CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!!!

 

I got the BEST present in the mail the other day...a CD of Mom, Dad, Camille, and Scott singing! I haven't stopped listening to it... :) My new companion, Hna. Wilzbach doesn't mind, she is very easy going and fun, I love her lots. But the CD so far has been my favorite, as I haven't opened anything else. OH!!! But I did open the white package and I ate some pennitone last night and mangos. :) Thanks Dad! Everything else is under the little "who" tree, that's what Hna. Wilzbach calls is, and I am so excited for Christmas morning! I'm going straight to my stocking and presents!!! Christmas is so much more enjoyable when you have been deprived of constant communication from your family and friends for almost 9 months. It's a good tactic. I think that's why they do it, it's all for the eventual Christmas experience. I have missed y'all so much lately. Blake should be bursting through my apartment door any time now to shout Merry Christmas! I will miss very much sitting in the family room to listen to Dad read Luke 2 and sining Christmas songs together. But I singing along with the home CD so it's close! I heard from 3 different sources today that Camille sang beautifully in church, Mary's Lullaby, I wish I could have been there to play for her. I bet it was great though regardless! I am just so excited to see everyone's faces tomorrow!!!! No one is allowed to make fun of my fat face....

 

Some awesome things happened this week. I got my new, lovely companion, Hermana Wilzbach! She is from Missouri and is a ball of CRAZY. We get along quite well. :) She is a transfer ahead of me and she has studied Spanish for 8 years prior to the mission. It's nice, I am learning lots from her. I love her lots already, she is very "patient"(no pun intended...) with all of my medical stuff. It already feel like we've been together for a few weeks, it's always nice when you click right off with a companion. She is great and I love her! We had a fun experience this week...we were driving down S. Post Oak, just passed Court Rd. when we see these guys(like 5) on horses riding in the median! What does my crazy comopanion do? She flips around so fast and yells as she is laughing hystarically, "Get the camera!!"...of course I got out my camera. :) She put the hazard lights on and I tried to take a picture but they stopped and posed for us...and asked if we wanted a ride...then we drove away and my picture was blurry. But it was still fun!! AND...MY SPANISH MIRACLE!!!! I had a doctors appointment this morning right? Right. So I am waiting to go into the radiology and the radiologist guy was having a hard time speaking to this lady in Spanish. She was trying to ask questions and he just kept saysing, "aqui once(11)"... They lady turned to me and ask, "Hable espanol?"...I spit out, "Si!"...and all of a sudden I was translating back and forth and it was so flippin cool!!!!!! I felt really proud of myself. I offered a prayer of gratitude and i learned a lesson, I am actually learning Spanish and I need to be more kind to myself about it. It's a slow process but there is change and progression and I am so excited about it!! Another amazing thing happened, the Diaz family came to chruch!!! The boys were unable to come for some reason but Hna. and Hno. came and so did Hno.'s mom! They loved it, I was playing for the Christmas program so I couldn't sit next to them but they were smiling the entire time! It was so great. They will be patized soon, I can feel it!

 

Well I just can't wait to see y'all tomorrow!!! I love y'all so much and have fun at the sleepover(that better still be happening!)!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

 

All my love,

Hermana Florence

Long haul

Hello Family,

 

Well got transfer calls this morning. I will be staying in my area, Hermana O'Neill will be leaving. I had a sick feeling in my stomach all week worrying about transfers, it happens every time. I don't like change. I am glad though that I get to stay. This will be my 4th transfer here, these people are my family! I love this area, I will be happy to stay here for the next 9.5 months. It's possible too, as lots of people have been in an area for more than half of their missions. So I have hope. But I'll do what the Lord asks.

 

I had a brutal experience last night... It was our stake Christmas choir concert. First, as a general fact, Hispanics can't sing. Y'all should go to a Spanish ward just once, and y'all would send me flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep(name that movie!). It was just so painful. Dad(anyone with sense and no missionary name tag) would have walked out. I unfortunately couldn't. I wish I could explain adequately. The best way that I can describe it is like this:imagine a herd of deaf donkeys running over an edge of a cliff while two experienced yodelers try round them up and throw in there an occasional sickly elk being shot and you got what it sounded like.... But as my kind missionary side would say...it was........................................................................................................................................................................................well........................................................................................................bless their souls...............................................................................................................there was great effort.........................................................................................................................................they all looked lovely.

 

 We had an awesome with the Diaz Family yesterday, they still won't set a date for baptism but they are progressing really well and have such a strong desire to be good. They will find their answers soon. They want to really be solid about their choice, which I appreciate. It makes me sad when people will be baptized, for one worldly reason or another, and son't keep working at their testimony and fall away. But this family is solid, they are great, I love them.

 

Well Family I love y'all so much! We are going to lunch with Crystal and Harold today, they are our best friends. :)

 

Have a wonderful week! See y'alls faces on Christmas!

 

Love,

Hermana Erica Florence

Freezing!

Hey Family!

 

This week has been crazy. Very very cold. We're expected to get a huge ice storm tomorrow...it's been looking really gloomy and feeling real cold all week so I expect something cool to come out of it. Have no fear, I'm bundled up well every time we go out, my toes are quite cold though...boots for Christmas? :) Sometimes I feel like the little brother on "A Christmas Story"..."I can't put my arms down!"...member laugh at me. Nothing new. We also did a birthday lunch for me last monday. We went to Tornado Burger!! It's my favorite.

 

Funny story for the week! So I needed to go and pick up a prescription at Walgreens, a store that is frequented. Well it was at night and we were tired so we decided to go through the drive through. The old Indian lady kept telling me I didn'thave an account with them...lies, I have been to Walgreens lots. But I complied and sent her my insurance card through the tube thing and we said and spelt out everything for her before hand as well. 30 minutes later...I get my prescription and I could not stop laughing!!! I have recently changed my name to Erica Slorence, my new address is 118 E. Van Angelio Ave. No wonder she couldn't find me in the system...So I now have two accounts with them, Slorence is my secret identity. :) it made everything worth it. I'll attach a picture so y'all can see, it was hilarious!

 

Well the Christmas Devotional was last night, hope everyone was able to see it! We got the last talk by Elder Nelson, who by the way will being coming to our mission in January! There is something special about Christmas time. It may be because so many people are more aware of the Savior and the things they are grateful for. People justify giving more because it's the season, which is wonderful! I just wish people would be more willing go give so unselfishly all year round. I personally think it would diminish the powers of Satan on the earth. When we serve our Father in Heaven's children, we build fortifications again Satan's influence in our lives. That has become more real to me these last 8 months. (holy moly...10 months left...just had a little freak out) As we choose faith over fear and kindness over selfishness, we cannot help but receive so many blessings and become better people through Christ. I hope everyone gives a little each day, not withstanding the time of the year(not withstanding? I have been reading the scriptures too much...I also often say "like unto it" it's a weird life).

 

We have been asked to study more about the attributes of Christ. And everyone has been given a specific topic to study as well. Mine is Christ's example of administering to the one. It is quite the emotional topic for me, as I feel many times in my life, as do many, that I have been the "one" that Christ has sought. As followers of Christ we are charged to do that same as He would if He were on the earth. Let us all find someone, at work or school or within the church, to administer to as Christ would. It not only brings them so much happiness, but it will bring us the pure joy as well.

 

I am so grateful for this true Gospel. I am grateful that I am able to share it with so many every day to help them find happiness. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Love y'all so much!

 

Love,

Hermana Florence

 

P.S. I miss hearing Blake say "Marry Christmas!!" every 5 minutes... :)

Happy Thanks-Birthday!

Hi Sweet Family!!

