week 6 (that one time when...)

this week was insane. and was filled with so many insane moments. so lets just do a little recap called "that one time when...."

-we were walking out of downtown and passed a park, filled with army men. with machine guns. in a circle. not exactly sure what was happening there!

-we forgot a Book of Mormon at home, and didn't realize it until 5 minutes before the appointment. We sprinted home and sprinted back. Only to realize she wasn't there. 

-due to that run in salt water sandals, I ended up with blisters galore. Including one the size of a silver dollar on the ball of my foot. it was AWESOME.

-we soaked our feet in an icy bathtub and ate chocolate while watching mormon messages- our idea of a girls night :)

-we started teaching a random man in Panera Bread this week. In the midst of talking to him he reached out and touched my forehead. it was very very strange. 

-we ate hot dogs down by the bay!

-we lived on cinnamon toast all week long. 

-Sister Kitchen touched dog poop on a run this week. I died laughing.

-a random member paid for pizza for 6 sisters. I love people here.

-went to a very interesting latino wedding that included more food than I have seen in a long time and some seriously good music. It took every ounce of me not to get up and dance to Taylor Swift.

-attended 3 INCREDIBLE baptisms

-we spent two full days with an apostle of the Lord. He's my new favorite... is that allowed?

-found mini on-the-go toothbrushes in our car on our way to listen to Elder Zwick talk-- we think God knew we needed fresh breath to hear from one of the Seventy.

-we had to share an experience during the zone conference this past week, and because of it Elder Zwick wrote Sister Kitchen and my name in his Preach My Gospel. We felt so cool.

-we texted Elder Zwick about what we wanted to hear from him. He told us he loves us :) His attention to detail is incredible. We've seen him 3 times in the past week and he remembers us everytime. He's awesome.

-we were trying to go visit a former investigator, but got lost, and ended up on the west side at sunset. Basically God loves us and we did some contacting at a park so we could enjoy all the beauty.

-It rained HARD this week. We got soaked multiple times. We had just gone home and changed and we were maybe two blocks away from home when I stepped on what I thought was sand and instead sank right into the ground. I fell into the street, like to my knees. It was hysterical.

-Sister Sutton and I had to go pick up our companions this week but we got lost trying to get there.... and ended up in Ybor City at 8:30 at night. On day one of my mission I was told to avoid Ybor at all costs possible. Let's just say that was an interesting drive, and we prayed hard the whole time. God protected us. all is well :)

It was hectic and crazy, but life seriously is so good here. At one point when things got really insane, I turned to Sister Kitchen and said, I just don't know whether to laugh or cry! We've discovered that laughing really is the best cure. Also Elder Zwick said multiple times this week, "Go Vertical for Help!" That's become our new little motto. Go vertical. It's easier and the Lord knows so much more than we do.

I love you all!

Sister Mal

the army guys.

contacting in downtown-- there are funky seats everywhere

the blister... i have more- but this was the main one.

after we sprinted home to get it-- she wasn't even home! dang it.

sometimes you just need chocolate, mormon messages, and an ice bath for your feet.

texts from Elder Zwick! 

we LOVE bayshore. you're going to have to deal with these pictures every week probably. sorry. it was SUPER muggy and foggy this week.

please enjoy that lovely face. you can thank sis kitchen for this. we eat cinnamon toast all day every day. its what keeps us happy.

the toothbrushes that God gave to us.

that one time i fell INTO the street. not in the street. my legs went through the ground.

week 5

two stories for you this week:

Singing to an investigator.

Yeah. That happened. Sister Sutton and I were teaching a lesson to an investigator this week and all of the sudden in the middle of the lesson he asked us to sing to him. TO SING TO HIM. We just about died. But the spirit was saying do it and you can't just not... so we sang Nearer My God to Thee. I swear on my life, my voice didn't come out of me. It truly was a miracle of God. 

Invite to be baptized?

Yesterday Sister Kitchen and I were headed to meet with some former investigators. On the way we met a lady sitting outside who wanted to hear all about what we had to say. That was a miracle in and of itself. We taught her the first lesson on the spot. It was a super awesome experience and she was totally loving everything we had to say to her, it was incredible. So then as the lesson is wrapping up I have the impression to invite her to be baptized- like we are suppose to do. But it was at an awkward spot of the lesson and yeah... I just thought, next time! 

So we leave.

And then we start talking. And we both realized that we should have invited her to be baptized. So I'm like- WE GOT TO GO BACK! So we did. I marched straight up to her, told her I forgot to ask her the most important question of all, and asked her if she'd be baptized. We talked for a couple more minutes but then she agreed. I was literally jumping up and down after we left. I was so excited.

Moral of the stories? Listen to the spirit no matter how weird, strange, odd or hard what it is that it is telling you to do. Listen and follow, and you will always be grateful you did. The Lord will help us if we submit ourselves to Him.

