Week 73

Family,

I don't know what to write about today and we're headed to the beach later so here's some bullet points...

Facts of the week:

• We have survived our first tropical storm. It wasn't that exciting. Tuesday morning at 3 am there was a massive thunder and lightning storm that was so close that our apartment was shaking. Needless to say, Sister Sackley was freaking out. But all is well. We have been blaming "Collin" for the weather all week. It's been BEYOND muggy. 
• Things are winding down with the priests. Next Sunday might be our last Sunday teaching them. The first of the graduating boys left this week. It's been a really unique opportunity and I have learned a lot from them. We still have a couple that we'll continue to encourage the mission for. Dad told me months ago that most boys decide whether or not they will serve a mission between the ages of 9-11. Start them young, that's probably the biggest lesson I have learned from it all. 
• Doug passed his baptismal interview yesterday. Last night we had a lesson, it was also his 60th birthday, and we told him that since he had passed the interview, he could be baptized this Saturday. I wish I would have recorded his reaction, it was absolutely priceless. His mouth dropped and his eyes filled with tears. He quickly informed us, "Don't worry! These are tears of happiness!" He was overcome with joy and truly looked happier than a kid on Christmas. We are praying that Yvonne (his daughter) won't have to work this weekend, otherwise it might be pushed a week. We should find out later today. He's ready and there is literally, NOTHING stopping him. His neighbors have been coming up to him and saying, "Why don't you find an easier religion to be apart of?" And he loudly declares, "Because I need to be a Mormon! I know it's true!!" We love him. 
• Also, Doug's son, Trevor, sat in on a lesson this week. After he told us his life story and the hardships he's been through. We invited him to learn more and to work towards baptism himself. He agreed. We had talked a lot about eternal families in that lesson and we are really seeing this family come together one step at a time. Yvonne was baptized in December, Yvonne just took her moms name to the temple at the end of last month, Doug will be baptized soon and now Trevor wants to learn. It's been absolutely amazing to see. 
• Oh... also we went to visit a referral at the hospital this week and Sister Sutton almost passed out. There was no blood or anything gross. Just a woman in a hospital bed, and Sister Sutton was shaking and pale as could be. The poor girl does NOT do good with anything medical. It was pretty hysterical though. 

Love you all!

Sister Mal

why yes, why not have a knight at your front door?!

i got to go on a mini exchange with sister olson this week. she's so great. i miss being comps with her.

literally the weirdest bug ever... a piece of sand moving. and yes folks, we're going back to the bug pictures. it's been a long time.

beautiful sunsets for the day!

a member gave this to me last week and i can't stop laughing about it. so accurate.

 metro fun. we tend to stand on chairs a lot

 i wish I could show what the grass looks like here. this grass is a good 8 inches off the ground... it's SO fluffy and filled with bugs.

metro!!! 

a beautiful canal in a random neighborhood

a cow. you're welcome.

the shelley kids-- they are the craziest funniest people ever. Tyler's headed off to school today. we will miss them!

rainbows!!

comp unity

this is right after sister sutton almost passed out. we sat outside and she had her head between her knees.

Week 72

Priest Update: our time is running out. The first one leaves for good next week. Yesterday they were the most interactive they have ever been, and I feel like they actually might kind of like us now. I know for a fact they have learned a lot, even if they would never admit it. It's been a super cool experience and I feel like my testimony has been strengthened through working with them. They have helped me to see the true simplicity of the gospel and how much it can bless anyone's life.

So I know I have written about Doug many times, but this week was just amazing. We taught him on Saturday night with our ward mission leader, Brother Wilkinson. The last time we taught Doug with Brother Wilkinson, we brought a chalkboard and drew out the godhead. We had to break down the differences between God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. At the end of the lesson Doug prayed to God, Jesus, Jehovah, and the Holy Spirit. Like I said last week, his understanding is a bit slower, but his desire is fully there. Well Doug said the prayer at the end of the lesson on Saturday and Brother Wilkinson was so impressed, not only did he know WHO he was praying to, but it was one of the most heart felt prayers. 

