No Two Snowflakes Are Alike

Hey All Ya'll!

Life is great serving with the YSA. We definitely travel a lot more than I previously did since we cover the entire county rather than just a city but it is super cool because Florida is so diverse and I remember that more every time. It's because of how diverse Florida and how cold it has been this past week that I've titled this email "No 2 Snowflakes are Alike". Now you're probably thinking I'm crazy for thinking that Florida is cold and a month ago I would have thought the same. However, it has been super cold like down in the 50s (Port St. Lucie even hit 31).

January 19: Today we had a zone activity where it was a birthday bash and it was so much fun playing classic birthday party games (pinata, hide and go seek, sardines, etc.). Man it was so much fun and I truly love the zone and district I'm in because everyday is a party with them.

January 20: Today we had an amazing World Wide Mission Broadcast where missionaries all over the world got together in their separate places to hear the inspired words from our church leaders. It was amazing because they focused on how we can find new people to teach while we help those that have fallen away from the church. This is exactly what I'm doing here. Our branch has 40 active members but we have 400 names on our branch list of people who should be here. Now granted some of these 400 have moved away but there are still so many out there who need to be reminded of God's love for them and as we bring them back and find new people we will truly help this branch grow.

January 21: Today we took my Recent Convert Bory out knocking with us and it was absolutely amazing. We knocked on the door of a less active member and her mother answered the door. The mother only speaks spanish, Sister Erickson knows a little spanish, and I know almost no spanish, but Bory is cuban and knows spanish. It truly was the biggest blessing to have him there with us because he could communicate with this member  while we as the missionaries could not. Turns out this member had been praying for the missionaries in her ward to come visit her and they hadn't for whatever reason and instead these two YSA missionaries knocked on her door instead. Truly amazing how the Lord works through us to help his children.

January 22: Today it poured rain all day and so we went out to find all of the less actives and find out who has moved. It was amazing how the Lord led us to the right people as we were able to find out who still lives there and be able to invite them back, because of this we were able to find new people to teach as well as help members come back.

January 23: Today was truly a miracle of being where the Lord needed us when he needed us. Because of this we visited a less active who works all the time and is never home, but he was home when we visited and he is coming to church tomorrow. We went to go contact a referral and she wasn't home but Nina was and she needed a prayer right then and she is going to church tomorrow in the West Palm ward. God is so good and he truly helps his missionaries to be where he needs us to. 

January 24: Today was amazing. This past week we were praying about how we could get the branch excited to do missionary work in their own lives and we were just stuck on what we needed to do. Well God took care of us and called in the all-star team. We had branch council where our stake leaders came to instruct us and their topic was all about missionary work and how we can do missionary work in our own lives. They pointed out that if everyone brought one friend to church and if all those friends talked with the missionaries as statistics show about a third of those would be baptized. That would be a lot of work for me and Sister Erickson but we would absolutely love it! Even cooler though Bory wants to serve a mission and is starting to figure out now what he needs to do to serve as soon as he can. But even better than that he was talking to his Mom and Step-Dad about the gospel and he is taking them both to church and he asked us for a Spanish BoM to give to his Step-Dad. Wow how amazing is that!!!

I know that the Lord truly loves all of his children and that all he wants is for us to be truly happy. I love you all and I hope you have a good week.

Love, Sister Jennings

Better Late Than Never

Hey Family and Friends! 

Sorry I'm emailing a day late, because of Martin Luther King Day (the holiday) we had a proselyting Monday and p-day is today (Tuesday).

January 11: We had an awesome p-day last week where our district and the zone leaders went mini golfing. It was so much fun and to top it all off I won in the group I was in so that is even better! 

We then went out and had an awesome night knocking.

January 12: Today we got to teach Evens who we found by trying to contact a less active. Super funny we showed up to our appointment and he wasn't there and we tried calling him and he didn't answer. We were getting a little discouraged and were trying to figure out if we should leave when all of a sudden Evens walks around the corner and it was better late than never that he showed up. Then we taught him an awesome lesson.

January 13: Also an amazing story from knocking today. We were walking down this street in Lakeworth and we felt impressed to go back and knock this door we hadn't previously seen. At that home was Marcus who come to find out had previously not been a church person, became a church person, got his family to become church people, and then decided he didn't want to be a church person. A little confusing but that doesn't matter, what is important is when he told his pastor that he didn't want to be active in that church anymore the pastor told Marcus that if he wasn't then God wouldn't hear his prayers or walk with him. It was cool because as representatives of Jesus Christ we could tell Marcus that God still loved him and heard his prayers. We truly got to be the hands of the Lord and tell Marcus that he was loved.

January 14: Today we got to teach Bory his recent convert lesson about the restoration and temples and it was amazing the spirit in the room as we talked about how Bory could live with his family forever and that the Restoration and the priesthood would bless him and his family both now and eternally. He is seriously so cool and I cannot wait to see what he does in his life from this point on.

January 15: Funny story about dinner this evening. We were up in Lakeworth which is Latin Land and we were at Pollo Tropical and me and Sister Erickson were the only white people in the whole restaurant. We definitely stood out and now I kind of understand how foreign missionaries feel because everyone stared at us and all the Latin boys were flirting with the two white girls. It was so funny and worth it because man I love Pollo Tropical.

January 16: Today was crazy! It took us so long to figure out what we needed to do and where God needed us today. But God is good and figured it out for us. We went to this apartment complex where a less active member lives and as we walked into the building we met a different less active who wants to start coming back to church. Yeah!! And to top it all off the last door we knocked was the home of Guerline who was visiting her boyfriend from New York and we shared a prayer with her and it was exactly what she needed. When she goes home to New York she is going to ask to go to church with her Mormon friend and she is so excited to read the Book of Mormon.

January 17: Today was just an amazing day and Bory wrote me and my old companion the sweetest notes thanking us for our missionary service and changing his life and helping him to reach his true potential. It was amazing because that is truly why I am on my mission to help people reach the potential that God knows they can.

January 18: We taught Gloribel today!! We have had a hard time getting a hold of her and finally did. We taught her all about the Plan of Salvation which answers the questions of where we come from? why we are here? and where are we going? She told us she knows the Book of Mormon is true and we asked her to pray about being baptized on February 13th. She told us it was too early but we told her we know and God knows that she can be ready on that date because we have been praying to know what date to extend to her.

Love you all,

Sister Jennings

P.S.

Jokes about how short and cute Sister P.K. is

We love the teddy bears at Walgreens they are so soft and fluffy

YSA Seesta (It's pronounced EEESA)

Wassupp dear family and friends!

Well its official I get to serve full time with the Gateway YSA Branch instead of just part time like I've been doing for the past two transfers. I'm so excited!!! I love the YSA here and I'm excited to help them grow into a ward. My new companion is Sister Erickson from Star Valley, Wyoming. She is super cool and funny and we have the best of times and we are always laughing. It's super funny though because neither of us have served full time with the YSA so we are figuring it out as we go and truly the Lord is qualifying us so that the two of us sister missionaries don't ruin everything here.

January 5: Sister Jeppson had to pack up and today we went to FHE so that she could say goodbye to all of our YSA buddies. She isn't going very far, just up to West Palm Beach, and so many of them decided that they might skip church at the branch one Sunday so that they can go up and visit her there.

January 6: Today we went and tried to contact a less active YSA named Cindy and found out she hadn't lived there for over a year. However, the new resident is a YSA named Evens and we are now teaching him! Yeah!! The Lord truly does work miracles. Like I said up above we don't really know what we are doing and this is definitely the Lord's work and he is helping us to figure out how to do his work and how to find the people he had prepared.

January 7: Today we went to institute to meet more of the YSA and to show them that we are truly here to help them full time. At institute my recent convert was there and it was super cool, he cut his hair so that he no longer has a man bun which is awesome. Also he told us that his Jehovah's Witness mother is starting to be interested in the church because of how it has changed Bory's life and the positive influence that he is. It is amazing because as of a month ago Bory never really talked to his mom and now they talk all the time and he shares what he believes with her. She told him she wants to go to church with him and so one of these Sundays soon they are going to go to the Spanish ward up in West Palm.

January 8: We went down to Deerfield/Pompano area which is now the southern part of our area so that we could meet one of our new investigators. It was cool because as we were knocking down there we knocked on the door of Nohelia and Carol and they told us that the timing was freaky because they seriously needed a prayer right then and here we were knocking on their door offering to say a prayer with them. It was amazing because we truly are the Lord's hands and we don't always understand why we need to be where we are but he does and he puts us where he needs us.

