I Wish You a Mission Christmas

Happy Holidays dear Friends and Family!

December 21: Today for p-day we rehearsed our skit that we will be performing at our Mission Christmas Conference on Wednesday. The skit is a mission parody of Tangled. Our investigator Bory is amazing! He literally is already planning his baptism and inviting everyone to it even though it is 2 weeks away.

December 22: Today we went and volunteered at a retirement home and we were talking with an elderly lady who thought we were going to move in and so she gave us this big sales pitch and told us how we were lucky because we would have a friend there already.

December 23: Today was the Christmas Conference! It was crazy we found out that our mission boundaries are being changed and so part of our mission is being moved into the Orlando Mission. This is super sad because we are losing some amazing missionaries and one of them is my beloved MTC companion Sister Olsen. Also at the Christmas Conference we performed our skit and it was absolutely awesome and everyone loved it and the mission president loved it because he loves Tangled. We then got home really late but still got in our hour of knocking and we met Carmen on the first door we knocked and he is interested in learning more about the gospel.

December 24: Christmas Eve!! Our investigator Bory made a special trip out to Wellington to buy clothes for church because he no longer wants to wear polo shirts to church. Its the greatest thing because he is seriously so excited to be baptized and be a member of the church. Today we went to go sing Christmas Carols to a member to end our awesome Christmas Eve and it was cool as we were singing to her it wasn't two people singing but it really sounded like a choir of angels and it was a cool experience having the angels sing with me.

December 25: Merry Christmas! It was awesome opening presents first thing in the morning and then went over to a member's house for Christmas Morning breakfast. We then got to call home and it was seriously the greatest thing seeing my family and talking with them.

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December 26: Today I got to go on splits with my STL Sister P.K. She is absolutely amazing! We went and visited a less active member and she calls me her angel and she absolutely loves it when I come visit her. We also went knocking and met this guy named Chaz who thought it was crazy that we were knocking on our door. He wasn't interested in learning more and told us that we had to live a few more years in this crazy world and then come back and talk to him about faith. That's super sad, I would hope that if I lived a few more years in this crazy world I would cling to anything that offered hope.

December 27: Church was awesome and Christmas definitely came late as we were waiting for YSA church to start. Our investigator who we haven't heard from in a week finally texted us back. Our investigator who got shot like a week ago came to church even though he got out of the hospital yesterday. A few members brought friends to church that they want us to start teaching and a former investigator of mine came to church and wants to start learning more again. Oh also I probably will be serving full time with this YSA branch when transfers comes around which would be amazing!

Well everything is going good for this Delray Dame (I'll have to come up with a new thing if I go full time Gateway YSA). I hope all of you had an amazing christmas and a happy new year!

Love,

Sister Jennings

The Original Delray Dame

The Greatest Gift

Hello Family and Friends! Merry Christmas!!

December 14: After p-day today we went and caught up with a potential we found a few weeks ago and it was the sweetest thing she called us her angels. It is so sweet being able to be a  representative of Jesus Christ and truly be his hands here on earth. That is one of the amazing gifts that he has given me this year and into next year is getting to be his representative and to truly be his hands.

December 15: Today we got to teach the YSA (Young Single Adults) at their FHE (Family Home Evening) and it was all about how they could be better missionaries to their friends and to help their friends find the joy of the gospel. It was a really cool experience and I hope it opened their eyes to the little things they can do every day to be an example of Jesus Christ and to help him in his work here.

December 16: Breanna our amazing investigator got to go on a temple grounds tour today and it was so great! She absolutely loved it and is just getting so excited for her baptism this weekend. I am so excited for her and the amazing decision she is making in her life right now. 

