Five Months in Florida!

Hello again!

Every time I go to write these weekly emails and think back on the week, I can't remember anything that happened. Missions are like a weird time vortex. I did hit my 5 months this week though! Crazy.

So this week...

Tuesday we ran across a woman in a Publix who said she was a member, but didn't have transportation. Never seen her name before, so we're gonna get her records transferred over. :) Cool how stuff like that happens.

We taught Alex about the Gospel of Jesus Christ using "Steve". It's a fun visual in which you scribble on a stick figure (named Steve) to show his sins. Then talk about baptism by fire. Then, using a lighter, you erase all the sins. :) Olivia was super smiley and adorable, and Brian and Angie always have good questions. Alex is starting to open up and answer more confidently. Yay!

At Give Kids the World on Wednesday I organized all the pillows in the castle. They were horrendous and all over the place. I fixed it. It made me happy. Colored and finished a hat in there too. :)

The Champions took us out to dinner and drove us home again. I was glancing at the desserts and Sister Champion said, "You want a banana split? You can have a banana split. You can have whatever you want." They're the best and I ate way too much. :P

I CAN BIKE WITHOUT HANDS NOW. Only if I'm going straight. And only on streets; sidewalks are too narrow. Working on it still. I was super excited. :D

Thursday after District meeting we sat and talked with the North Sisters about some ideas they've been brainstorming to help the ward, especially in getting more motivated about missionary work. They want to organize an MTC night for the youth, where they get mission calls and learn how to teach and stuff. It sounds awesome.

We then taught Jackie, a referral from the Elders. She loves to talk and I think would talk to anyone if it was about Jesus... But she's also just seeking for truth. She told us that she believed that God should bring another prophet sometime soon, and was so excited when we told her about President Monson!

We also saw Jessenia and her family again! Ezequiel always just wants to play with us. And Sofia wanted us to pick her up, which is a big deal, because she's super shy. Broke my heart that we couldn't. D:

Friday we saw Brian and Angie and company again. We talked to them about General Conference! (SO EXCITED FOR CONFERENCE.) We sang "Follow the Prophet" with Alex. Olivia loved it and was dancing the whole time. :D

We also found out that Yeshie has been reading the Book of Mormon even though we haven't been able to visit her recently! She's also friends with one of the youth in the ward, which is awesome. We're so excited.

Saturday we went and helped Sam again. We did a ton of weeding in his backyard. Super easy to just get really into and focused on that. Next time, they're going to have lunch for us. And we're going to talk more about the gospel.

Then an amazing member of the neighboring ward drove us up to Belleview, Sister Petty's old area. One of her investigators, who has been working towards baptism for a  long time, was finally able to be baptized! She came out of the water, looked at everyone, and exclaimed, "I did it!" 

Ward council this Sunday we presented the idea of having an investigator Sacrament meeting: once every so often having Sacrament be geared specifically towards those who are learning more about the church. More simple topics, etc. So that people are comfortable bringing their family and friends, and it's easy to understand and learn. Once everyone got the concept, they loved it. We're looking forward to seeing how that goes. :)

So it's been a pretty good week here in our area of the ward! The weather's been nice. We discovered that our peephole (which is FAR too tall for either of us to see out of) creates rainbows on our wall in the late afternoon. We saw a dog and a cat cuddling. Started those paint-by-numbers from Christmas. Today we're going back down to Lake Hatchineha with the North Sisters. :D

Hope you all have a fantastic week. I love you lots.

Love,

Sister Stevenson

A bird I saw when we were at a stop sign or something! :D

A sign on someone's door. We knocked it anyway.

The sunset was gorgeous one day while we were biking.

Sister Petty
wanted a picture of herself.

More sunset!

I made this hat and I'm kinda proud of it.

MADE ALL THESE HATS.