From the first day we started meeting with Doug til last night, there has been a night and day difference. I've heard so many missionaries and people say that you really get to see the atonement work on your mission. And I feel like I have seen it work to change people's lives spiritually, but with Doug, there has been a physical transformation that has happened over the last couple weeks. Literally he isn't the same person anymore. He acts completely different and he is able to understand the things we are teaching so much more quickly.

He asked us on Saturday, in the middle of the lesson, "Random question, but how many people join your congregation each year?" So we got talking about missionary work and how great it is, not only for the person who joins the church, but how when members come to lessons they are uplifted too. We told him how big of an impact he has had on us and he was amazed to find out that his life wasn't the only one being changed. I have never seen the atonement work so quickly on someone. I would love for Sister Olson and Sister Huber (they were the ones to teach his daughter, Yvonne) to come back and have a chat with him, because I don't think they would even recognize him anymore. No one has gone beyond the reach of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Our message really is so unique and now after each of Doug's lessons I can't help but say, "I really love this gospel... a whole lot!"

I love you all!

Sister Mal

Sneaky lizard came in during our training

Companionship unity display with the assistants

CLOTHESSSSSS we took 12 bags to Goodwill and ended up throwing away Sister Suttons running shoes on accident... oops!

Hey Sister Sutton! Remember that one time a cop pulled us over and we got away with a warning? Honesty never felt so good.

Mental breakdowns at their finest.

It's been REAL hot

Racetrack slurpees for dinner and laying on our "couch" or the extra bed in our apartment

lots of crazy clouds this week... also it was SUPER HOT for a couple days, but it's cooled off a TON

Week 71

PRIEST UPDATE: I just want to shout it from the roof tops: WE GOT ONE OF THE PRIESTS TO AGREE TO START HIS MISSION PAPERS THIS WEEK. I really can't even explain how huge of a miracle this was. Sister Sutton and I were doing the happy dance and literally have been on cloud 9 all week.

Here's the story, we went over on Tuesday to do a Book of Mormon read with him (I've talked about these before, but basically we read the Book of Mormon for 10 minutes with them and help them receive an answer. the youth love it). Well his mom was there too, and his grandma and his dad. It was a party!! So we read and he gets his answer in 10 minutes and then his mom says to us, "Alright sisters, tell Johnny what the best part of the mission experience is, because currently he doesn't not want to go but he also doesn't want to go". 

So I asked, on a scale of 1 to 10 (I'm a big fan of the scales) 10 you're going no questions asked and 1 being you'll never ever go, where are you? He said, "5". So then Sister Sutton and I both shared our experiences of choosing to go on a mission. I told him how I prayed for three years, and how my mission papers sat for 6 months before the submit button was clicked. I told him that I was at a 5 too, but if the Lord said I needed to go, I would be at a 10, if he told me I didn't need to go, I would be at a 1. But my 5 didn't change until after I had my call in hand. Over the months leading up to my mission I went from a 5 to 6 to 7 to 8 to 9 and then once the MTC came, I hit my 10. 

He was kind of surprised by what I shared with him, and it seemed to help him see he doesn't have to be all in right away. Our commitment to him at the end was to start his mission papers... he agreed. His mom was FREAKING out. It was AWESOME. We'll keep following up with him, but I would be ecstatic if he had his mission call before we leave!

Other news: Doug. I wrote about him a couple weeks ago. His daughter, is a recent convert and he has recently shown a lot of interest in the church. He has made MAJOR changes in his life to be ready for baptism. We continue to work with him, but he is doing so well! We stopped by to drop something off for his daughter and he was all, "Whatcha doing here? I'm ready for my lesson about God and His church! What are you going to teach me today?!" So we read in the Book of Mormon, the story of Nephi's brothers tying him to the ship, and he got SO emotional about it. He loves everything that he's learning, the processing is just a tad bit slower though, so we're taking it one step at a time. He's probably the first person I have had to tell not to jump in the font quite yet, he's beyond excited for baptism. 

