Week 68

Hello again!

As I explained to the family yesterday- we think the lice are gone. The majority of the week was spent quarantined to our apartment. After finding more lice, we were told to go on lock down. We did an olive oil treatment first which consisted of washing your hair with a harsh shampoo, blow drying, saturating your hair and scalp in olive oil, put it all in a shower cap, let it sit for three hours, comb through the hair (with the oil still in it) looking for lice, wash the hair twice with dish soap.... Repeated two more times for each sister. As we were at the very last step for me, the last one to go, we got a phone call instructing us to get a prescription shampoo. It cost $260 for two ounces of straight up alcohol. We had to leave it on our head for twelve hours  and we thought we were going to die of intoxication, our apartment smelt like a bar. We also had to avoid anything that produced heat because of the chance of our head exploding. At the end of all of the alcohol, we really think we are lice free. Don't worry mom, we will continue to check everyday- we have already done so this morning. 

Update on the priests: it's always funny to see who shows up each week, they haven't all attended since our very first lesson with them, but they come and go. We taught them about the gospel of Jesus Christ and ended up talking about the sacrament for quite some time. We compared it to a weekly baptismal service for the entire congregation and that they, as priests, are the ones who make it capable for all of us to be made clean. It clicked for one of the priests. He was amazed by the whole thing,not had never occurred to him before how absolutely important the sacrament is. We spent some time talking about the proper way to say the prayer and allow others to feel the spirit. Right before we said the closing prayer, this priest looked at bishop and said, "I want to do the sacrament prayers next week!" We're celebrating small victories over here. 

On Saturday we went and taught a recent convert, Yvonne. Her dad, Doug, has been seeming more and more interested lately. He came to church for the first time on Mothers Day and LOVED it. We taught Yvonne and at the very end of the lesson, he pulled up a chair and wanted to join. He had some questions, so we addressed them and then I asked him if he wanted to be baptized... I didn't even realize what I had said until it came out of my mouth. He said he was definitely interested but wanted to learn more, so he agreed to go through the lessons. 

Well he came to church yesterday and was so moved. He left after second hour and a member took Yvonne home. We got a text from the member that said, "Just took Yvonne home. Doug told my husband, 'tell the bishop I'm going to be a Mormon'. Josh   (Her husband) said, 'Oh yeah, you're thinking about getting baptized?' He said, 'I'm not thinking about it, I'm doing it!'" We went over an hour later and set a date with him for May 28th. He's on fire. Pray for Doug!

Love you all,

Sister Mal

 i feel like these explain themselves... let's just say i've eaten a few too many ice cream sandwiches this week to compensate for the amount of stress that's been going on 

I was trying to fix it and ended up breaking it...

This is Doug and Yvonne. Yvonne was baptized back in December and
we've been working on her dad for awhile. He's preparing to be
baptized at the end of the month!

This is Fred. He lives above our door.

For Logan's sake because I guess he didn't get this... Garrett has
a mop on his head.

Ahh ... the stickers in the south

Week 67

A little bit about mothers and fathers. 

This week was the first time ever that I almost picked up the phone to call my mother, but the mission nurse had to do instead. 

On Friday here are two comments that were made to us:

While we were sitting on a couch in a less actives home, her six year old daughter came up to us and said, "I have a cold and lice!" You better believe there was a great big smile on her face.

The next came from the father of someone we teach to which he said, "I'll have you guys in the house next time, we got to get this bed bug situation figured out". Great. 

Just skip this paragraph if you're already grossed out. So Friday night I had a panic attack because that wasn't the first mention of lice that we have had. We've been told this years lice is a super lice that is hard to kill. That evening my companions spent the evening hour going through my hair. We'll just keep it short and say all three of us have lice and that's what we've spent the weekend dealing with. I am suddenly extremely grateful for the fact that I have had it before, because I knew what to do. I am also grateful for a mother who didn't just shave my head the first time. Don't worry mom, it could have been worse. Look at Sister Suttons hair- long, blonde and thick. It's been quite the weekend. 

