WEEK 16 "Pizza at the Temple??"

This week started out with one of the best days on this mission I've had so far! Our district was completely spoiled by the cutest converts, Katrina and Rowdy!! Katrina was taught  five years ago by the sister missionaries.
Ever since the sisters brought the light of the gospel into her life she has been completely invested in our work. She tries to support us in anyway possible from having a designated "missionary refrigerator" on her porch, to updating her missionary Facebook page so our families can see our faces. Her sweet husband Rowdy is the most caring person too! They took us to Hollywood Beach last Monday, bought us all lunch, paid for us to go on the Pier and then bought us all t-shirts!!!
Talk about the most incredible people I have ever met. Despite their economic circumstances, they literally gave us everything. They are the most humble and generous people I have ever met. I was beyond touched when Katrina told me her conversion story. She is an addiction survivor and has been through some of the darkest times anyone could ever endure. 
She was hesitant to take the missionary discussions but she felt so much love from the sisters every time they visited; thus, she kept having them come back. She told me she could relate to Joseph Smith's story so well. She too had attended many churches throughout her life and her heart was aching to find the truth. She knew that Ephesians 4:5 was true and if there is only one God there has to only be one faith and one baptism.  Now she and Rowdy are baptized and spoil us so much and we aren't even in their area!!  



Katrina's favorite scripture is found in Alma 36:20-21. It says, "Oh and what marvelous joy and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! Yeah, I say unto you my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy." Katrina has found the deepest level of joy through relying on her Savior to be purified, cleansed, and lifted to overcome her addictions. She has one of the strongest testimonies of finding joy through repentance. She described that the deeper level of pain and sorrow we feel the greater the capacity we have to feel joy. She knows that God gives us trials to come closer to Him, to rely more on our Savior and to reach our fullest potentials. I know that there is nothing that is as rewarding in this world than coming closer to Christ. I know that as we humble ourselves and rely on Christ's power we can be more than we can ever be on our own. The perfect JOY that is taught in this scripture only comes through turning our hearts to Him and submitting our will to God's.

This transfer we have been making a huge effort to strengthen our member relationships and so this week we hung out with the activity day girls! We helped them get onto family search and tried to make it as fun as possible! ! Believe it or not, we had a riot telling stories about their ancestors, finding famous people they are related to and so much more. The spirit was SOO strong as we felt many angels close to us in that room as we did family history! 

The highlight of the whole week was definitely finding the cutest, most animated Cuban man named Leonardo! He is the coolest guy I have met on my mission yet.  Man I love Cubanos!! So Leonardo just moved to the US two years ago and always looks for our Fort Lauderdale Temple as a landmark to lead him back to his house. (He lives close to the temple). He is a Dominoes Pizza deliverer and guess what? One day he casually received an order from the Temple. jaja so he pulled right up to the Temple doors, rang the doorbell like it was a normal house, and then next thing he knew he was being ushered into the waiting room by the Temple president!! The Temple President "bro"ed down with Leonardo in Spanish and then he referred him to us!!!! This Wednesday we taught Leo at the Fort Lauderdale Temple which is in our area. It was pouring rain but it was one of the coolest lessons. We taught him about the importance of Temples and the power that comes in sealing families forever!! He recognized that he wanted these same blessings in his life and committed to coming to church with us every Sunday. He also expressed his desire to be baptized and prepare to enter the Temple someday. woot woot! Feeling the pure love of God that he has for other people is so humbling and breathtaking. In this moment I knew that God has been preparing Leonardo for years to meet with us. I have never met someone that has such a strong desire to devote his whole life to following God's plan. It is such an honor to be a small part of Leonardo's journey on his pathway back to live with God for eternity. 

I know that God put us in families to learn and grow not only in this life but in the life to come. I also know that it is only in these sacred Temples that we can be sealed for all time and eternity to our families whom we love the most.  oh and it was so tender...a peacock was waiting outside the door of the Temple the whole time we were teaching our lesson. He understood the significance of these sacred houses of God and wanted to go inside the Temple too:)

Love you all so much! 


Highlights:
-We went to Sedanos this week and hung out with our favorite Latino friends. We shopped for platanos for about an hour and a half talking to everyone about the gospel and what foods were their favorites. We were taught how to cook tostones and it was a hoot because everyone claims it as thir country's native food. im still confused where it originally came from jaja
-We got stuck in the largest rainstorm ever at Flamigo Gardens 
- One of the 70 came to speak with us at Zone Conference! It was incredible!!!


Lowlight:
-I got cupping this week because of my neck pain- didn't turn out too good... oops!
-Time is running out with my cute trainer