Hooray

 Pretty sure that’s how the song goes... (Children's Songbook, 285)
Anywho, what a week!
Must've been a good one, cuz I can't seem to remember anything...

We made a trip down to the mission office/ mmmmmmmmDaves. They took Hna Robbins bike, then took a look at mine. They told me there are 2 sets of brakes on a bike for a reason APPARENTLY, you're supposed to use both, not just one. *Shrug* Ya learn new things every day.

ZTM happened and we learned about listening with charity. ... That's all I have to say about that.

I had a birthday. Now I'm old. I can't even drink legally, so... NO FUN!

Oh! We had a pretty cool experience this week that I would like to share! We were meeting our investigator at a Baskin Robbins but got there a little early and waited. While waiting, one of the workers comes up and says, "You're the missionaries! These drinks are on the house! I'm a Mormon from California!" And then leaves. We later get to talking with him, and we learned that he was the first in his family to be baptized, and he slowly helped much of his family to become members as well. But ever since his move here about 6 months ago, he's been less-active. He asked us to help him come back to church. We're super excited! It was another good reminder that the Lord really is behind this work, that if we do our best, the Lord will make things happen. (Now I just gotta work on patience so I'm alright in between these cool and rare sightings! ;)

Sorry there are no pictures from this week. We've got the before birthday pictures but no after ones. Mostly because my photographer was camped out in our bathroom while I squatted behind our desks. #Bestmom!! [Lauren requested little Nerf guns for her birthday.]

Well, y'all. It's been real. It's been fun. But,
I'll see y'all in many more moons. Remember to read your Scriptures EVERY DAY!!

I'd like to thank the Stinson boys, who made my birthday possible...

It's basically the worst picture of me I'VE never seen!

For Dad. 'Bout the moon. We're gonna be ok.

A Wafer-less Kit Kat

What a week. Points?

> Same Area! It's weird how even though you are still in the same geographical area and the same ward, you suddenly meet different people and are in different places. I swear I discovered a new member last transfer and again, another family this... I dunno

> Our dryer was kinda... superheating. The top had half-chipped, half-melted off. So maintenance came in and got us a new one. Which means we didn't do laundry for 2 weeks. Turns out, I ALMOST have enough clothes to make it 2 weeks. But it's alright, tub-time is fun!

 > We take Oscar "Off-Date" so he could meet with President Wood (1st counselor to President Clark) and then we put him back On-date. He didn't even know! But it was a little scary for us :D

> We had an hour of free time and knew one of our investigators lived on the first floor in an apartment complex, but we weren't quite sure which one. So we went looking with Faith. AND WE FOUND HER!! She invited us right in and we had a really cool lesson. In the end, Hna Robbins invited her to be baptized, but she said she already had been. (I don't like this question.) But in that moment, the spirit was like "Hey, check this out!" And then he used my mouth to say something really cool about authority and Christ being baptized. And then I knew that God really isn't going to leave me to destroy His work. Wow.

> I dug out my 2nd to last Kit Kat and took a big bite. And there was no wafer. I was shocked. Frankly it was a really good bar of chocolate, but... where was my wafer? If I hadn't been expecting something else, it would've been really good. But... Kit Kats go 'Crunch!'

Ok. Spiritual moment. I've discovered Paul H. Dunn. I love his talks!! I suggest all of them to everyone!! Also, I had a really cool spiritual "CLICK" moment during "Behold the Man." Please apply directly to your souls. And then read Jesus the Christ.
Thank you.

TUB TIME! (Laundry)

Oh yeah! Hna Robbins' bike pedal broke. We were a 2 bike, 3 pedal team. It was rough.

Dryers. I'm SOOOOOO grateful (see tub-time)

A mascot for the week. It was actually pretty good... It was..

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for Tomorrow...

I ... will still be here. Yep. Hna Robbins and I will be staying for another 6 weeks in Semoran! What a party! Such a gift! [That's what lil Gideon says, right?]

This week, Hna Robbins had both 2 converts going to the temple to do baptisms for the first time as well as an investigator who got baptised! Needless to say, we had a great week and none of it was in OUR area! :D

Um... I don't know what to tell you about with those so... I'll just send some pictures!

Our investigator, Oscar, went to the doctor this week, and the doctor told him to not to. Smoke or drink coffee. I wanna hug that doctor, and then share the gospel with him. But hugging is Diso, so... I guess I'll just high-five him. But it was cool go see God taking good care of us! Even if I still have no idea what I'm doing all the time, the Lord is guiding my wreck of a self to victory! How neat is that?

We also had Hna Robbins' birthday this week! What with glow-in-the-dark balloons and candles that burned in color, we were partying hard! We got a little daring and made cake-in-the-mug 's too! I know! We're living on the edge these days! #lifeofamissionary

Um, but really, I did a much better job of taking pictures than of doing anything else. We did get caught practicing our musical number foe the baptism by the 2nd counselor in the bishopric and thus played/sang in Sacrament meeting this week. Yay! It was cool to see the Lord really come in and help with the whole "relearn a song in 2 days without a piano!" Thing.