Priest Update: One of the priests got up in sacrament meeting and bore his testimony about the church and how excited he is to serve a mission. I made eye contact with Bishop and we both made a half smile. Not sure if our lessons have had any effect, but we did challenge him the week previously to pray and ask God if the church is true and he told us he had done it. Whatever it was, we'll take it. 

We taught the priests yesterday about the plan of salvation, and it went really well. It seemed to give them all a bit more of a perspective as to why we are acting with so much urgency. Now is the time to make the choices that will effect you for the rest of your eternity, and you truly never know how long you'll be here. We talked a lot about judgement day, when you stand before God and whether that will be a happy day or a scary day. Most of the boys talked about how you would feel fear at first but then you would hopefully feel peace. The young men's president told them to think about their own dads and then recognize that Heavenly Father is the perfect Father. With that perspective, it seemed like the boys realized it won't be scary at all, rather a glorious reunion. 

But then I had this little thought, so I shared it with them. I think about my own dad and how I know him. I know when he is happy and I know when he is not. I know when he is pleased with me and I know when I could have done better. I have had to build a relationship with my own dad, and our Heavenly Father is no different. Think about it. Can you imagine going to judgement day and a Man standing before you that you don't even know? He runs up to you to give you a hug and you suddenly feel extremely awkward because you have no idea who He is. Heavenly Father knows us perfectly, but we have to come to know Him. We have to learn of who He is, when He is happy with us and when He corrects us and shows us how we could have done better. If we truly want it to be a happy reunion when we stand before the judgement bar of God, we MUST do our part. As we live the gospel of Jesus Christ, we come to know our Heavenly Father. 

A couple of the boys told me I just ruined the happiness they were looking forward to. Sorry. But it's better to figure it out now, then to have that awkward moment on the other side. 

Adios from Lice-Ville. Family: we'll chat on Sunday. 

Love you!

Sister Mal

Right before we discovered it

We had a good laugh - selfies haha!

Death!

The only way to survive a lice attack

This is proof I love Sister Sutton

Frozen Gator

Lice shampoo directions

This is how I wait for my companions

Flowers!

Sister Sutton and Hermione

Hermione and flamingos

Love notes from Mariah and her friend, who's a member, Michele

LOVE BUG SEASON

Tampa Zone!

Ward BBQ

The girls gave us hand paint instead of face paint.

Washing the long blond hair

Clothes for days ...

It was literally the worst!

It took hours for them to go through my hair!

I lover her!

Gators!

week 66

One year ago, I was moved to the Tampa 2nd ward. One year ago is when I began serving with Sister Huber. Over the course of a year we have: served in two wards together, been STL companions for 5 months and actual companions for two months. For 9 months of that year we did NOT get along. At all. We have since talked about it, and it's been interesting to see how much we really hated each other and how much our hearts have softened. 

Our companions could attest to it. I can remember multiple times where I said to my companion, "I really don't think we are capable of liking each other". It seemed that everything she did, seriously bugged me, to no end. 

Back in September, we were made STL companions and when I found that out I instantly thought, "Oh no... This is isn't going to work". I began to earnestly pray for the capacity to love Sister Huber and to be able to show my love to her. The next day, the Lord sent me a direct answer to my prayer. Over the course of the following week, under very odd circumstances, I was given the chance to show my love for her. It was a humbling week to say the least, but I realized that I really did love her and care about her.

However, after that week was over, it seemed like things went right back to how they were. But this time I knew that I loved her, and that if I tried, we could make it work. The next couple months were better, but it was still VERY rough. 

In January, we both had a change in our companionship and suddenly we started to get along. We realized that we did like each other and that we really could work together. Over the next two months, we saw a complete change in how we interacted. We finally realized that we were on the same team and that if we worked together, we could do a lot more good. 

I will never forget the day that we were on the phone and my companion and I were in Land O Lakes, which Sister Huber had predominately worked in. She told me of a couple formers and less actives to go and see in the area we were in. Sister Huber and her companion were over in Wesley Chapel in an area that I had worked in a lot, and I did the same thing- referred them to a few people to go try. We got off the phone and I said to my companion, "That's how to work together in an area. That would have NEVER happened six months ago". Miracles. 

