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

April 4, 2010

I've had to buy quite a bit of stuff since i got here. When i first arrived i had to get bedding, pillows, shampoo, conditioner, ped socks($50 yikes!) and all my other living supplies. then i had to get the shoes which are sketchers by the way and are MUCH better. all my blisters are turning into callises so i'm much better now. then i had to get some summer skirts and jackets- we're melting here and most of the skirts i had don't dry thats a problem. then we had to get a bunch of stuff for lessons for investigators. they do really good with visual aids and diagrams and stuff. needless to say its been pricey but i haven't just been shopping I PROMISE! also we are given money for food but thats all it covers and barely that. Not any times we have to eat out when we are going to district council or hygeine products or anything. because we live on the beach there is only one grocery store thats really close and its across the street from the beach so they charge what they want. its pretty expensive and for the first 2 weeks here no one really fed us because they didn't know who we were.

ok so conference was way good definitely all about the family kind of strange because i'm not a mom or a kid at home but it was still really good. i got your package and LOVED it! thank you! i was way excited to get the back pack and i think my watch is on my book shelf. we ate mac and cheese for easter dinner- no one signed up for like the next 5 days. our branch is tiny and they already all feed us once a week. there are only 3 high priests in the branch, yeah LITTLE. A new kid moved into the area this week and we met him at conference. He grew up in Reno and went to hug and wooster. He is Lalo Otuafi's cousin. His dad was president of the first tongan branch in reno- crazy. He asked if i new a stephanie hunter from fallon but i didn't recognize the name. also we don't walk from the islands haha we drive over the causeway. Hermana's mom asked her the same question. you should call and talk to her mom one day. find out if we're related and then let us know. I love my companion she is so fun and just AMAZING in every way. we have tons of fun together. she just said that her family is trumans and bowlers! oh my we just found that out in the library HAHA ok find out and let me know. i'm going to try and send some photos of the area and some kids of people we are teaching and then write some more if i have time LOVE YOU

the sign is for dad of an area we tract in


these are pictures of across the street from my apartment (sooo totally jealous!)

k these ones include a puffer fish- look at the teeth they're horse teeth and they hiss- SO COOL and then my hermana and then me and then the elder that was on our ceiling when we moved in- he's been there for years so we aren't allowed to take him down so we're going to put a sister on the other side of the room for balance (They are actually backwards in order)

these pictures are of the bay across the street and that skyline is all lit at night in different colors- GORGEOUS the next one is our chapel which is also beautiful and then the last is a bone fish
(also backwards)

March 29, 2010

Thats funny that you wrote about the talk by Elder Holland. It's my FAVORITE! I actually spoke about it in sacrament a week or so ago. It is so powerful. I LOVE the Book of Mormon. Me and my companion are starting a program with our spanish branch this week. We found out most of them don't have testimonies of the Book of Mormon and don't read it. Others don't even have a copy in their homes! So sad. We decided we are going to do a reading program. We will read a chapter a day and finish on Christmas day. Sunday we are having a ward potluck and together we will read the introduction, the witnesses and watch the restoration movie. Then as we meet with the members we will talk to them about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon as a family. Each week we will have one day a week that everyone can meet at the chapel and read the chapter together, for those who don't understand it or live alone. Then we will call two families a night to see how their reading went and then each monday we go to a family's for FHE and we will read with them. It's going to take a lot of encouragement and time but i'm really excited about it. I know that it will bring a strength to the branch that isn't here right now.

Something not so exciting is that we have fleas! thats right FLEAS. The senior couple came and drowned our apartment with pesticide stuff and everything was soaking wet (elder welch got a little carried away... it was like dad attacking weeds haha) then they were still here this week so we bug bombed all three rooms- thats a lot of stuff too. and then today we found more! they are here from when the elders lived here because they didn't ever clean. and you can't kill them. Even smashing them doesn't work. We have little bites all over our legs. They itch way bad. BUT... Elder welch is coming back on friday to see what he can do. We'll get them if its the last thing we do haha. At least we aren't the sisters in homestead. They've had cockroaches for 3 transfers. They said they were killing them by the hundreds. They got moved into a new apartment today though. So ours definitely isn't bad.

