Miami or Bust

During this past week, we continued to make trips (4) to the Miami area for training and companion study. Our last visit was to the Atrium in the heart of downtown Miami. The Elders came down on the street to save a parking spot for us and by the time we pulled in to it, I was a nervous wreck. We found out that in downtown Miami a red light doesn't mean stop, but stop and then go if the coast is clear. It took us a while to catch onto this and we were honked at a lot. We have two more trips this week and then will start visiting the Hialeah area which has a reputation as a rough part of the mission. Following that, we will be back up to our Coral Springs area (paradise). Sister Black taught the Gospel Principles class this week. After Sacrament meeting, we were out in the foyer and an older lady who described herself as a Jewish-Christian asked Elder Black for a program and he invited her to attend Gospel Principles class. She accepted and was the only investigator in the class. She spend about 10 minutes introducing herself and telling about her life. We had six missionaries, another ward couple and her. The Elders will be making a follow-up appointment with her and will have us go along. We also have our first appointment this week with a part member family in the Coral Springs ward.

Saturday evening (Valentines day), we had a very fun Senior Couples party at our apartment. We visited and told about how we met our spouses and really enjoyed the company. Yesterday, we were asked to deliver some flowers to one of the Sister Missionaries in the Boca Raton area (east of us) and we took the opportunity to take them to lunch. They are very sweet and dedicated to the work. They have two baptisms next week. One of them was told they couldn't be baptized if they continued to drink coffee, so she said she would switch to de-caff., but when they shook their heads no, she said I'll go out tonight and buy me some hot chocolate mix. What faith! Our mission was blessed with a record 17 baptisms last week. In the Hialeah area, a family of seven joined the church. This coming week looks like a big week also. Our Mighty Prayer and the dedication of the missionaries is really making a difference in the lives of many people.