Big Changes and Summer Roasting

Welp dear world, it's officially hit. Summer is beginning. I can feel the heat of asphalt through my shoes again. I've started putting on layers of sunscreen and I'm becoming insecure again of hugging people when I feel oh so icky from sweating all day. But with a few bad things, comes a WHOLE lot of good things. From fun summer fairs to go street contacting at, to my hair getting blonder again, to gorgeous sunshine and fun thunder storms all in one day, to there being SOOO many people outside all night long....Life is getting oh so good. Hot summer nights are my favorite out on the mission. So dear Florida Summer-bring on the heat. I'm so ready for ya. 

So all I have time for this lovely Memorial Day is sharing my favorite secret of the mission. Ready? Just this week I started getting used to this new area and my new calling, and it became a tad daunting. As we were driving home the other night so many things were running through my mind. From a 45 minute training we're presenting to all the leaders of the mission this week, to a power trade off the following day with a struggling set of sisters an hour away, to a ward activity we're behind on planning, to our own struggling area, to the three 24 hour exchanges we're going on this coming week, to the many people in the ward who's names I can't keep straight just yet...on and on and on.....And then, as I stepped out of the car, I smelled that perfect honey suckle smell (one of my three favorite smells in the whole world....up there with Lake Tahoe air and Cinnamon pine cones) I was reminded so simply and powerfully, that Heavenly Father loves me and is working through me. It felt like the weight of the world disappeared. 

Look closely at the THERMOSTAT!!!

I alone couldn't be a sister training coordinator. I couldn't talk to complete strangers and invite them to church. I couldn't have scriptures come to mind right in the moment our investigator needs them. I couldn't do any of it. I'm pretty sure my 20 year old self would self combust. But with God, with my Savior, with the guidance of the Spirit....this work is moving forward. It's not failing. It hasn't blown up yet because I'm here. It's actually getting better. All because God's hand is in this work. I simply get to step back and be a tool in God's hand. I'm FINALLY realizing none of this has been me. Not one stitch of it. All of it has been because of Him. So when people compliment me or thank me for my service or act amazed at something we've been apart of...I'm beginning to just shake my head and hold fast to my favorite secret of all time: It's never been me. You're praising God. You're thanking Him. You're amazed by Him. Oh how grateful I am that this work is His and that I have the privilege to be a tool in His hands, no matter how small of a tool I may be. 

Whoa, hope y'all enjoyed my rant session this week =) Love you all and am praying for you like crazy. Happy Memorial Day!!

If I was at your door, wouldn't you want to talk with me? Hahaha.

Combining my Jerusalem world and my mission world - PERFECTION. 

Snapshots of Missionary Life (w/ SO MANY pictures!!)

Hey y'all!

Oh goodness, I'm already losing my y'all. I'm back in the city, and a rather nice part of the city. Hello traffic, busy neighborhoods, and more than plenty of people to talk to! It feels a bit like whip lash. And while my heart is still in Lake Butler, I know this is where I am supposed to be. I can feel it. 

Are y'all ready for some snapshots of missionary life? That's the plan for today's blog. Enjoy =)

1. I love Brother Rusty. Goodbyes in Lake Butler were a little heart breaking. But I'll be back! Mother Daughter Reunion trip next Spring for the Starling's sealing =) 

2. I had never seen an alligator. So naturally, our last P-day our zone ventured to Alligator Park. And yes, I finally laid eyes on a gator. It may have been a baby one...but it was a gator! Only took my 11 and a half months to realize they we're myths. (And I was wearing my Florida Gators shirt...perfection in a moment. That's for sure.)

3. Each place I go, I take pictures of my feet. This one was perfect. Not only are we are on lovely Floridian grass near some gators, but it's with a few of the sisters in the zone. Perfectly captures my three transfers in the Lake City zone as an STL.
 

4. I love Sister Cline more than words can say. These past two transfers with her have been a piece of heaven.

5. A man has 18 peacocks in our neighborhood that just roam. We LOVE it. And after 4.5 months...I finally decided to document them. Naturally, while bending down to take a picture with it, it scurried away, I died laughing, and Sister Cline captured the world's most awkward photo. Love it. 

6. Goodbye's nearly break my heart, but amidst the sadness, I felt more love than I can even express from darling people in Lake Butler. The Starlings post-it attacked my car. Excuse the apparent crying that had been going on it the picture.

7. I LOVE THE STARLINGS. I LOVE GANEENE. I LOVE THEM ALL. SO MUCH. I love that when we leave on our missions we think we are leaving our families and it's so hard. And then, you end up finding some of your long lost family along the way.

8. Hello Mandarin First ward. Hello Sister Ashcraft! My darling 27-year-old companion from Idaho. Hello Sister Training Coordinator calling. Hello sword fights of course. (We're getting along really well as you can tell.)

9. Oh the blessings of being close to the mission home! We had the privilege of having dinner with our Mission President and his wife, with our investigator. God is so good. Such a powerful lesson about the Plan of Salvation.

