May 24, 2010

the last couple of weeks have been pretty... ok really slow but we're hoping they'll pick up soon. This week i'm spending 3 days up north on exchanges in plantation at the YSA branch there. Also- i never got your letter. maybe i'll get it today. and we had ppi's this week with president and i'm going to be in Miami Beach for quite a while. He said "I haven't accomplished what i need to here yet and i will be here for a time so unpack all my suitcases. put them away and get comfortable" which means i'll be in the hottest area of the mission for the hottest months of the year. i'll probably be here until at least August. That means i'll be spending all of hurricane season here as well. It was a good interview. I think hermana is leaving. Transfers are June 2 so my P-day will be next tuesday instead of Monday. I'll be spending 3 days with an english only companion. It will be good though. Fort Lauderdale is a pretty normal place and is pretty normal people unlike the beach. We got a new investigator a week ago and she loves everything we teach. she's a black girl named H. she's 18 and lives in liberty city. She's funny. she loves grits on toast with jelly and eggs...weird. she has a baptism date for the 13th but she kinda dissapeared the last 3 days and we haven't heard from her. We are meeting with L again. She's amazing but we didn't hear from her for like 2 weeks. We also have W. He has a baptism date for the 5th but we have to change it because he hasn't come to church. He's 22 and from Columbia. He's been here for about 2 months and only speaks spanish. Thats pretty much it for now.

Way down at the bottom of southbeach you find all old people- REALLY old people. They're pretty much all cuban and they'll all listen to us but none of them will come to church so we don't spend much time down there. For the most part we know if they're sincere. Thankfully we have the gift of discernment to see. One of the hardest things honestly is getting people to come to church. They're used to just going to mass on christmas and easter and they have "jesus in their hearts" all the time. There isn't really a normal age. We had our lemonade stand and some days were good others weren't. Mostly we ended up with brazilians. The problem with that is they can understand us but we don't understand them. They used to have a portuegese branch here and port. missionaries but they got in trouble for some stuff and got pulled out. There is a sister in the mission right now from brazil and Hermana Felton is predicting she'll be in here next with me, but we'll see. The YSA branch loves us but the spanish branch still isn't super excited.

May 17, 2010

there are some changes at the libraries here so i only have 10 min on the computer and will have to mail a letter today instead of e-mail. I didn't teach much this week because I had the flu for 2 days and hermana had it for 1 and then the another day we were in Ft Laud for her doctors appointments. its been a crazy week but thankfully the Lord helped us to both be healthy on Saturday so we could have a baptism for Carlos. I got a blessing from Elder Hogge though and am feeling way better today. Elder hogge is a senior elder. He and his wife take REALLY good care of us. They serve in the YSA branch with us. Sister Hogge is our FAVORITE. out of time... I LOVE YOU

May 3, 2010

i'm pretty good. i think we got rid of the fleas this week but we got new friends... cockroaches! ugh SO GROSS! and they aren't just regular cockroaches, they're florida cockroaches which are like 4 inches long but we bug bombed again so hopefully we have killed them too. i'm seriously terrified of them haha

Q from Mom: Is there anything besides bugs there?
A from Hermana: yeah lots of crazy people haha

Q: Are you safe? Are you riding the bike at all? What are you doing about clothes? Are you eating at all? Are you feeling better?
A: of course i'm safe. the lord protects us when we're doing his work if we're being obedient. we aren't riding the bike right now because our area is easier to walk than to ride because of the traffic and stuff but we have a couple times and i will in other areas. For clothes i'm just making do with what i have and watching out for new ones when we're in stores that have them. a few of them don't have holes all the way through yet the fabric is just threaded so i just wear something else under it haha yes we're eating. we get groceries every monday at publix and i'm feeling a little better. i heat my back a few times a day and the knot is starting to go away and now i'm just trying to get rid of the headaches. i think its from dehydration and stress so i'm working on drinking more water. the second you walk out the door all your clothes are wet and its been almost 90 degrees. killer. but i'm doing fine. don't worry!

