Friday, November 18, 2016

"Well a doctor can't baptize a baby anyways..."



Oh heYYYYYYY'all

How's it goin'?

I just... my week was really good. 😶

On Monday we arose early in the mornin' we drove out to the very edge of the United States. We had a splendid beach P-Day. Sister Hart and Staten were the only ones there when we got there so I got to watch the sunrise over the ocean with my best friend for lyfeee. We also found a jelly fish so that's cool. 😎 Then everyone in the zone showed up and I convinced the entire zone to take a High School Musical jumping pic and it worked.... almost. 

THEN we went to the church and Elder Dummer and Goff made breakfast for the entire zone. Bless them. 

THEN WE WENT TO HANGAR 15 (a new trampoline park) AND I GOT TO JUMP ON EURO TRAMPOLINES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 13 MONTHS. 

(For those of you who don't know, I was a competitive tumbler/trampolinist before the mission. Euro tramps are the fancy trampolines I used to compete on.)

*passes out from experiencing pure joy*

It was glorious.

Pres. Clark texted the ZLs and told them we can't do flips though. I was a lil bummed but it's okay. He has priesthood keys.

So there was this half pipe thing next to the foam pit. The goal was to run down one side and try to make it all the way up the other side. So there I am standing there thinking "ya know... I could probably make it up to the other side." Pretty soon a bunch of other missionaries were gathered around cheering for me. 

I ran....

Okay so there is this thing called gravity and...

I fell splat on my face. And just smacked into the other side of the half pipe and just slid down a little and then just laid there on my face and was like "well this is embarrassing." 😂😆

It's fine though because I got up and tried again and made it the second time. 😎 Everybody clapped for me.

I also (almost) won an intense game of dodge ball. I was doing pretty good and was the last one standing on my side and then the army threw dodge balls at me and I lost. But I (almost) won...

After my much needed trampoline time I went back to the church and started working on a job application.... much less fun than the trampoline park. Can I just be a missionary for forever?

After PDay we taught Josh. He's the coolest. Then we taught Sister Corron and the Powell family. 

On TUESDAY 

wow... I'm only on Tuesday? Sorry friends... this is going to be a long email...

We went to service at Habitat for Humanity. Then the Vanderslice's picked us up and took us to lunch. They took us to this fun Mexican place and I just had such a swell time. After that we taught Cody. His mom still REALLLLLYYYYYYY doesn't like us. 🙄😐 Then we taught Tammy. I love Tammy. It was the happiest lesson I've ever had with her. Then we taught my faves Brittany, Melody, and Milady with the Thorpe family. We taught the Word of Wisdom. #D&C89MYFRIENDSSSS It was a slam dunk lesson. They are the literal coolest ever. The Thorpe's are pretty cool too and ahh God is so good. 😊 After that we met with Brother and Sister Blazo and had a fun visit with them.

On WEDNESDAY we woke up and found out who is going to be the President so that was exciting... we had District Meeting and I said the invocation. It was Elder Dummer's birthday and I got to eat a cupcake. Happy Birthday Elder Dummer! 🎉🎈THEN WE WENT AND CONTACTED THIS POTENTIAL SISTER SIMPSON AND I HAD MET NAMED KURT AND HE WAS ALL "UH HOW COME YOU NEVER CAME BACK? I'M TOTALLY INTERESTED."

What? 

Then we saw Dillon...

The first time I met Dillon I was with Sis Simpson and he was outside sharpening his ax... 😳😶 he also had no front teeth and wasn't real interested in our message so we peaced out real fast. ✌🏻️ Flash forward several months to this week and HNA Jones and I are driving down the road and we see a guy crouched down collecting acorns. 🐿🐿🐿 

Acorn collectors need the gospel. 

Obviously. 

So we pulled over and guess who it was! TOOTHLESS DILLON! He was telling us about how there were people before the American Indians. Well guess what, we have a record of those people in our purse! WHATTTT?! We need to baptize ax sharpening, acorn collection, toothless Dillon. He's cool.

Then we visited the Upfold's. Brother Upfold is this little old man that was in a car accident recently and has broken ribs. Brother Upfold told us his WHOOOOLLLLEEEEE conversion story. It was actually a really good story. Then he whipped out his guitar and this little old man with broken ribs starts playing the guitar like there's no tomorrow. I tell you this guy belongs in Nashville. 

I sang some country music with him for a bit.