We meet some STRANGE people but its really fun. There are some people- we haven't met them yet- who live under the bridge by our house. They escaped from an insane asylum and i guess the lady used to walk around in her straight jacket . I really want to see her (Mom may have freaked out a little at this one).

This week has been slow because we are eliminating all of the potential contacts we had from the elders. Some people react different to sisters than elders. We actually met with a recent convert this week who we didn't know anything about. We later found out he's dangerous and we weren't supposed to meet him and salt lake said to stay away. He was nice though. He showed up to church on sunday too and went up for testimonies saying that he had demons in him and he thought that by going up there they would leave him (This one pretty much did freak Mom out). We were in another meeting at that time so we didn't see it. We have so many fun adventures i love it! also- there were some people fishing in the bay the other day and they caught bonefish and pufferfish. i got pictures- they look AWESOME the puffer fish have teeth like a horse and they like hiss at you. i'll try and send them home soon

Right now we are really working on binding the Lord. There are so many promises blessed to us if we desire them and the scriptures tell us how to get them. The Lord is bound when we do what he says, and thats exactly what we are doing. We are searching for specific blessings that we want. we are then looking in the scriptures for everything we can do to bind the Lord in receiving it. Its a really amazing principle.

This isn't the rainy season but when it rains it POURS its the craziest thing. We've had a few days of rain but not many.

Things with my companion are amazing! I love her so much. We get along really well and definitely have the same vision for this area. Something that has really unified us is revelation. We have asked the Lord in some specific things and he has given us both the same answers. It really helps us to move in the same direction. It is really awesome to figure out how to work with the spirit and how he speaks to me. The Lord is very aware of each person in this area.

Tell Mitchell and Kieran i said good job! I wish i could have been there to see it. I hope someone taped it so i can watch it in a year and a half.

I hope you have fun in Idaho! tell everyone i said hi and i love them!

Oh something else really exciting is that i have a tan already- in March! i got burned twice already and i'm about 2 to 3 shades darker than i was when i got here. The bad thing about that is people are starting to thing i'm latin and so i should speak spanish! some lady asked me yesterday if my mom was latin... i said no we're all white and she didn't believe me. I'm gonna be way dark by the end of summer though. so awesome.

I haven't heard from Crystal either (Hint, hint). I've written to her once but she never wrote back. I'm going to try and write to her again today. We have a convert that reminds me So much of her and her story is a lot the same to. I always wonder how she's doing.

Tell H and G I'm so excited for them! that's so awesome. Have they picked out any names yet?

Oh so yesterday we went to M's house- she's a convert that is getting baptized in like a week, she's the one like crystal. We went to her house for dinner and her mom made us honduran enchiladas- so good! they're on corn shells and its meat, potatoes, cabbage, and a red sauce. Loved it. Next time they are making us tripe soup. i'm a little scared about that but i'll eat it. This week a lady made us a fish soup- with the WHOLE fish. scales, eyes, bones, everything. Thankfully we don't eat with members we just pick up the food so we didn't feel so bad not eating it. we let a set of elders eat it and then dumped out the rest. it was crazy. We get some crazy stuff.

This place is a whole different world. There are people from EVERYWHERE. Right now is spring break so its crazy too. In southbeach the clubs and everything open at like 11 in the morning and probably actually never stop. there are so many people and no one has houses. its all apartment buildings. It kind of reminds me of the set up in Italy.

