This was a full week with Zone Conference, new member lessons, training the Mission Office staff on printing of the Chapel Cards, completing a special report for the Mission President and a trip to Homestead and Key West on Saturday to start the apartment inspections. We introduced an initiative called CARE for the apartments with C-Clean, A-Arrange, R-Repair and E-Eliminate in an effort to get the missionaries to better CARE for their apartments and make them a place where the Spirit can be maintained. Elder and Sister Welch came with us to Homestead and Key West and then they will inspect the apartments in the north part of the mission and we will inspect them in the south this month and next month we will switch.
On Sunday Elder Black had a surprise. After Sunday School class, he went to congratulate a Haitian man who was going to be baptized after church. He told Elder Black, "I would like you to baptize me." Earlier he had told the missionaries that he wanted the Bishop to baptize him and they had gone to Bishop Graham and asked him, but he could not do it because of a meeting he needed to be in. Actually, the man thought that Elder Black was the Bishop. Elder Black had gotten to know him a week earlier when he picked him up twice to go to General Conference sessions at the church. Anyway, Elder Black drove home and got his white clothes and was privileged to baptize Gary Francois after church. It was a very special experience. There was another Haitian sister who was also baptized before Gary.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
A Temple in South Florida
We are thrilled and humbled beyond measure at Saturdays announcement by President Monson that a temple will be built in South Florida (Ft. Lauderdale). A lot of prayers of thanksgiving and tears have been shed by us and many of the Latter-day Saints in this area. As we had mentioned earlier, the members and leaders have been very faithful in attending the Orlando temple, fasting and praying for a temple and doing Family History work to do the temple work for their ancestors, but I think the announcement took almost everyone by surprise. The prayer offered by one of our humble and spiritually in tune missionaries who prayed not only for a temple but that it would be announced in this General Conference gave a spark of faith and hope to everyone in the mission. In a meeting with our Mission President two days before the announcement was made, he said that he fasted for a temple last Sunday and that a momentary doubt came to him but left quickly and that he was confident that the Lord would answer the prayers of the members, leaders and missionaries. This will be an amazing blessing to this area and we believe it will hasten the work of bringing souls to a knowledge of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the opening of the doors of nations in this area to the preaching of the gospel. It is not hard to tell that we are excited.
Sister Black turned over the medical to Sister Welch and Elder Black turned over the housing to Elder Welch this past week. That was a big relief. We will continue to help Elder and Sister Welch with the apartment inspections and other things they ask us to do. We also taught Daily Dose several times this week and taught two new member lessons. We enjoyed General Conference and on Saturday and Sunday shuttled several recent converts and an investigated back and forth to the conference sessions. We have our Zone Conference tomorrow and are looking forward to that in light of the temple announcement.
Sister Black turned over the medical to Sister Welch and Elder Black turned over the housing to Elder Welch this past week. That was a big relief. We will continue to help Elder and Sister Welch with the apartment inspections and other things they ask us to do. We also taught Daily Dose several times this week and taught two new member lessons. We enjoyed General Conference and on Saturday and Sunday shuttled several recent converts and an investigated back and forth to the conference sessions. We have our Zone Conference tomorrow and are looking forward to that in light of the temple announcement.
A Challenging Week
We have had a challenging week to put it mildly. The Kynastons finished their mission and headed home on Thursday and Sister Black took over the Mission Medical and Elder Black took over Mission Housing. The first two days were crazy as we tried to take care of these challenges as well as our normal work. Sister Black got 7 calls the first day and 5 the next, but she did a good job listening, getting permission for treatment and Elder Black looked up health care providers on the internet. There was a new apartment rental that fell through so we have 6 Elders in an apartment with one shower. We are hoping to have this resolved by the end of the week. We are praying that Elder and Sister Welch (who will be taking these duties over when they get here) arrive safely later this week.
