Subjects are for Squares

Hey there!

Things I forgot to mention last week:

1. I got a fidget spinner. If you don't know what that is, ask your local 10 year old. They definitely know. It drives Sister Sorensen a little bit crazy, but I love it. :P

2. I was standing outside the car one day last week, waiting to back Sister Sorensen out. Noticed a mockingbird. Whistled at it. It whistled back. I changed the tune. It copied. This went on for a couple minutes. It was awesome.

Anyway:

This week I've realized that I don't want to be as technology dependent as I used to be at home. Being out of the world is amazing. Trudging into the depths of my Facebook was the worst.

Tuesday we helped out at the HUM, doing our regular cleaning tasks. We were finished with a ton of time to spare, so we got to organize some junk. Yessss.

This ward has tons of part-member families. We've got tons of work ahead of us and we're excited about it. Sister Sz... is less active but wants to be active again and involve her nonmember husband and 9 year old daughter. Then Sister Ramirez, who is a suuuper solid member (also she's in her 50s but looks about 35. We were both confused). Her husband, John, doesn't speak a ton of English, so it should be interesting. But he loves to give and serve. 

Wednesday was District meeting. Seems like we've got a great District. :) We now have Sister McCullough, who Sister Sorensen trained. And my new STL is SISTER LAMBORN and I'm rather excited about it.

We went and saw Leslie and her daughters again. They just invite us in at this point. The girls love us. :) "It's the ladies that talked about Jesus!" Taught a suuuper scattered lesson, but we just tried to follow the Spirit. Then we hyped up the Book of Mormon real hard and made it sound like the best thing to read ever (because it is), and Leslie said she'd read it! She has good questions. We really love them. Ahh.

Visited with Kh... (the 14-year-old that was baptized)! Her little sister loves seeing us now, and wants to come talk and play and run around with us.

Quote from this week:

Amanda: "Rh...., get inside."

Rh: "I wanna be with the sissers!" *crosses arms and pouts*

I love them.

Thursday. 7 months in Florida; what?

It was honestly the weirdest day and none of our plans happened. Everything just kept switching around. We helped Sister All.... again. We're worried about her and Penny (sweetest dog ever) and wish we could help her more. :(

We had dinner with Bishop and Sister Baenziger which turned into a meeting where we discussed ward unity and how we can get everyone, especially the youth, involved. There's only a couple dozen youth in the ward and only a handful come.

Then we watched the ocean from Bishop's balcony because dang. Florida is beautiful.

Friday we sort of planned? Mostly I just worked on cleaning out EIGHT YEARS OF FACEBOOK CRAP. Help. 

We had dinner with Sister Waddell. She's so sweet and loves to serve and help the people around her, even if they've been awful to her.

Went to the HUM to feed the homeless. :) Our ward does this every 4th Saturday. It felt a lot less hectic this time; we had more helpers and less of a rush. It's just the best thing to me to see the pure gratitude of some of these people.

We had dinner with the Ho....; a mom and daughter. Our lesson went from one thing to a VERY DIFFERENT THING in which we just talked out their concerns about the church. They've just been pushed a lot instead of being allowed to deal with it in their own time and when they're ready. And it's pushed them away. We told them to just go sit outside the temple, not to worry about going inside. Just see it and feel the Spirit there. They need to work on what they can do, and they feel like they've been pushed to do what they don't feel ready for. Everyone's spiritual growth happens at different rates!

Sunday! Going to two wards is tiring. But it's good. :)

Had dinner with the Erskins, and they're awesome. We talked about board games and adoptions and missionary work and the gathering of Israel...

Drove around beachside and took the long way home. :)

It's been an interesting week. And we have about $25 between us for groceries today. Heh. But in the words of a fish, "When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." And in the words of a scripture that everyone around me enjoys quoting... "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Y'all can do it, whatever it is. Keep on swimming! (Unless you're a missionary. That's not allowed.)

Love you all. Have a great week. <3

Love,

Sister Stevenson

The beach from Bishop's balcony.

Trying to be clever

Cool birds doing cool things

Cool birds doing cool things

Cool birds doing cool things

A HUGE  GRASSHOPPER

I live here and it's pretty

Tried to get pictures of the moon

Sometimes I Just Realize that I'm a Missionary; and That's Pretty Cool

Why HELLO dear people.

Big news of the week: first, Sister Sorensen and I are both staying here another transfer! :D :D Second, we are soon going to be Facebook missionaries. What the heck. It's gonna be interesting.


So Tuesday we did service at the HUM and scrubbed down the shower and bathroom. The people that need to use it deserve a clean place to shower!

Went tracting and felt prompted to knock on a door... and met Bronson! We asked if he had faith in Christ, and he said he kinda does. His beliefs just don't align with traditional ideas of hell, etc. What he believes is actually really close to parts of the Plan of Salvation. We're excited to see him again.

Dinner with the Boyces and gosh their kids are cute. We taught the 5 year old that she does have a testimony. And asked them to play "testimony tag" with each other. Also I ate salmon and it was actually good??? I dunno how to feel about that.

Then we had a sleepover with the Bunnell Sisters because...

