March 28, 2011

Ok so I have no clue how we are having the success we are having other than HUGE blessings and miracles from our Heavenly Father. I love seeing His hand in the work! This week went really well. I am training a sister from Grand Junction, Colorado. She is so amazing! She has definitely jumped in with both feet. It has been so good for me to reflect on how I have changed since I was in her shoes not so long ago. As I teach her and help her I see more and more changes. This was definitely inspired from the Lord.

T is doing great. Last time he met with us we asked him if he still wanted to be baptized and knew the church was true. He said "of course". I asked him how he knew and he said he had a dream of him sitting in a chair and men standing circled around him with their hands on his head. He said "I just knew it was my answer". We then were able to show him pictures of men receiving the priesthood and being confirmed. He said that's exactly what it was. So amazing! S is the girl that was kicked out and I had the opportunity to talk to her on the phone last night. She still can't meet with us but we are continually praying for her. She is so prepared. The other one that was supposed to be baptized on April 3rd has changed her date again and it will be April 1st- this friday! YAAYYY! She is so incredible and she has such a strong testimony. I am so excited for her. We could potentially have 6 other baptisms in the month of April but I think some of them will get bumped to May so that they come to church. We'll see. Summer here should be pretty much the same as it is now. A lot of the kids live with their families and go to school all year round but not positive.

I can't believe it is snowing their! we're already at 85 degrees! it has been so hot! I think it's going to rain today. I hope so! I LOVE florida rain storms. The walls of water are amazing.

Ok- lets see what else you've asked......oh- sister Hopkins. Her parents both grew up in that area. Other than that not much going on. Just trying to stay alive. I've been SO tired! Lack of sleep is a killer. Maybe I'll get in a nap today. If not oh well. Love you tons!

March 22, 2011

Hi!! This week has been SO amazing. We set 9 baptism dates! and most of them will actually go through. I love being a missionary so much. I just love teaching and seeing people change. Nothing makes us happier than keeping the commandments. Tomorrow is transfers and I will be training so sister Osmeni is leaving. Anyway, I'm terrified to train but it will be a really good learning experience. The other sister- sister Hopkins who will be in my apartment is also training. We're really excited to do it together. I love her so much and she is an INCREDIBLE missionary! Not much else is going on that I can think of..hmmm....i'll think and write more later.

President,

This was a great week for our area. We were able to set 9 baptism dates! WAHOO!! We have seen a huge increase in our teaching pool in the last two weeks as well as progression. Our March date who was most solid has changed her date to April 3rd because she wants to share with her family what she is learning and let them be a part of it. We're mightily praying they support her! Another thing is the kid- T who we talked to you about this week who wouldn't be able to be baptized is actually prepared. Everything he told us was a lie. It is a test that he gives to everyone who teaches him about religion. He said he ALWAYS gets the same reaction. Their eyes get huge and they say they have to leave and he never hears from them again. We didn't react at all, we shared with him the importance of repentance, and then set a return appointment. He came to church on Sunday and he loved it. I am so excited for the future of this area. I am praying that we can maintain the success we are having. I am really nervous to train and don't feel in any way capable but I will have the great opportunity of working together with Sister Hopkins who is a GREAT example for me. Things are looking up!

Hermana Hendrix

March 14, 2011

so as far as the schedule.... Next week is transfers so p-day will be on tuesday again and the library opens at 11:30 our time. other than that its on mondays at 10ish. This week has been good but crazy. First of all i'm sick- AGAIN. I don't think its ever going to end. But i'm definitely not going to a doctor this time. They made it worse. I'll just get some good cold medicine. This week we found 10 new investigators which is a HUGE miracle. One of them- who I think will be the most difficult. He's a "praise Jesus- talk in scripture kind of kid" Said he couldn't quit smiling during our lesson because he had seen me before in a vision and knew we were coming. It was pretty cool. Other than that things are about the same. I was shocked to read about all of the marriages though. WOW! crazy kids. I got a wedding invite from Candace. I figured you would go since it's so close. Tell her I said congrats. Any news on Sami's date? still haven't heard.

