Happy Easter/ General Conference!!!!

I have to apologize about the short letter last week. There was actually a reason for it.... I having been doing really well with my back for a while, it hasn't been bugging me too bad. But, about 3 weeks ago it started to act up. I just kept on going anyway... which was not the bestest choice that I have made in my life. Sister Richardson and Sister Martin decided to send me do a ortho.... something.... anyway, he kept on lecturing me about how I was too young to have back problems like this and that he wants to know why I am having a hard time. He ordered me to stay home for a week and rest my back. And he sent me to do an MRI. So, I had my MRI last Monday morning at 6:30 AM. Ya, early.... and the doctor was talkative too.... mornings. But, after the MRI I went to the specialist to talk about the results. I have two bulging hernia discs (or something like that) in my lower back. He said that right now it should be good but I just need to not over do it and to do the stretches that he gave me to do. So that is why the letter was so short, it was because I was home all week and nothing was happening. And I didn't want to tell you until I knew for sure what was happening. My amazing companion has been a trooper. She is so kind and she takes care of me and keeps me from overdoing it. But, I'm still going strong and I am doing well!

Wasn't Conference Fantastic! Oh my goodness!! As I was listening to it about marriage, family, fasting, love, having a eternal perspective.... oh my... it was so good! I was able to learn the things that Heavenly Father intended me to learn. I did something different this conference that I have never done before, I wrote down questions on a sticky note. I then prayed about my questions and went into conference with full faith that they would be answered in one way or another! And let me tell ya, they were! It was an amazing experience. My companion, Sister Clement, goes home in October and she is freaking out. ESPECIALLY because of Conference saying get married. Haha...:)

I want to say something about the temples. OH MY GOODNESS!!! The one that is the most amazing is the one in Haiti. I meet and talk with so many Haitians everyday and I know that that is a very special and wonderful opportunity for them! I love the Haitian people! They are probably some of the sweetest people I have ever met!!

I LOVED Sister Burton's talk! It was fabulous! She hit it right on the mark. A strong family NEEDS a worthy priesthood holder in the home!! Father and Husbands are NEEDED!! Coming to Florida and being on a mission, I am able to meet so many different types of situations where there is no father in the home. It is so hard! Being on a mission has raised my desire to have a worthy priesthood holder for my husband. I want those blessings for my future family! I have been able to see how much homes become "brighter" as the priesthood is introduced into the home. The blessings just flow even more.

I also loved Elder Bednar's talk about overcoming our fears. Man, when I first came out I had SO many fears of going up and talking to people I didn't know and when I had to go and knock doors, I was scared to death. But, I have been able to see a change overtime as I have come to enjoy talking to those people and to knock on those doors because I have learned so much about my Savior and His gospel. As I have put my faith in Jesus Christ and have gotten over my doubts of myself as a missionary, I have been able to get over the fears in my heart... and I am able to go out and work with all my heart, might, mind and strength.

As it has been Easter this week, I have been able to study about Jesus Christ this week in my personal study. This week I have learned so much about the pure love of Christ. I have learned more about how much more true the scripture is that says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." As I have read more in "Jesus the Christ", I have been able to see the love of the Savior in every detail. Heavenly Father's plan is all about the love that He has for all of His children, He made it possible for us to be able to return to live with Him again. It is only through Jesus Christ's Atonement that we can return to live with God again.

I am SO grateful for the love of the Savior. I know that He Lives! He is my Redeemer and I am grateful for His love. I love Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. Always remember to keep Jesus Christ in our lives EVERYDAY, EVERYDAY, EVERYDAY! I know that I am supposed to be on this mission. I am grateful for the amazing miracles that I have seen over the time that I have been here in Florida.

I love you all!! Have a fabulous week!!:)

Love

Sister Salmond

Another Week!

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope that you all have had a great week this week! It has been a great week as I was able to go to our specialized training. I love going to that meeting and to learn more.

This specialized training was about getting families to be baptized together. We are getting lots of individuals, but President is all for getting FAMILIES to the temple. I'm excited for my RC families to go through the temple! We set a goal as a mission called "Familiy @ Four Friday". This is when every missionary in the mission goes and knocks doors and pray specifically for a family. Many areas have seen success from this new F@4F idea. I think that it is genius!!:)

A miracle that happened this week was that my recent converts brought their friends to sacrament meeting a few weeks ago and they LOVED it! They told us that they can't wait to be part of this. Their little son went up to his dad and said to him, "dad sign me up". Oh man I love Eric! So this family is getting prepared by other missionaries in a different area to be baptized. I am so excited for this sweet little family! My Recent Convert family are already missionaries!!! I'm super proud!:)

I am grateful to be a missionary and to be able to serve my Heavenly Father and His children who are ready for the gospel. I hope you all have a fabulous week!! I love you all!!:)

Love

Sister Salmond

Two weeks worth

March 17, 2015

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope that you all had a fabulous week!!!! We sure did!! First off transfers.... we had transfer calls last night. Sister Clement and I were dying to know what our fate was. Well, our fate is that we are both staying together and we are staying in the area of Royal Palm Beach. This will be my fourth transfer in this area and this transfer is when I hit my 6 month mark. Oh my goodness! I don't know about yall but time has certainly flown here in Florida!:) So, I'm grateful for the opportunity to stay with my companion and to stay with my area. What is in store for us this transfer?? ooooo..... mystery of life!:)

Anyway, we had a good week last week with meeting with many people. We have been having a hard time finding people in our area still. But, we were blessed to be able to go out and find a young girl named Kacee. She is a sweet girl and we are super excited to be able to start teaching her!