(Me, Breanna, Sister Jeppson, and Jessica - Breanna's friend at the temple)

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December 17: Today we got to teach our amazing investigator Bory. He is absolutely amazing and is so ready for the gospel. Bory is the cousin of our YSA Relief Society President Lizbeth and we first met with him on Tuesday. Then we saw him again on Wednesday after the temple with Breanna and we invited him to be baptized on January 2nd and he very tentatively accepted the date. But here is the full story. The first time we met Bory we very randomly called him up because another appointment had fallen through and he said we could come over. He didn't really want to talk to us but didn't want to be rude so he would listen to our BS but as we taught him he actually started wanting to talk with us. On Wednesday when we gave him a baptisimal date he thought we were absolutely crazy but now he is so excited to be baptized. He literally soaks up the gospel and looks forward to all of our appointments and he loves reading the Book of Mormon. He truly is amazing and teaching him has brought me immense joy because the gospel is truly changing his life for the better.

December 18: This morning the coolest/weirdest thing happened a Jehovah's Witness knocked on our door. I was very cordial and asked if they wanted to exchange pamphlets since we both believed in Jesus Christ. They told me that they could not take my pamphlet and they left. Also today we got to go sing with people of a retirement community and they absolutely loved it and it was so much fun to do service.

December 19: Breanna got baptized today!

Also we got to teach Bory again. He truly is amazing and he isn't even baptized yet but wants to be a missionary soon so that he can bring the joy of the gospel to others.

December 20: Today while knocking we met some drunk Haitians and it was so funny. We were giving them pictures of Jesus and invites to church and they were so excited to come to church and one of them even looked at his card and didn't see the address and was so confused because he wanted the address. Truly just made my night because they had absolutely no idea what was going on.

​(Lizbeth upfront, Bory, Breanna, Sister Jeppson, and me)

Well God is truly amazing and I'm so excited that I got to help one of his children come just a little bit closer to him and that was truly the best gift I could give him and the joy of teaching these two amazing people, Breanna and Bory, is the greatest gift I could receive.

Love, 

Sister Jennings

Remembering the Reason for the Season

Hello dear friends and family!

Wow this week has been absolutely crazy and I have collapsed into bed at the end of the day almost every night. The work is going amazing and Florida is still sunny as always.

So right now instead of telling you all about my amazing investigator in bits and pieces I just want to tell you a little about Breanna. For starters she is getting baptized this Saturday (December 19th)! We are so excited for her and she truly has been prepared. Her friend Jessica was baptized in September and after she was baptized she decided to start sharing what she learned with her best friend. When we teach Breanna she already knows everything we are going to talk about and actually teaches us. She is truly amazing and so excited to be baptized. The coolest thing is she is coming from a Jehovah's Witness family and she has always thought that a few of their teachings were weird but when she started attending our church with Jessica she just felt that everything was right and complete and just made sense. Breanna is truly amazing and I cannot wait for her baptism!!

December 7: We had a zone activity and it was so cool to see everyone in my zone and get to hang out with a lot of amazing missionaries and just have a fun time with them.

December 8: We helped someone move today and it was awesome getting to do service. Funny story though the guy we helped move is cousins with a girl I went to Junior High and High School with so it was awesome to talk with someone about where I live and knew exactly what I was talking about. We also met Nick and Brendan who are living at a drug recovery house (accidently knocked that...oops). It was amazing as we were talking to them Nick wasn't paying attention as we started but as we said the prayer and testified that God truly loved him, cared for him, and wanted to help and strengthen him; he had this light come about him. As we left he had this look on his face like he didn't want us to leave and he just wanted to talk with us all night. It was amazing because I know that is truly what Nick needed because he was struggling overcoming his addictions and now he knows God will help him.

December 9: We got to help a less active who was struggling today. It truly was amazing because this girl was baptized just over a year ago and has since become in active. Turns out that she was having a hard time with the world's treatment of homosexuals because her brother is one. She finds it so sad that people aren't tolerant and love everyone even though God tells us to love everyone. We got to truly help her realize God loves everyone and that as she turned to God he would truly help her and help protect her brother.

December 10: While we were knocking today we had a guy tell us we had to leave. We are pretty used to this and get a lot of reasons (mostly that it is no soliciting), but his reason was the best I have ever heard. He told us how this was little Italy and if we knocked on his neighbor's door the neighbor would call the cops (classic response). And then he told us we weren't getting it, we were in little Italy and that is where the Italian Mafia was and he didn't want us to knock on his neighbor's door because he would call the cops and have us arrested and he didn't want to see us in jail for the night eating bologna sandwiches. Everyone we talked to was super nice though.