 

What a WEEK!! Everyone went out of town for Thanksgiving...the entire weekend. Some of our members were still in town and came back for Sunday(the most important day for a few obvious reasons) and all of our investigators and the potential investigators that we tried to see weren't home. After a few hours we decided to start laughing about it because it was becoming frustrating. We laughed a lot. This week was pretty slow and it tried our patience. BUT it was SO FUN!!! Thanksgiving morning we went and played some sports with our Elders in the ward and quite a few other from the ward. Hna. O'Neill and I were the only girls, that just made it more fun though! We started off by playing soccer....I have not much of foot-eye-coordination. I was much better at defense and being goalie...you know, the fat kid job. I nailed it. Then we went inside and played some basketball, not as fun, I'm not great at that either. Our last sport though was VOLLEYBALL!!!!! It was SO FUN!!! And I am still getting over being sore. It was a little frustrating because they are all Hispanic soccer players...so they did a lot with their heads, feet, and chests. And mostly just wacked at the ball, nothing was really set up. But I still had fun! We ate at two different houses that night. Too much food and no turkey. I felt a little homesick then. The next couple days were uneventful as we walked around like old people because of our sore muscles and tried to talk to people on the streets, as we had no other options. They might have ran away as they saw us hobbling over to them. It was quite pathetic.

 

Sunday(MY BIRTHDAY) was really awesome! I thought I was going to hate it because I had only received a card from Dad so far and my package was no where to be found. Elder Nilsen even headed my plea to mand the office on Friday while everyone else was gone. But apparently the office told them not to send packages to the office until today. I'm pretty miffed, but I can't really do anything about it. So I'll get it today!! But I was sang to in our correlation meeting and in the Primary(Hna. O'Neill and I taught primary, it was so fun). After church we went to the Reyes home and Yanis and Lupe bought me a cake and pizza(breaking the Sabbath never tasted so good)! She also gave me a gift card so that will be fun! Then we had this AMAZING lesson with a new family that we got from a referral. The Diaz Family. The mother, Diana, had a very sad experience at the beginning of the year with her mom passing away. She has never forgiven herself for ignoring a call from her the day she died. The moment we stepped into their home the spirit was incredible strong. I have never been in a lesson like that. My heart was pounding the entire time as we taught and bore testimony of the Plan of Salvation and that we can be together as families forever. I cried quite a bit, as we as a family have struggled through a loss and have found strength and hope through God's plan. They loved the lesson and the thrived within the spirit setting and accepted to prepare to be baptized. They are incredibly prepared by the Lord. After that amazing lesson we were to go to the Rodriguez home to have a Noche Mormona with them and the Garcia family. We got there and the house was dark, but we decided to knock anyways. So we did and Hermana Rodriguez let us in and right as i stepped in the lights went on and I had balloons in my face!!! They threw me a surprise party!!!! Lots of ward members were there, it was the sweetest thing ever!!!! Hermana Rodriguez bought me a ring and I got a necklace from Vilma! The got my a cake and I even got my face smashed into it...don't worry I have the video and all. :) I had an awesome birthday!! I am so grateful I have an extention of my family here in Texas. I felt SO loved!!

 

Well that is all I have to tell. I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving and Happy Birthdays! From everyone's emails, it was great fun! Thank you for all of the love and support! I look forward to the packages and letters coming my way that I heard about! Be good and safe and be and example of Christ!!

 

Love,

Hermana Florence

Thanksgiving food aka chilies:

Birthday Cakes:

Everyone at my surprise party!

COLD

Hello Dear Family!

Primero, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Camille and Mommy this week!!!!!!! I will be sad to not share a birthday dinner this coming Sunday,but I will be thinking of y'all lots! I sent birthday cards, hope they were received. I got my birthday card from Grammy and I am just dying to open it, but I will wait. It will be strange being away from home for a birthday, and to not be there for Camille and Mom's. Make sure someone takes a video of the singing and candles!!!

This week was pretty good. There was an activity for Thanksgiving "Accion de Gracias". Let's just say I will really miss an American Thanksgiving... they put chilies in their mashed potatoes...and chilies with their turkey...and chilies with the green beans...and chilies with the corn. Everything tasted the same because it was spicy. Ha ha ha...mommy I miss you. We, as missionaries, sang "Because I Have Been Given Much" in the program. I seem to be the designated piano player, which is actually very fun! I won't be out of practice when I get home. I don't think I mentioned that I also played for the Primary Program a couple weeks ago. It's on my list of favorite callings! We will be playing football Thursday morning for Thanksgiving. It's funny because most people in the ward are confused at why we call it turkey bowl. And it's adorable when they try to say it!

It has been VERY cold here this last week. I haven't seen the sun all week, it hasn't reached over 55 yet, and it's rainy and windy. Every time I walk outside I am layered and bundled but still COLD! I always picture dad laughing at me and calling me a "desert rat". And I want to live in Canada some day...very funny. The good thing is though that everyone makes us hot chocolate! A less-active, Maria Fuentes, made us warm milk the other day. To our surprise after we had drank it she told us how to make it...milk and a little coffee. So I accidently transgressed a law. We then taugh the Word of Wisdom, ha ha which she is not a fan of. It's adorable how little old ladies think they can do what they want just because they're old! Hermana Fuentes is progressing though and is coming back to church. A miracle that happened this last week was she prayed for the first time in 30+ years!!!! It was a very sweet feeling to be a part of that, I love her dearly. Eva Vasquez is progressing slowly. We had an awesome, I mean AWESOME lesson with her about recognizing the Spirit this week!!! She really does want to find the truth, she has great faith, she just needs to exercise it. We had another miracle this week with receiving a referral! These last two weeks we have been very lacking in that area...we ask everyone for a referral and we are always given nothing. Every morning before we go out we say a prayer and we ask to find new people to teach that are prepared to receive the Gospel and to receive referrals. Well on Wednesday we were out walking around a neighborhood to find new people(yes, it was a HUGE sacrifice because it was freezing) when we got a phone call from a lady that Hna. Greenwood and I contacted months ago and haven't heard from since. Her name is Leanora. She called and gave us a referral for her son!! He doens't live in our area...BUT!!! It was a referral!!! God always answers prayers. It's usually not how we expect or in our timing, but he hears them and aswers them because He loves us! Although this week was all around slow with lessons and numbers...we saw lots of miracles. Hard weeks only mean there are great ones to come if we're faithful through the trials!

I hope everyone had a great last week and that this week will be even better! Happy Thanksgiving y'all!! I am so grateful for everything that I have been given. I have a wonderful family and great friends! And I feel SO blessed to be able to serve a mission, to help other come unto Christ, and serve God's children. I can't believe I will be 21 this week. I am grateful that I have lived this long, it's incredible if you think about how silly I am sometimes. :) Be happy, be safe, and be grateful!!

Love,

 Hermana Florence

Creepy hugs!

Hello Dearest Family!!

 

This was a very awesome week! We were able to see a family that we haven't been able to catch at home for a few months this week, the Cruz family. They don't have much desire to change...so we see them when we can. There is only so much we can do to help them if they don't want help, ya know? But we had a really great lesson 2 with them, about the Plan of Salvation. Hermana O'Neill and I are getting better and better at teaching with each other! She has the scriptures ingraved in her brain I swear...she knows a solid scripture for every principle of the Gospel and any question or doubt they have! I am very lucky to have her as a companion. She took great care of me when I got pretty sick these last few days. It was a little frustrating at first though...she called the medical assistant on me and tattled...then we had to go to Walgreens and home where we were instructed to camp our for a couple days. Not at all my idea of a good missionary time but I do what I'm told. I did sneak in one last appointment though with the Santillan's, so I felt a little better about it! Tha Santillan's threw a party for Eduardito, he's 6 and thicker than Brayden! We went in time for cake and we were able to share a quick lesson with the adults after the party was over. I got the best video of everyone singing Happy Birthday in English...I crack up every time I watch it!!

 

On Saturday at like 6 we went to see a potential investigator, someone we contacted on the street, taught on the spot a few principles and got his address to try again another day. his name is Jose Martinez. he was SUPER nice when we stopped and talked to him, he is very Catholic as many people are here. His wife answered the door and seemed suspicious that two young girls were visiting her husband at night. I'll give it to her, it's kind of weird. We wanted to talk to her though too but she wouldn't have it. Well Jose came out and talked to us for a bit, we tried to teach but he was all over the place. Then we noticed that he couldn't stand up without wobbling. Yup, he was drunk. We call those borachos. Right when we noticed we shared a look and started to say our goodbyes. When he shook Hna. O'Neill's hand he put his other hand on her shoulder. I got the same thing but it turned into a creepy CREEPY hug that was difficult to pull away from. But as I pulled away he did the hand down my arm linger thing that made me feel so filthy. We then very quickly left. Maybe we'll try him again during the day with a male member...maybe.

