Elder May: Chapter 8

Hard to believe but no, it doesn’t go fast.  We miss him every day and feel like a hole is in our family but we are proud of Elder May.  He did send pictures but the links were all broken but I was able to find some on the Florida Tampa Mission Facebook page.  Make sure to read his testimony at the end.  He is amazing!!  Love him, miss him but oh, so proud of him.  Enjoy!!

Chapter 8:

Sorry about how short the last email was. Something really cool happened though so I have a good excuse. Because President Cusick is going home we got to have a mission wide beach party. BUT NO ONE SWAM!!!! I don't think anyone out there knows how difficult it is to not swim on a very hot day on the beach. If you do I feel bad for you because I know your pain. Speaking of pain........

My leg got sunburned. As a missionary you are always wearing slacks, so on the rare occasion that you wear shorts, you forget to put on sunblock.......That one hurt a lot. But it is mostly gone now. On a brighter note,

Here I am with some other missionaries wanting to get in the selfie with me. It was a ton of fun though! We played sports and ate chicken and shared experiences as missionaries.

Then it was back to work the next day. We had a great week too. Our zone leaders issued a challenge to all of us to extend a baptismal invitation with every person you talk to. As we have done so, we have seen a ton of success. Our baptismal dates set now outnumber our amount of new investigators. A lot of them we will have to drop but it is an amazing sight to see right now! Speaking of baptisms!

Meet the newest Latter Day Saint! Cheryl Gee (pronounced G.) She has a really cool story of how she got in touch with the Elders. They were at church one day and there she was. After sacrament they go and introduce themselves and she tells them that she has been looking into the church for three years now and she wants her five lessons and she wants to be baptized. The elders replied with a simple "We can do that." And so we did. It was pretty awesome! We also had three investigators attend her baptism and one that attended church and got to see her confirmation. We have another baptism scheduled for this weekend so I hope there will be some more pictures for then. 

Here are a couple of miracles that have happened this week:

Kevin: When we don't have anything scheduled we go to parking lots to meet a lot of people and quickly teach and boldly testify. It's where we find the most people and teach other lessons. We went to a Save-a-Lot and this guy is biking through the parking lot. When he comes by us we quickly say "CAN WE SAY A PRAYER WITH YOU?!" He said yes and then we said a prayer and started teaching him. When we first met him he looked as though he was homeless and so we taught him and set up a return appointment. When we get to his address he gave us he actually had an apartment and we knocked on the door. He wasn't home. We call him and set up an appointment for another time. During that next time, we missed the appointment because we gave a church tour that went on for too long. We call and reschedule the last time and when we get to his house, he tells us that he got home two minutes before we knocked and to our surprise he had read the pamphlet we gave him and wanted to learn more. Since that time, we have taught him two other times. He now has a baptismal date for the 23rd of July, is reading the Book of Mormon and attended church this past Sunday. 

Hector and Sierra: Yesterday, Sunday the 19th, we had a lot of things fall through. We went to the park as a local place to sit and plan what we were going to do next. While we were sitting there we see this car drive by, park for ten seconds, then begin to drive off. They are leaving and Elder Gardner waves them down and asks to say a prayer. They excitedly say yes and that they need it. We pray and teach them about the restoration. They are really interested and have been looking for a new church. It was a miracle because they really had no reason as to why they went to the park and we only stopped there for a minute or two. It just lined up perfectly that we were both there at the same time.

Those are a couple of the miracles that we have been able to meet this week. Something I want to try and do is every six weeks, also know as a transfer, I want to end my email by sharing my testimony. That way when I look back I can see my growth or something like that.

I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the only complete, and perfectly true church on earth. It has been confirmed to me, time and time again that it is. I know that God is my loving Heavenly Father and he is constantly and consistently working to build me up so that I may be more like him. I am missionary because I know this message is true. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ happened and that it works. I have utilized His Atonement in my life. It works. Guilt goes away and where the guilt was being held is flooded in by the Spirit. My purpose is to talk to everyone, teach them of this message, invite them to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. That is all I am able to do and I am extremely thankful for the incredible calling that I have been given. It truly is one of the most important callings in the church. It is set apart by God himself to allow us to bring his children back into the fold. I will do all that I can to accomplish this goal. In closing I want to let you all know that I know that my redeemer lives. He is my savior, redeemer, and perfect older brother. I am excited to see Him again, give him a hug, and thank Him for everything that he has done for me. I love this gospel and know it is true.