Elder May: Chapter 4

Elder May has arrived in Tampa and is loving it.  He is actually in a town called New Richey Port which is very close to the water.  He is dying in long sleeves so we have short sleeve shirts already on there way to him.  He is also very sunburned- he forgot he had sunblock but he said that "He is willing to do the Lord's work, sunburned and all"  Below are some pictures and his latest email...enjoy!

The Book of Elder May - Chapter 4

He is very sunburned!

Hey everyone. I got to Tampa and I am dying from humidity but I am loving it. We have a lot of rules that aren't in the handbook but they are definitely helping the work. Apparently I have been assigned to the most successful and most hard working mission in Florida so I think that is a good thing. We get up a half hour earlier than usual but we go to bed a half hour earlier too. We aren't allowed to have dinner at a members house unless an investigator, recent convert or less active member is attending and a lesson is being taught soooooo we haven't had a member dinner yet  but we have instead set baptismal dates with 10 people I believe. We try to teach 60 lessons a week as our standard of excellence and we would have had it but this week was kind of strangely set up. I will explain in a little bit. 

My trainers name is Elder Gardner and we are in the Hudson area for our mission. The mission area map that I got only shows the town called New Port Richey on it and that is the only town name I recognize and that is where I am at. He has been out for a year and six months and really good at talking to people. He has also been teaching me to make food cause I don't know how to. I now know how to make eggs and french toast soooooo I am getting there. 

First I want to talk about a few of the people we have been teaching. First is Bill. He is a labor worker that has been being taught by the missionaries for a while now and the only thing that he hasn't done is go to church enough times. He WILL be baptized by the first weekend of June. (He counts as my baptism because I am in the area and helped teach a couple lessons.) Next we have Sheryl, and she is extremely solid and ready to be baptized but she is waiting for her friend to come into town and that will be happening at the end of this next month. The 28th I believe. Third is Alex and this kid is super cool. He is as old as we are and recently worked as the sign guy for Little Caesars. We were biking to an appointment and saw a guy walking in the sonic parking lot and yelled "Can we say a prayer with you?" and he said yes and then after that we have been teaching him since. He is amazing at keeping commitments. He read the restoration pamphlet and asked us for a Book of Mormon to read after that and showed up at church on Sunday so he is fantastic. We are teaching him again today. He has a date set for the 18th of June. Fourth was a media referral from Church HQ. We just get a text that someone wanted a free bible and so we brought it to him. His name is Michael and his girlfriends name is Kim. He is so interested in the church that he invited us in, we taught him, gave him the

bible and the next day he asked if he could have a tour of the church and a Book of Mormon and you should never say no to that so we did! Finally is a guy named Greg and we call him Greg Miracle. We were riding our bikes and suddenly we here "HEY ELDERS!" and we turn around and talk  to him and he says "I have been taught for a long time and I am ready to be baptized. In fact, I would drive the elders around all the time to appointments and sit in them with the elders and be taught while teaching someone else. The only problem is I am on probation still so I don't think I can be baptized yet." So we are waiting for him to not be on probation anymore. 

Those are the main experiences. We mainly just ride around and offer prayers, let them know we are christian and then talk to them about Jesus. There are a lot of Cubans and baptists out here so a lot of people love Jesus so that helps. 

The weird schedule came from an event that came to the mission for one day. Gladys Knight is LDS and she came, with her choir named Saints United Voices, and bore their testimony in word and in song. It was held in a church chapel to accommodate people and let them into the church to show them that we aren't weird or anything. In the program we had a little piece of paper that they wrote their name and address on and we got about 18 referrals from doing that and I am excited to go out and utilize those. 

I love this work and I am so very excited to be here. It is always fun and I am constantly smiling. Funny story really quick, we called a guy that left us his phone number and the second we say "It's the missionaries" ; he hangs up and we laughed soooooooooooooo hard!

Love you all. Here is the address if'n y'all wanna send me a little something. I don't really talk like that and no one out here does. 

7732 Isabella Drive Apartment G

New Port Richey, Florida 34668

love you all - Elder may