This work is incredible. Sometimes I wonder why it took me 2 years to make the decision, because I can't imagine being any other place doing any other work right about now. The church is true! :)

Love you!

Sister Mal

P.S. Elder Zwick from the seventy came  this last week and we've been having/ will continue to be having conferences with him. It's been a super cool experience. He has been talking to us all about how the iPads that we have are the Lord's way of hastening the work. He's completely changed my viewpoint on ipads. And now every companionship has two. I'm excited to hear more from him this next week! He spoke in April general conference-- look it up, its a really great talk!

love me some tampa

we got SOAKED to the bone one night. and my umbrella broke. and a car hit a puddle and soaked us. and sister sutton and i laughed the entire time. we truly are "cheerfully doing all things that lie in our power"

riding through mud puddles.... we laughed for a solid 10 minutes about this one.

weekly planning- thanks for the chocolate mad. it helped us survive.

reason #783 why sister kitchen is my favorite. she does leeps during weekly planning

that bayshore life though. we spend so much time riding and running along this. i just love it

the brick of Mormon!

this is our friends avery and maddie. they were great cheerleaders for us

pinewood derby! they do it as a ward here. ours was "the brick of mormon" and it had mormon.org cards taped all around it. the elders was their minivan that they drive. they won twice and we won once... but the ward loves the sisters, so the elders were "disqualified" hahaha

"Miracles Happen" week 4

cue cheesy princess diaries music

Alright. Let's just talk about that one time when Sister Sutton and I went off on our own. Day 6 of our missions, our companions leave us for exchanges and the two newbies have 4 lessons to teach all within 3 hours, oh and dinner should probably happen in there somewhere. We were excited and scared out of our little minds. 

Miracle #1: we have been teaching a sweet old man named Ron. He has been meeting with missionaries for over 6 months, but keeps having various surgeries and because of it the missionaries keep having to drop him. So he's heard all the lessons, and wants to get baptized, but his physical health is struggling right now. So Sister Sutton and I weren't really sure what to teach, but we felt like let's go with the 10 commandments and talk about Mosiah 13. So that's what we did! We get there and ask him about his Book of Mormon reading and guess what he read that morning: Mosiah 13. I was so pumped. It was awesome. We had a great little lesson.

So after that's over, we're hurrying home to get food and trying to figure out where our next appointment is when suddenly: the gps stops working, And hello- we're clueless as to where we are. So we make it home, but we are worried about getting to our next appointment. We take dinner to go, tell the people that we're going to teach we're going to be late and then go to the appartment office to get wifi so we can figure out where we are going! Well our ipad stops working. The lesson we were going to give we can't anymore, basically we had a moment of, "Oh my goodness Satan hates us and we are trying SO hard!!" We finally are on our way to the appointment and we are just stressed out of our minds. I even said to Sister Sutton, "we already had our one miracle of the day with Ron! We can't have anymore!" Well what do you know... we stop at a stop light completely. Next thing I know I hit the car in front of us, HARD. How it happened?! I have no idea, like I'm still confused. But we both start crying. It was ridiculous. We are freaking out as we pull over and cursing Satan at the same time for working so hard on us.

The guy in front of us gets out of his car and is literally the nicest man in the world. There isn't even a mark on his car. He told us to go about our day and not to worry about it. I couldn't stop thanking him. So then we look at our car.... NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Not even a tiny scratch. This time I cried of happiness. The Lord had not forgotten the two newbies. We were so so grateful. We prayed just before we left for safety and it was granted.

There are no limits to miracles and God answers our prayers. 

Tampa is so great. I'm loving every minute of this. This mission is absolutely NOTHING like I ever thought it would be. No one can tell you what a mission is like, you just can't, You have to experience it for yourself. 

Love you all!

Sister Mal

we received flowers for valentines day from the other sisters! 

packages from home

treat yourself

the squirrel that was petrified. yes it is dead and yes it is climbing up a tree. we were really confused.

last night in the MTC! party with a dozen cupcakes, three dozen krispie kreame donuts and chips and salsa... noise makers of course to drive our hall crazy

trying to get everything to fit

Tampa missionaries 

this is Miss Sharon. She was our TRC investigator. I love her so much 

brother gleason! one of our MTC teachers

familiar faces!

selfie sundays!

la-bon-qui-qui she's our investigator that we teach

Sister Kitchen and I- bowling for preparation day last week!

this is how comp study looks to sister kitchen every day- me in my cocoon. 

sunsets at the yacht club-- it had stormed all day, so we didn't get a full blown sunset, but it was still gorgeous

the yw heart attacked our door- this ward is awesome.

Ronetta- a recent convert. Sister Sutton and I meet with her on Tuesdays. She is basically the most God loving woman I have ever met. I love her 

the first time biking in a skirt... basically the whole world saw everything. it's impossible to be modest i swear. one day i will master this skill.

that one day we biked down to base... on accident. 14 miles round trip. we wanted to die.