Who's my Companion?

 This week it was exchanges time! Since Elder Shepard (my comp) is the district leader, I had the opportunity to do exchanges two days in a row, so it was strange coming back to my area after being away for that amount of time. The first exchange was just with the other elders in the apartment, so I went with Elder Petersen which was alot of fun and I learned a bunch! The second transfer was with the Zone Leaders and I actually went with one of the ZL's comps who was also a greenie. Don't misunderstand though, this man is a whiz when it comes to Facebook Finding and Cold Texting. He pretty much leads the mission and so he taught me all the tricks which I am working on trying! I will include one of the memes another elder made about the experience, I was dying laughing when I saw it. The other greenie is named Elder Miller.

ALSO, I SAW AN ALLIGATOR FOR THE FIRST TIME!!

In other news, I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting, and I only found out about two says before I was to give it. Obviously that wasn't all bad though because I normally wait until the last day or two to write my talks, so if you think about it, I wasn't procrastinating in the past, but rather preparing for this experience.🤷‍♂️ I was asked to talk on forgiveness and it was a fantastic topic. While studying some conference talks I came across one by Thomas S. Monson back in 2001 called compassion. He said, "all are capable of compassion and worthy of it" which I used in my talk but then subbed out "compassion" for "forgivess." There has been no other point in my life when I have seen so many examples of forgiveness than while serving here in Rockledge, Florida. It seems as though every person I meet has regrets and sins from the past that through the atonement, they have been able to forget and they now have stronger testimonies than ever before!

Pic #1 - Elder Moses and I by a sticker we found funny!

Pic #2 - A meme that was made by another elder who overheard me talking about Elder Millers immense knowledge!

Pic #3 - A pic of me at the beach this morning, we are allowed to wade in the water up to our knees!

Pic #4 - A pic of the alligator I saw! (We had to recreate it because we drove past the actual alligator too fast to take a picture)

Note from Aunt....I think there are a few issues with this alligator sighting.....but your time will come again :)  

Fun Pictures you have to see of Elder Killian!!!

 

On Christmas Day, the Sisters came and left messages on the Elder's door.....this is one just for Elder Killian!!

It may look like Elder Killian is going tribal....but it is just him with one of his FAVORITE finds in Florida.... the "EXOTIC" palm tree!!

Preparing for 2021 in the Park.....prior to having to be home!!!

 Desmond talked about their adventures in the Park...but he did not share all of the GREAT pictures so being the Aunt I get to add onto things!!

Christmas Photo Moments!!!

                                                                        Great people!!!

                                               The Elders with their beautiful Christmas tree!!!

A great quote written on toilet paper or cloth....that would have to be asked of Elder Killian.

As discussed in the Christmas post....here are the Elders working very hard on all the snowflakes they shared with members and others on Christmas!!!  Elder Killian had a great time making all kinds of different snowflakes.

 

Christmas Call Home 2020

 The missionaries get to have a longer call with all the family on Christmas and Mother's Day!!! So here are some pictures from the Christmas call.... I was told by my Sister that they did save some gifts for the family to open with Elder Killian!!

         Grandma Killian would never give up the chance to talk with her missionary grandson's!!!

Week 6....Never to old to play at the park!!!

 P-days are amazing, the days go so fast here that I can only keep track of how long I have been out my counting the P-days. Today I was able to play tennis for the first time today with an Elder who extraordinarily talented at it. Apparently ping pong skills don't translate perfectly over to tennis, who knew🤷‍♂️. Either way Elder Moses (the other greenie in the apartment) and I are planning on playing each next week. I am also pleased to announce that all the time in the sun is finally giving me a tan, which is kinda weird since it is January, but I am all for it.

We had a pretty interesting experience this week with a Bible study we set up through cold texting. Basically the address led us pretty far out if town towards the closest thing to boondocks I have thus far seen. We pull down this old dirt road which leads to this community of trailer houses where some of them were just legit camp trailers that had address markers and porches built around them. There were also a ton of people out milling around that all just stared us down, only one waved back to me after I waved to him. Then we accidently passed the house we needed so we had to do the most awkward and tedious three point turn of my life while all the people were watching. Normally I am suppose to get out of the car to back the car up, but we classified that as an unnecessary risk. Then we got to the house and she didn't even answer so RIP but also maybe a blessing?

Alot of companionship in our zone made a goal to reach out and find 10 new people to start teaching. Insanely high. Anywho, my comp and I decided to try and so we tried so hard all week to find people. We devoted alot of hours to sending texts, making calls, and using Facebook to find. Sweat and tears went into finding and for all that work we got nothing...until. a recent convert called and said she had a referral who we called and she was amazing and we meet her tomorrow. I have come to learn that when we put in all that we can do, the Lord blesses us. Even if the person didn't come from our efforts, I know that the Heavenly Father saw our efforts and blessed us accordingly!

P.S. I'm pretty sure this email sent weird because I sent it as a reply, I will try and fix that in the future. 

Pic #1 - Random Pic I took while walking down the sidewalk!

Pic #2 - My comp and I waiting for a guy who requested a Book of Mormon! He never showed. :(

Pic #3 - Fun day in the park with our dads (trainers)!

Week 5...Christmas!!!

 This week has been a fast one! It was my first Christmas away from home but it certainly didn't feel like it! There has only been one really cold morning here and that was because we set the thermostat low so that we can wear some of the jackets we packed with us. 

This Christmas we had the opportunity to serve others by dropping off cookies and taping snowflakes to their doors and then running away before they saw us. In preparation for said activity, we made over 200 cookies and a few hundred paper snowflakes. Not to brag or anything, but I started whipping out some next level snowflakes, they were VERY nice!! We ended up delivering to over 15 people which made us get really close to going over on miles, but then the zone leaders gifted us a ton more so it really worked well in the end! 

With Christmas it was very easy to make lesson plans centered on family and on Jesus Christ. With Christmas winding down, I want to carry those same values into next year. Being a missionary, I get to meet and hear from spiritual giants on a frequent basis. Sometimes I feel as though I am being taught rather than being the teacher. In this position I have seen more than ever the importance of family, especially when we go through trials. I know that there is no support system greater and I am incredibly grateful for the family I have cheering me on back at home.

Sorry for the shorter email, enjoy the pics!!

Pic #1 Cocoa!! It has some really great people, but it also contains the only areas on our mission where we aren't suppose to be after dark!

Pic #2 Some of the district and I on Christmas! We all wore our pajamas and did a gift exchange and played games!

Pic #3 This is us baking cookies! The kitchen smelled like cookies for the next three days, it was kinda great!