Then we had dinner with the Wells. I looooooovvvvvvveeeeee them. Brother Wells promised me that when I come back to visit he'll take me in his private airplane and take me flying in the Florida Heavens. Oh how glorious! ✈️✈️✈️

Then we drove to Bunnell and I got to exchange with Sister a Yance who is a literal SAINT. I just love her. 😃

On THURSDAY we got up and went to teach their investigator named Amanda the Word of Wisdom. 🍺🍷☕️🚬🙅🏼🙅🏼‍♂️ Then we went to Habitat for Humanity and organized some Christmas stuff. Elder Honda gave me a dirty socks flavored jelly bean and my mouth will never be the same. Thanks Elder Honda. Then we ran over to and taught Billy and then we taught Ben! Last time I was on exchanges was the day they met Ben and now he is getting baptized on December 3rd! 🎉🙏🏼🤘🏼He is so great. When they give him pamphlets he goes to town studying them and he was showing me the chastity pamphlet and how frustrated he was that there weren't any lines by the additional study questions so he could take notes. 😂 We taught him the Law of Chastity and it was a wonderful lesson! 

After Ben's lesson we went and contacted a referral and all of their neighbors. I don't know if you know this, but in Florida all of the fire hydrants are different colors. In Bunnell they are blue with white tops and they look like smurfs so I took a picture with one. Then we had dinner with the McMillan's. Then we went and visited the Bristols who I met last time I was in Bunnell. They were fun. 

The Bristols gave us fruit and when we left they gave us a bowl of fruit with these shawer cap looking cover things on them. So when we got in the car we decided to try them on... obviously. Then we went and took a picture with a giant manatee statue. Then we got frosted lemonades at chick-fil-a and car contacted people at stoplights. I swear I haven't had that much fun in a long time. Thanks Sister Yance! I love you lots!

Then we exchanged back and I got HNA Jones back!

(I'm seriously so sorry for how long this email is...)

On FRIDAY we weekly planned. Then we taught Milady the Word of Wisdom and she drew a really cute picture of me. Then we taught Warren who is a new investigator that is a COP! 👮🏼He was all "if y'all ever run into any trouble call me and I'll get ya help faster than 911 will." Thanks Warren! Oh man he is SO COOL! He also told me I need to buy pepper spray. Then we went and exchanged with the Daytona sisters and Sister Badal (Bad Al) came to partayyy with me in Port Orange.

➡️ Side note: THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of our veterans out there. We appreciate your service. Thank you for keeping this country free and safe.

On SATURDAY we went and had a splendid lesson with Brother Harper. Then we did some finding on the Inlet and I GOT TO SEE THE LIGHTHOUSE! I've been talking about how I want to go see it for the last fifteen weeks... I FINALLY GOT TO SEE IT AND IT WAS GLORIOUS! We also found a cute little ice cream shop down there by the lighthouse and I got pumpkin ice cream to celebrate fall (because in Florida you celebrate fall with Icecream...) and then I contacted the owners and told them about how cool it is to be Mormon. We found some less actives and part-member families on the inlet and it was great! Then we came back up to the main land and taught the Orbans. Love them. Then we taught Junior. The kid is getting baptized real soon and I'm so pumped. Then we had dinner with the Wrens. Brother Wren IS SANTA. 🎅🏻 They are so cool. Then we went and taught Rod. ROD IS MY FAVORITE! Haha 

Then we exchanged back and Sister Carter and Sister Jones were talking so Sister Badal and I decided to go wash off our thick layers of bug spray #NOZIKA so we were both standing in the bath tub in our dresses splashing each other with water. Then they didn't have any towels so we were all "I guess we should go roll around on the carpet for a bit." Hahahaha I always have a grand time with Sister Badal. 😂😂

SUNDAY we went to our mornin' meetings and then went to church. ROD CAME TO CHURCH. I don't know if you understand the significance of this... he was baptized last March and hasn't been to church since his baptism. I've been working with him since I got to the area. Seeing him walk into the chapel brought tears to my eyes. God is good my friends. God is good. The primary program was this week so we listened to cute kids. TWO of our little investigators participated and Josh gave a talk! Ahhhh my heart was oh so happy. After church we had choir and then went and taught Josh about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. Your body is a temple my friends.

➡️Side note: wouldn't it be cool if we had Mormon emojis? Like we need a little temple and a Book of Mormon.... ya?

After that we taught Milady and had dinner with the Doss family. Same old couple that made me drink fancy sparkily French water that didn't taste too good and that put out more knives than I knew what to do with. I still didn't know what to do with the knives, but I had a good time. We also saw the Hewletts in the evening and OH MAN OH MAN IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG. They are my number one forever and always and it was so fun to see them again. 




So there y'all have it. My week in book form. Sorry it was rather lengthy, but so much happens in a missionary's week that I just can't leave anything out. To my missionary friends out there, just remember how sacred this time is. This is the greatest work we will ever do.  I don't want to miss a second of it.



KEEP READING YOUR SCRIPTURES AND SAYING YOUR PRAYERS AND DON'T EVER FORGET HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU AND HOW MUCH YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN LOVES YOU. ⬅️ That's a fact. He loves you lots!



I love y'all more than Floridians love using their metal detectors on the beach! 🏝













Sister Whitney Reid
🍍🍋🍍🍋🍍🍋🍍🍋

No comments:

Post a Comment

Leave me a comment! I'd love to hear from you!