 

Eva Vasquez is supposed to be baptized this next week along with one of her girls. Eva, however, has been studying with the Testigos de Jehova(Jehovah's Witnesses) and is struggling with her faith. We are working on daily contacting to encouraging her to receive her own answer about the Book of Mormon. I haven't prayed so hard for an investigator before. Eva has so much potential and her family could have so much more. I pray and pray she will continue to at least try. I love her so very much.

 

No one came to church yesterday. Which was a little heartbreaking. Having investigators come to church is so crucial. They feel the Spirit there so much more and they find answers they might not have otherwise found. That's really why we all go. It's why it's a commandment to attend church every Sunday. To remember Christ by partaking of the Sacrament and showing our willingness to do more and progress. There are many reason to attend all 3 hours of church, but if anyone is struggling with it, please, go because it's a commandment. If you will do that then you will find more reasons to go each week. our Heavenly Father loves us so much! He wants us to be so happy! Church can make us happy, if we let it.

 

I love y'all so much! Thanks for all of the love and support, it means the world. I am so grateful to be here in Texas, there isn't anything as great as being a missionary! Work hard and love each other!!

 

Love,

Hermana Florence

Longest week of my life.

Hello family!

 

This week was very strange for me. With getting a new companion, taking over the area, and planning a baptisms, it felt a little stressful and crazy. Especially since I wasn't in my area for almost 3 days. But turns out I made it through everything that came my way this last week, thank goodness. I don't think I have prayed so hard for charity and comfort as I have had to this last week.

 

Crystal Ann Marin was baptized this last Saturday and confirmed the following day at church!! Her baptism was the most tender one I have witnessed. She is so incredible, I can't help but feel that she was someone I was meant to teach. I feel so blessed to have been a part of that special time in her life! Her boyfriend, Harold, baptized her which was sweet. He cried, which made me cry. And then I cried the rest of the day every time I thought of Crystal. She really is so special, one day she'll visit me in Arizona and y'all can see how amazing she is! Harold was so much help with the whole baptism process, he made the program and set up all the assignments. All I had to do was get her interview in line, set up chairs, and fill up the font! And somehow all of those were stressful enough, I can't imagine having to do the rest during this week. Heavenly Father was definitely taking care of me!

 

We have been teaching the Vasquez family lately, I think I've talked about them before. But yesterday Rodrigo and Myra came to church!! We've been trying to get them to come for a month, longer really, since conference. They came for conference and yesterday was the primary program so they still haven't been a part of a normal church service. They think we're weird, but everyone just loves them so they like to come!  Today, we're going over to see them and re-extend dates to the family. The mom, Eva, is still good for her date on the 23rd of this month! But she has a hard time wanting to come because she wants her whole family to do it at once. We're trying to help her see that she could be a great example for her kids by being baptized first, so we'll be having that lesson with her today and talk about repentance.

 

We're been focusing a lot on repentance lately. It's been really good for me because I have been able to repent better daily and ask for help. Every time I am able to teach about repentance I am able to bear testimony about it more strongly, because I apply repentance in my life personally. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to get on my knees everyday and ask for forgiveness of my faults and petition for His grace, so I may become better. What a blessing.

 

Well my sweet family I sure love y'all VERY much! Thank you for all of the love and support. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and stays safe! Happy Veterans day!

 

Love,

Hermana Florence

The Cricket

Hello Family!

I had a very interesting week. It was Hermana Greenwood's last week here. I just dropped her off at the mission home. There have been a lot of tears these past couple days, obviously. She has really become like one of my sisters, it felt like saying goodbye to family again. Definitely not easy. I'll be out of my area for a few days but will return to it with a new companion on Wednesday. Yep, I'm taking over my area, pretty scary. But I know I have a lot of support from the ward and the Lord. It'll be tough but that means I will grow. We have the baptism for Crystal Marin coming up this weekend! There is a lot to do to plan a baptism...I feel a little scared without Hna. Greenwood helping me, but the Lord will too. But I am very excited, Crystal is just amazing! I have never had an investigator as prepared as her. I feel like it's a huge blessing for me. President Ashton said that when we find prepared people, we are doing our job. That means the Lord trusts a to teach well and to the needs of the person. I hope that by finding Crystal that means I am an adequate missionary. Sometimes I feel like I'm just not quite there with somethings, maybe with the language or my teaching skills in general, but there is a definite desire to do what is best for these people, so I feel that I have the trust of the Lord. I'm giving my best, and that's all He asks.

I was so happy to see a picture of little Z! She looks like a darling little girl! I wish I could hug her tight! It was cute to see Charley's cute Halloween outfit, it fit her personality very well!

We had a Noche Mormona(kind of like a family home evening, but a more teaching setting) Last night with the Rodriguez and Garcia families. Hno. Garcia was baptized recently so we are going through the new member lessons with him. We taught about Temples and eternal families. I got emotional during the lesson, as I mostly do when we talk about families. It's not entirely because I miss y'all, it's because I have a strong testimony of it. Families are so special, they are literal gifts from God. And I feel so blessed to have such a loving family who lives and loves the teachings of Christ. After we shared our message we had dinner...pizza, pasta, pan dulce, and CRICKETS. Once upon a time I promised myself that I would try everything I was asked to eat(unless it would kill me). So far I have stuck tot he promise. Yep. I ate a cricket. It was dead of course and roasted with chili and lime. The flavor was pretty good...but then I remembered I ate a bug and that's when I had the hard time chewing. I eventually swallowed it with juice! They eat crickets like chips...I think I'll stick to chips. After I did it Hna. Greenwood did it as well. She has a video of it so look for it on Facebook maybe!

Well my sweet family, I love y'all. I am so grateful to be able to serve the Lord in such a great cause, to help families return to live with God. I am grateful for all of your love and support! Les quiero mucho mucho mucho como la cola del chucho! Hna. Santillan always says that to me. :) Have a wonderful and blessed week!

Love,

Hna. Erica Florence

Happy Halloween!

Hey sweet family!

 

I hope everyone, the kiddos especially, are so excited for Halloween! Hna. Greenwood and I got little pumpkins from a member that we will carve today! I think I'm more excited about it...I can't wait to see the kid's costumes!

 

This last week was pretty great. We were in the house though for about half a day...want to hear the story? Thought so! So we went through the day wonderfully, had lots of appointments and members that came with us! And then we had a dinner appointment with the Rodriguez family, they are pretty much my favorite. But it was an earlier dinner, like 3...linner? Well Hna. Rodriguez really really likes spicy food. And so does Hna. Greenwood. So Hna. Rodriguez fixed our plates for us and gave them to us, we prayed, and started eating. Within 2 seconds I'm bright red and sweating like crazy and Hna. Rodriguez face goes white and her eyes get so wide and she starts speaking Spanish so quickly I didn't understand one bit, well besides LO SIENTO!!! She gave the Hna. Greenwood's plate with the insanely spicy habenero sauce on it...Within 2 minutes I was throwing up like crazy!! And it didn't stop for whole hour...I was done for...I ate so many tums. Then I slept it off the rest of the day as commanded by the medical coordinator, Sister Martinez. Which is really funny because it was her last day as a service missionary, she laughed a little and she said she wasn't surprised it ended with me. She and I are best friends. :)

 