Q: How far are you from South Beach? Is that a separate zone? How many miles does your area cover? Are you getting lots of rain?
A: south beach is like 10 miles away and its part of our area but we don't go down there very often. its a huge party and drug area. its the spring break area and its the largest population of gay people in i think all the united states. we just try to keep it at like once a week.

Q: Did you ever find out why he made the change (Mission President putting her and her companion as teaching all YSA in the area)? How often do you talk to him? How would you describe your mission? How much longer will he be your mission president? What is your favorite part of the mission? Did you get any new investigators yet? We do pray for them to be receptive.
A: yeah we always have new investigators. the crazy thing about here is we've been meeting quite a few brazilians which is rare. my comp says i'm a brazilian magnet because i love them and we keep finding them. she has a hard time working with them though. president hale will go home one transfer after me so i'm really excited about that. he's amazing! he is ALWAYS changing things and very in tune with the spirit. we are actually the only mission in the world that can text people and also the last day of our missions he has gotten permission to take us to Orlando for a temple session. we're also praying right now for cuba to open and it would possibly start out with missionaries from our area if it does

the brazilians have a hard time committing but they're really receptive to the message and they're really nice people. they like to ask tons of questions though. i'm enjoying it. Every day at 9 am and 9:30 pm the mission has mighty prayer where the entire mission is praying at the same time. there are specific things we continually pray for at this time as well as specific things we need in our area. for the 6 months before a temple was announced that is what they prayed for and they were told it would be a few years and then it was announced! there is so much power in mighty prayer. right now we are praying for the temple to be built quickly for the members here and also for cuba to open. they have been working on it but there have been some political problems. it was so good to chat with you today. i love hearing from you and knowing what is going on in your lives. I'm so grateful for you all! families are truly a great blessing from the Lord and the foundation of this gospel. I hope everything is going well and i will call you on sunday! i'll call your cell phone. LOVE YOU!

The following is a copy of what she sent to her Mission President this week:
This week has really made me appreciate my family and the life i've grown up with. We are continuing to see satan's attack on the family every day and especially here in Miami Beach the last couple of weeks. It's so hard to see marriages just fall apart after 4 to 18 years or even more. The worst though is to see the affect on the children. They don't deserve it and yet they have to live through it. They grow up without the guidance of both of their parents and often times the gospel on one side or the other. I never realized how much i've taken advantage of the fact that i have a mom and a dad who are both very active in the church. They have raised me to find out for myself if the church is true but guided me along the way. They love each other and i've never seen them yell at each other or fight. I didn't realize how few children in the world are given that blessing. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me the life that he has. I can't imagine where i would be without it. The family truly is the foundation of this gospel. I love it!

April 26, 2010

hey Fam! so there have been some major changes in our area this week. On thursday night we were told there would be a conference call we needed to be in but didn't know who else would be on it or what was it for... needless to say we were a little nervous. When we called in we found out it was all the missionaries in our stake which is about 18 sets. The assistants announced that Me and my companion will now be teaching all YSA investigators. They will find them and we will teach them as well as the work that we have with our spanish branch. They will be giving us more miles and we will be doing a lot of driving around Miami. The bad part is they told me i'm driving this month... Hermana is right now and they've changed it on us every month which is really weird because you're not supposed to drive until like your 3rd transfer. I asked if I have to drive and they said they might think about having her. I just don't know my way around. plus the drivers are CRAZY. They all think they're still in their countries where there are no laws so they just do what they want. lights and stuff mean nothing. They're definitely worse drivers than in Europe. way worse!
The Book of Mormon program is going SO good. It has completely changed the branch. They are actually motivated to do it which is an amazing thing because normally they are only motivated by fiestas. We talk to at least two familys every night to check up on their reading. Almost everyone in the ward has said that at the beginning they thought it was an awful idea and they didn't want to do it but now they have seen the change and know that its what they needed. Its amazing to see such a physical change in people as they learn and grow in the gospel. This week on sunday something else cool happened. There is a samoan kid in the branch and he brought his fiance this week and she's samoan too. she's prob like 6 foot. way tall but i was talking to her and she said she was a return missionary from the kirtland historic sights mission. as it turns out she was b (my roommate)'s companion! so fun. and i also met a girl the sunday before who is a return missionary and my roommate at the mtc replaced her in her companionship so she got to work with her for a day and then she was just here visiting miami beach. it is such a small world when you're a member.I'm trying to think what else has been going on but i can't really think. We still have our couch but i think we'll haul it out this week. most of our bites now are just mosquitos. they're way bad here. oh and that epistle thing was awesome.. yeah?? haha i got it from some book in our apartment and i just had to send it. I thought it was hilarious and totally me so i just had to.

This week we started teaching a few new people. One of them is l and her daughter S. They are the sweetest. she's prob about 20 and s is 3. They are loving the lessons. Especially the plan of salvation. And s absolutely loves primary. L was really worried because she had never left her before anywhere. we told her we would just show her where the class was. S walked in, waved goodbye to her mom and started playing haha. the next week she ran down the hallway and straight in her class and didn't even say goodbye. I think L will be baptized in a few weeks. Last night we went on our first exchanges with the relief society president. It was me with the two members who speak no english and hermana went with the one who speaks fluent english. I wasn't very excited at first but I loved it! it was so fun. Plus even though i speak horribly I can at least understand and they know what I'm saying. plus they said i know more spanish than they've learned english in over 9 years and they know how hard it is so they're really understanding. We went and visited some of the hermanas in the ward.

You asked what the hardest part has been so far and its definitely seeing the family situations and broken homes. Its just devastating. Especially families that have problems with abuse. Most children don't have a clue who their fathers are. Mostly its single moms. The ones that do have parents watch them fight all the time. I'm so grateful for the family i have.I have been more blessed than i ever knew. The Lord has been so good to our family. I love you all. Take care!

April 20, 2010

The fleas are still alive as ever and now something else is coming out. the other day i got like 20 new bites in like an hour but i don't know what from. I hate bug spray but i'll definitely will be using it. we're gonna have some members of the ward help haul out our couch this weekend and we'll just sit on the floor until they can get us a new one. When your at the store and in reno can you keep your eyes out for rice krispys. we use them alot here but they are now 5 dollars a box! the latins have never had them before and are loving them so we do some sister proselyting and take rice krispy treats and notes to people in the ward or investigators sometimes. it has been really successful in this area. and also any mormon tabernacle choir you can get your hands on. its the only music we can listen to now and we don't have any.
its going to get more humid because the rainy season is coming. Plus we're in the most humid area of the mission i think anyway just because of our location.

So i noticed the craziest thing this week. When it rains worms don't come out. I was so dissapointed. Instead it's snails. I'll always be a worm girl. Every day while i'm here i try and find the strangest animal i can. it's been really fun. There are lots of weird fish and stuff. Plus there are green parrots that got out of the zoo during hurricane andrew and now they're everywhere. I've also seen snails, an iguana, tons of lizards, parrots, horseshoe crab?? (it was like 2 feet long), squid, dolphins, a stork (about 3 or 4 feet tall). its so fun. i always try and get pictures so i can send them home to courtney and the boys but i haven't printed them yet.

K so as far as the work goes right now its a little slow but it's picking up. I love it here though. Right now we are building trust with people and just trying to help where we can. the leadership in the branch is really burnt out so we're just letting them know we care. Hopefully c will be baptized this next week. He is a friend of in inactive family that just came back. He has been very religious but now wants to get baptized. He's just waiting to receive an answer wether Joseph Smith is a prophet. We're probably going to fast with him this week. He has accepted everything else and is progressing really quickly. We found out because of some stuff M may not be able to be baptized for about 10 or 12 more weeks. Thats a bummer because we might not be here still but we're still working with her. She's AMAZING. I really like working with the YSA. Another funny thing is that last week I got called up to speak in the YSA branch for the second time without warning but not Hermana. Thats just my lot in life i guess haha. i had 3 people come up to me afterwards though and tell me i'm a really good speaker and asked where it comes from. I got to tell them about my experiences with public speaking with Mr Dahl. I knew all that would pay off some day! also on the FFA topic I was visiting with one of the YSA kids and he was talking about how the newspaper was saying how bad slaughter houses are and how chickens are locked up and treated cruely and stuff. I about died... i can't believe people believe that stuff. We had a long farm talk so i could clear things up haha Life is wonderful and this gospel is AMAZING. I'm so grateful to be a missionary and have this opportunity to be his servant. I love you all! thank you for all your support and love and prayers!

April 12, 2010

I love getting your letters. As far as fleas go they aren't quite so bad, someone told us that Borax kills them and that is helping but not completely. We found out they have even been sprayed or bug bombed at least 5 times in 3 months- we're suprised we're still alive let alone them haha but Pres told us this week that he's getting us a new couch which should solve the problem. The new problem though is the bugs outside. The mosquitos eat us up really good and i just can't bring myself to pay 10 dollars for some cutter bug spray... such a rip off! that and i'm poor so my legs are just covered in random bites haha the worst is when they get under your skirt and bite you like crazy.

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. This place is beautiful. We love it! The work this week has been really slow but we're praying it will get better. Here is a little update on our investigators

A- He has so much knowledge and knows its true but is trying everything he can to prove it wrong logically. He's hardened his heart quite a bit and we're not sure why. We're just praying for him to soften it again and accept revelation.He is in the YSA branch but we think he might be over 30 and he doesn't speak spanish or have a car so i don't know what we'll do. He would have to take the bus for like 30 minutes and i don't know if he'll do that. He likes the people in the YSA branch.

M- We love her! she turned 18 this week so we decorated her room for her birthday which was great because it gave us the opportunity to talk to her mom who for now isn't interested but she loves us so we're making progress. It was her mom's b-day this week too and we wrote her card with our testimonies telling her the greatest b-day gift we could give her is the opportunity to live with mildred as a family forever. We haven't seen her since then so we'll so how it goes.

S- He is the husband of a member. He is way awesome. He had some problems but is changing. They got in a fight this week though and he decided he doesn't want anything to do with learning about the church. But then the whole family showed up to church on sunday! we were so excited! we were actually the first set of missionaries or people from the church he's been willing to meet with. He has always hid in the back room when they came over and most recently wouldn't let any males from the church over to their house. we love their family!

P- He is a beach bum from Brazil. We lost contact with him and have "randomly" run into him everywhere since then. The Lord is definitely helping with this one. This week he asked us if we were always so happy and if we always had this light about us and if we were for real or just faking it. A great opportunity to teach! He is also YSA. Pray that he comes to church this sunday. We've really been trying to work on that. Also he worked and lived with the natives in brazil for a while and learned how to make the most GORGEOUS jewelry and with amethysts and pearls and all kinds of rare stones from Brazil.

Those are our most solid investigators right now. We love them all and pray for them constantly!

Also this will suprise you mom but you sent that make up and the beige one is the one that matches! i'll use the other one and just mix it with some bronzer. I really appreciate you sending me everything. We get a lot of sun around here! I have an amazing farmers tan. I'd venture to say it beats kyle's in the summer :)

Every P-day since we got here it has rained and you just get kind of chilled and then the other days you melt and i think its that change that is getting to me. I can't believe it took 5 weeks to find out we're 3rd cousins! so fun though. Her mom was so excited to talk to you about it. And her Grandpa was even more excited! i heard he's going to call aunt Frances and talk to her about it. I know that us being companions is one of the reasons i have been placed in miami beach.

Our branch here is on fire! when we got here they were the smallest and weakest they have ever been. We asked to do the book of mormon reading with them and they weren't too excited about it but they have been having AMAZING experiences with it. Their testimonies are truly blooming! We call 2 families every night to talk about their reading with them and they have actually been doing it! its truly a miracle. this week we also called some random inactive families to invite them to church and 2 of them came! so even though work with investigators is going slow things are starting to pick up with the members.

I love you all so much! this church is true. We have a living prophet who leads and guides us. The book of mormon is true. God lives and Jesus is the Christ! Have a good week!

And i'm so glad work is picking up! every time i look into the bay and see fish or see people fishing or carrying poles i get really excited! we have some in our apartment and just looking at them makes me feel at home :) i think they are Daiwa D-shocks haha

Hermana Hendrix