January 9: Today we had a lesson with Evens and his two nieces were there with him. To show how cool he was, these two little girls kept interrupting our lesson to ask us questions like why are your eyes yellow? and why is your nose weird and he took them in stride and didn't let them distract him. He also asked amazing questions about what we were teaching and what we believe. We are so excited to start working with him more and helping him to prepare for baptism. Today while we were knocking we found out that we were knocking on a pretty well knocked street by the missionaries and a few people were mad, except we know we needed to be there because we knocked on the door of Chris who had moved in the day before and he was excited to come to church and learn more.

January 10: Church was awesome today! We got to finally meet the branch council and they are totally awesome and have work for us to do to help them grow into a ward. Also today at church Bory got the priesthood and passed the sacrament for the first time. It was awesome because he truly is so happy because of the gospel and he now has amazing friends who lift him up and support him rather than tear him down like his old friends did. 

Well love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!

Love, 

Sister Jennings

A New Year a New Me

Hello Dear Friends and Family!

Happy New Year!!

December 28: Today when we were knocking we met a guy who believed Jesus took weed as the sacrament (he didn't) and that was what he believed. It was super funny because he was hardcore high and was trying to flirt with me and Sister Jeppson and we just kept referring him to check out mormon.org to find out what we believe and if he was interested request missionaries. It was super funny because he was definitely high and had no idea where he was.

December 29: We finished teaching Bory everything he needs to be prepared for his baptismal interview and he is totally prepared and we are so excited for him. He is truly amazing and the gospel has truly turned his life around and he continues to just love learning about the gospel. Also we had a member bring a friend to church on Sunday and we are teaching his friend tomorrow and he is so nervous about his friend being taught and we just had to assure him that it would be okay and the best thing he could do was continue to be his friend no matter what happened with his friend learning about the gospel.

December 30: Today we went and volunteered at an assisted living facility and we got to sing to Bertha who is 105 and turns 106 in a few months. It was so cool getting to help Bertha and her family have a little better day and they told me and Sister Jeppson that we sang like angels and that we should get a recording contract when we are done with our mission and sing Christmas songs and that we could be a best seller. I'm titling our first CD: The Sister Singers - The Reason for the Season! 

December 31: Bory got interviewed for his baptism today and he passed with flying colors. Happy New Years Eve! We had to go home early to avoid having fire crackers fall on us (it has happened in the past). So instead of proselyting the sisters I live with and I had a party and made cinnamon rolls and paper snowflakes and a gingerbread train and face paint.

January 1: Happy New Year! The less active lady we have been visiting recently told us that she was going to come to church this Sunday since it will be our last Sunday serving in the Delray ward (We are getting moved to full time YSA sister missionaries). We also taught David who is a member referral and we aren't so sure how interested he is in getting baptized he more wants to meet with us to have a Mormon 101 class and learn what we believe. 

January 2: Bory got baptized!! We were nervous that it wasn't going to happen since he has been deathly ill the past few days and yesterday was running a fever of 102. His mom told him that he should postpone his baptism and he told her no that he was going to be baptized on the 2nd. Good news though he was feeling a lot better today (the best he has felt all week). Also his whole family was there to support him and many of the YSA came to support as well which was really cool. 

January 3: Everyone got sick today so all the people we had that were going to come to church didn't. Stupid Satan making everyone sick so that they couldn't come to church. However, today was awesome because Bory got the gift of the Holy Ghost and even bore his testimony during testimony meeting (man this kid makes me cry... he is so great!!). 

January 4: Today was Proselyting Monday and my last day as a Delray Dame. On my last day serving the Delray ward we found a family for the elders to teach as well as a YSA that we can teach. It was super cool! We were headed to our car after finding this family and as we were backing up all of a sudden my companion goes over to this car and starts talking to a guy. So I parked the car real quick and walk over and this YSA named Moises has seen me (not Sister Jeppson) in the complex before and previously wanted to come and say hi to me and become my friend but we were always driving away. Good thing this time Sister Jeppson heard him call out and so we are going to go teach him tomorrow.

An amazing week and a great start to the new year. I love the Lord and am so glad that I get to serve him for a year and a half and especially this next year because it truly is amazing. I have never had a better relationship with my Savior and Heavenly Father and I cannot wait to see what this new year brings. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Jennings