I just can't imagine if I had never served a mission and met Doug, or the priests or any of my companions or anyone. It really has been one of the greatest choices I could ever make. We have more priests to get on board and more people to find! Time is of the essence. 

Love you all!

Sister Mal

crazy Florida doors

Sneaky Sister Sutton. The summer clouds are coming and so are the
summer storms!

I forget my height on a daily basis. That day a tree was stuck in my hair.

Sister Sutton learned how to cut a watermelon this week

Hills. This is something I have not seen since I left home. It was
the WEIRDEST sight.

Sonic slushies

This is right outside one of our sisters apartment complexes,
manatees swim up and down the river, but we couldn't see any :(

Sleepy Sister Sutton

Flamingo and daisy paints

I just told the deacons about this in my letter,  but the frogs
outside our apartment have really stepped up their game. There are
three of them now and we can't leave the house without them trying to
jump on us. This one was trying to get inside.

Bryson was happy, I swear. The Skeets! Jalen won his game.

I just love these flowers.

These are my absolute favorite palm trees in the whole wide world. I want one in my backyard one day... Just not in Florida.

Week 70

WHAT A WEEK! wow.

Transfers: So all week I have really felt quite confident that I am staying in Land O Lakes... we go over to the Cusick's to help with the departing and the incoming missionaries dinners and President told me I was being transferred. The transfer email hadn't come out yet and I was so mad! Later, we talked more and he told me that logically, I have served in this area for WAY too long. Plus I only have two transfers left, so it would make sense to send me somewhere for my last two so I have enough time to get things moving. I agreed, but I still REALLY didn't want to go. It ended with him telling me that logically he wants me transferred, but the Lord disagrees and he feels that God wants me to stay... so I stayed. I have had the feeling multiple times over the last week that there is someone that I still need to find, so I'm excited for the next couple weeks.

Priests: Those boys are amazing. The one priest that wanted to say the sacrament prayer, didn't come to church last week. We saw him mid-week and called him out on it and he promised he would be there on Sunday to say the prayer. Wow, the spirit was SO strong during sacrament meeting. Both priests that said the prayers went slowly and you could tell that they were really thinking about what they were saying. Sister Sutton and I are so proud! We're expecting big things over the next week with each of them!

Gladys Knight: My weekend was filled with gospel music and a lot of "praise Jesus!" and "Hallelujah!" For a moment, I thought I belonged to a southern baptist church, but then I realized we were still in a mormon church building. Gladys Knight came and put on a "fireside" (basically a massive concert) on Friday and Saturday. Two shows in Valrico and two shows in St. Petersburg. There were 12 of us missionaries asked to help with the event. We started to be referred to as "The Twelve" haha.

The performances were about two hours long each and were filled with testimonies and songs. It was AMAZING. Check out suvchoir.org. I really can't even explain all that happened, but the spirit was so strong and there were hundreds of non-members in the church building. It was one of the best weekends of my mission so far. President gave all the missionaries permission to dance, so during the last song of the show we all went running up to the chapel and started dancing with people in the audience. It was SO much fun. 

One of the songs they sing says, "Come head, come love, Come to Jesus Christ, come willingly to eternal life. Come feast upon the word of God, just trust in Him and come!" It was SO moving. After Sister Knight got up and bore her testimony about how everyone needs to "come" and give the church a chance because this really is God's church. She talked about her own conversion to the gospel and it was incredible. We are expecting big things to come from this over the next couple weeks.

Life is good and I really can't complain. Staying in Florida for the rest of my life is sounding more and more tempting. God lives and Jesus is the Christ. 

Love you all

Sister Mal

 i love flroida trees

studies

Florida has hills! What is this!?

A picture Sister Sutton drew me. i was EXHAUSTED this week.

GLADYS KNIGHT!!

This is the big mormon van that "the twelve" all rode in together. It was a party.

lunch on Friday

that's Kenya Jackson in the middle- she is Gladys Knight's daughter and helps run the show

van selfies for days :)