On Wednesday there was a hastily planned special meeting that only a handful of missionaries were invited to. Big ol training leading up to us getting Facebook. I was not one of those invited, so I spent the day with Sister Herrod! :D

We found some awesome people and talked to everyone. She's not remotely afraid of starting awkward conversations with people.

Switched back at like 7:30 and saw the Abresches. They're probably not gonna get married until Thanksgiving time, because they want to be with their family in Indiana and don't have the money to get up there. ;-; So we changed their date... to December 2nd.

Thursday we missed out on District meeting to go down to the mission office and get a new tiwi. Lovely traffic down to Orlando.

We helped Sister Allocco clean her house. It's hard for her to keep up with/know if it's clean, because she's blind. Scrubbed down another shower. She just... deserves to have her house be clean. She's so sweet and just wanted to talk to and get to know us.

Friday, Sister Brady came over to our house at like 6, because Sister Glover was at her departing temple trip. We went and did service at the New Smyrna chapel. They had a party on Saturday, "Around the World in 80 Minutes". So we traced and cut out iconic places like the Eiffel Tower and the Coliseum. 'Twas fun.

Saturday we met some more cool people. Taught Shakira a bit again but it was a little crazy.

Got froyo and waited for transfer calls. Super excited for this next transfer. :)

Um. I dunno. Knocked some more. Talked a little with a less active family. The dad wants to be active and go to the temple. I have no idea about the mom though. She's been asleep when we've gone over.

Sunday was church, wooo! The day kinda felt like a blur. We've been so tired this week. So busy. :) Met a less active family. They're super confusing and I don't remotely understand them. But I'll work on loving them. :P

Today we got up at 5:30 and went to the beach!!! We got there a little late, but we still got to see most of the sunrise. It's so gorgeous. I'm so happy to live here. As a Zone, we read Moroni chapter 10 to finish off our Book of Mormon challenge. Read it in just about 5 weeks! It was amazing to me how, reading it so fast, I just became way more involved in it. It felt like a story, I wanted to finish it! I actually had to slow down the past few days, haha. To quote our dear prophet, Thomas S. Monson, "If you are not reading the Book of Mormon each day, please do so." It's a fantastic book. And it will make a positive difference in your life if you prayerfully study out of it. :)

Have a fantastic week, y'all. I love you!

Love,

Sister Stevenson

A pretty cat we found and harassed.

Also, partying with Sister Herrod. She's great.

Johnny Cash the dog. He's HUGE.

And SUNRISE ON THE BEACH

Of birds. 

And also an alligator we made.

On Top of the World

I AM CURRENTLY STANDING ON A LIGHTHOUSE
There's WiFi up here. Weekly email to come later.
(Letter following first three pictures.)

All right, I've got like 30 minutes; let's do this email:

Hello lovely people!

This week has been incredibly busy and pretty darn awesome.

Tuesday we had interviews, which was so good. President asked if we were teaching anyone promising. "I don't know yet. Dunno who we're teaching." xP

Met a guy named Curtis who is a minister and LOVES TO TALK. Oh my goodness. I wanted to bash so hard. But all that you can really do in those situations is bear testimony and try to love them.

Wednesday finally finished dental nonsense for now. They played music that I love. Apparently President Clark has said to think of that as a tender mercy. Haha.

Had a kind of refreshing discussion with someone who is not remotely interested in learning more... but asked questions. Missionaries love questions. 

Met Sister Mellen, a less active. She just kept asking us, "How do I get my faith back?" She feels like every time she starts to feel really happy, something catastrophic happens. And I just felt for her. Shared my mission scripture, Alma 32:27, which has a ton of meaning for me. Just told her to do what she can do, and more would follow. She was glad we came.

Then we visited with Sister Gavin, an 82 year old who does not look or act it. She's basically less active because she feels like people will judge her for wearing nice clothes and jewelry. :P

Thursday, more tracting. Haha. Met another guy who probably isn't interested, but I know we needed to talk to him. Maybe one day he'll be more prepared.

Then we went to try and see an old referral, and the way up the stairs was blocked by someone sitting on her phone having a smoke.

My thoughts: "Oooooh awkward. Do we ask her to move? Start preaching the gospel? Just walk around?"

Sister Sorensen: HELLO THERE, HAVE THE GOSPEL.

Bless companions.

So we met Shakira, and it turns out that she's really struggling and searching for peace right now. She was raised Baptist but hasn't gone in a long time. And she knows she needs that faith in her life, and to raise her four boys with that.

Later we were invited into a home where we sat with 6 and 10 year old girls while their mom got ready to leave. The 6 year old whose name I have no idea how to spell looooved Sister Sorensen's hair. We did end up talking to the mom, Leslie. She just is super fixated on things like what race God is. So. Ended up talking to her about family history.

Friday, planning n stuff. Except for the first part of it we just rearranged our apartment. It looks fantastic now. woo.

Our ward has, every year, a spring and fall concert. So we went to the spring concert, in which members of the ward and the YSA branch sing/play an instrument. It was super fun. The best was the end, where two people played a duet on the piano and organ. It was awesome.