Along with the craziness, we also had a very spiritual experience. Elder Black was asked to give a priesthood blessing to a man (the husband of Sister Terron who hosts an English class in their home) who was facing a deportation hearing the next day. Elder Black blessed him that the Lord would open the way for him to remain with and continue to support his family. We learned later in the week that at about 10:30 pm on the night of the blessing, his attorney called and said that his hearing had been put off for a year or so. It was truly an answer to many prayers and we were so humbled and grateful to see the hand of the Lord bless these good people. We have also been teaching new member lessons and visiting the missionaries.
Sister Black's brother Richard was kind enough to send us 10 new Spanish Bibles and we were able to give six of them to some of our Daily Dose English students. They were very appreciative and we hope Richard will be able to send us more.
On Wednesday morning, as we walked out of our apartment, we were greeted by the spectacular clouds and sky out to the east (see attached). We then went to the Transfer meeting where 8 new missionaries were introduced. At the end of the meeting, about 80 or so missionaries knelt in Mighty Prayer to pray for the Lord to bless the missionary effort here and to bless the South Florida area with a temple. It was a powerful experience and many tears were shed.
A Fun Week
We had a fun week. It was Elder and Sister Kynston's last full week in the mission and we took them to a place we knew of to purchase some presents for their family and also visited a Miccosukee Indian Village where we went on an air boat ride to an island with an Indian Village and also got do see a lot of alligators and even hold one who's mouth was not taped. He really squirmed around and wanted to take a bite out of us. On Saturday, we had a party at Elder and Sister Hogge's for the Kynastons and after dinner we played a Florida type Jeopardy game and found out how little we know about Florida.
We also had a rewarding week in teaching Daily Dose English and helping out. One of the families told us that they felt we were here to help out their family at a difficult time when the husband is facing possible deportation and other challenges exist. Elder Black gave the husband a priesthood blessing last night and his immigration hearing is today. We have been praying for that family for many weeks and hae faith that the Lord will help them. Tomorrow is the Transfer Meeting and it is allows exciting when the missionaries get their new area and companionship assignments. We delivered the Chapel Card printer and files to the Mission Office for them to take over the printing. Elder Black printed about 3000 cards for nearly all of the companionships last week so that it will be an easy transition for the Mission Office to take over there new assignment. Over the next 10 days, Sister Black will be over the missionary medical and Elder Black will be over the apartments until the new couple, Elder and Sister Welch, arrive in early October. It should be a busy week or so.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Rainy month
September has been a very rainy month so far. Every day we have had a few hours of heavy rain. It actually has cooled things off a bit and we have enjoyed that. While we were at dinner Friday evening with the Senior Couples is rained extremely hard and there was some minor flooding in that area. We are keeping our fingers crossed concerning the hurricane season and have about 1 1/2 months left in the season.
We have gotten a couple of assignments from the Coconut Creek ward to teach new member lessons to a couple of the recent converts. We went to the home of Dalton Rhoden and visited with him and arranged to teach him each Thursday. We also learned that his mother needed a large print Bible and we were able to get her one through the Mission Office. She was very appreciative. On Sunday, Elder Black was able to help Dalton get an interview with the Bishop to receive the priesthood. He is quite excited and should be ordained next week. The sister we have been helping and fellowshipping got a job interview in the field she is trained in and we are praying that she will get the job. We had a number of good visits with the missionaries this week and were able to take five sisters out to lunch on Thursday.
We heard a neat story that happened last Wednesday evening. In the Hollywood area, the Sisters had a family of four committed to baptism, but the mother had a few concerns and so the family decided not to be baptized on Wednesday, but they attended the baptism to see what it was like. Just before the service started, a 10 year old boy from the family came up to the Sisters and told them that he could be baptized and that he wanted to be a missionary just like them. They got the Elders to come interview him and then the Bishop mentioned that when the father of the family saw how much his son wanted to be baptized, the father started to cry and said he wanted to be baptized also. So the Elders interviewed him and the father and son were baptized on Wednesday evening. I also attended the baptism of a 12 year old girl on Sunday who had been introduced to the church by her friend. Her friend gave the talk on baptism and afterward it was very sweet when they hugged each other. There have been three young women join the church in the past 3 or 4 months.