10. In short, I'm one happy missionary. I love Mandarin. I love Florida. I love my Savior. And I absolutely love serving my fellow sister missionaries. It's a privilege to be surrounded by such incredible, faithful daughters of God. Miss ya. LOVE YA.

Transfers & Tender Mercies (w/ pictures!!)

Hey Y'all!

Changes are in store today....hello TRANSFERS. My time in perfect, darling Lake Butler has sadly come to an end, and an entirely different kind of adventure awaits. I'm being sent back to Jacksonville to be a Sister Training Coordinator. I really have no idea if that calling even exists in other missions, but I'll be serving over the Sister Training Leaders in each zone. It's a tad daunting to say the least, BUT God has everything perfectly in His hands.

To finish out the tradition strong, Sunday's pow wows was ALL about the tender mercies we have seen in Lake Butler. And oh my word, I have never seen so many tender mercies in my life. Let me tell you about a few before I race off to a zone activity/packing like a mad woman.

Tender Mercy #1: Having the world's best team of missionaries here in Lake Butler. I have never worked with such incredible young men and women. Their faith and service is what helped make Lake Butler home for me. I adore them all. No matter how dorky we all may very well be-y'all are jealous. LB3 FOREVER. (p.s. We've become a famous little service team...from axing trees, hacking bushes, demolishing burned homes....we LOVE service.)

Tender Mercy #2: Here in Lake Butler, the entire ward has become my family. I don't know how they all won my heart so quickly...I think it may be that Southern charm. However, I do have two people I adore a little extra. We call them our Southern parents. Brother Rusty and Sister Sandra have been our home away from home, our safe haven in the middle of a hard day. I couldn't be more grateful for their incredible love.

Tender Mercy #3: I ADORE MY COMPANION. Between Sister Call and Sister Cline, my time in Lake Butler has been every missionary's dream. Serving beside Sister Cline has taught me so much about how the Spirit works and how invaluable helping other's feel loved really is. I really am the most blessed missionary around.

I LOVE YOU ALL. I LOVE MY MAMA (happy mother's day!!!). I LOVE THE GOSPEL. And I am even beginning to LOVE change. I know it's for the best and I cannot wait to tell y'all ALL the many things I'll be learning. Missing you...but NOT for too much longer =)

Long-Johns and Lessons Learned (w/ HILARIOUS pictures)

Hey Y'all!

To stay true to this transfer's traditions....Our weekly pow-wow last night in our ever-present fort with darling Sister Tsai and Crawford was divine. And this week we shared our lessons learned....Here's a taste of the lessons I learned this week:

1. The work really is hastening. No joke. Miracle of all miracles. Do y'all remember how we were struggling to teach lessons? Well, there was a day this week where we taught four member present lessons. Aka we taught 4 lessons and each had a member there to make them even more powerful. My jaw just about dropped when the day ended and each lesson went according to plan. From teaching a mother of seven with recent convert, Ganeene Starling, to having a miraculous lesson on Facebook with a man in India with a returned sister missionary who just got back from Peru, to teaching a mother and daughter with one of our favorite sisters in the ward, and then ending the night with that same member teaching this dear older woman sharing all about the Book of Mormon....Sister Cline and I got back in the car stunned. 4 member presents in one day....in Lake Butler....might as well make the history books. And this week is looking just as promising. All I can say, is God's work is hastening. 

2. God knows what's best. When suddenly out of no where we have progressing investigators ready to come to church, we thought it was a sad thing that we didn't have church this week. The Fort Lauderdale temple was dedicated this past Sunday so we didn't have our normal 3 hour church block. Little did we know this was ALL a part of His plan. We prayed about what to do, and decided upon a church tour instead. Let me tell you, it was an hour of divinity. With three investigators, one darling member family, and Sister Tsai and Sister Crawford....we began our adventure touring the church Sunday morning. It hit me as we came back into the chapel at the end of the tour how much I absolutely love church. We are so blessed to be able to go to church each week. And really what hit me most of all, is that God knew these darling women didn't need to come to "church church". He knew they needed to have personal spiritual experiences there first with us to then help them have the desire to return the next week for church. God knows what's best.

3. I learned that sometimes (quite often really) I live in a happy little bubble. I naturally assume every missionary is obedient, happy to be here, and ready to work. The longer I'm in a leadership position...the more I've learned this isn't true. I thought for a while I had just been naive all my mission and that I needed to reality check. But this week, I went back to my old happy bubble ways because I realized I wasn't being naive. I was seeing people as they ought to be...and really as their potential truly is. When we look at people as their potential...instead of where they are, they often rise to the occasion. Hello happy bubble. It's good to be back.

4. I'm in love with the Book of Mormon. During this 90 day read, I've gotten to the point where we'll walk out of a lesson or be talking as we drive and I'll whip it out to make a point, or scribble in a new thought that reminded me of a scripture I read that morning. Best thing ever. I love the Book of Mormon.

5. Sometimes, it's A-okay to act like a kid. I'm only 20. So this week may have involved some 10pm tackling wars and matching footsie pjs and hysterical laughing. Perhaps a little too much hysterical laughing.

I love you all....so so so much. Can't wait to chat with the fam bam this week!!! Happy Mother's Day indeed!