Monday, P-day. Paul spent the morning golfing with Brother Hunt from our ward. They went to a nice country club and had a great time together. He came home to help me with some of the usual cleaning. He's so good to help with the harder jobs. Yes, we do have a mop but he would rather do the floors on his knees because our mop does a terrible job.
The Elders and Sisters invited us to meet them at a park near Madeira Beach. It was Elder Rowans birthday and they wanted to have pizza and cake. So I made some banana bread (I always have old bananas on hand). We met them about 3:30 for lunch. It's fun being with them. Then we took a walk on the pier along the main road and parted company when the kids wanted to window shop. They wanted to wander through some of the shops and we needed to get home for our meeting with Stacey and her friend Rockelle.
Happy Birthday, Elder Rowan
Paul is in a wind tunnel that mimics a hurricane. As you can see the wind is up to about 86 mph.
The Rescue!!
Our District
The Titanic? 
The pelicans were fun to watch
We had a very awesome experience with a sister whose name is, Rockelle Reyes. We started to teach a sister (Stacey) that has been a member since she was 12. She is from Nigeria. Her family lived too far away to be able to go to church. So she had very meager exposure to the gospel. The Bishop asked us to give her a refresher course and after our first meeting she told us that she had a friend that was looking for a church and so Stacey did her missionary work and invited her to the lessons. She is from Liberia and has two cute kids, a girl of about 6 and a boy aged 4. I fell in love with them both. So on Monday we gave her the first lesson on the Restoration. I've known this story since I was a child but when I have to give it to someone it is a bit of a challenge. At least for me. I went over and over my notes and the scriptures that we chose to go with our lesson. I also did a lot of praying to receive the support of the spirit. When I presented the First Vision to Sister Reyes I know that she felt the spirit. I know I did. It was quite an experience. We have been taught to give the First Vision very slowly to give the investigator (and I believe the presenter) time to listen to and feel the spirit. When we asked her how she felt afterwards she said, "Wow". Then she proceeded to tell us that she felt warm in her heart. We told her that was the Holy Ghost witnessing to her that what we are telling her is true. We each bore our testimony and Paul invited her to church and then committed her to baptism when she comes to know that the Book of Mormon is true. She took a few seconds to think about it and then said yes. The only hold back is that her husband is not interested in hearing our message and she has to have his permission to join. So I hope that the fact that she is having the lessons is her permission. We'd love to have a complete family baptized but have a little more work to do to get him to listen. When we told the kids that they were going to go to church on Sunday, Mariah got excited and asked if she could sit by me. (not sure what happened here)
We also have two inactive sisters committed to come to church on Sunday. This is exciting because most inactive people tell us they are going to another church and are not interested and close the door. As we talked to one sister I asked if she had been reading the Book of Mormon. No. We offered her one and she said that she was getting one from her mother who didn't want a copy. I told her to try to get it and start reading it before Sunday if possible. She said that she would do it. I am pretty confident that both these sisters will be in church on Sunday. This is what makes this work rewarding.
We go to Summer School camp on Tuesdays. It was so much fun. Last week we were assigned to do matching games with the kids. They had the class divided into four groups. Each group went to a different station for about 30 minutes then they would rotate. We played memory games with them. As we progressed through the groups we got better at it. Besides trying to remember where letters, numbers, words and pictures or a combination of them were, we began to ask questions about them and to have them use the picture or word in a sentence; or to do a number problem. This week is our last. We had a smaller class today and so we were able to work one on one with many of the kids. The kids were so cute. They were so enthusiastic and had a lot of fun. As we were leaving to go home at noon one of the little girls who was waiting outside to be picked up came up to me and wrapped her little arms around me. These are rewarding moments. Not sure if it keeps me from being homesick for my grand kids or makes me more homesick for them. I'll survive. I have all their pictures on my wall in our apartment to look at every day. My daughters and daughters-in-law have been so good to send me pictures and some of them on a regular basis. We actually need another magnetic board for them all.
Jacob was so proud of himself. He figured out what shapes to use for this man.