We have gotten a couple of assignments from the Coconut Creek ward to teach new member lessons to a couple of the recent converts. We went to the home of Dalton Rhoden and visited with him and arranged to teach him each Thursday. We also learned that his mother needed a large print Bible and we were able to get her one through the Mission Office. She was very appreciative. On Sunday, Elder Black was able to help Dalton get an interview with the Bishop to receive the priesthood. He is quite excited and should be ordained next week. The sister we have been helping and fellowshipping got a job interview in the field she is trained in and we are praying that she will get the job. We had a number of good visits with the missionaries this week and were able to take five sisters out to lunch on Thursday.
We heard a neat story that happened last Wednesday evening. In the Hollywood area, the Sisters had a family of four committed to baptism, but the mother had a few concerns and so the family decided not to be baptized on Wednesday, but they attended the baptism to see what it was like. Just before the service started, a 10 year old boy from the family came up to the Sisters and told them that he could be baptized and that he wanted to be a missionary just like them. They got the Elders to come interview him and then the Bishop mentioned that when the father of the family saw how much his son wanted to be baptized, the father started to cry and said he wanted to be baptized also. So the Elders interviewed him and the father and son were baptized on Wednesday evening. I also attended the baptism of a 12 year old girl on Sunday who had been introduced to the church by her friend. Her friend gave the talk on baptism and afterward it was very sweet when they hugged each other. There have been three young women join the church in the past 3 or 4 months.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
A change in assignment
We have received an assignment change. Starting in October, we will be assisting a new Senior Couple, Elder and Sister Welch from Springville, Utah with Monthly Apartment Inspections. Each month we will visit one half of the Mission Apartments and they will visit the other half. This will include a trip to Key West every other month. They will be in charge of the apartments and medical. It was a real blessing that they have been assigned to our mission, otherwise, we may have been assigned both the apartments and the medical. We had a wonderful Zone Conference on Tuesday and attended a baptism of a 42 year old man on "Sunday who has read the Book of Mormon three times. He said the first time he read it, he knew it was true. The second time he knew he needed to contact the missionaries and while they were teaching him he read it again. His parents and a sister attended his baptism. We taught Daily Dose English at the church twice this week and last week while the Nelson's were on vacation. We are teaching English to an elderly women and her daughter. They had not missed until Friday and the daughter brought her mother to the lesson while she waited in the car because she was sick. Also, on Tuesday, a women walked for an hour (in the heat) to get to the class and we drove her home. This Friday and Saturday, the missionaries, working with the local members, found 400 new investigators to teach. Investigators attending Sacrament meeting has gone from 400 to 600 a month in the past 4 months. Starting next month, the Mission Office will be printing the Chapel Pass-Along Cards which Elder Black has been doing. The missionaries really have loved them and it looks like they will become a permanent part of our mission. We are keeping a close eye on the hurricane reports and still have two months left in the hurricane season.
Party in Florida
One of our Senior Couples, the Kynaston's, will be going home later in the month so we took them to dinner on Friday night. We drove across town in a driving rain storm to a fish place they recommended only to find that their power was out from the storm, so we drove back and ate close to where we live. On Labor Day, we had a Thanksgiving Dinner in honor of the Kynaston's at the Elder and Sister Dalling's place and spent about 5 hours together. It was great food and a lot of fun. Then on the 19th of September we will be having one more party for the Kynaston's at Elder and Sister Hogge's place. I told Sister Black that when we are ready to leave that they will give us a "don't let the door hit you in the back side" party to celebrate our departure.
We have had an interesting week and was able to cheer up one of our English students and fix several problems with her computer. We also had some wonderful visits with the missionaries in the Hialeah Zone. We will be teaching the New Member Lessons to a recent convert and will be teaching a Temple Preparation class. We are enjoying our mission and the wonderful people we are working with.
We have had an interesting week and was able to cheer up one of our English students and fix several problems with her computer. We also had some wonderful visits with the missionaries in the Hialeah Zone. We will be teaching the New Member Lessons to a recent convert and will be teaching a Temple Preparation class. We are enjoying our mission and the wonderful people we are working with.
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