Then, at the start of March we got a call from the assistants and we were suddenly companions. In the last two moths I have learned SO much from Sister Huber. She is an incredible example of how to truly work with members. She is perfectly bold as she teaches but does so with the utmost love. The amount of effort that she puts into the work is at least three times as much as the normal missionary. Now that I've served with her, I want to go back and start my mission all over again with the knowledge I have. 

The biggest lesson that I have learned over the past year is that it is truly through our Savior, Jesus Christ, that our hearts can be softened and we can love others. Sister Huber has had a profound influence on my life and I will always be grateful for her. We're both off to different things now, but I know I needed to come to Florida to serve with her. I can honestly say that I love Sister Huber.

It's possible to make your enemies your friends. The end. 

Love,

Sister Mal

week 65

Elder Anderson, the priests and who's my companion?

Well family! Hello!
Update on the companion: I've been in a trio since last Tuesday with
Sisters Sutton and Nasman. All we know is that there is a transfer
happening later this week. I am absolutely positive that I will stay
in this area, but as to who my companion will be... That's a
completely different story. Stay tuned until next week :)

Update on the priests: So about half of them had kept their commitment
to read, better than none! Also, five of them didn't show up this
week. We scared them off. Haha! We started class with each of them
sharing with us their biggest doubt about the gospel. It ranged from:
"Why can't we drink coffee?" to "How do I know that Jesus Christ even
lived?" and everything else in between. The rest of class we talked
about, "Why does it matter if I found out?" It was absolutely
fascinating. But I want to go back to the coffee question. We had two
of the boys ask about it. We asked them if they were to rate their
testimony on a scale of one (you're an atheist) to a ten (you're
Joseph Smith), where would you rate it? Thinking they were all that,
they said, "umm 9. Yeah definitely a 9". Then, being the brat that I
am, I gave them a little perspective. Joseph Smith lived and died for
the church. Everything he did in his life was because he KNEW without
a doubt that this is Gods church and that he was doing exactly what
God wanted him to do. He only came to this because He prayed and asked
God for himself. He gained his own witness of the truth. I love the
line in Joseph Smith History where he says, "I knew it and I knew that
God knew it and I could not deny it". We asked these two young men if
they would be willing to die for the gospel.... Silence. One of the
boys started laughing and said, "alright, I take it back. I'm not even
CLOSE to a 9". We want to help them see where they are, so they can
move up the scale. Not one of them has ever prayed and asked God if
the church is true, or if God even exists. They are all going to do it
this week. Stay tuned.

Update on Elder Anderson: did you know his wife is from Tampa? They
came down this weekend to meet with mission presidents in the area and
spend time with family. He use to be the Tampa stake president, so he
called a special fireside for all of the Tampa stake. Mariah and
Prisicilla came and we all got to sit on the front row. We talked to
them about who he was and they were so excited. Mariah, she's 10,
decided she really wanted to meet him. I asked her what she would say
if she met him and she said, "Hi sir, my name is Mariah and I have
been learning about Jesus Christ with the best missionaries in the
world, Sister Sackley and Sister Huber. One day I hope to be
baptized". I could not believe it. We grabbed Sister Cusick and had
Mariah practice on her. Sister Cusick thought it was the sweetest
thing and she said she would make sure Mariah met him. At the end of
the meeting, Sister Cusick had us go up. Sure enough, Mariah went up
to him and shook his hand and said exactly that. He was surprised and
then looked up at Sister Huber and I and smiled, and then turned to
her and said, "You keep listening to what they are teaching you and
you will be baptized one day!" She was on cloud 9. Priscilla shook his
hand and said it was one of the best days of their life. It was a
moment that I will never forget and definitely a moment those girls
will never forget. They are amazing.

We taught the girls about the temple this week and why we have them.
They were quite interested in being able to be married forever, so we
shared some pictures of sealing rooms. They saw the mirrors and were
curious. We explained how you can see forever back and forth with our
iPad. The girls had never seen that before and were SO intrigued. At
the end they both said, "alright. Looks like we'll have to get married
in the castle". We sure do love them.