Billy is very creative. When we were doing matching games today he kept stacking the cards into shapes. These are rubber bands stretched across nails.
Almadina is a very bright little girl.
Megan was so cute. She likes to have my attention and when class is over she gives me a big hug.
I get visiting teachers. That was a surprise to me a couple of months ago when they called to ask when they could come. I am really enjoying having them come. They always have a wonderful message and are becoming good friends. One of the sisters, Ann Larsen, taught at Highland High where Paul went to school. Thursday we had what they call their Bonus R.S. meeting. We had a chiropractor in our ward talk to us about good health practices - food, exercise, etc. Then one of the sisters talked about the Word of Wisdom and how it can help us make good decisions for our families health. She has 3 children that have had some serious problems and through good nutrition their problems have all but disappeared. One of their little boys has muscular dystrophy and the doctors are stymied by the fact that he is still walking and running around. He is 9 and they told her that her would be wheel chair bound by 4 years old. I would never have known he had anything wrong if she hadn't told me. He looks like any normal 9 year old, a little on the thin side but not abnormal. She pretty much uses organic food and very, very little processed anything. After our lessons we were challenged to exercise a little more than usual if we weren't doing it and to make healthier choices. They created a game board and called it our walk to Zion. We are going to walk the 1305 miles that the pioneers walked across the plains. We were told that 15 minutes of exercise (physical activity) counts for 1 mile. It will be fun to watch us get to Zion. Then we had some healthy desserts. One sister made us some "Larabars". All they had in them were dates and nuts or coconut. She said she pureed the dates and then added the nuts. Then she refrigerated them. She told me to google Larabars for some good recipes. On Sunday, one of the sisters gave me a recipe card with the recipe on it. It was so easy and delicious and healthy. Just puree 2 cups pitted and peeled dates with 1 cup coconut and a couple of handfuls of almonds if desired. The mixture will ball up in the food processor or blender. I used my food processor. I would add the nuts towards the end. Then just spread it out in a 7x11 cake pan, refrigerate and eat. Mmmm!
This spider scared me to death when I first saw it. He was huge. I don't know how it hung on for so long. I guess it just wanted to torture me.
Excuses. Excuses! Well it is Sunday and our less active and investigator sisters didn't come. That was very disappointing for both of us. One sister said that she did get the Book of Mormon and will start to pray and read it this week. But she had to help her mom today. Why not yesterday? The other was not feeling well. Our investigator said she had to do something with her kids. Oh well, We will just start over this week and encourage them to come. Paul says, "Welcome to missionary work."
I don't think we have seen so much rain at one time. It started to rain Saturday and didn't let up until Monday. The streets are flooded, the sidewalks are flooded, the canals on the roadsides are full to capacity and the lakes are filling up. We passed a man and his son standing on the side of the road, barefoot with water almost mid-calf. I think they were trying to warn drivers that the water was getting deep there. You can see the wake that our care is making as we drove slowly down the road. I'm sure you have all heard the news and all the tornadoes, rain and wind that we have been having. Paul and I stayed home after church because the roads were too bad, but we didn't think we were in danger or that the storm was causing problems. We spent the afternoon studying and watching church videos. Sister Satchal from the mission office called to see if we were all right. We said yes....why? She was shocked that we hadn't been watching the news all afternoon. She told us to turn on the news to keep track of what was happening. We did and were surprised to hear that the first tornado was supposed to land about 5 or 10 miles from where we live. That was a little scary but we didn't feel threatened.
We are having a wonderful experience here in St. Pete. We are meeting and making many life long friends. Even amid the disappointments, there are many rewards. The Lord has blessed us so much while we've been here. Our parents are safe and doing well as can be expected and our children are all happy and healthy. We are so fortunate to have the health and means to serve our Heavenly Father. We are so fortunate to be in this ward with the good people that are in it. We are so fortunate to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives which gives us direction. We are so fortunate to have all of you, our family and friends who give us so much support and love. Thank you so much for your thoughtful notes of love and encouragement. We love you all.