Anywho. I gotta go. But! Read your Scriptures! Every day! And life gets easier! Well, maybe not easier, but you get stronger:)
Ok Ciao!!

Birthday festivities and carnage! (Can you guess which one I am in the dark picture with both our heads?)

Baptism! Hna Swan & Wade with Bianca getting baptised in the middle. Hna Andrus joined us por skype:)

I love to see the temple. I went inside that day.

Hector and Ricardo with Hermana land!

Lunch at Junior Columbian Burger after with a member de Valencia. Shout out to Hna Calderon!

Pride Levels are High

We met a lot of people who really struggled with the Word of Wisdom but do love our church. I never thought I would have to review the 12 steps of repentance on my mission, nor did I see myself ever holding a cigarette. The mission changes you. But seriously, we've had a lot of our good friends struggling with the Word of Wisdom. We welcome ANY advice on overcoming smoking addictions or the whole-hearted desire to drink coffee. Cuz... I don't even. Know.

But I found a good talk I wanted to share! Mostly, Paul H. Dunn just made me laugh, then while my mouth was open, he shoved some motivational quotes down it. It's called "Know Thyself, Control Thyself, Give Thyself." Favorite quote time!

> The lives of many great men will testify to you that ofttimes they have many failures, and there is no disgrace in falling down; the disgrace is lying there. To get up one more time than you fall is to be a winner. To stay down is to be a loser.

 > And I said, “Spirit, I won’t.” I said, “I am the president of this mission.” And the Spirit seemed to respond with the counsel, “Yes, but you will keep him in Cambridge.” ... Well, I kept him.
(Mostly I just love this one because all the time I feel the the Holy Ghost responds to me like that. "But I don't wanna, and it'll hurt!" Spirit: "Yes, you're right! You're going to do great! *a loving spiritual shove*")

> I just keep goin’ up there and keep swingin’. I know the old law of averages will hold good for me the same as it does for anybody else, if I keep havin’ my healthy swings.

We gotta just keep trying. There's a quote from Adjusting to Missionary Life that I both love and hate: "Realize that everything you do can’t be above average. You still want to work hard to improve, but no matter how good you become at something, you will perform below your personal average some of the time. This is not a cause for alarm." A previous companion (Hna Wade) would say "I hate thinking that 50% of what I do is below average!" True, it's not the most motivational of thoughts, but when you have a bad day, it's the slack you need so you don't feel like an utter failure. It's ok to not be Epic all the time. It's ok to have set-backs, falling-shorts, and flop moments/days. Collapsing is not a sin. Just make sure to get back up and dust yourself off. You'll be here all week:)

In bullet point news

- All of our less-active friends came to church on Sunday! I'm so pa-rood Imma cry.

- Florida got filled with Love bugs.

Eve Baer - Lauren's first niece

- OH YEAH AMERICA!! We sat out on our lawn and got eaten by bugs and watched Fireworks. The coolest ones were the ones Mother Nature provided for free. I love lighting! Also, some of our neighbors shot some off their dock. That was exciting😅

- OH YEAH EVE!!!! I will direct you to the other Hermana Baer's email from last week for photos of the newest member of the Baer family.

- Oscar our investigator went from an unknown number of cigarettes (As in, he wouldn't tell us) to ~ 3 fully-smoked cigarettes in 2 days. Pride levels are high.

That's about it. Thanks for coming. Please exit the ride to your left and have a nice day. Here. At Lagoon.

District: the gathering. (Elders Arnson, Porter, Coppin, Cruz, Haderlie, Firth, Hnas Swan, Wade, Robbins, y Oso)

Blurry photographic evidence of my companion enjoying fireworks, but not pictures.

When our neighbors shot fireworks off their dock. Exciting times.

The mind of Hna Robbins

This is Hna Robbins weekly:
Okay, like no time to write, so it is going to be short, but this is what I have for you!

We had an amazing miracle this past saturday. It was night and our plans and back up plans had fallen through. We were biking near a members house that had mentioned that she had a friend that might be interested in meeting with us. We stopped and talked to her, and she said that her other friend has family in town and wasn't showing interest right now, but that we could go talk to her other neighbor, who just happened to be outside.

We walked over there and talked with her, and a young man she had stopped on the street to help her use her cellphone. They both could feel the power of our message as we shared with them Joseph Smith's words of the First Vision. The spirit touched their hearts. We were able to set a up a return appointment for this wednesday, and we are so excited to see the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ enter into their lives!

Birds. Not even stinky.

We got stopped by a golf field. I took pictures And biked. Ask me why I fall so much:)