Well besides me being on fire this week...HERMANO ALEJANDRO GARCIA WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! It was so incredible!! He is the sweetest man in the world. I wish y'all could have seen how happy he was(is)! I'll try and figure out this picture thing...last time it only let me see 3 pictures... But the crazy thing is that he was an hour and a half late...talk about stressful! Lots of the ward came and were very supportive, they are all great! Hna. Greenwood and I were supposed to sing a special musical number but the program had to have some adjustments due to time. I'm definitely not complaining...I'm too out of shape to sing. And then the following Sunday, yesterday, he was confirmed a member of the church and he received the Holy Ghost! What a beautiful weekend. :) OH OH!!!!!! AND!!!!! The girlfriend of a member, Herald Del Aguila, has a date for this next Saturday! Which may be changed for the Sunday so her parents can make it. Her name is Crystal and she is SO GOLDEN!!!! She has been coming to church with Herald for over a month and she loves it. Crystal wanted to learn more from us but first she wanted to come to a lesson to see how it was before it was focused on her. So she and Herald came with us to the Vasquez family and we taught a really great lesson, she even participated!! And afterwards we were scheduled to have a Noche Mormona with the Del Aguilas. So we went over there and taught a first lesson. It started out kind of rough because Hno. Del Aguila is kind of scary...he's a very VERY smart man and makes you feel kind of silly. So I was really afraid to talk. But I said a prayer in my heart and talked anyways and turns out I did just fine! He told me tough afterwards I need to work on my Spanish...it's a work in progress. Well we decided to watch the short Restoration video after the lesson. And Crystal got pretty emotional during that. Hna. Greenwood and I shared a look and after the movie was done we asked her to be baptized on November 2nd. And she is, I think, the most excited person I have ever taught to get baptized!! She already ready the Book of Mormon on her own, knows it's true, and applies it to her life. HELLO!!! She is SO prepared!! She'll be baptized just before Hna. Greenwood leaves for home...but we don't talk aobut her going home...I'm having a heard time dealing with that. We're best friends.

 

Anyways, that is my life this week! I hope everyone had an awesome week! Always look for an opportunity to serve!

 

Much Love,

Hermana Florence

A Loving Family

Dear Family,

 

This week was like a slide. One of those metal ones that's been under the hot sun all day and you go down it practically bare-bummed in a swimsuit. Obviously the week wasn't easy. Sticky, wet, tiring, and just plain overwhelming. I got really caught up in my own emotions and turned very inward instead of turning outward as Christ would. How selfish of me. But I have found that it's really easy for me to reach out and help other when I'm feeling good. But it's even harder when I'm feeling down and out, and the person right next to me is too, to show kindness. Why is that so hard for us to do? Beats me. It really should be that hard. We've been asked to "come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him" (Moroni 10: 32-33). For a long time that scripture has seemed impossible. How are we supposed to be perfect on this earth? For me, I think of it in small steps. We aren't expected to be perfect all at once. We are asked to "deny ourselves of all ungodliness" and exercise the Atonement in our lives. We will make mistakes, we will see trials, but what we are asked to do in these times is simple. Come unto Christ. Take advantage of the wonderful gift of the Atonement. Let Him help you. Sure it's simple, but it's not easy for our selfish and stubborn human minds. Dad told me the other day that the remedy to my problem was simple, forget about myself. How ridiculously easy but so frustratingly difficult! It's one of the things I am meant to learn, and I'd rather learn it here, in this ways, than at home in another. It's not easy, but I know I can do it and I won't be doing it alone. I am so grateful for the love and support I felt yesterday, I felt the fast for me. I can always feel the love everyone has, but sometimes, I let my silly-self forget. I will do better.

 

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all of you!

 

Love,

Hermana Erica Florence

What a Beautiful thing!

Hello Sweet Family!

 

Another awesome week! I hope everyone watched and just LOVED conference! It was SO fantiastic! I received, as I'm sure all of you did as well, much inspiracion and revelacion(Why do those words look weird?). A big theme I noticed was member missionary work! I hope everyone felt a confirmation that the work isn't only for set apart missionaries, it's for every member around the world. Everything got me excited to work lots with the missionaries when I get home, especially go out with them to lessons and work with the Spanish misionaries! How fun hey?! I have to learn Spanish first though, funny thing about that. Well, something else that I loved about conference was all the talk about families and protecting their virtue. For me, that was very special. Especially as I thought about y'all eating crepes together and laughing. Being away makes me appreciate so much more of the love we all have for each other and the Lord. We are a truly blessed family. I was really excited to hear about Brad and Holly expecting a new baby to come into the family! I'll definitely need an update about that!! I'm really proud of them and how they're leaning on the Lord to help them, as this is a somewhat scary thing to do, but wonderful at the same time! They are literally changing that child's life by raising them in a loving home. I love our family.

 

Something else I really loved from conferenca was in President Uchtdorf's talk. He said, "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." I'm sure that was all over pintrest and facebook within 3 minutes. It is so true though. When times get tough we need to cling to the faith that we have in Christ, knowing we're not alone and we are being guided in everything we do. We have a responsibility, as believers in Christ, to follow his example in every way. Including sharing our testimonies, helping others, being kind, reading the scriptures, praying to Heavenly Father, and of course, being baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority. Plus many other things. Doing all of these things are hardly ever easy and we find ourselves busy with other things in life. But I know as we strive to the standards that we claim to have as Christians, we will be eternally blessed. God is our Loving Heavenly Father. We lived with Him before we came to this earth. We chose to come here to receive a body in order to be tested and gain experience and happiness through families. Families are central to God's plan. He gives us families so we can experience a fullness of joy on the earth. Along with families, God gives us prophets to lead and guide us through a harsh world. It's been a pattern since the world began to have prophets help God's children. But as another trend, the prophets of God are rejected. The greatest prophet the world has known is Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and friend. He came to the earth with a purpose, as we all have. His, was to proclaim His gospel, the doctrine of the Father, to the world. Sadly, even our Savior was rejected and crucified. I know that on the third day, he was resurected. And because of the Atonement he performed, we can be forgiven of sins, be cleansed, live a clean life, and return to live with Him and God again. After Christ and His apostales were gone so left the priesthood and the authority to run His church. And it was a long time of confusion and false doctrine that came from the great apostasy. But in 1820, a boy decided to ask in faith, a question that many people wondered for hundreds of years. What church is true, and if one is true how shall I know? I know that when Joseph asked with real intent, having the faith to act on his answer, he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. In time, the true Gospel of Christ was restored to the earth, along with all of the authority and ordinances meant for our salvacion. We now have the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ and His love for God's children. We can know of the truth of all things through sincere prayer and listening to the Holy Ghost. I know that this Gospel is true. I know that it was restored by Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. We have a true prophet today, President Thomas Monson. Through him and other prophets we can know of the things we need to do in order to gain eternal life with our families. I love this work. I am so grateful I am able to share the message of the restored gospel with the people in Texas, and in a years time with those in Arizona. I love you all and am so grateful we all have this knowledge together. I have an unshakable testimony of all the things I have said, I know it is true, in the nam of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

Thank you for all of the love and support! Being here has changed my life forever, for the better. I will write again next week, and I'll see y'all sooner than we realize.

 

All my love,

Hermana Florence

Craziness!!

Well hello family!

 

I hope everyone had a great week! Mine felt a little weird. It was quick but slow at the same time! Our week, numbers wise, looked pretty pathetic. BUT!!! On Friday we had Fiestas Patrias!!!!!!!! It's a Latin-American celebration for all the different countries! it was SO fun! We spent all week really pushing people to come to the party. We visited every less-active that was in our area, every investigator that we had ever talked to, strangers, and in one desperate situation...a dog. But that's a long and slightly embarrassing story. :) Well, as a result of talking to everyone and their dog (see what I did there?) we had 33 of our people show up the the party!!!!! it was SO incredible! The familia Cruz came and we haven't been in to see them for 2 weeks, all we could do was leave a flier to come and they did, with their less-active active neighbor Karla!!!! Who we have been trying SO hard to come to church! IT WAS SO GREAT!!! All of the other missionaries were jealous...they asked our secret and we told we brought it up in every conversation we had and we made our own fliers. Nailed it!!! :) It was a true miracle and we feel so blessed to have had so many people show up! Heavenly Father is definitely helping us!

 

This week I saw my first LIVE armadillo! That was cool. Nothing else super excited happened. But we did have the Relief Society Broadcast this weekend which was AMAZING!!!!! Everyone should go and watch it on lds.org. I can't even explain how incredible it was! It made me re-evaluate my convenant keeping and if my love for the Savior is relfected in everything I do.

 

I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity I have to be a missionary, especially in Texas, it's a choice land. :) Thank you all for the love and support! have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Hermana Florence

Armadillos!!

