Soggy Florida

We have been experiencing a wet, wet time here in Florida. We think we have seen more rain in the past week or so than we have ever seen before. The rain storms here are impressive. Yesterday, President Hale gave the Senior Couples a day off and we organized an outing to Shark Valley to see the alligators and exotic birds (see photos). We were able to use the mission van so we could all visit on the way there and back. On the way there, we ran into a deluge, but at Shark Valley it was beautiful and sunny. We took the Tram and saw many alligators and birds along the way and at an observation tower at the south end of the loop. We got to see the large, black alligator that was of the side path when Steve and Traci and their family was here. The guide called it "Snaggle Tooth". On the way home, we ran into another huge rain storm and at one time the wind got quite intense. We were on the Freeway and the traffic was slowed to a crawl and many just pulled over to the side of the freeway and waited the storm out. Today, it is at it again.

We attended the baptism of Williams Castellano on Sunday. He was so happy and his wife and son were too. The Stake President, William Current, attended the baptism and said we excited about Daily Dose English and wants to expand it into other parts of the Stake like West Palm. He will be discussing it with President Hale. At the baptism, Oscar, who was baptized several weeks ago was there and we introduced him to President Current. He was so excited because he had passed the sacrament that day and also had a friend their who is investigating the church. We also delivered some things to the Lauderhill Elders on Saturday evening. We pulled in and Elder Black got out of the car and a lady was pulling her car into a garage. She stopped and ask if we were Mormons. She had met with the missionaries in Texas and was interested in learning more. Elder Bradley and Elder Sepulveda joined the conversation and gave her a Book of Mormon, taught her briefly about it and she gave them her contact information. We were amazed how things work out sometimes when the timing is just right.

We got to participate in the Transfer Meeting and the dinner and testimony meeting for the departing missionaries (see photos) this past week. We are also starting a new round of companionship studies and visits to the Zone and District training meetings. We started in the Homestead zone on Friday and Saturday and will make another five more visits this week, including a trip to visit the missionaries in Key West and Key Marathon on Saturday. The new couple missionaries, the Hogges will be going with us on Saturday. They are over employment. It will be a lot of traveling and we hope the weather will cooperate. We are enjoying our mission and the joy that comes when we see people accept the gospel and receive so much joy.

Rainy Florida

We have seen a big change in the weather this week. It started to get humid, then hot and humid and the last few days it rained off and on. Everything was dry, so the rain is welcome. We had a number of nice experiences this week. Sister Black got to attend a Sisters Conference at the mission home. Each of the Senior Sisters talked about "what they wished they had known earlier" and then answered questions from the Younger Sister. Attached is the picture taken during the conference. The two in front of President and Sister Hale are Heather and Katherine Hale. A new Senior Couple arrived the evening before the conference and Sister Hogge, just left of President Hale, got to attend the conference. They had driven from Anchorage Alaska to the MTC in Provo, stayed two weeks at the MTC and then drove straight to south Florida. We thought they were very tired, but yet they came to dinner with the Senior Couples the same evening of the conference. This morning we helped out Elder and Sister Call and Elder and Sister Hogge (the Calls replacement in Employment) with a breakfast for a group of missionaries at the Miami Lakes meeting house.

We attended a baptism this week which was conducted mainly in Spanish for an 11 year old boy, Nicholas Fernandez. After the baptism, the 4 Spanish Elders and the 5 English Elders in our area sang "I Believe In Christ" with the first two versus in English and the second two verses in Spanish. It was quite impressive. A lady sitting close to us cried through the whole song and was deeply touched by the baptismal service. After the service, she and her boy friend (who is a member) asked the Spanish missionaries if they could teach her about the gospel and they gave her the first lesson that night and another lesson before Sunday services. We taught Daily Dose four times during the week. The husband of one of the Daily Dose students is scheduled to be baptized tomorrow evening. They were the family that invited us to their home where the Elders taught him a lesson and they put on a feast for us.

We had the English missionaries to our apartment this week for lunch. One of these wonderful Elders, Elder Duncan, had to fly home today to get his knee operated on. He did not want to leave, and wants to return as soon as possible. We really saw a lot of growth in Elder Duncan and will miss him a lot. Our mission has been really blessed. Last week, there were 22 baptisms throughout the mission where there is normally 6-10. The missionaries are working so hard and are trying to talk to everyone they come in contact with. They have amazing energy and are special servants of the Lord. We will be starting a new round of visits to their training meetings and companion studies this week. On Saturday, Elder Black got to train all of the Zone leaders during a conference call. It was really nice to start and end the conference call with prayer. We have felt the Spirit many times and in many ways on our mission.