March 22, 2010

HEY! This place is AMAZING. The ocean and the beach are so gorgeous. One of our investigators right now lives over the Bay. When we meet with him we have lessons on the dock. At night the whole skyline is lit up and in the mornings he says there are dolphins and manatees in the bay! right out his door! i can't wait to see that. I love being on an island. I knew from the beginning that i was supposed to serve on an island at some point and i didn't know how it would be possible. They haven't had sisters on the islands for like 6 years. Its just amazing. our island is pretty small so we just walk everywhere. I love the people! they are all so wonderful. And the food has been way good. There are so many miracles in the mission. The Lord is SO aware of all of our investigators and the people we meet. He is very direct with us and leads us along. We have some amazing investigators right now. one of them is antonio. He is like 30 and moved here from iowa. his mom told him he had to go to church and gave him directions to it. he lost the directions and ended up walking into ours. so cool. We are also teaching a brazilian kid named pablo. he is struggling to know that there is only one true church but i think he'll figure it out. people are really receptive here. The amazing thing to me has been how many people are not catholic. there is a huge jewish community here. there are like 2 different jewish schools. there are also a lot of santeras or in spanish santerias. they're crazy i won't tell you about them. my feet will get better soon. right now i have blisters on the bottom of my feet too. As far as mail goes send it all to the mission home and they forward it to me wherever i am and i get it either the same day or the next day. i would love getting journal letters from you because i'm still on a time schedule.

So i forgot to tell you about Elder and Sister Gibbons! they are amazing. Tell Jeannie through me that they said hello haha. They pulled me aside because they had looked at all my information and asked if i was related to her because they saw I was from Fallon and what my last name was. They are just the sweetest people ever. I cant even express to you how much i love it here. I love seeing all the mango and coconut trees and all the beautiful tropical flowers. This week it hit 60 and everyone was wearing coats and scarves haha. Its because of all the humidity. Today it POURED rain. It was another one of their "afternoon showers" which would drown the whole state of Nevada. Its fun though. We were going to take pictures to e-mail home today but it was just too wet outside. Hopefully next week. It kinda sucked because we had just got down washing and waxing our car by hand. Oh well. The people here are all just so amazing. they are really funny. I love them. they are all super nice and helpful. I can't wait to see what we can accomplish in this area. The Lord definitely has something in store for it. One of the goals of the English YSA branch which has about 50 members is to become a ward this year which would include a lot of missionary work. The culture here is amazing. There are people from EVERYWHERE. Our mission is a mission of visions and dreams just like in the latin culture. I never really thought that the Lord still talked to people in that way but He does. This is the most amazing mission ever. There is so much amazing stuff going on right now. I love you all! I'm praying for you every single day. Do your missionary work! it really is the responsibility of the members to find the investigators. Make sure you are doing your part. I used to think that sharing the gospel was a hard thing to do, but its not. Share your testimonies often. God lives. This is His church. He leads and directs it. Have a good week!!
Also i got your package! THANKS! I totally ate all the cookies already. The great thing about florida is that they never harden. If anything they just get softer. SO GOOD- you can send me cookies any day.
Next week hopefully my letter will be a little better. I couldn't get a library card again because of no proof of mail address so i'm kinda just waiting to get everything worked out in this area. LOVE YOU!
Hermana Hendrix