Hello family!

 

I hope all is well at home and people are happy! A couple of really cool things happened this week. The first being, I saw my first armadillo!! It happened to be roadkill...but it was still cool! Then I saw another one just down the street! That one was dead too...and I saw a third dead. And we sure didn't even think of scraping them off the road to eat...sick. But I think someone has been killing them. Hna Greenwood and I made up a story about a mass murderer that hunts armadillos...our drive to Houston is about 30 minutes so we had time. :) One day I'll tell the story.

 

So I have some news!! We got transfer calls today and..........Hna. Greenwood and I are staying here together!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are both SO excited! This will be her last transfer...which she is really sad about. But we are really excited and grateful that we'll spend it with each other! She and I will be best friends forever! We already have many plans. :)

 

Well this week went pretty well! We got the last bit of Hurricane Jerry that hit Mexico, so that rain was fun to walk in. Mom!!! I used my crocks and my rain jacket!! :) Some of the days were kind of long. Ok they all were. But all of them were full of miracles! Like yesterday, we had 4 investigators come to church!!! So Ule Marrufo, I've talked about his mom Rose, Well he's 21 and is really turning his life around! He was previously into some pretty bad stuff. But has since gotten back into school and working lots. We've been calling him every day and reading from the Book of Mormon with him during his breaks at school. He lives about an hour away from here, but we still get to teach him because he comes down here for the weekends. He started his drive late yesterday though and missed sacrament meeting...but he still came for the last two hours and LOVED it!!!!! In sunday school we talked about eternal marriages and in Preisthood they talked about love in the home. He told us afterwards that he really wants to just find a good girl to marry so they can be as happy as the people he saw at church. HE IS AWESOME!!!! And he even asked a couple of the men he met in priesthood to give him a blessing. WOW WOW WOW!!!!! He has a date for October 5th, conference weekend. But one session of conference equals one church attendance, so he'll be baptized in the middle of the saturday sessions!! He is really excited and super great. It's exciting to watch his heart and desires change. It's amazing what the Gospel and Atonement of Christ can do for people!

 

I have such a testimony of the Gospel of Christ. By living it, we receive the greatest joy we can in this life and the next. I know that by accepting Christ in our lives and letting go of pride, we are able to access the greatest gifts Heavenly Father has instore for us. I love y'all and I'm so grateful for my sweet family and friends. I pray often for everyone. Please be safe and make good choices! Hope I hear from everyone soon!

 

All my love,

Hermana Florence

Baby Week

Hello sweet family!

 

What an exciting week with all the babies!! It seemed like every where I looked this week I saw a baby. It stings a little, not being able to hold and kiss the new little babes, but I'm happy to be here and help other become eternal families like we have. I got the package today!!!! And laughed and cried through the whole thing. :) I got really excited when Scott started playing the guitar, I thought he would sing to me...but I was jipped. Still happy for the song though. Kid, you totally owe me a letter. And it was SO good to see everyone's faces and listen to them! Charley is such a little lady!!! That's the first time I've seen her walk...it's a little sassy, just like her. :) Skylar and Alaina are just so beautiful, I can't get over it!!! We have the cutest kiddos. :) Can't wait to see them in such a short time, in reality. I think of the year I have left...and then I think of the months I've been here...and it's starting to freak me out. Time is flying and soon it'll feel like I never even left.

 

This last Monday and Tuesday, it took me a bit to get back into the game. I was pretty wrapped up in the idea of missing out on family stuff and the new babes. So I was a little tender. Well it took some strength to get up and just get going. But as I went through the days this week and focused on one thing at a time, other than myself, I felt lighter. It's amazing how when you focus on others, even during your own personal struggles, your own burdens become light. I learned something very special this week about honesty. When I pray, I try not to complain. Because I know I should be so grateful for everything. Truth is, learning Spanish is hard, having your investigators not answer the door even when you hear them home is hard, and working all day and sometimes not getting enough sleep and having to get up at 6:30 anyways is really hard. Because well...I'm really not a morning person, surprise. And I've been trying to not complain about how frustrated I am sometimes. Especially in prayers because I don't want to seem ungrateful. But silly silly Hna. Florence. Heavenly Father already knows that I'm having hard time. He knows what exactly is going on. But although He knows, it's so vital that we tell Him. So what I really learned is that the beginning of spirituality is honesty. Until we are honest with ourselves and the Lord, especially about what we are doing, have done, and need, we do not allow God to work with us.  As long as we are lying to ourselves and to God about our situation, we eliminate truth from our lives. And God is light and truth. However, once we decide to be honest and accept the truth of our situation, God will begin to heal us and give us the light that dispels the darkness in our lives. The more honest we can be, the more we will dispel darkness from our lives and the more joy we will have. I invite you to be more honest this week with yourself and with God. Be positive and have faith. I know that God will help you as you open up to Him and honestly recognize where you need His help. I am accepting that I am having a hard time with some things. And I really need His help. It's truly the only way I'll become better out of situations. I know that Heavenly Father is so loving. He wants to hear from us, more than anything! And He wants the whole truth. He already knows it, but there comes spiritual strength from admiting it and moving forward with faith that He will come to the rescue.

 

I love y'all and am so grateful for everyone. I'm grateful for the package that was sent and the sweet little videos that I can watch. I love everyone of you and am so grateful we have the opportunity to be together forever.

 

One quick funny story about my spanglish... The other day in a lesson with Rosa Marrufo, I was sharing a personal experience. The Spirit was really strong and I was pretty intot he story. And out of no where comes my gringa...and I say "because" in a Spanish accent... Oh my life. I would have kept going but Rosa noticed and started laughing really loud. Pretty embarrassing. But it's a fun story to tell now. I'm in this weird libo still of Spanglish. I'll think of a ord in Spanish better than English. And I talk like a Spanish-hick. Someone please save me.

 

Well again, I'm sending lots of love to all!!

 

Love,

Hermana Florence

Tortas

Dear Family,

 

Well I had another wonderful week! It was incredible to see many miracles this week, with the change in my heart and the work. We found a less-active family in our area, the Gonzalez family. They are very sweet and I can see how the Lord has been preparing them to come back to the Gospel. We contacted them at around 8 at night, our last stop before we needed to head back home from Houston. We met the daughter Yanet (pronounced Janet) and the son Jose, they were out in the front enjoying "cool" weather. We just stopped and got to know them a little bit and asked if we could come by another time in the week to do an F.H.E. with them so we set the time for Friday to return. Well a couple days later Yanet called us and asked if we could call the Elders and have them perform a blessing for her friend who was diagnosed with cancer. The Elders couldn't make it so the ward mission leaders came, which I prefer anyways. Richard, the friend who has cancer, and his family were there, all non-members. The blessing was INCREDIBLE and the spirit was SO strong!! Afterwards we taught the Restoration upon request of Richard. We did it in English because not everyone spoke Spanish, that was a nice change. :) I don't think I have felt the spirit so powerfully in a lesson. I think it meant more for me because just that morning I studied in P.M.G.  in chapter 11 on bearing testimony throughout lessons. As we taught the lesson to the families I remember what I studied and made it a point to make simply testify with everything I said. There is a power that comes with bearing a testimony. There is a reason why we are askde to share our testimonies every month in sacrament meeting. When we bear testimony we allow the Holy Ghost to work through us, helping us become more sanctified and purified as we do so. I know that is so true. Sometimes in lessons I am so lost with the language, all I can really do is testify. But I have learned that it is not only at the end of a lesson when you share a testimony, it's at the beginnng, throughout the lesson, and at the end. To tell the rest of the story, at the end of the lesson with Richard's family and the Gonzalez family, we asked if anyone would like a Book of Mormon. Richards mom was the first to say yes and many followed right after. We have an appointment set up for tonight with all of them again to explain the Plan of Salvation. And what's really great is, the les-active Gonzalez family was at church yesterday. :)

 

This week was truly humbling. I am so grateful to be here and to be able to be a part of these people's lives, even in some cases a small way. I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it is only through Him that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father for eternity. I testify of the need for a restoration of His Gospel. Heavenly Father is not a God of confussion. And as we humbly, with an open heart, search the Book of Mormon and listen to the teachings of our modern prophets, we will not be confussed about our eternal purpose as children of God. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have. I am grateful for my wonderful family and the sure knowledge that I have that we can be together forever. I love y'all so much. Thank you for all of the love and support.

 

I bet everyone else is excited to welcome 2 new little angel babes into the family this month! Mandie and Bryan will meet their new little girl on the 13th, I'm SO excited to see pictures of her sweet face! And hopefully soon Ryan and Cari will meet their little girl too! I need updates people! Once they're born I am sure I will be flooded with pictures, at least that's my hope. Or better yet, my demand. :)

 

Love y'all!!

 

Hermana Erica Florence

P.S. Incase you didn't know, I had tortas this week! Everytimes I hear that word I think of Maryn because it was her password from something a long time ago... :)

10 dinners in 6 days

Hello my sweet family!

 

I hope all is well at home! From the email from mom and dad everyone is doing great and are happy! I'm so glad.

 

So this week has been really fun and crazy! I have been some issues that I'm working on resolving with eating better, but that can only go so far if you're fed twice a night almost each day by members and investogators. If you say no, they get offended. If you eat it all, they add more. If you don't finish all but about 2 bites, they're offended. BUT, if you leave the 2 bites, they usually leave you alone. Most nights as we walk to the car and into our aparment and are scared to make any sudden movements or we'll barf. Seriously, most nights I'm stuffed to my throat with beans, tortillas, and rice. So regardless of my efforts to eat better, I'm getting freaking fat. It's rough.

 

The great part of my week is that we have a new investigator, Lina! She has a date for the 21st of this month. Lina is great and full of awesome questions, super eager to learn. More than half of the people we were teaching the weeks before and had dates have dropped us. It's been hard because the excuses they come up with are insane...what is comes down to is, they don't want to change their bad habits. It's so sad to see these wonderful people give up something so special just because they like their beer on the weekends and smoking. One of my favorite, moronic excuses was, "I smoke because I get stressed, and stress can kill you!" ....OH MY GOODNESS!!! I've been really struggling with understanding people. Sometimes, some peole's angency is just annoying. But I just pray for patience and great faith that one day these people will understand what they are missin out on.

 

Last night we had an F.H.E. with la familia Parada. Hey Maryn? Does the name Myra Parada sound familiar? :) Myra served on Temple Square the same time as Maryn! How cool is that! Anyways, the Paradas have a son that is married and inactive and they're expecting a baby. Marvin and Michelle came to the F.H.E. and we taught about the Plan of Salvation. It was a very special and strong lesson. I felt prompted at the end to share our families experience with Brycen. As I bore testimony that families could be together forever, I knew the Spirit was touching the heart of Michelle.

 

I am so grateful that I have the special opportunity to live with my family for eternity. I am so grateful for all of you and the love and support I recieve from everyone. Thank you all for being the best family in the world!

 

All my love,

Hermana Florence

Lessons to be learned...

Hello my sweet family!

 

I'm pretty sure I disturbed the entire library as I read the last email from everyone...I love y'all so much!! I just still can't get over Blake's message. I wish I knew when he was serious and joking. But I figured that last part out right quick! There needs to be more emails to me like that, where everyone says a little something. It was very special and I needed it this week! I'm so glad to hear that everyone is doing so well! Camille- your note made me laugh pretty hard too! "Woohoo...gag...woof..." I just love you. And please make sure Charley learns my realy name...I refuse to be Auntie Helga... Maryn- you're looking for a picture? Me. Obviously. A big one. On the cieling. Of your bedroom. You're welcome. :) Dad- BAD IDEA!! Don't take mom to Tennessee in the fall. It's supposed to be the most lovely weather in the south...you don't know what you're doing. You'll be moving in a heartbeat if she finds a house she likes! Just be carefy. :) I'm glad you two will be able to go and see Mandie's new babe, I'm jealous beyond repair. The worst rule of a missionary is that they can't hold babies...it's killer. Also dad, yes we'll be struggling together with Spanish. Mine is very slowly getting better. Hna. Greenwood thinks otherwise but I know better. It's a struggle and a half. But I'll get over it and as I do my best I know Heavenly Father will help me as I try to communicate with His children. 

 

That kind of leads me to my experiences this last week. Hna. Greenwood and I were out for almost 4 days because of the new missionaries. They brought over this sick bug. She caught it first and then I followed. I felt so unproductive, it was annoying. But I got over it right quick. We also had Zone Conference with President this week and it was AMAZING!!! We are completely changing the way missionary work is here. I don't know if it's much different at home but this is pretty wild. We're starting to put together cottage meetings, which we call Noche de Mormon(pretend an accent is over the last o...that bugs me) and it involves the member a ton more! The meetings will be held in the homes of members, so exciting!! It creates more opportunities for the investigators to create more and better friendships than ever before. Everything is still a work in progress. We had our first one on Friday and it was just great. Out of it we got referrals from the investigators...WOO!!! The work is hastening and it's SO EXCITING!!!!!! Oh! And mom and dad, have the sisters in the ward over for dinner, feed them normal food. They like that. I ate cow intestines at the noche de mormon and let me tell ya. My intestines do not like any other intestines in them. The flavor of them was good actually! But...it was chewy. Camille would have barfed. :) I have video of that night, it was so fun! And I'll attach a picture of the tacos! 

 

 Some things I have learned this week is that I am not perfect. Imagine that. But I realized something that I am pretty sure has changed my mission. I have always know this but it finally clicked in my mind. I'm not perfect, but God is. And I am his child. Therefore I have the potential to become like Him and be perfect. I have many weaknesses but as a work on them and ask for guidence from Heavenly Father, they will one day be made into strength. And I need to give myself a little more credit. Cnsidering my circumstances I am doing a good job. Eric Maynes sent me an email last week about success. Success is measured in lots of different ways. As missionaries we sometimes think that since we didn't reach the number goals we set, we weren't successfull. But what it is, is the day to day activity and productivity that we acheive. Success comes from knowing that you did your very best in a situation. Last night we had a lesson with a man named Fransisco(I thought of Scott a lot, especially while Iw as making the teaching record. It took a lot of restraint to not say his name like that to his face.) and in a normal point of view the lesson was the pits. I mean he was so insane!! And it didn't help that he talked a million words a minute so I got lost, but I knew it wasn't good because I could see Hna. Greenwood get a little heated. I did my very best to participate in the lesson. Bear my testimony when he wasn't shouting Bible verses. I am not sure anything got through to him. The lesson itself was not a success. But how Hna. Greenwood and I reacted to it and what we learned from it was a success. I know that we did our best, and I feel good about it. Although circumstances aren't always ideal, we need to make the best of them, and that is success to me.Eric challenged me to pray for something specifically that I wanted to be more sucessful at, mine was handling awkward lessons better, I tend to shut down a little when I don't know what's going on. But instead I pushed through it and did my best. So yesterday I feel like a successed at something. I'm not sure if I explained this in a coherant way. I wrote it down better in my journal.

 

Thank y'all for who you are. I feel so blessed to have so much love and support from home and I pray everyone is well and happy and succeeding in different ways in life. I can't wait to hear from everyone next week! Also, random thought. It's been raining all day. And it's quite nice. El fin. :)

 

All my love,

Hermana Erica

 

P.s. Charley's hair is getting long...what a little lady! :)

Habeneros...

Hello my sweet family!!