Daily Dose Continues

We have had a wonderful week with several Daily Dose lessons and attended the baptism and confirmation of one of the English students, Oscar Hernandez, a 60 year old man who was referred to the missionaries by his daughter who had joined the church a while ago. The missionaries invited him to learn English and after the first English lesson on the family, Elder Black handed him The Family Proclamation and he asked who the Apostles were. The missionaries taught him a short lesson and for the next 4 weeks taught him after each English lesson. After his baptism, he gave each of us a big hug and said that he felt so content and happy. He said he and his family thought his daughter was crazy when she joined the church, but now knows she was on the right path. Elder Black got to participate in the confirmation on Sunday morning. Sister Black is enjoying Daily Dose. Thursday night, she gave one of the ladies a hug and a young man who was a new student from Ecuador came up to shake her hand and ended up giving Sister Black a big kiss on the cheek. She was quite shocked. The Elders have a name for that and told Sister Black how to keep her arm stiff, to keep them from pulling her to close.

On Friday night, we went to dinner with the Senior Couples and our Mission President and his wife. All the Senior Sisters wore pink in remembrance of breast cancer awareness. The attached picture was taken (Sister Hale is in black). The picture with the Sisters in pink was sent to one of our young Sister Missionaries to give to her mother who is battling breast cancer as a sign of their support. After dinner, we went over to the Mission Home to visit (see our picture in front of the Mission Home). We also had 6 missionaries over from lunch last week and really enjoyed them. In the attached picture, from the near left, clockwise, is Elder Bradley, Elder Isom, Elder Hansen, Elder Wilcox, Elder Nutt and Elder Dawson. Our camera has a smile feature and they were testing it out when the picture was taken. Elder Isom and Elder Nutt are our Zone Leaders and the other Elders are the Spanish speaking Elders we work with on Daily Dose. Elder Dawson will be returning home in 10 days. They had 4 baptisms this weekend and have another 3 scheduled for next week. We also had 4 companion studies and ended up delivering 2 packages in the central and south part of the mission. It is always a treat to be with the missionaries.

Daily Dose Progress

We continue to be encouraged with the progress being made on the Daily Dose English effort. The students are so exited and appreciative and some of them have also asked to be taught about the gospel which is wonderful. Those being taught English have a desire to improve their lives and help their families. The Nelson's observed our class on Thursday, will start teaching next week and then Sister Nelson started to tutor one of the students. The missionaries also taught two of the students about the gospel that same evening. We felt quite blessed as we left the building with all that was still going on. Next week, we will start teaching a group of students in a home in North Lauderhill. We have been with them twice now to get acquainted. They are nervous to have Sister Black and I take over the teaching, because of our inability to speak Spanish, but we hope it will make them struggle to learn English without any reliance on Spanish.

We finished the Chapel Pass-Along Project and the electronic files have been distributed to each Ward and Branch so they can print them for their own use. In the past few weeks since the missionaries have been using them, Sacrament meeting attendance among those investigating the church has steadily climbed which is very encouraging. We also participated in a fast this week end. The members of the Pompano Beach Stake were asked to fast and pray for a temple to be built in south Florida. On Sunday, the fast and testimony meeting was very special with many pure testimonies being born and a wonderful feeling of unity among the people. Early in June there will be a temple trip just before Stake Conference and they hope to have very good participation to demonstrate to the Lord their love for the temple and willingness to sacrifice to attend the temple.

We had some wonderful visits with the missionaries this week. We have recently been asked by the Mission President to do a walk through inspection of the missionary apartments. In Boca Raton, the sister missionaries showed us a spare bedroom they had turned into what they called their "war room". It has pictures of several Book of Mormon generals and a large map of their area. They use the "war room" to make their battle plans for the day. They are remarkably faithful and hard working Sisters. On Saturday, we took some time off and went with Elder and Sister Kynaston to the Miami Seaquarium on Key Biscayne Island. This area of the Lord's vineyard is incredibly beautiful.

