha Three areas in three months! And this is my sixth and seventh companions! haha! I am in the BUENA VISTA YSA WARD WITH SISTER LEWIS AND SISTER DURAN!!! Holy cow. I love it here.

So for those of you who don't know the Buena Vista YSA ward is the DISNEY WORLD WARD! All of he Disney workers are in my ward so I know lots of people that are "friends" with Disney characters. (If someone says they are "friends" with a character that means they play that character.) There are lots of people that come in on the CP program and stay for a few months so we basically get a new ward every three months and that is happening next week so it will be really exciting! (Shaquille O'Neal's house is also in my are and we drive past it often so that's exciting! haha)

Our ward has a really fun feel to it. Everyone loves the missionaries and I feel like we have a lot of people looking out for us. And the best part is that they are all my age! I feel like I am more myself in this ward than I have been in any of my other wards. I also feel like I have known some of the members of this ward for my entire life even though I just met them.

On Tuesday was transfers and it is always SO MUCH FUN to see all the missionaries in the mission. It is always so fun to be with the people that are doing the same work and having the same challenges and living the same way as you. It's also a blast to see past companions.

On Wednesday we visited a lot of people and went on splits with a member to go finding. We have been trying to do that a lot this week where one of us goes with a member and the other two of us stay together and we go visit less actives or the people that the member visit teaches. It has been really fun and we have seen a lot of blessings come from it and it has also strengthened the members a lot. We also took one of our members (named Whitney whoo!!) with us to go finding and I swear I have not laughed so hard in my life. There were literal tears and I just felt like I was with my friends again. THESE ARE MY PEOPLE.

On Thursday (New Years Eve) we had district meeting and our district is made up of the Spanish Elders and sisters and the YSA elders and sisters and the STLs. It is a fun group and I am excited for the things we are going to do this transfer! We visited several people and had dinner at Olive Garden with a member. I also met with the relief society president and first counselor and we talked about what we can do to help them with the sisters in the ward.

On Friday (New Years Day!!) we did weekly planning all day. We had dinner with a member and then stopped by a one of our less active's house and watched the Disney World fireworks from her porch (whoo!!) This area is seriously so incredible!

On Saturday we met with President Berry and discussed what we can do to find all of these new CPs coming in this week because we are all worried about the CPs slipping through the cracks and it is so hard to find people in this area. He is so helpful and he cares so much about this work and I am so grateful to have him as a mission president.

On Sunday we had church and I just can't handle how spiritual this ward is (yay for YSA wards that are reverent during the sacrament!) We had an investigator (Allison) come and she stayed for all three hours and really felt the spirit!! And then we studied at one of our members houses since our apartment is so far away from the church. Then we dropped by some peoples houses and then went back to the church for Break the Fast and had dinner with the ward Allison came to that and then she had night sacrament! Since Disney is so strict with schedules this ward has a night sacrament so that the Disney workers can still take the sacrament even if they have to work during the day. It was so awesome to have two powerful spiritual sacrament meetings in one day!!

I am doing really good and this was probably my favorite week I've had on my mission so far. I have come to love people so quickly and while it is SO HARD switching areas after only 6 weeks I'm grateful I have been blessed to spend time in Leesburg, Daytona, and Buena Vista and for all the people I've been able to meet over the last 13 weeks.

I love you all and I just want you to know that I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that He loves each of you so much and that He is always there for you if you call out to Him. Being His missionary has changed my life so much and I will ever be grateful for the opportunity I've been given to serve and that I get to spend this entire year in His service!

I love you all to the moon to Utah to Florida and back. I hope you are all doing well and that you have a great start to this new year!

Don't forget to be awesome!