 

This week has definitely been an advenure! I am back to a Spanish speaking area, Missouri City, and my new companion is Hermana Greenwood. I LOVE HER!!! It's nice to have a companion that I click well with without having to try. She is from Lindin Utah and is a horse girl, the like, one thing we don't have in common. We have the perfect amount of fun and work during the day which I really needed! I know that the Lord new I needed to be with her. Hna. Greenwood is very patient with the growing Spanish. She leaves to go back home in November so she is quite experienced with Spanish and missionary work. I'm learning lots from her. Want to know something crazy? She likes taking pictures more than I do, I think. I went to the bathroom yesterday and when I came out she took a picture of me...it was ridiculously random and then that picture led to many...many...more pictures. Of just me. Just a little weird. She said she is going to make a book of our adventures when she gets home and she needs lots of pictures to choose from. I joke with her that she'll just use the pictures to make a shrine for me. :) I'm pretty funny. Our first night togther, Wednesday night, we were out visiting a few people. I was nervous like crazy because I hadn't spoken Spanish in forever! But that part went well, surprisingly. The scary part about that night was the HUGE storm we got caught in! The rain storms here are so scary. We walking out of the Briscuela's house and BAM there was a storm raging! She gave us big black trash bags to cover ourselves as we ran to the car. We looked pretty good! I wish I would have gotten a picture of us, but it was kinda wet outside. Good thing she was our last appointment for the night. And it's stormed like that 3 times since I've been here. Tons of lightning followed by thunder of course, which is what makes it scary for me...no me gusta.

 

The work in this area is great! Hna. Greenwood opened the area last transfer so it's still being built up. We have 10 dates set for our investigators and they are all so solid! Well, except for Dulce...but she's a long story. She likes to play the victim, granted she has a tough situation, but she creates those situations by staying where she is. It's a little frustrating at times. I often have to repeat, "I am kind, I am patient, I am loving". Maybe after a year and a half of pretending I am those things it'll become real life. :) My mission has been really good for me. I like to think that I'm changing for the better in a lot of ways. The emotional and physical rollercoasters I've experienced have only strengthened my spirit. Before, I don't think I would have let the trials make me better. In some instances yes, but usually, no. I've learned that a pitty party with netflix and a pandabowl with chowmein and orange chicken, unfortunatly, don't get you anywhere in life and they don't change the situation you're in. Ha ha if only those things could change the hearts of some people here...that'd be an easy fix! The real change comes from your desire. But the desire that you have can only get you so far. You need to act. But that too can only get you as far as you can, we NEED the help of a loving Heavenly Father and Savior. Without them, once we got to a certain point, doing all we can, we would stop. There is no true progression without heavenly help. Many times I have thought I was really progressing and doing well and then the next day be back at square one. How does that even happen?? I thought I had made obvious improvement! I didn't improve at all. Nothing in me had changed. I was just seeing more results to my same work and I wasn't the one progressing. There needs to be a constant change every day. Especially in my life as a missionary. All of a sudden my weaknesses and imperfections are magnified and I have felt very VERY small at times. I am starting to see, as I really turn to Heavenly Father in the morning when getting up is extra hard (always) and say, "I just can't do it alone, please help me through this day" He strengthens me and I am able to stretch like I didn't know possible. Some days I'm stretched thinner than others. But I know that God know what I can and cannot handle in life. He gives me weaknesses so I can make them into strengths. He gives me trials so I can become like Him. And the best part is, I am never alone through all of it. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Gospel of Christ. I am grateful for the plan that God has created so we can return to live with him again WITH out families for all eternity. There is no better feeling of security in the world that I have than knowing that I am sealed to my sweet, crazy, funny, and loving family. Thank you all for your love and support. I love you all so much and I appreciate each one of you for the different roles you play in my life. How lucky! We get each other FOREVER!! I pray that by then I'll be a little easier to get along with. :)

 

So I must explain the subject of the email..."habeneros"... I ATE ONE!!! Well...part of one...like a little slice. But it was SO HOT!!! We ate at a members house last night, la familia Rodrigez, and she made this "salsa" (onions and habeneros) and we had these awesome tacos! I made a promise to myself when I came out that I would try everything, no matter what. Unfortunately I didn't know what I was promising...ex. the wild roadkill racoon. Anyways, Hna. Rodrigez was pretty nervous for me to try it because I am, in here words "blanca". Clearly that yes. But I tried it anyways. And I was sweating and drinking for the next 15 minutes. Ha ha ha it was a lot of fun! She had me eat salt to take away the burning...that didn't help..it must my mouth feel sour. I felt a little tortured. But it's definitely a memory! And I can say that I did it! That's kind of what missionary life is like when it comes to food and activites...you do it to say you did it. It sure makes for a lot of fun! Well I don't have a ton else to tell. My area is great, I love my companion, I'm on my way to learning Spanish, and I feel closer and closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ every day. The only thing that would be better is for y'all to be here with me! But y'all would just be in my way... ;)

 

I LOVE Y'ALL!!! Be good and safe and share the gospel with everyone you meet! If it makes you so happy, why not share it with others? :)

 

Todo mi amor,

Su Hermana Erica Florence

This is my life...

Dear Family:

 

Well, I'm being transferred back to Spanish. This is kind of bitter-sweet for me. I have really grown to love Sunnyside and the Sister and Elders I work with. And honestly, I've loved being able to actually communicate with those I talk to! Ha ha I've been spoiled with English. I had my last Sunday with everyone yesterday and it was a great one. Annette Hood was baptized!!! I'll try and attach pictures. She was just glowing and afterwards she bore such a sweet testimony and one of her boys, Maurice, stood up and thanked everyone for being so kind to his mother. He said he could see how happy she is and how her life has changed. He is now taking the discussion with the Elders. :) Nailed it! I'm so sad to leave Annette, she made me promise to write her and invite her to my wedding. I love her!! Want to know why else yesterday was awesome? We were "fed" by Sis. Helton. She brings us the weather report for the week from the newspaper every week with usually some kind of canned food. Last week is was evaporated milk...and this week is was a couple pork chops in a bag. I'm not sure how old they were an how long they had been unrefridgerated but we chucke them just incase. I'm sure though Camille would have eaten them. ;) So from Mom's email she said everyone was guessing what I was doing on Sunday night. I was eating lots and lots of spaghetti. And cheesecake. We were over at the Samperts, Monika and Ronny, and they are amazing! They are a sweet young couple in the ward, the do so much. We went over after the baptism which was at like 4. Elder Pooper(Cooper) made banana muffins, they are ridiculously good! But the last cake he made for district meeting was gross. It was so dry and he didn't know what to do for icing...powdered sugar and kool-aid. WHAT??? Who even thinks of that?? He's been in Sunnyside too long. But yesterday was really great.

 

The rest of the week was really good as well. We have this lady in the ward, her name is Sis. Norris and she's a hoarder. Whenever we go over to do service we leave with a ridiculous amount of food and random things. I got a purse and a ornament. Woo. She is the sweetests though, curses like a sailor, but the sweetest.

 

Happy birthday to Mandie this week!! I have a card for you...um...but I don't know your new address so you might get the card a week late. But I still love ya! i got an email from Cari and I loved hearing about the boys and I got pictures from the lake! Brayden is such a little stud, it's freaking me out. And apperently Charley is such a little talker but doens't make sense, that's the best age!! I can't believe I'm missing it. I love and miss y'all so much! Y'all should probably send any letters, those never happen though, to my mission office since i'm being transferred. That'll be an excited email next week for sure!!

 

I love y'all and I hope every one is doing great! Thank you for all of the love and support, I pray for every one all the time! Be safe!

 

Love,

Hermana Florence

 

 

 

This is my cute Annette Hood!! With all my companions and Elder Betts and Cooper.

We got caught in a storm...

This is from Houston 9, my first area, apartment complexes are trying to keep it classy. 

This is the Boudin I was talking about! Wrapped in my classy newspaper. :)

Hermana Florence and Sis. Mekini.

Last week....going on 6 more?

Hey Family!!

 

This last week was just incredible! I was able to get out a lot, the health in my companionship is doing great, and we taught and visited a lot! It felt so good to be useful! I'm grateful that I get to teach the lessons in English, it'll help me once I get to speak Spanish again. Because before I didn't really teach lots, I hid behind my trainer and other companion because I was so insecure. Now, I don't have the option! I feel like I'm really growing. Turns out Heavenly Father is a pretty smart guy for putting me here. :) I actuallly even asked for one more transfer here...there is just SO much work to be done and I want to be a part of it! It's amazing how little or how much you can get done within 6 weeks. I am really in love with trashy Sunnyside. :)

 

We took Annette Hood out for lunch the other day and we bagged up in endless laundry to do at our place, her laundry hasn't been done in who knows how long...we have to wash it 3 times... We went to this place called Navy Seafoods. GAG ME!!!!! First, I hate anything that comes out of the ocean. And second, I don't trust anything kind of seafood in Sunnyside. Their main fish was catfish, which is like the cockroach of the rivers. I was really sweating bullets, thinking I would have to stomach seafood. But then I saw they had cheeseburgers! I was still nervous about it but hey, it's better than fish. So I ordered that. It was the most pathetic cheeseburger in the world. Blake wouldn't have even eaten it, it was THAT bad. So I ate my greasy fries and sulked, I also enjoyed seeing everyone else's faces as they ate the fish and what not. Fabulous. :) At least Annette loves it, right? That was an adventure. I only had two bites of my burger and felt sick the rest of the day/night. Never again...