December 11: We met with the coolest less active today. Her name is Summer and she has an amazing family and they want to take us on a safari ride to see lions, and tigers, and bears oh my! No really there is this safari a little north of us that you can drive through and I guess it has lions and other cool animals and they want to take us one of these p-days so hopefully that will happen. We also went and taught our investigator Nic. It was heart breaking talking with him today because he doesn't believe God is there and that he is loved, in fact he believes he is broken and that no one should love him. 

December 12: Today we helped out our stake Live Nativity. It was awesome we had real camels, sheep, goat, and donkeys. The missionaries got to help out a whole ton and there were 1,600 people who came out to the event and it was truly amazing! Such a great effort and a lot of people in South Florida now know what a Mormon church looks like, that we believe in Christ, and that we are not totally weird. It was super cool with choirs throughout the community and nativity sets from around the world.
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December 13: NIC CAME TO CHURCH!! It took a lot of effort on ours and God's part to get him here but he came. Nic had a lot of depression yesterday and when we knocked on his door this morning he didn't want to leave his house but we made him and he was very grateful that we had. We also got to teach John finally! He has been coming to church for a while and we just haven't been able to meet with him until now and he is going to be baptized in a few weeks which is so cool.

This truly was a week of miracles and I know that God truly loves each and every one of us.

Happy Holidays,

Sister Jennings

Hurricane Miracle Hits Florida

Dear Beloved Friends and Family,

So a hurricane didn't actually hit Florida but we did have a tropical depression the last few days and boy let me tell you it is not fun knocking doors in the rain and being drenched for 3 days straight. Yes I have an umbrella but I often forget it in the car and the umbrella doesn't protect you a 100%. But life is still going good. This has seriously been a week of miracles.

November 30: Today we met Vicky who will probably become my investigator mom because she seriously is so concerned about us and does all she can to help us. She leaves the outside lights on when we are in the neighborhood so we can see. She also lets us use her house anytime we need a drink or the bathroom and she even gave Sister Jeppson an umbrella one day when it was hardcore raining.

December 1: A member came out knocking with us today and it was awesome talking to her about her testimony as well as her getting to share her testimony at the door with some people it was awesome!

December 2: We met Raya who was totally awesome. Something cool she said is that when she is like feeling the spirit testify of truth she doesn't get goosebumps she gets god bumps. Seriously me and Raya are kindred spirits who both love meditation and just wish the world would have more love in it.

December 3: We have a new investigator named Nic and he is totally awesome and just wants to learn more and become closer with God. Cool thing is the other sisters found Nic and referred him to us and Nic is seriously so prepared to learn the gospel.

December 4: Today we finally got to start teaching Breanna. Breanna is absolutely amazing and is getting baptized December 19th. She is so prepared for the gospel and comes to our lessons with amazing questions and she does all her reading assignments plus some. She is basically a Mormon minus being baptized and she is so excited for her baptism and is actively trying to figure out how we can teach her.

December 5: Satan works really hard. Today most of our teaching appointments fell through because they all got sick which really sucks. We also met Marco and his family. Marco was so curious as to why 2 nice girls were knocking doors at night and why we weren't off living our lives. He also wanted to make sure that we stayed safe and told us that if anyone gave us problems that we could just call him up and he would come take care of the problem. It was an amazing opportunity to bear my testimony of why I am on my mission and my testimony of the gospel.

December 6: Today someone warded us away from his door with his fingers held in a cross like we were vampires. It was really funny because we actually believe that Christ died on the cross for us and we always reflect on his sacrifice for us. Tonight was also the Christmas devotional. If you haven't seen it go look it up on lds.org because it really was just an amazing reminder about the reason for the season.

Every week at our training meeting someone brings treats and have to wear this awesome get up during the training and this last week we were the chefs.

Beautiful Florida sunset.

Well I love you all!!

Sister Jennings

P.S. Remember the reason for the season