Time flies on wings of lightning, we cannot call it back...

Time is becoming more and more valuable to us now.  It amazes me how much time seems to be so much more valuable the older we are and the closer the end of our mission gets.  We have less than 6 months left and there is so much that we still need to accomplish before we go home.  "Time marches swiftly forward to the tick of the clock." (Ardern)  I feel that my clock is ticking extra fast these days.
I love what Elder Ian S Ardern of the seventy said in this quote: "Time is never for sale; time is a commodity that cannot, try as you may, be bought at any store for any price. Yet when time is wisely used, its value is immeasurable. On any given day we are all allocated, without cost, the same number of minutes and hours to use, and we soon learn, as the familiar hymn so carefully teaches, “Time flies on wings of lightning; we cannot call it back” (“Improve the Shining Moments,” Hymns, no. 226). What time we have we must use wisely. President Brigham Young said, “We are all indebted to God for the ability to use time to advantage, and he will require of us a strict account of [its] disposition” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 286).

Some days I feel that driving all over town, knocking on doors with no answer and having others slammed in our face is a waste of time.  I guess you might say I get a little discouraged. :(   But then I realize I am on an errand for the Lord and every effort is accounted to our good.  We have often met a neighbor, given a pass-a-long card to someone, visited with a non-member or less active family member and hopefully planted some seeds that day.  :) 

This week we have met people that were very nice and will talk to us, say that they will welcome some home teachers or visiting teachers but they don't want to come to church.  One sister was very upset today that we found her.  How on earth did we find her!  Well, the Lord sent us...but she wasn't interested.  She had had some issues with members in the ward.  We told her that the church was true but that people aren't always perfect.  One man shut the door before we could say a word.  We must look scary!  But the work is not all discouraging.  We had a meeting with Don on Friday and gave him a lesson that will help him stop smoking.  He was very excited to try it because every other attempt has failed and he really wants to stop.  We gave him some tools that should keep helping him when his bells or triggers go off.   We had our meeting at the home of the Kennedy's who recently returned from a mission to the church ranch.  They will be his mentor during this time and beyond we hope.  He came to church today smoke free.  We also had a nice meeting with the Leonards (the artist). He doesn't want to change his episcopalian ways but I know that he has felt the spirit in our sacrament meetings and our lessons.   He talks about how he loves coming to our meetings and the people are so nice.  It will be just a matter of Time.

Two weeks ago we taught seminary and had a great time.  The lesson was on the love of the Savior and his last days on earth.  We held court in the Bishop's office.  The Bishop representing the Lord, Paul the defendant, Elder McKenna the defense attorney/Savior and Elder Farnsworth, prosecutor/Satan.  Paul was accused of many things that he supposedly did.  He plead for mercy.  The prosecutor wanted justice.  I think the kids had a good time and got the message that the Savior loves us all, that he will be there for us to save us if we will repent and do all that we can.  Then on Friday we had an "I love you because..." with the kids.  I started the class with some recap of the week and then told each of the students why I loved them.  Then Paul did the same.  We then handed each of the students a piece of paper with a name on it and they had to tell one of their classmates why they loved them.  It was very powerful.  The spirit was felt.  I love those experiences.  We get to teach again next week.

Don has been wanting to take us to lunch on the beach and so we planned a day and went.  It was a rather hot day but beautiful on the beach.  We went to Clearwater Beach.  We ate at a restaurant  called Frenchy's Rockaway Grille.  There were more senior citizens there than I would have expected.  It was a nice relaxing afternoon.

  

We had a great view of the ocean

This bird kept waiting for just a little crumb of food to hit the ground. 

Last weekend we, as a mission, fasted in gratitude to the Lord for the blessing of having 180 new investigators in a week and 61 baptisms during the month of December.  On Saturday, at 5 pm we all gathered together on a conference call and President Summerhays talked for a minute and then offered a prayer.  On Sunday at 5pm we all gathered together again and had another prayer of gratitude.  It was a good weekend.  I love it when we have these mission wide fasts.  I really feel the spirit strongly on those days.

We don't get bored because we always have something to do:  District meetings, Zone meetings, interviews with the President, cooking and baking to feed the missionaries and take to members in need, studying for lessons, practicing the piano, meeting with new converts, talking with those we meet and visiting members.   I even have a visiting teaching route which I am excited to do.  (I had to do the short version to keep this blog shorter)

This past week we gave a Book of Mormon to a lady, Grace, at Weight Watchers.   We have become good friends the past few months and a couple of weeks ago we were talking to her and she started to talk about her faith and beliefs in the hereafter.  She was referring to the death of her husband.  She is Southern Baptist and was so easy to talk to and was excited to get a Book of Mormon to read.  She said that she would read it.  So we are going in this week to talk to her and see if she has followed through.  She is so sweet and accepting of us.  I can only pray that she will desire to listen to our message.  

We took a morning walk in Sawgrass Park a day last week.   It is beautiful in the mornings with the sun shining through the trees, the birds singing and the squirrels scampering all over.  It is so peaceful there.  I think of the song, For the Beauty of the Earth.  It truly is a beautiful world.   I took a lot of pictures.  One of the boardwalks ended rather abruptly.  A fire had burned out the walk and it was in repair so it shortened our walk a little.  The only thing we didn't see this time was an alligator.  We always see them but they were not around that morning.

 I love the reflection of this bird in the water.

I usually don't get this close to the squirrels

 Looking over Sawgrass from the tower  (Pictures don't always do justice.  The colors were more vibrant.)

 There are lots of spider webs throughout the park.  This was a big one.

 The lake has been under renovation but they are now filling it again.  This should bring more alligators.

 Not sure if it was caused by man or lightning.  Glad it didn't do more damage

Last week as I was going up the stairs to our apartment I passed by a big, big snake.  I didn't see it until I was at the top and Paul calmly pointed it out to me.  I'm glad that I didn't see it before because I would have probably shrieked.   I hate snakes, they scare me.  It was a black racer, not poisonous but when he saw us he slithered away very quickly.

 This is what he looked liked.  Would you want to share the stairs with him?

Well the next time that I write we will be moved.  We are moving just around the corner in our complex.  We have some rather noisy neighbors upstairs (tile floors, spiked heels, yelling while watching ballgames, friday night fights, etc) and we need to be in an apartment that is not so vulnerable.  We still worry about being broken into in this area and hide our stuff every time we leave.  We didn't feel that we could leave another couple with these problems and worries.  Brother Satchel told us to find a place and move so that we can have a place for the next couple that comes in if we are lucky to get one.  This ward needs another couple.  President Summerhays said it would be ideal to have a couple in every ward.  In Florida it would be very beneficial.

We hope that you all have had a wonderful beginning of a new year.  We hope this blog finds you all well and happy.  We really love this work.  The Church is true.  We send you our love.