 

So yesterday we had our break-the-fast after church, it seems like we have a lot more people present at church on the first Sunday....wonder why.... BUT!! Guess what?? I now have 4 investigators!! AND they all came to church and loved it! I was asked to lead the music in Sacrament Meeting and they all walking in during the first song. The Elders Betts and Cooper saw me beaming and turned around to see them and they did a little high-five. We have great Elders in our district! Elder Cooper makes rockin' banana muffins and Elder Betts plays the guitar. He was actually playing it at a dinner appointment that we all had, it was just background music but he was playing some Joshua Radin and Black Bird. Made me really miss Scott and Brad.

 

I love ya'll and I hope I hear from everyone soon! I got dad and moms package!! Thank you!!!! I wrote a letter to dad...I haven't sent it yet, I'll do that today. The package was JUST what I needed!! I need to hide my cashews so Sis. Mekini doesn't eat them all! I hope ya'll are having so much fun this summer and are being safe! Lots of lake trips? :)

 

All my love,

Hermana Florence

boring week...

Hi family!

 

So this week has been pretty darn boring! No more road kill to eat.

 

We have been doing a ton of service this last week! All of my sweet sisters would have love this service! We are taking care of our investigator, Annette Hood, she now had a baptismal date for August 10th, and she is in need of a ton of help! I am in charge of getting the big project together, it's a big thing we're doing, a whole renovation for her house!! I've contacted these LDS contractors in our stake and they will be providing free services and donating lots of stuff to help Annette. It's incredible to see how much people want to help! I get calls from people who want to donate, it's so fun!!

 

It rained a lot this week and so I've been able to use my cute rain jacket! Thought you'd love that mom. :) Sis. Mekini and I walk the most and it's the most fun with her.

 

I'm sorry that I don't have a ton of time to write... We had a Zone activity today, sand volleyball! The Elders took forever to get there and so we are cut short on our computer time. I'm pretty miffed but it was fun nonetheless!

 

Dad- I got your letter and it was perfect. Thanks for sending it priority mail. :) I got Maryn and Blake too and am almost done with other letter! Sorry I'm a shmuck. I love you all very much and I'm so grateful for all of the love and support!

 

Dad gives me updates about the babies...Brayden is too old!! He lost his first tooth?? PAUSE!! Put them ALL on pause! And Charley sounds like she is getting funnier and funnier! I love hearing from home...so thanks for everything!! I'm excited to get my package dad! Thanks for sending it!

 

I know that this church is true. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about love, service, and pure kindness. I know that there is the light of Christ in every person and that's the drive inside us to do good. Don't be afraid to help people! Love you all!!

 

Love,

Hermana Florence

I can't believe I ate it...

Dear family,

 

What you are about to read my or may not set of your gag reflex. Proceed reading with caution.

 

Ya'll will NEVER guess what I have been fed this week. I'll start easy and then let ya'll freak.

 

So Sis. Mekini and I were the one's out the other day so we took the lunch appointment we had set up with Sis. Helton. She is super hilarious and leaves little notes on every one's cars on Sunday. She usually either sluffs relief society or sunday school for the deed...we're working on that. :) Anyways, Sis. Helton is just a doll but we were a little nervous to go. We needed to teach the law of chastity to her...she is 82 and has a boyfriend. Apparently because you're older it's a free ticket. It was the most awkward thing to explain what was and wasn't appropriate to her. We had to stop her as she tried to explain certain situations...that's when my appetite was lost. After that awkward 30 minutes it was time to eat. We didn't have the choice of fly infested of not so everything was. We had canned beans, canned chocolate cheesecake, canned jello(yes it exists), and wait for it...SPAM. She told us it was fried. Fried means dipped in oil. It was even harder to stomach than the warm coleslaw from my last area. Afterwards poop Sis. Mekini threw up in the parking lot. She said. "Oh thank goodness it came out that way instead of the bottom. It would have been a messy time." Ha ha ha ha!!!!! She cracks me up! I love that Samoan girl.

 

That was the first adventure. The next night Sis. Mekini and I happened to be out in the evening this time. So we took the dinner appointment. Oh man... It was with a less active family that people have had a hard time getting in touch with so we were really excited to see them! And they are pretty famous in Sunnyside for their BBQ...So ya I had some high hopes! We go in and they are super friendly and just great! We gave a small lesson on Heleman 5:12 and invited them to church. They came by the way! But that's not the bad part...We asked after the lesson if she needed help cooking anything else, she said no. So we waited their patiently. Luckily an active member was also invited over so we had someone else to chat with while they were talking. The lady, Sis. Lou asked what we were having. Sis. Keens answered, "Wild game". Um...you're kidding? Well it would definitely be an experience. I had to explain to Sis. Mekini what wild game was and she went so pale. It was pretty funny! Sis. Mekini asked what kind of animal it was and she says, "Coon". I then had to explain what a raccoon was...I was feeling more and more nervous for this meal. So I asked where abouts she got the coon. Oh no are you ready for this answer? "Oh my husband brought it home this afternoon. He found it on squashed deadon the 90." Road kill. I was expected to eat wild raccoon that was pealed off the asphalt of the highway. Oh man was a sweating in the chair. Sis. Mekini was even wors I think. I didn't really know how to respond so I said, "Oh how resourceful"...Which is just an awkward thing to say so I just added to the awkwardness of the evening. Sis. Lou asked what else we were having and she said onions and carrots. Sometimes life is hard. So turns out I am now able to stomach carrots...if there is coon present. The Keens kept getting up occassionally so Sis. Lou would stick out her purse and we'd hid the coon in our napkins an shove it in there! Ha ha Sis. Lou wasn't about to eat it either. As it was time to go Sis. Keens said, "Well Ya'll really ate up that coon! Here are some left overs!" We tried to refuse saying she should save it for her husband and kids but we left with it anyways... The dumpster on Reed behind the Shell gas station got a treat.

 

Somehow I'm still alive here in Sunnyside. We are teaching a lot of less-actives and meeting lots of new people along the way! Ya'll need to find boodan. It's this spicy dirty rice mixed with sausage all on a sausage casing. You smoke it and it is the best thing ever!! That's the best part about Sunnyside. Everything and their kid has a smoker and if we stop and say hi to someone cooking something we always get something good. :) Boodan. As Judy and Mac say, "Us black people love it." ha ha so dooes this cracker! Did I tell ya'll that story? I was totally called a cracker..It was hilarious.

 

I have been seeing lots of miracles in my personal life. I am changing in ways I never wanted to. I have learned to really become a leader and take charge of situations with boldness. Sometimes it scares me how bold I am, especially in lessons, but when the spirit directs you do it. These people are pretty hard hearted and they need to hear the flat truth. When it's delivered with love it is effective. I've taken Maryn's advice and started to study patience from P.M.G. and coincidently Mike sent me a talk on patience from Elder Wirthlin called "Patience, a Key to Happiness". I'm excited to share with ya'll what I've learned next week. Hopefully I will still be alive, I never know what I'll be fed. :) It's crazy and kinda annoying at times, but I've started to pick up the accent. Can't wait to see how that'll fit together with Spanish.

 

I love ya'll SO much! I appreciate all of the love, support, and prayers I receive from everything. I can feel the love all the way here in Texas! Thank you for everything! Remember to be member missionaries and keep being wonderful examples to everyone. Be good and be safe! Scott, stop strutting around in your speedo...ain't nobody got time for that! :) Love ya'll!!

 

Love,

Hermana Florence