March 15, 2010

no e-mail or letters this week?? did you all die or somethin?? (don't worry- we sent them, just to the wrong e-mail address) just kidding. Well i'm here in Florida and its crazy. My trainer is from Las Vegas and i actually had class with her before the mish up in idaho. Her name is Hermana F. We are white washing an area which means we are both new to the area. they haven't had sisters here for over 6 years. We're on Miami Beach so yes south beach and the spring breakers are all in my area. We are on an island! i knew i was supposed to serve on one i just didn't know how. Our area covers like 4 little islands and we just walk everywhere. We've been super busy just trying to meet everyone. We serve in a spanish branch and an English YSA ward. Its been really fun. I have met someone from like 15 countries already. They are so diverse here. We even met a lady from Holland. She asked me if i was irish or greek. i said i didn't think either and she told me that i was wrong and she was sure i was one of those two and just didn't know it haha. later that same night we met a cubano lady who has an inactive son. it was really funny because we had randomly met her on the street the day before and she totally blew us off. She asked me if i was cubano. i told her no haha It is so humid here because we are right on the ocean. the bay is out one of our windows and the ocean is 2 blocks the other way. we can walk the whole island in like an hour or something. My feet are covered in blisters thats been fun. on the end of every toe and underneath every toe is huge blisters. when i take my shoes off i can't even walk. i ended up having to buy a new pair of shoes today. I've also been sick the whole time i've been here. i was sick in the mtc too so i'm not really suprised. This place is nothing like i ever imagined. but i love it. we have to be a little cautious walking around in the dark but we just stay on lit streets and the lord watches over us. mom don't be scared by that comment. umm because its my first week and i don't have any mail for proof of address i can't get a library card so they only gave me 40 minutes instead of an hour. Life is crazy and amazing. i love the people. they are crazy. gotta go! love you! BYE!!!
Hermana

I have 10 more minutes now that i'm done writing my letter to pres. I already spoke in both wards. In the spanish branch i had to introduce myself and then in the english ward i had to give a 10 minute talk. We didn't even know about it but their speakers didn't show up. my comp only took like 2 minutes and she said the bishopric was mad at her. I was second so ended up having to take like 10 to 15 minutes. I still can't speak spanish so its rough. Especially since we are both new to the area and we actually replaced 4 elders. Our apartment was so gross when we got there. We cleaned for like 6 hours. Food, mold, dirt, bugs... you name it and it was there. Anyway the Lord has blessed me so much. I can pretty much understand what everyone says which is amazing since they talk so fast but i just can't talk back. I can't understand the old cubanos though. Their accent is crazy. Its going to be hard to adjust to all the different dialects. Pres said once we get the spanish down he usually puts us in an english area so that we have to work at it and then we go back to spanish. He mixes up companionships with language sometimes too. They have like every language in this area. Also i rode my bike the other day. Its way nice but its a pain to take around because when you lock it up you have to take off the front tire and lock it and then put it back on. Plus the traffic and drivers are out of control. They are worse than europe drivers which i didn't think was possible. We live directly across the street too and we have the most beautiful chapel in the whole mission. one of the prettiest in the world. look it up- miami lakes chapel. Well gotta go again. LOVE YOU!

Marach 5, 2010

Hey! Things are going so good! I have never been so busy and tired in my life. We teach any time we can. Yesterday we taught 12 lessons. Usually we do 5-10 plus our study time and class. Before this week we were doing 1 or 2 lessons a week. We love teaching. We have really been pushing ourselves this week. I prayed last sunday at the fireside. They say where you were from so a few people came up to me afterwards asking me about people in fallon. One of them was a sister who i became friends with when i first got here and she knew my companion. She asked me if I was related to cousin Mark- he works for her dad. Then she told me her uncle worked for some people in Fallon. I asked her what his name was and she told me Duane Coombs. I couldn't believe it! So we chatted about Duane and Heather and Desi. Also Gayle Tolzmann's sister is her. And one of my other friends here had classes with Heather Bake (lewis). Craziness. As far as missionaries in Chile go... all but the ones going to concepcion will leave on monday. They were all held back for a week because the airport was closed with damage but it is back open. The roads into concepcion are still ruined so they have to wait til the 15th. S was supposed to leave last monday but she will be leaving this monday instead. They will have so many opportunities to serve. We have talked a little bit about messages for families or people affected by the earthquakes. There is a good chance we will come across people who have families both in Haiti and Chile. The language is coming along. Definitely not fluent and its a struggle but i know that the Lord will help me to figure it out. Usually it takes 5 or 6 months in the field to be fluent. Its so crazy to think that i'm leaving in 4 days. There are 11 of us going to Florida together and 5 of us are from the same district. I'm so excited we get to stay together but REALLY sad that E Shatzer and E Lowry will be on their own. Our district has been really close and we spend all of our time together. I see Holt almost every day still and I think we go into the field the same day. I always chat with him for a couple minutes. He is going to be such a great missionary. He looks so happy its amazing. I have definitely had the best week of my mission so far. I'm loving it! We are having so much fun and working ourselves to death. I don't know how people have a chance to sit around and do nothing their last week here. We were told thats what always happens as soon as people get their travel plans but it was the complete opposite for us. Today is our last p-day and there is still so much to be done. I love you so much and i love hearing from you! the church is SO true. there is no doubt in my mind that God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph smith. I know that the book of mormon is true. There is no other book that can answer the questions of every person in the whole world no matter what stage of life they are in or how they grew up. I know that we have a prophet today- Thomas S Monson. God lives and loves each one of us. in the name of jesus christ amen
LOVE HERMAN

