Hello Everyone!
Yes, I finally got
transfered, and it was SO SO SO hard to leave. It's my home here
in Florida...I only cried a little, cause I know I am leaving it in good
hands with Hermana D. I miss her SO much! She was such a wonderful
companion and we got things DONE, having SO much FUN along the way. Just
like it's supposed to be :) I am now just below Tampa (we
have a part of Tampa in our area) and it's been pretty good. We cover 2
english wards and that is SO weird! I REALLY miss my Spanish Branch... I
just really miss Spanish and my people! It is good motivation for me
though, cause it really helps me focus on speaking it more so that I can
keep it up. One of the first nights that I was here we went to a RS
Activity and one of the hispanic members told me that I wasn't going to
improve my spanish here be cause it's all english... So sad! I will
continue to talk to her in Spanish and EVERYONE else I possibly can so
that I can improve my spanish. Especially my accent. It could be worse,
but it's not very good. Any advice from you Spanish Speakers???
Cool Story from Transfer meetings! So we couldn't find anyone to
help us bring luggage back for the 2 new sisters
that we knew were coming. The night before I remembered that J our
Recent Convert (who btw was confirmed yesterday, so he is officially a
member of the church, yeah!!! :D ) can choose where he works on what
days. We called him up and he said he
would go work and whenever we needed his help, he would bring
his truck over to help us. He is the best! Then, it gets even better.
J has an awesome story of how he found the missionaries. J was
working-he puts in vinyl and such in apartments. He was going
to knock on the door of the apt he was going to work on next, but
accidentally knocked on the wrong door. The missionaries there ended up
answering the door and there gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him
to church. These were English elders and J doesn't really speak
English, but by a great miracle they understood each other :) They
invited him to church and he said he would love to come (he had been
searching for a while now), but he couldn't because he lived in. They got excited and told him we have missionaries there
too! They got his information and in the next few minutes sent it to
the Spanish sisters in their area who sent it to us. We called him that
day and set up an appointment for the next day. 3 months later he was
baptized! How neat! BUT, it gets even better! So J came to help us at
that transfer meeting and those 2 Elders that initially contacted him
were there. We took J to them and introduced them. They were so
excited to see him again. You should have seen their faces and
excitement when he told them he had been baptized 2 days before. That
was such a sweet moment and really reminded me of the importance of
sharing the gospel with EVERYONE and not being afraid to open our
mouths. They so easily could have said "wrong door, sorry" or, "we don't
speak Spanish", but they remembered they were on the Lord's errand and
doing His work and that made all the difference.
My goal for this transfer is to love Hermana R, more that anyone has
ever loved her before. I really want to help her see the miracles that
come from working hard and being obedient. I want her to have the best
last transfer so she can go home with no regrets. Hermana R mentioned
she wants to work on her exercises, so I am coming up with an exercise
program for us to do each morning, as well as good hearty meals, so I
am really excited to get started. Believe it or not, I'm actually
getting quite good at those things. ;) Those little things like exercise
and eating right really help get me where I need to be to accomplish
all that I need to each day. It has been a little bit of a struggle
coming from an area where I knew everything and everyone and just had
the best, most successful weeks of my mission to an area where the work
is struggling and I don' t know the people or the area. However, it's
nothing I can't handle and it's been good motivation for me to really
dive in and get involved in the work and loving the people. This
transfer I am really focusing on demonstrating charity. I have a great
vision of what this area can become, and I am so excited to get there!, I
am also being very careful not to over-step my bounds as the new
missionary in this area, as that never goes over well. Hermana D
really taught me a lot about being organized and effective in order to
see progress and that we did. I really want to implement a lot of those
things here, and am working on it, checking my intentions along the way
to ensure they are pure and that it's not my pride coming in. Only in
that way will it work out clearly and effectively. I don't know if you
saw the CES devotional given last night by Elder Osguthorpe, but it was
SO amazing! It was exactly what I needed, and I know it applies to all
of us. If you haven't already, I encourage you to watch/read it. It was
so great!
This week we went on exchanges with Sisters J and F. I was with Sister F in her area and we had a wonderful
experience. Yep, first day, and we went on exchanges! haha We
were able to teach some great lessons. She is a wonderful missionary
and is very prepared. I learned a lot of fun object lessons from her
that I was able to implement and they were really powerful. While on
bike, we talked to EVERYONE! I even found 3 new potential investigators
for my area! It was so great! A referral they had given to us was not
home when we tried to stop by since we were on our way in to the trailer
park to visit some other investigators. However, just as we stopped on
our way out to fix something, they pulled in and were so accepting and
loving and invited us to come back. The whole day was so uplifting and I
learned so much about the results of a positive, hard-working attitude.
We also stopped by a little tienda on the way home where some hispanic
women were working. We hadn't had dinner yet, so decided to stop there
and have dinner. It was so delicious! We had a great talk with the 2
ladies working there and are excited to go back and teach them!
My time is almost up, but one more miracle:
So
there is this girl that I met when I went to DC with J. When she
found out I was coming here on my mission she sent me her address. S he
lives in Ruskin Fl. Now that I am an SLT here, I actually cover that
area on exchanges. We have plans to go and contact her and her family
and grandma t his transfer and I am so excited!!!! :) MIRACLES!!!! I
know I have been sent to this specific area for a specific purposes, and
I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunity I have to be an
instrument in the Lord's hands each and every second of every day. I
love you and hope you have a great week! sorry this is jumbled, in a
hurry as always. That's the definition of "hastening" the work, right?
haha
OH! another highlight: We are going to have fb in the next few
weeks as leaders, and for us leaders for the trial runs, we are getting
IPads (called tablets so we don't "support apple" only) in the next few
weeks too. So exciting. The work is progressing and it's so great! So
many blessings!
I love you all!
Hermana Gillett
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