Monday, August 29, 2016

Temple Tour Galore

Hey Everyone!!

Well it's been a really good week, I'll just tell ya some of the highlights.

For p-day last week we went to Calle Ocho which is this super famous street and we got some awesome Cuban ice cream. It's really cool serving here in Miami I've gotten to know so many different cultures and one of the big ones is the Cuban culture which Calle Ocho is the heart of Cuban life.


Roosters are everywhere in little Havana and so they decorate these statues (just like the horses in Downtown Ogden) and display them all over Calle Ocho

Cuban ice cream. My flavor was cookie monster.

Also this week we took my two recent converts to the temple and it was amazing to be able to feel the spirit with them there because the spirit is so much stronger on temple grounds. If you don't understand what I mean I invite you to go to an LDS temple and just sit on the grounds for a few minutes and focus on the feeling you get because it's sensational.


The temple is so beautiful, it was a sunny day with a little bit of rain but it was totally worth it!
(Sister Herbas, me, David {baptized June 28}, Paul {baptized August 13}
Also this week faced a little bit of a stomach flu, but I'm feeling a lot better. And we are in a finding phase trying to find all those who will receive us and as well find the YSA that we may begin to teach them. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Sister Jennings

Monday, August 22, 2016

Birthday Bash!!

Hey All Ya'll!!

August 15: For p-day me and Sister Herbas went to Marlin's Park and it was so much fun! It reminded me of all the times my family went to the Raptor's games in Ogden. Also I love baseball so it was super fun to go and see the beautiful stadium that we drive by all the time.


August 16: My Birthday!!🎂🎁🎉
Well I had an awesome day. The sisters I live with decorated my study room, I got to open presents from my family, the sisters made me breakfast, we finally caught up with a less active we've been trying to visit for weeks, the coolest members fed us and we got to do service for them, and we found the coolest potential investigator for the family ward. Over all a really good day especially since it was in the service of our loving Heavenly Father and I got to be a representative of Jesus Christ.


August 17: We had an awesome zone training with an epic rap battle between Jonah and Alma the Younger (if you don't know who this is, he's a prophet from the Book of Mormon, it's a really good book I highly recommend reading it). We also tried to see a YSA who isn't coming to the YSA and the gate to his apartment was locked so I jumped the fence like a boss (dress and all) and we ended up having a real good meeting with him.


 (Zone Picture)

​August 18: We went and did service at my favorite all male homeless recovery center. Man I love the guys there, they make me feel like I'm making a difference and that they truly care about me. It's totally awesome. We also found out one of the residents is Mormon so we are giving him a Book of Mormon next week. It was really funny he walked up to us and whispered "I'm Mormon, all the guys here are Christian and they don't believe in the Book of Mormon" it was really funny because he said it in the most concerned and skeptical voice.

August 19: We had the best meal appointment of my life, not because of the food but because we had an opportunity to talk to our branch president about how we can help this branch really grow which was amazing to talk about.

August 20: Finally got in touch with my recent convert David after he vanished off the face of the planet so it was good to see him. We also were  looking at all the names of people who had moved in our directory and started calling all of them to find out where they moved to and found a part member family for some family missionaries to work with so that was awesome.

August 21: WE FILLED THE CHAPEL!! (not literally because it's a big place but we had the most people at church I've seen the entire 4 months I've been here) It was amazing to see all of our hard work of contacting those who don't come to YSA pay off and truly see the lives that we were touching. Also for all those from the mission who know me, I love collecting ghetto pennies. Well what would I do for a penny? (just like a Klondike bar) Well I went above and beyond and I climbed a wall in my skirt and sandals (I promise I didn't flash anyone) and got a PENNY! It was literally the best thing ever.

Well I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Jennings




Monday, August 15, 2016

Baptism Bash

Hey Family and Friends!!

Well this has been a real good week, had a hard time finding new people to teach but we did help Paul get baptized.

​(me, Paul, Carlos, Peterson [another investigator - Paul's cousin], Sister Herbas

(Me, Paul, Sister Herbas)

I'm so grateful to have been a part of his growth. Cool thing is, this is the first person that I have actually found (found him on the 4th of July), taught (with both Sister Oliverson and Sister Herbas), and baptized (well not literally because I don't have the priesthood authority of God). The baptism was really good and the spirit was really strong. Then on Sunday he got the Holy Ghost and one of our other investigators asked Paul why he got baptized. He said he felt the Holy Ghost and knew he needed to get baptized, such an amazing experience and I'm excited to see where he goes from here.

Also interesting, we had a focus this week of trying to contact the active YSA members who are still going to their family wards and as a result of our efforts we were able to see several more faces in church on Sunday which is always a good thing.

As well on Sunday we gave a talk on.......Marriage and Family. Yeah that's right the non-married, non-dating, no flirt girls talked about how to get married and have families. Was it awkward to study, yes; but everything turned out really well. Also several of the ward members came up to me and told me how inspiring my talk was and that it was really profound and spirit based, which is awesome because I had no idea what I was talking about. I now appreciate when my topic is all about missionaries and missionary work because I can definitely talk on that better.

Also here is a picture from our zone activity last week.

We firing squaded the birthday boy Elder Acosta. Hopefully that doesn't happen today for my birthday.

Well I hope you all have a good week.

Love,

Sister Jennings

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

More from Miam

Hey everyone!

Sorry this is going to be a short one and one with no pictures (the computer I'm on doesn't allow me to send photos)

Last week for p-day we had a dart derby. Basically it was 2 parts. (1) A scooter race - man I haven't ridden a scooter since I was a kid, but I totally pulled out 6 year old me and rocked it. (2) A nerf gun war with the entire zone, it was a blast and we had a lot of fun with it.

We are also helping two cousins prepare to be baptized, and they just continue to grow and to learn which is really cool and I love being a part of their growth and their progress coming closer to Christ.

Another thing we had to overcome this week is a less active didn't want to come to church because he doesn't have any white shirts and a recent convert didn't want to come because he didn't have church pants. Side note real fast: God doesn't care what you wear to church as long as you are at the church. Well we solved that problem real fast, there is a missionary in our zone going home and he was going to leave some of his clothes here so we got them repaired them just a little bit and gave them to our two guys. It was awesome being able to help them feel a little bit more comfortable at church so that they could feel like they belong.

This week has been really hard finding YSA because college is going into finals week and then we'll have a two week break from school after that and everyone has been studying and they haven't been on campus for us to find, but thank goodness school (not just summer term) starts back up in two and a half weeks so that we can find all of those YSA students.

Cool thing happened, we were on college campus and my stomach wasn't feeling so good so we started walking back to our car when a car drove around the round about and saw us and rolled down the window "are you the sister". Why of course we are the Sisters and it turns out he is a less active down in Homestead, well we visited with him and then sent the missionaries down in Homestead his information so they could help him come back to church.

Well that's it for now, hopefully I'll be able to send pictures next week.

Oh also this week was transfers and I will be staying in Miami YSA with Sister Herbas for another 6 weeks. My address is still:
4246 SW 10th St.
Miami, Fl 33145

Love ya all!

Sister Jennings

Monday, August 1, 2016

Tender Mercy Miracles

Hey all ya'll

Well I don't have much time left so I'll tell about my week through pictures and a few other thoughts.

For p-day we went to Bayside, which is a super nice outdoor shopping center right by where all the cruise ships come into Miami. It was so much fun and I definitely felt like a tourist for a little bit.


Then on p-day we had lunch at my very favorite restaurant.....Hard Rock Cafe. As family tradition dictates, I must take a photo outside of it to commemorate the experience.


We also got to go to the temple with our dear friend Marla this week. (My recent convert David was supposed to come as well, but didn't make it) man I really do love the temple and the peace and comfort that comes from the spirit there. Also I missed the memo that I was supposed to wear blue, oh well.

To make our temple trip even better, I found a dime on temple grounds. Anyone who has served with me knows that I pick up spare change on the ground, I got that habit from my trainer Sister King. It truly sealed the deal that this was the best temple trip.


After our temple trip I went and stayed home with one of the sisters we live with because she is super sick and they haven't been able to do any work this week. We switched companions and the other two went out the door to do some work and saw amazing miracles while I had some fun with Sister Anderson.​

Well this week was definitely a week of tender mercies that I'll have to tell you more about after I get home off the mission. Just know that God truly knows each and everyone of our needs and that he loves us and shows us his hand in our life all the time, if we look for it.

Love you all!

~Sister Jennings