February 26, 2010

Hi family! this week has been so crazy. We sat down yesterday and set the goals of what we want to accomplish in the next two weeks. We really want to stretch ourselves and work our hardest. Its amazing how much you can accomplish in such a short period of time here at the MTC. We got our travel plans yesterday and i about had a heart attack. i don't feel ready to leave here yet. We leave here at 4am on the 9th to go to the airport. we then leave at 8 and have a 45 min layover in cincinati. i'll most likely be calling at like 5am to talk to you on the 9th. Sorry its so early but i won't be able to do it during my layover. This week has just been really busy. Lots of meetings and stuff. Oh also i have been asked to pray at the fireside on sunday. that almost gave me a heart attack as well. i'll be praying in front of like 2500 people and i don't even remember how to pray in english. Me and Hermana H have been doing a lot of teaching the last couple days. We're trying to get used to teaching with just the two of us. Its hard but we'll get the hang of it. almost all of our friends here at the mtc are either leaving this week or are already gone. i guess thats what happens when you're here for 9 weeks. you just watch everyone come and go. I did finish the book of mormon again this week. i finished it on my 7 week mark. It was so good! i would spend all day reading if i could. last sunday Janice Kapp Perry taught relief society. She is such an amazing lady. We were able to sing a medley of a bunch of the primary songs she has written and then an hour later our district of elders that were leaving sang armys of helaman in sacrament which she wrote. Next week our district is singing before we leave. i'll probably bawl my eyes out. I do that a lot around here. Ummmm I can't even remember what else has happened this week. I'm sure i'll think of more as soon as i send this but i'll prob send a letter too, hopefully i have time i have a bunch to write back to this week. Tell everyone i said hi and that i love them. did you get my pictures i just sent home?? What else is new at work? The church is so true and the lord blesses us so much. I know that God lives and that he is our Father. I know that Christ sacrificed his life for each one of us and felt every pain or sorrow we will ever feel. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he saw both God the Father and Jesus Christ and they called him by name. I know the book of mormon is true and it can answer any question we ever have in our lives. I love you all so very much.
Hermana Hendrix

Pictures!!