Short and sweet

We had 4 birthdays in our family this past week and we hope everyone had a wonderful time.
Last Monday evening, we went to the home of one of our Daily Dose families who are learning English and the father is taking the missionary lessons. After Elder Dawson and Elder Hansen gave him a lesson on the restoration in Spanish, the family brought out many food dishes and we had a real feast. The mother had cooked for 2 days and the family is not well off, but they love the missionaries who have shared the gospel with their family. There son was baptized earlier in April and we hope the father will be baptized soon. We are loving the Daily Dose teaching and association with the people who really appreciate it and have thanked us many times.
Elder Black spent a good part of the week working on preparing the Chapel Pass-Along Cards for printing on 8.5" x 11" paper and converting it to PDF. There were challenges in every step and CD's with the PDF files needs to be in President Hale's hands tomorrow evening when he gives them out to the four Stakes. Tomorrow will be a busy day.
Elder Black also participated in a day of service on Saturday painting at a women's shelter. We went to a farewell dinner for Elder and Sister Bean and Elder and Sister Call. It was fun. We will miss them both.

Turning 65 in Florida

This has been an eventful week for us. Elder Black turned 65 years old today. On Friday, we went to the Sawgrass Mall and he was able to find three new ties, Sister Black baked a cake and later on this evening we are going to a members home in the Oakland Park area for Family Home Evening. Elder Dawson and Elder Hansen, two Spanish speaking Elders, will be going with us. They recently taught and baptized their son and the mother, father and son are all students in the Daily Dose English classes. We are taking them a picture of Christ that we got and mounted from the Reflections of Christ program a few weeks ago. We now have about 20 students and 4 more from Brazil will be coming tomorrow evening. We had some wonderful experiences being with the missionaries this week. When we visited the Sister Missionaries in the Hollywood Zone, there were three Spanish speaking sisters and two American Sign Language (ASL) sisters. We got to see one of the ASL missionaries, Sister Moore, offer Mighty Prayer in sign language. It was a remarkably spiritual experience and the sincerity and outpouring of the Spirit was very strong and brought tears to our eyes. It was an experience we will never forget. We have some special missionaries who are very spiritually mature. We have the Coral Spring Elders over on Thursday for lunch and enjoyed visiting and laughing with them.

We were not sure what the fate of our Chapel Pass-Along Cards would be because of the tight budget in the mission. The missionaries love them and a few wards asked if they could use them. Today, in Presidency Meeting, we got the go ahead to expand it by providing all the wards and branches in the mission with the computer files so they can print out their own cards for use in their missionary and reactivation efforts. Elder Black taught the Gospel Principles class Sunday and there was a new investigator, Dean, who was quite interested and very well read on the Bible who contributed to the discussion. We are happy and doing well and appreciate all the love and support we receive from you. We acknowledge the Lord's hand and His tender mercies to us. Have a wonderful week.

Senior Fun

We had a wonderful get together of the Senior Couples the day before Easter and colored Easter eggs and had a candy hunt and other fun activities along with a great meal. You can see the couples in the attached photo. From left to right there are the Kynastons from Meridian, Idaho (near Boise), the Calls from North Ogden, Utah. the Holdstocks from Centerville, Utah, the Blacks from Murray, Utah, the Beans from Kaysville, Utah and the Dallings from Rexburg, Idaho. The pictures were taken by President Benzion, the Stake President of the Miami Lakes Stake, who lives next door to the Calls and is their landlord. At the end of the month, the Beans will be going home after one year service and then at the end of May the Calls will be going home after one year service. A new couple, the Hogges, from Anchorage, Alaska, will be replacing the Calls as Employment Specialists and will work with the Miami Beach Young Singles Adult ward. We have really enjoyed getting together with these wonderful servants of the Lord.

We were excited this week to officially start the Daily Dose English teaching effort by teaching a number of students at the meeting house. Elder Black taught 3 students on Tuesday night and on Thursday night he taught the same 3 and 1 more and Elder Bradley taught another 4 students. The Lauderhill Elders also taught several lessons in peoples homes during the week. We hope to have more students this coming Tuesday and Thursday. The students seemed to enjoy the way the lessons were taught and had fun and laughed a lot. It is really a fun, interactive way to learn.

We enjoyed Easter Sunday. Our Stake President's son, Andrew Current, who served a mission in Geneva Switzerland and France talked about his experiences teaching people about the Atonement and how it helped him on his mission. Our Bishop, Randy Godard, also spoke about the Atonement and then President Hale and President Current bore their testimonies of the Savior. We also had a wonderful lesson on the Atonement in our Gospel Principles class and everyone seemed to be very moved as we contemplated the great sacrifice Jesus made in our behalf and the great love He had to suffer and die for all of mankind. We hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday.