A couple thousand words*

[*references "If," by Bread] 

Mother's Day was good! Sorry not all of you could be there, but I'm newsed-out. Here's some photos.


Photos of our area.

Mud ducks. They're so ugly

A bird we saw coming out of our apartment.

The city!

The view of the lake from our apartment. All I see is baby mosquitoes.

Better city!

More of our area.

Mother's Day lunch the priesthood brought in during Relief Society. Wow.

The return of Thlitherz!!

Our Zone. I'm not going to name names unless you bribe me with chocolate.

A cute complex (under construction, of course. Be grateful, those of you living in Utah, that winter breaks up the construction season.) On the way home from service.

My companion wanted in.

Ducklings! Turns out, mud duck ducklings aren't hideous

Plants. I miss em.

Hna Stowell made a bathroom trip, so I thought I had time. Nope. She caught me.

cue Pokemon biking music

(Title references this . . . thing.) 
 
🚲🚲
YAY!! I'M SO HAPPY!  We got to bike quite a bit this week! Like, 20-ish miles on multiple days! Mostly because Hna Stowell thought she knew the area better than she does... But more sightseeing for me! Also, due to months of running for exercise in the morning, I didn't even feel it the next day! #blessings

I'm . . .  I dunno what to talk about. We are working with a joven named Lorean. She's technically on-date, but hasn't yet been able to make it to church due to work. It's kinda frustrating, as we visit her twice or thrice a week and nothing is progressing, so if y'all have some advice, I'd take it. We did fast with her on Tuesday, which ended up being one if the days we biked 20 miles:) While we did get really tired and slow, we didn't die! The spirit was there strong and everything! That was really cool to see. Fasting is the best! Next to Tithing! Next to the Word of Wisdom! Wow I luv da gospel!!

Um, I don't know what more is there. So, best quote of the week: If everyone's ugly, NO ONE IS! I can't even remember what the circumstances were, but it was funny. And true. And oddly comforting.

Well, I guess we'll see not quite all of you next Sunday!
Enjoy until then!

I give you permission to shout "Get yourselves Organized!" But this is my study desk with a view of my comp. She's studying or Something...

A snake. I named him Thlitherz

Pre-biking joy!

Post-biking joy!

Cinco de Mayo! We had tacos at our recent converts. If we're lucky, you may be to meet them in Tuesday:)

I dunno whose idea it was to put a mini dart board on the same pin as a picture of Jesus, but I still can't hit a bullseye.

... Oh Yeah, Hispanics

Culture shock 2.0 It was a good time.

I forgot that in the Spanish areas (in which actual Spanish people live) they sign up to feed you! No longer am I the one making the rice! Someone else does! It's kinda weird. I finally figured out how to make fries really good, and how to ratio salad dressing to chicken!

But, I DID miss the Besitos at the door at church and the overall "WHEEEEE!!!" mentality that comes with a Hispanic ward. And it turns out one of the recent converts from Windy Ridge (she was baptized right before I made it into the field, and she gave us juice on my first [or maybe second] night in Florida) moved into this ward while I was in exile! And she lives only a mile away from our house! BUT IT'S IN THE ELDERS AREA!!!! So much bittersweet. I may have been counting down the hours to see Claudia at church yesterday, but then she didn't show up!! Long story short, The Lord loves and wants to bless me, but patience is required. [Ugggggfinefienfienfinefinefine!!]

Some more bittersweet news this week: we had basically no miles, so on Wed, Hna Stowell (My wonderful new companion) warned me to prep for biking tomorrow. Thursday rolls around and I wear leg prisons in anticipation. But guess what we didn't end up doing. We kept pushing back which appointment we would bike to, and then, 3 days later, we were suddenly swimming in miles. I guess we'll just go to Cafe Rio. *dramatic sigh*... Here's a picture of my best friend who I'll probably name Patience. Or maybe Promised Blessings. Or maybe Promised Land... BUT! We got news that we'll be Car-Sharing! Hah! There's no way I can’t not ride my bike NOW!!
...wait...
But the area looks good. I'm still a little glazed and don't really remember anything, but my blessed companion has been here for her entire mission so far (she hit her 7-month mark two days ago!) So she's pro at the area. #Blessings! (4 me!!) I look forward to getting to know more of the people we work with, but I'd be happy to have y'all pray for Lorean to continue to progress to her baptismal date of May 19. It's looking a little grim, but hope is still alive! (somewhere...)

This week I had a lot of fun comparing Helaman to Captain Moroni. When help wasn't coming, Captain Moroni just kinda spit fire while Helaman prayed in faith that they'd be alright. And in the end, Helaman remained hopeful and strengthened by God and Moroni took the army into town and cleaned up everyone's act. While the ways in which they solved their problems varied a little drastically, they both trusted in God and came out on top. Sometimes I forget that there isn't a "Right" way to life. As long as we are having faith in Christ and striving to be better disciples, we can either have silent and strong courage or call down brimstone. This was a good reminder for me.

Well I hope y'all keep doing whatever y'all do. Maybe hunt down your local missionaries and either give 'em some delicious dinner or $20 so they can decide what they want for dinner. Either way is good as one allows for agency and the other has the potential of good memories!

Ciao, ciao all!

Pobrecito

All of my best companions. We call it Hermana Land!! We get to see Good ol' Hna Wade and Robbins again! Every Mon and Wed!!! Woot!

R I P

*Along with other short phrases, that basically has been our motto for the entire transfer. It seemed appropriate to end on such a note.

MOSTLY BECAUSE FORT PIERCE IS DYING!!!!! RIP. Our area is getting absorbed into the Elders' area, Hna Andrus is going home in 36 hours, and I'm getting transferred to the north! What's even up there??? NOT Ft. Lauderdale, I'll tell you that much. I'm just a wee bit skressd as: North (aka no friends), Spanish ward, and [I’ll be] Senior Comp. 😖🤤😨😓👻💀 But it's fine. I can always find consolation in the fact that Elder Larson got called to be a Zone Leader (or, to quote him, "Zone Lord! I'm already abusing my power!!"). Oh, and also in the fact that Christ can help me overcome all things. Which I think I better understood this week. And which I am about to put to the test en la semana que viene. (Gotta practice now ':D)

I'm headed to Semoran. My new companion is Hna Stowell, and she hasn't moved areas since she hit Florida. She's also only 1 transfer behind me. So at least we have the least chance of dying (Spanish-wise) as possible! It'll probably be fine... 0__,o I'm about to have the faith that God will help me with everything! Yay! 

This week was kinda just a lot of goodbyes, both to members and also to investigators, most of which didn't even realize we were leaving. They were just done investigating. :[

Um..... Bullet point time!

-- We served so many people: I cleaned the Pointons floor and Ellen's oven.

-- Tirso lunch/date??? (We may have 4 wheeled a date?? A member from Okeechobee drove 40 min to take just the sisters out to lunch. And a member from our ward. But not the other Elders or the Elders from Okeechobee so...)

-- Josefina hates pictures. (Graven images apparently equal any paintings or photos of Christ)

-- Spinning rims! (I was driving at the time so no pictures. Sorry!)

So to all of you, pls pray for:
Elder Ward: who's starting his 4th transfer in Ft Pierce (pobrecito!) AND he's the only one of us who's staying, AND he's absorbing our area.

Pablo: our bestest dollar bill/ investigator. We Skype him cuz he speaks Spanish but his elder don't. But now, we're leaving and also his elders are leaving. So pray that he can still be baptized on his baptismal date and not forgotten by his ward.

And Hermana Baer. Los dos. Porque necesitamoslo.

Ok, see y'all on the north side!!

Packing!!

Cowboys!! (So good! So expensive)

Our best investigator. Mostly because he lets us talk.

On the Road Again

We drove so much. So much.

Hna Andrus had her departing temple trip, so we drove up Thursday night to sleep over with Windy Ridge sisters! Ah that good ol' 'partment. I knew it well.

We "slept" that night, then went to the temple early the next day. Again, I was not allowed to join them (as I am not going home) so I got to enjoy the good ol' FOMO [fear of missing out]. THEN, we drove all day to exchanges. It was a long day. Then exchanges. Again, a long day. Many things happened. None of which I'll share right now. :) Then I drove home the next day. Oof. Driving.

But on a better note, Josefina agreed to be baptized! She didn't say when, but she DID come to church on Sunday, AND she brought a friend! Wowzer! I'm so proud!

We kinda dropped everyone else and spent a lot of time finding old, lost members. That was... slightly depressing, but, just like in every other aspect of missionary work, every now and again, there was a cool moment! Like last Sunday (with the husband that shouted at us when we parked on his grass). But I told that story last Monday... so...

This week in church, though, all 4 of us Ft. Pierce missionaries spoke. It was pretty cool! Then Hna Andrus got her final interview, so I spent 30 min companionless in a Spanish Sunday school. THEN, we went into Priest Quorum to see Roger get the Aaronic Priesthood. That was initially awkward, then pert cool! So, very spiritual, but slightly odd. Just like the rest of the church. :)

Well, not to spill the beans, but, please don't send any Porsches to my current address this week. A little birdie suggested the current goodness may not last...


Exchanges! Me, Schwendinger, Knapp, Andrus

District Meeting w/ Zone Leaders: Sweet, Duffin, Larson behind Keith, Ward, Gibson, Andrus, I'm not affiliated.

I forgot to mention the weather celebrated my 8 month Mark by raining REALLY HARD while I was driving, and then lightning-ing the power box. We went lights out. My "Christian Bale" church treasure hunt getting finished by candlelight.

Our Zone leaders: Sweet, Pottle, & Duffin on top.

The Bald Strawberry: Gluten-free waffle Pizzas. The closest to Settebello I've ever gotten.

Week of Tongues

This week we had 3 lessons in Spanish (an unprecedented amount for Fort Pierce!) Along with both Sunday school and Relief Society this last Sunday, a lesson and a half in Portuguese (of which there's a shockingly high amount of in Orlando Florida), a marriage counseling session in Hatian Creole (also many Haitians), and a testimony in fast and testimony meeting in Russian.   O_o    And I went to Florida. Now I can say I speak English, Falo Portugués, hablo español, mwe pa palo Creole, Ich spreche Deutsch, & Я говорю русский язык. 🤤

We also got cussed out after church on Sunday. We tried to drop by an unknown member and we parked on his lawn. He didn't like that. After we moved, he realized that we were sister missionaries so he invited us in. Turns out him and his wife still not only like the Gospel, but have a pretty strong testimony of it. They just don't live it. We had a super awesome lesson. We kinda just bore testimony that God still loves him, and the Spirit was super strong. It was really good. I learned to be a little more persistent with people who swear at you. They could still love God and the Book of Mormon:) What a week!

That's about it. I hope yinz had an enjoyable spring break! Keep reading your scriptures and going to church, even if it's tough or boring or slightly apostate. That's when you know something good is going to happen. You'll get that witness that you need. So Stay Active!!

Love Hna Baer

Do pelicans have tongues? I saw Nemo...

Our investigator that refuses to be baptised, but always talks about when she'll be a member of the church. And Sis Armsby. She da best!

 I love it!! (Keep Ft. Pierce beautiful!)

I've got friends on the other side*

(*References this song from Princess and the Frog which, ironically, seems to convey exactly the opposite message as is intended.)

Hh-Wowsers. I feel so fat spiritually-wise. One might even say husky.

This week was awesome. We had Zone Conference on Tuesday, so the southern half of the mission all gathered together to be spiritually edified. And for the first time, I WAS spiritually edified. There was a lot of good things happening. One such being waking up at 5 am to make the 2-hour drive:) The roads are a lot easier to drive when no one’s on them. But we talked about how your thoughts, words, and actions define who you are. And some good things happened but I just really want to get to the rest of the week. So....

We'll skip over the days of sleep deprivation down to Friday: TEMPLE TRIP!! We had to get a member ride, but a recently returned missionary was willing. Our session starts at 7:30am, but President, knowing missionaries, asked us all to be there by 7. You know what that means: Another 2-hour trip! We're up by 4:15 and out the door ready at 5. We text her at 5:15. No answer. We call at 5:20; she's on her way, but she'll be a hot sec. At 5:45, we text our District Leader. No answer. At 5:50, we call the Zone leaders and they tell us to just jump in the car and go. ("We'll figure it out *weak smile*" I believe was the direct quote.) Luckily, she shows up 3 min. Later and we're off. Ok, 6 am with a 2-hour drive and a session that starts at 7:30. Miracle time! Kinda. We arrive at 7:45 - we've totally missed the Missionary session, but Just Barely slide into the 8. (Heart attack moment when I couldn't find my temple recommend 😰) The entire session was really good, but I also just felt terrible that I had missed the session with all my friends. And it wasn't even my fault! But I realized half-way through that there might still be a few of them waiting on the other side. For the rest of the session, I had to not focus on willing it to go faster (In the words of my companion, "They're all on the other side and I'm still stuck in here!"), but on enjoying it.  Finally, we made it to the other side, and I almost cried at the sight of more than 30 missionaries still there, 90% of which I knew. The relief of making it to where I could be with everyone else was overwhelming!! I realized that as a missionary, I'm not only helping others come to the temple and feel this, but I'm also opening the door for all of their ancestors to have their work done so they can make it to the other side and be with their friends and family. I love the temple and I exhort ALL OF YOU to do your family history work RIGHT NOW!! Don't let them get stuck on the other side. It stinks a lot! (Like dirty socks on Monster feet! [Family, you do not have to include that reference to Backyardigans for the world; it was mostly just for the orphans' amusement:) #prioritiesarestillstraight!!]

Then just 8 hours of spiritual buffet pitted with mind-blowing revelation! And 1 investigator! She even speaks Spanish!! Wowsers. Blessings.

I hope all of you still are picking up pieces from your mind (after it having been blown and all that) and hopefully you find all the pieces and they fit together a little better this time. Maybe you'll even get some revelation. Who knows. If you do, please share:) I love knowledge <33* and Ice cream.

Ok, gotta run!! Best of luck y'all!

Fun fact: Elders can't eat with sisters, but this member still took us out. We sat at our own table. It was still fun.

I Larfed. Gravity Falls reference :)

5:30am and still hopeful.

Our Zone picture at Zone Conference. There we are. Please don't look too hard.

Our Zone at the temple. 20 bucks to whoever can find me and my companion.

Yep, That's right. Zone unity out the window.

I’ll go inside someday

I love to see the temple. And we're going on a temple trip on Friday. I'm super excited!!! We've even already seen miracles as the session starts at 7am, which means we leave here at 5am. And we had to find a member ride. We thought we were toast, but them, Jasmine, a returned missionary, was willing to take us. #blessingsofgoingonamission I'm so grateful and excited I can't see straight!!

Also, Roger FINALLY got confirmed!! He's no longer dead with a cold!! We're so proud, and he's so happy, and because it happened within 30 days of the baptism, we didn't have to rebaptize him! Blessings for a lot of prayers. Church is true.

But also this week, we had to put off another lesson with Pamela because she was still sick. But, silver lining here, I'm learning so much patience.

Also, exchanges: I went up to Satellite Beach, and I got to drive :) My favorite. But we did get to see a lot of miracles, such as meeting with someone they haven't seen in months. That was cool.

That was about it... But I did read an inspiring talk by the One and Only Jörg Klebingat called "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence." I recommend it to all of you! Be confident!

I have no photos this week. The only one I have is of my hand-made rice bag (because: gluten free) for Hermana Andrus. It's... Well, it worked. And I'm proud.

 ...ok, I dug up one more: ZTM. We all gathered and were edified as a zone. ...yep.

Perspective

There's a quote from Ratatouille here, but I can't remember the exact line. Oh well.

Let's start out with this picture.

This is us. Walking home from our car. Inside our car safely resides our keys. We're so safe! No one is going to steal our car now! Hah!

...

Here's one of my favorite photos.

Let's just say, what a day. We were on bikes the next day so Woot!! I love my bike!! We forgot to take a bike selfie though, so... too bad.

But as it is Hna Andrus' last transfer I Am now back in the driver's seat. At least, I should've been. I lost the card that allows me to drive a mission vehicle. But it's ok! Cuz God is a God of miracles. Also, Ask and ye shall receive. He sent it back to me.

We found it 2 weeks later. It made me realize how hard life on the streets is like without the Holy Ghost. Poor card. Poor all those people who are living on the streets without the Holy Ghost and don't even know what they're missing.

Another highlight of this week was seeing duckies. Here they are.

I always think of the Ugly Duckling story when I see ducks. Its a good reminder that we're all children of God and even though we sometimes don't fit in or feel ugly, we have a great potential ahead of us. Just keep chugging along, don't give up, and keep reading and praying. (And don't worry, you're going to grow up to be MUCH cuter than the Florida ducks. Those things are Uh-GLY!!)

Love y'all lots! Don't lose hope in school and Happy Birthday to all of you who are getting older!!

Hna Baer

Ether 6 or 12

TRANSFER CALLS!! Yeah, I'm not going anywhere :) 12 weeks in Ft. Pierce! And neither is Hna Andrus; she's dying in Ft. Pierce.

This week's highlights:

- It rained for the first time in forever!! I love the rain! And even better, we got to go tracting in the rain! The worst is when you enter someone's house or a church meeting right as it starts to sprinkle, then the whole storm passes while you're occupied inside. (Some of my best memories of the MTC are standing with my head out the window while it rained)

 - One of the Ward missionaries came up to us kinda upset that we never call her, so we took her to our next set lesson and she rocked it! She never missed a chance to bear testimony about a gospel principle and she mentioned almost every auxiliary in the church!! #wardmissionariesforthewin!!

- We were able to meet the non-member family of a missionary who's serving in - wait for it! - Concepción South!! They're super cool and even fed us burritos when we dropped by unannounced. They're awesome and we hope to stay in contact with them more. (Any suggestions on how to help them through the first few months of having a missionary out?)

- The sisters in Palm Bay (AKA English sisters that are 1 hour away) let us Skype into a Spanish lesson! I old Spanish ladies! Her name is Millie and She's super great; she comes to church every Sunday, but she ends up going to the 9 am, not the 12. The sisters have been trying to get her to change, and they even mentioned that next year their ward will be at 9am. To that Millie said "Well then I guess we'll be in the same ward next year."

- The best one: Hermana Turcio of the Relief Society presidency surprise took our entire district to lunch at La Granja. Inca Kola ALL around! She also wasn't afraid to talk about everything missionaries are told to not talk about (like pencil skirts and dating) mostly because her daughter just got home from a mission and is trying to re-enter the dating field. Also because she's Hispanic and Hispanic people are just the best!

Well, this week I learned a lot from Elder Bednar's talk called "Accepting the Lord's Will and Timing." And yes I'm going to make you go read them so you can experience for yourselves what a good talk it is. Also, the "But If Not..." talk is always a classic. Naturally. (From Charade, naturally.)

I'm praying for y'all to have a great week too! Enjoy!

Hna Baer

Pics!!!
Proof I love the rain.

Thanks mom! I forgot to take a picture of the finished meringues before I ate them, but they were super good!

Finish with a bang

Let's jump straight to Saturday: ...Nevermind, let's not. Exchanges were hard! I love Sis Andrus! I've learned from the error of my ways and will be a better companion.

Ok, Sunday: Roger got baptized! He was so happy and so excited! We even got to Skype in the Windy Ridge sisters (aka my old comp and Sis. Andrus' old comp!!) To take pictures! Wow! He was so happy and all the stress of making a baptism happen paid off! Wow:) see pictures below.

The rest of the week went something like this:
Brother Donnell (1st counselor of bishopric): Ya' know, Black Panther is still here showing in the theaters. It's breaking box-office records!
Me: Ya know, I'm still here breaking records in the field! *Cries*

 ._____. -_____- ._____.
Let's just say, I feel you Abraham. Probably not even really, but I've definitely had to face some desires this week. Like when we give a really good FHE lesson and Bro. Donnell ends on Marvel. Or when we go looking for a VeggieTales CD in Walmart and I just have to walk through the technology section with my eyes closed. That was fun. BUT, blessings are real! We helped Roger come closer to Christ, and we may even have another actual investigator! Wow! Bendiciónes!!

es todo.

Foto tiempo!!

#builtinhandmixer! (Meringues are had to make without an electric mixer)

Exchanges! Hna Andrus, me, Sis. Padgett and Sis. Knapp

Blessings of technology

Roger and Elder Ward in their Tidy Whities! (Because of health problems, we had E. Ward and Bro. Wolf in the font with Roger, who sat in a chair. The two baptizing Roger then tipped the chair. It was really cool!)

Our Zone discovered Bang energy drinks. And they won't stop. They finna drown with how much they drink, if they don't explode first!

Remember that time. . . .

This was a long week. Roger called on Tuesday and tried to cancel his baptism. 2 hours later, we had calmed him down and put him back on date. That's about ALL that happened. *super delayed thumbs up*

Oh! We also went to Okeechobee! (Transfer dream come true! (For those who don't serve in the Vero Beach Zone, Okeechobee is where the cows live. And also some trailer parks. With a person.)) Also, flea markets are creepy! I stood in the sun for many hours! But got no pics, so...* We handed out Famiñy search cards. It was

I'll give you the pics I DO have.
There they are. Enjoy them in their full glory. All 2 of them.
Um...
We weekly planned for 3.5 hours, 2 days in a row??

This week was mostly a lot of really long, slightly apostate lessons where they just talked the whole time and every 30 min or so we'd interrupt and bring it back to the gospel, where they would promptly run off with it again. l:"
I'm deciding to NOT look back on this week and to move forward with faith.
I know God blessed those in the dry times too. I'm now gonna go look for this well of living water, and take a drink, cuz I'm parched.

Quote time:
-- Remember that time when you scared Elder Larsen and I peed my pants? (Don't worry, I didn't say it.) *
-- I'd like to go with you because I have a small RV
-- The Hobbit should've been a half hour special

Sorry All! Forgive/pray for me! And for Roger to get baptized!! And for our area to get investigators!!

Love y'all!

Pictures:
1. The Taqueria, right before a soul crushing 4 hour service
2. A random ping pong table. It made me laugh.
Oh wait, an update! I convinced the Okeechobee elders to send me some. Enjoy. This one.

[Mom's note: we're still hoping to get pictures. Tune in next week.]




*So there I was.
Every Sunday night we head back in an hour early so as to account with our District leaders (That way, we only get a week's head start to go to Texas!) But at 8:30, aka 30 min late, they still hadn't called, we started wondering. 8:45 we get the briefest of phone calls: our District leader calls telling us his companion slipped a disk and is in the hospital so they won't be calling to account. Sis. Andrus is super worried, but I'm not sure... so I start a puzzle (Neuschwannstein!)

10 min later, something metal hits our glass sliding door. Sis. Andrus was in the bathroom, and I didn't care enough to move so I ignore it. Besides, I'm pretty sure I know what it was. If I'm right, it'll hit again soon. And sure enough, it does. This time, I stop the puzzle and watch as best I can through our broken blinds. Again, suspicion is proved right and a white blog passes by the window.

Elders.

Hna Andrus and I do what any sane person would do: we hit the lights. Our apartment goes pitch black. We each grab a nerf gun and super slowly approach the sliding door. We try and take a picture (pics or it didn't happen) but because our flash is on, we end up getting only blurry photographic evidence and alert the elders we're not asleep.

Finally, Our district leader - Elder Larson - blatantly walks up to the door. Fatal mistake! I whip back the blinds and after a split second delay, he total jumps out of his skin! We die laughing, and poor Hermana Andrus has to run to save her pants.

Elder Ward was not actually in the Hospital; the whole story backfired on them. And that's why you don't lie to servants of the Lord. Especially when you ARE servants of the Lord.