Hermana Hendrix's MTC District

Hermana Hendrix's MTC Companions

February 19, 2010

i have been able to see holt every day since he got here. He seems way happy and i think he is enjoying it. i saw jared wadsworth too but he didn't recognize me. Also, Nephi Farr is here right now. I talk to him almost every day. I have also seen James Stubbs a couple times. He teaches an Italian district here. I also see Sydni at least a couple of times a day. I am so jealous that you got to talk to Sami! I miss her but her letters are amazing. She always knows exactly what i need to hear. She is always following the spirit. Take good care of her while i'm gone! Niki- I'm sorry about the car. Thats really gross. You can beat me up for it in 16 months. We are told that we leave for Florida on March 9th and we get our travel plans next Friday. SO CRAZY! i don't feel ready to leave here but at the same time i wish i could leave today. 6 out of our district are going to Florida and 2 are going to Nashville, TN. Pretty sure we'll all cry our eyes out when they leave. We got three new hermanas in our zone this week so its a little different but its nice. We're hoping the relief society coordinating sister calling will get moved into their companionship soon so Hermana Hebdon doesn't have to attend meetings all the time. I'm still the zone music coordinator and senior companion. I was only supposed to be senior comp for 3 weeks and they've never changed it because of everything that has been going on. Mom- you would have loved it... yesterday i was sitting in class and a mouse went running by our desks into the corner of the room. it went behind a cupboard that is screwed into the wall. one elder was on a chair freaking out and the other one was terrified all night because we never found it. Us hermanas sit right where it was and we weren't scared at all. so funny. The elders crack me up. The district calls me the prodigy because in the meeting we had with our teacher thats what he told my companions and they got REALLY mad at me over it but once we talked about things it turned into a joke. The elders also call me Jefe which means boss. Its hilarious. They all come to me for how to organize, what things in the bookstore they should buy, all kinds of stuff. We're really close and its been tons of fun. I'm so glad most of us are going to Florida together. I also made the error of teaching one of the elders how to brag about himself righteously... that was definitely a mistake haha (Alma 10:4). Thank you for all of the dear elders this week. I definitely needed them. Things get hard but your words of encouragement definitely help me through. I'm going to send home more pictures this week that we took when i send my letter. I'm almost out of time already. Also, I would really like to read those Robert Gardner stories if i could get them. Also i need primer for my makeup... i'm completely out. Tell Elaine thank you SO much for her note! I love her and i'm so excited for Garrett. This week i am reading in Helaman about living up to our names and the name of Christ I bear. Because of my given name i have been studying about angels and their purpose in life. In alma it says it is to declare the word of God to all the nations. Hopefully i'm living up to my name... oh no out of time! LOVE YOU TONS AND TONS and tell courtney bug thanks for her note and Niki quit sucking your thumb (don't worry- it was for a game I was playing with the little ones) :)
-Hermana Hendrix
Duermen con los angelitos todas noches

February 12, 2010

so i just wrote a whole e-mail and the program deleted it so i'm going to have to hurry and then just write you a letter for the rest. Thank you SO much for the treats! it totally made my week. you always know when i'm having a hard day because that is always the days i get a letter and in this case the package from you. this week has been another really crazy week just like the rest. right now with meetings and appointments we miss on average 3 hours of study time a day which includes personal and comp time but not language because that was the time she (her companion is struggling a bit and has lots of doctors appointments) felt she needed the most which was difficult for me because i felt like thats what i needed the least. so i figured out how to solve that problem and relieve a lot of stress in my life. i switched my language and personal time. we were told when we got here that we should focus on the gospel and learn the doctrine and the language would come naturally. i have definitely been blessed in that because on average i only spend 1 hour a week on the language and everyone else has 8 or more. i haven't even noticed though. i have been able to learn very quickly and the lord has blessed me so much. we are also teaching in all spanish right now which isn't easy but i love it! its been a great challenge. i just have a hard time remembering all of the irregulars in all of their tenses but its coming. something else that really helped me this week was my meeting with a member of the branch presidency. i have met with the branch president and he gave good council but i just didn't want to hear it at the time and it just didn't seem to help, but this week i met with the 1st counselor and it was SO much better. he was much more understanding of my feelings and opinion of how things are going. he told me that my aggressiveness and desire to learn and set goals is a blessing from my heavenly father and that i should be grateful for it. everyone else has said that it is a problem in my companionship and i need to slow down. Brother robinson said the lord would never give me that blessing and then expect me to stop my progression because of other people. he told me to focus it in areas where no one would see and he recommended using it in my prayers to improve them. he told me to pray to know what to pray for and then wait for the answers and that would make huge difference in how things go. he was so right! i can't believe the difference it has made in my attitude and reactions to the way things are going right now. He told me "blessed are the flexible". thats something i've really been trying to work on this week. The lord blesses me so much. I can't believe the power of the gift of tongues and my ability to learn the language without being able to study it. The lord is so mindful of each one of us and our individual needs. love you tons!
hermana hendrix
Amanda-the young womens program is an inspired program that helps us come unto christ. it teaches us the importance of our worth and our abilities in this life. it reminds us of the love our heavenly father has for us and prepares us for our futures as mothers and leaders in zion. God knows us each individually and wants us to know that. He wants us to know that we are of divine worth.