Saturday we just went around and met a BUNCH of people. Highlight: Kenny, a former investigator who is super nice, fantastic at interior decorating, and KNOWS THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE... but feels comfortable in his church. DARN IT KENNY THIS IS THE TRUE CHURCH. We'll get him. He told us to come by whenever his car is there. So we definitely will.

Also it rained for the better part of the day. Mostly a drizzle, but we walked around a ton, so we were VERY WET. And it was freezing rain. Also thunder happened. And a man who was either drunk or a hippie or both pointed out hawks searching for a mate to us. It was a good day.

Sunday was church! :D We went to both the ward and the YSA branch. Also found out that the daughter of a member in my last ward is now in our ward. So that's cool. Got roses and chocolates and stuff even though I'm not a mom yet.

Had an awkward encounter in which our dinner appointment forgot that they were having us for dinner. Then made us take a whole watermelon to compensate.

THEN SKYPED FOR LIKE 3.5 HOURS SO THAT WAS GREAT

Today we climbed the Ponce Inlet lighthouse which was fantastic. I wanted to buy the entire gift shop.

And that's been my week.

Go out and hug someone who needs it this week. That doesn't have to be a physical hug. Spiritual hugs are good too.

I love you all. Have a fantastic week. "Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine."

Love,

Sister Stevenson

It rained and I was very happy. Even if I don't look it.

RAINRAINRAIN

A flower.

A tree.

LOOK AT THIS VIEW.
ON TOP OF DA WORLD.

More Lighthouse Pics:

Spiral stairs are my fav.

Look at that lighthouse.

Look at that squad.

In Which We Whitewash for the Second Time in One Transfer

Hello my darlings. Hope your week has been wonderful. Mine has been exceptionally confusing. :)

Ooookay. This week. Has been interesting. So our area changed because of the ward boundary changes. And so we were essentially whitewashing. So most of the reports from these days will be "and then we knocked a million doors".

Tuesday. We knocked a million doors. Tried to find some members and less actives. We came across a lady gardening and offered to help her. She declined, saying that she loves it and calls it her prayer time. "I'm already on my knees." She wasn't really interested, but as we testified and prepared to leave, she started to cry and was so happy to say a prayer with us. Am I a terrible person if I say I like making people cry when teaching?

Wandered into a magical land near the beach with tons of land and horses and very few people.

Just walked around for a bit in Magic-Land-By-The-Sea. It was a beautiful day and we talked to some people.

Wednesday we had District meeting, and talked about the traveling salesman problem, where it's literally impossible to compute the best route to take (or to plan out the best thing to say when contacting). But when you just go for it to the best of your ability, you end up coming very close to the best. So instead of waiting and trying to figure out how... just go for it. Just talk to that person. Just say something.

Tons of apartment complexes to tract. We walked around a strange neighborhood that weirded me out. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. Or on Camazotz (from A Wrinkle in Time).

Met Brother Kiel and he explained why he was less active. And talked. And talked. And talked. People like him help me to be bold and just say what I feel needs to be said. Just straight to the point.

Thursday we served at the Jewish Federation and did some wonderfully monotonous tasks.

Then... GUESS WHAT

Tracting.

Met Angela; she was less active but has been trying to come back. Man, she's had a rough time. It's like she's forgotten how to be happy and it broke my heart. :( But she's trying to read/listen to the scriptures again.

We saw Joan, a less active we met earlier in the week. She's essentially an investigator; she doesn't remember a ton. She believes a lot of things from a lot of different religions. While there we got to hold her TWO WEEK OLD PUPPIES. Also she was happy to get a new Book of Mormon. That's important too.

Friday we did some more service at the Federation. Finished the jobs we'd started Thursday.

Then.

We got a call.

From the Zone Leaders.

Asking how much work there was in our new area, how safe certain areas in our old area were, where we would be most productive but also safe.... Then we decided that we'd move to their apartment and they to ours, and we'd now be back to the area that we were in at the beginning of the transfer. SO.

We went and saw K....., because she'll be ours again! :D I love their family so so much. Her mom came out and talked to us for a while. She's been trying to stop drinking coffee this week. Send some prayers her way for her to overcome that!!

Last ice cream with the Corders. <3

Saturday we cleaned and packed and cleaned some more. 

Moved.

Cleaned more in the new apartment. Threw out a TON of expired food. (What the heck, Elders?)

"Cleaning is more exhausting than tracting." -Sister Sorensen

Sunday we went back to our previous ward and confused eeeeveryone. Haha. Relief Society was just spent with short introductions from everyone. Because this ward got a piece of the neighboring ward, and because they used to have two Relief Societies. 

After we went trying to find some of our new people, with the help of Elder Jensen's iPad.

Then we had two dinners and almost died.

So I have a new address for the next two weeks at least. We'll see. :P This transfer has certainly been a new and interesting adventure.

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week. This week, pray about someone you can reach out to. Whether just to say hi, or to share the gospel with them. Someone out there needs YOU! :)

Love,

Sister Stevenson

I love the signs at other churches.

Sister Corder lent me a puzzle. <3

 A bird I tried to take a picture of.

But it was rude and left.

Sister Sorensen with all the technology. All of it.