I also heard about the earthquake and tsunami but I didn't know they were so bad. I wonder if Florida will get a good hurricane this year too. I won't be here for hurricane season so who knows.

It also sounds like things are going good in RS. Keeps you busy for sure. Has the stake thought at all about creating a YSA branch?? Heavenly Father has told me I have to go to one when I get home but I don't want to go all the way to reno every week.

Send me that talk when you get the chance. Love you!!

This week has been a huge blessing for us. We had 10 new investigators. 5 came through a member who opened her mouth to a classmate. Truly a miracle! One of our investigators we met is S. She instantly accepted her date for march 27th and truly owned it, unfortunately her mom has taken it away from her. When her mom found out she was meeting with us she took away her phone, her Book of Mormon, packed her bags and sent her to northern Florida. I called on an unknown number the day her mom sent her away and had about 2 minutes to talk to her. She doesn't know if her mom will ever let her come back. We gave her our mailing address and the websites for the church. She said she may be back in a week or may be there permanantly... her mom hasn't said. We felt really bad about what happened because she is in college right now and also works. Her mom has taken her away from all of it. She told us she will meet with us or other missionaries as soon as possible. We are keeping her in our prayers. The other possible march date is R. He is the brother in law of one of our members. He has gone to church here twice but doesn't live here right now. He's just been visiting on the weekends. He is looking for jobs and will move here the day he gets one. We are praying he finds one soon so we can meet with him more often. This week has also been stressful for me with being sick... again.. i'm not sure thats ever going to end, and also with miles being cut. The last two months we have had all investigators in Kendall and so we haven't used a fraction of our miles...plus someone was always sick and we were on exchanges often. As of right now 8 of our investigators live in the far end of Homestead, which is over 20 miles each direction. We only have 30 miles a day. We are trying to find members to take us to lessons but a lot of them work and go to school. We'll just keep praying for a solution. I'm truly loving this area and the members. The longer i'm here the happier I am with it.

Hermana Hendrix

March 7, 2011

This week has definitely been better. I've just been so stressed lately with how things have been going but now that I'm feeling good and i'm back out i'm good. Your letter made me SO happy! i'm so excited that our ward finally loves missionary work. There is so much power and blessings that come to a ward when they feel the fire of missionary work. I can't even tell you how much I love it! I truly love missionary work. I love serving in the YSA branch and it has become my home. The idea of ever being part of a YSA branch scares me to death! Good thing i'm just the missionary! I have met so many wonderful people and some of my very best friends are here in Miami. I will be so sad when it comes time to leave them. I'm really hoping things go as planned and I stay in this branch for the rest of my mission. The members are finally starting to love the work and I LOVE the members. This week we have another general authority coming. It seems like they're here weekly. Pretty much everything for the temple has been passed and they are just waiting for some last minute things. I'm really hoping the ground breaking is before I get home. This week we have found a few new people to teach and i'm really hoping they progress. The two that we have that are already progressing are P and J. We have taught p since august and she has had several manifestations that this is the true church and a dream about baptism and still won't commit. She's killin me! For the life of me I don't know what is holding her back. She has grown up catholic and I think just refuses to change. I had her e-mail Crystal a few times and that helped but there is still something else. I pray so much to know how to help her but I just don't know. J is one that really wanted to be baptized. Gave up addictions to drugs, alcohol, and smoking and then found out he couldn't get baptized because he was on parole. After that he went the complete opposite direction and got back into everything. He turned super cold and was really mean. About a week ago he showed up to the church for institute and said he got off parole. I asked to meet with him and he was like "not now, maybe another day, we'll see." so I told him we needed to be quieter because we were in the hall and convinced him to go into another room. We proceeded to teach him a lesson without him knowing. He wants the change but without the work and satan has a really strong hold on him. We are really trying to help him change. Other than that we're just finding more people.

February 28, 2011

WOW!!! CONGRATULATIONS MITCHELL!!!! I can't believe he is going to Madagascar!! that is so cool! I'm so bummed I won't get to see him but he is making the best decision in the world so thats ok.
I can't believe he leaves one week before I get home! Did sami tell you her wedding date? I'm still waiting to hear when and where it is. I couldn't believe she is waiting either. She's so great :) I am doing much better this week. I had the pain from my ear infection for a good 10 days, even with the medicine. I popped some membrane and so it caused all kinds of problems but I took care of it. I'm feeling 100 times better. Things are also much better with my companion. I just had to quit being prideful and be willing to help her. She just requires a lot of attention and it was really hard with everything else going on. It's still stressful but that's missionary work. We arent' teaching a lot of people but I have had some really amazing experiences this week. One of them is with J. He took all the lessons months ago and really wanted to change and be baptized. He gave up all his addictions, and friends but because he was on parole he couldn't be baptized and he didn't have a court date or anything set and so he gave up. In doing so he went deeper into all of his addictions and became really mean and bitter. He showed up to institute this week and said he got off parole and his charges were all dropped but that he didn't want to change and come back. I knew there was a reason he came and told us so we asked to meet with him. He was really cold at the beginning of our appointment but the spirit worked really hard on him. By the end of the appointment he commited to come to church, read in the book of mormon, pray, and meet with us 3 days a week. It is amazing to see the change that comes in a person so quickly through the spirit. The other amazing experience was with a recent convert named A who I love! I have become really good friends with her but she has had no desire to keep the commandments and went worse into her addictions than before her baptism. Because of them she has been in a really dark spot with no vision or desire for a future. This week she finally woke up and asked me to help her. She is doing the 12 step addiction recovery program and FINALLY is changing. I am so excited for her. She calls me angry eyes because of my facial expressions and the other night when I called her she said "angry eyes I don't want to smoke or drink or do drugs ever again and anything you tell me to do I will do. She talked to bishop on sunday and started the repentance process. It was the first time she had been to church in 2 months and she has only been a member for 6. I'm so excited to see her changes. I love the gospel. It can change someone faster than anything else in the world. It is such a blessing in our lives. It is the only thing that brings happiness. I love being a missionary even if it is the HARDEST thing i've ever done in my life.

February 22, 2011

Ok- this might have been the longest week of my life but thankfully
it's over. 5 prescriptions, 2 nurses, and 3 doctors later we have
learned that I have an ear infection. I totally forgot how painful
they are. it's been pretty miserable. Also this week brought a lot of
new changes. Our stake completely changed. They are now the first 100%
bilingual stake. They put together all of the spanish and english
wards. If you speak only english or only spanish- you wear a headset
for translation. When someone gets up they can speak whatever language
they want. It's so awesome! it didn't really affect us other than that
the bishops are all changed and some of them support YSA more.
Hopefully that helps.

February 15, 2011

Dad! you're like a college kid again! haha I love it! when I get home I'll go with you on your adventures. Sounds like you have all had a busy week. Thank you for the package! I loved it! and ALL of it was stuff i was going to have to buy this week. What a blessing. It's been a really stressful week for me but thats ok. just life. We had transfers, sister's training and tomorrow is zone conference with elder Golden of the 70. I swear we have general authorities here every week. This week they are finalizing everything for the temple ground. yay! i'll forward you my letter to president and you'll know how it's been.

This week has been a really tough one for me personally and I kind of had a break down and couldn't function but i'm back on track. I've just been so stressed over the work and feeling like nothing I do is making a difference and it just keeps going down hill. I mightily pray and work my hardest and it seems like everything just caves at once. I knew I couldn't keep going on like I was because I was killing my poor companion so I went ahead and got a blessing. The stress is still there but i'm functioning better. i'm just trying to trust in the Lord and learn from the experience. It has been difficult to have a companion that is so dependant on me for everything- including taking care of herself but everything happens for a reason. Time is running short and I just feel like not enough can be done in a day. Right now our investigators are also struggling. P has been preparing for a baptism in March but has been so distracted by problems going on at home. We're trying to help her use the atonement and bring her walls down but we still haven't figured out how to get passed it. J dropped us yesterday because she said she just can't get to church and now isn't her time. Our other investigators either don't have time to meet with us right now or aren't answering their phones. My goal this week is to really trust in the Lord and increase my faith. There's no time for discouragement.

Hermana Hendrix