February 5, 2010

I'm so glad the show went well! I've been praying for things to go well for the business
and for dad especially. How is Elaine doing without Garrett?? He will be such a great
missionary. I'm so jealous you got to listen to my cds. They have made it so music isn't
allowed here at the MTC but it is allowed in the field so I haven't heard any music
since I got here. It's crazy.
I'm being so blessed every day I'm here. We had the opportunity to go to the temple this
morning and I love it. Our session is so early in the morning that it's always the same
workers and the same people attending. We have had the opportunity to get to know a few
of the sisters that attend and they are just amazing. One of the sisters is from price
and her husband is in a rest home in Salt Lake. She goes to the temple every Friday
morning and then goes to spend time with her husband. He suffers from parkinsons.
She is always so positive and happy and it just really puts the important things of life
into perspective. We have also been trying to get to know more of the senior couples here
at the MTC and help them. The elders help us so much that our opportunity to serve is
with the older couples and the single sister missionaries. We love it! They have the
greatest stories and it's just like having our parents here. They are only here for one
week and then go to the field so there are always new people here. Although things
haven't been easy this week the Lord has really blessed me. I was reading D&C 80
remembering why I was here and I looked at the word know in verse 4 (I think). The
footnote reminds us of the things that we should know and have to share with others.
I then looked at the other side of the page and read D&C 78 v17-19. The Lord knew I
couldn't bear all things at that time but if I was willing to do my best and have a
positive attitude He would lead me along and continually bless me. The Lord is so aware
of me and my weaknesses and my need for his help. I'm realizing that as long as I have
the Spirit things are going good. We all know I hate confrontation and we had a huge
misunderstanding this week where our teacher tried to help our companionship and pretty
much made everyone really upset about things that weren't true and I was really
worried about it because confrontation kills me. But the spirit told me to just shut
my mouth, take it, and fix it later. I did just that and we were able to fix everything
and in a calm manner without any hard feelings. If we wouldn't have had the Spirit it
would have been a disaster.  Something else that has really helped me this week is a
quote from Orson F. Whitney. He said "no pain that we suffer, no trial that we
experience is wasted. It ministers to our education,... builds up our characters,
purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable; more
worthy to be called the children of God..." I'm so blessed to be where I am right now.
I just needed to change my attitude and perspective. Our teaching has improved SO much.
We no longer have parts or prepared topics. We take in our scriptures, start with a
prayer, and rely on the Spirit. We have been so blessed to know the needs of those we
teach and the words that they need to hear. Starting Saturday all teaching is in
Spanish. i know it won't be as easy but it will work out. Also, I'm so glad you found
those phone numbers for Hermana P, she is AMAZING. She is serving in the LA
visitors center once it opens in July and is proselyting until then. She took referrals
from all of us and called our friends to share a message with them. She left this week.
We walked a bunch of the sisters to the bus this week to go to the airport at 5am.
It's so hard. I never thought I would come to love people so fast and it would be so
hard to watch them go. A few other girls I have come to love leave this next week.
Everyone leaves us. The girls leaving this week are from Tonga and Tahiti. They learned
English when they got here and they are amazing. I love them. Our sisters in our room
also leave in a week. It's just amazing how much you can love people you just met.
yo se que dios vive y nos ama. sabe cada persona y su corazon. yo se que jesucristo
sufrio para nuestras pecados y es el hijo de dios. yo se que jose smith fue un profeta
de dios. yo se que el libro mormon es verdadero. en el nombre de Jesucristo amen.
I love you all!
Hermana Hendrix