We had an exciting time yesterday doing service for an old lady in our ward. She needed us to come and help her to clean out her house because her house was getting forclosed in the next few weeks. And she is a hoarder..... ya it was pretty exciting.... STORY TIME!
Ok, so we had the job of cleaning out her 40 yr old son's closet (which his room has LOCKED for 2 whole years)... haha you wince now... just wait....:) so we go to move some boxes out of this closet and they were HEAVY and we couldn't figure out why because it was just big empty plastic soda bottles and a few gin bottles..... but when we looked in the box the bottles were full of gross soda and these bottles dated all the way back to 1995.... ummmmm we had to pour it into a bucket, and oh my gosh! It was a terrible smell!!! 20+ yr old soda.... ewe... gag. Sister Clement was laughing at me as I was gagging because it smelled so bad when I dumped the bucket of gross soda in the tub. And then as I was moving the boxes I saw something move in the closet.... I looked again and there were these HUGE cockroaches!!!!!! AHHHH!!! I had a heart attack like 5 times!!! And then there was this HUGE spider! Another heart attack! Ya that was like the funnest, most interesting service project of my life!! Haha.... bugs and rotting soda.... Haha!:) Then we all lived happily ever after.... the End!:)

Cool Story huh? Tehe.:D

A miracle that we had this week was that we were able to go to the Okenyade Families home to Eat and spend time with them! It was super fun! Brother Okenyade is a less active in our ward who we have been working on getting him to church EVERY week, he is getting there slowly but surely. He goes through these phases where he comes to church for 3 weeks and stops for 2 weeks. It is getting shorter everytime. He is going to be completely active by the time I leave this area! Anyway, his wife and daughter are not members, they are starting to be receptive! I'm excited to be able to teach this family!!:)

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!!! I love you all!!:) I love being a missionary! It is super fun! And I am grateful to be able to see how Heavenly Father helps us through every single day on our mission. We count our blessings constantly!!:)

Love ya!!

Sister Salmond

March 23, 2015

Hello Family and Friends!!:)
I hope that you all had a fabulous week!! I love being on a mission. I am learning so much on how to be a better example and friend, and how to teach simply. It is so crazy how much you change over a short period of time! We as a companionship were able to see the blessings of this week in the end of the week.

We were blessed with the baptism of Daniel and Lina this weekend. Daniel and Lina are a really cute family with three little kids under the age of three, and they were our progressing investigators for a few weeks. Daniel has a job where he works a lot in Utah, and apparently he is friends with the mission president in Brazil right now. Daniel saw his example along with his family and wanted that for his family. So he came to church and found us and wanted to learn more. We taught them everything and they kept every commitment that we gave them. They are a solid family and they were SO ready for the gospel!! They got baptized on Saturday and they received the Holy Ghost on Sunday! It was such a great opportunity to bring this wonderful little family into the gospel. They are now progressing to go to the Temple and they are super excited to get sealed as a family in a year! Yay!!:)

I was reading this week in Alma 3 and where the Amlicites decided to split up from the Nephites and to be like the Lamanites, and how the people in the church still stayed with the ways of the Gospel. I think of that how us in the Church need to not be of the world... we need to be different from the world, in our actions and the way we look and think. And I love that we as missionaries are representatives of Jesus Christ and we stand out from the rest of the world to show them how wonderful the gospel is and how it will make them different. I love how Daniel was able to see that from the family that he saw in Utah and how he wanted that for his family. It truly is magical!:)

Well I hope that this next week will be fabulous as we cruise into General Conference in a few weeks!! AHHHHH!! I'm super excited! Well love you all!!

Love Sister Salmond

P.s: I forgot the cord to my camera... so... pictures will come next week!!:)

Another week in Paradise!!

Hey Family and Friends!!

I can't believe that it is already P-day.... man the weeks fly, because this next week is the last week of the transfer!! AHHHHHH!! So next week p-day is on tuesday.... heads-up. I hope you have all had a fantabulous week!! I have!! We have counted our blessings this week, because Satan is really working on our mission!! But, that helps us to count our blessings when times get a little rough.:) Heavenly Father has really helped us in our area to see blessings!!

One of the blessings happened yesterday actually!!:) We have been having a hard time finding people in our area this week. We decided as a companionship to fast to find a family and to know where we should knock so that we could find our family. And guess what!! By trusting in Heavenly Father that he would lead us to our family, we found them!! Sister Clement and I prayed about where to go to knock and two things came to our minds, Sister Clement: the letter G, and me: Benoist Farms. We looked on the road Benoist Farms and found a road named Green River. We went there and found that it was only a road and there were apartment on the road right next to Green River. I guess that Heavenly Father gave us a general area and He let us go forward in faith to pick which apartments to knock. We picked the one apartment building closest to the road and it was the one that we have not knocked yet. We went to knock!! We knocked and only one door was receptive, and guess who that was? Our familiy!!!! WOOHOO!!:) A lady named Amily opened the door and accepted the prayer and accepted a return appointment! Cool huh? I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to put my FULL faith and trust in Heavenly Father that he would lead us to a family that would accept the gospel!! I love miracles!:)

Another Miracle that happened this week while we were on full-exchanges with our STLs (sister training leaders). I went with one of my really good friends, Sister Ulin. She and I worked in the Stuart North area. It was super beautiful, first of all, because it is next to the ocean! :) Second of all, I met two of the most sweetest men ever!! One of them was a less active named David. David is a older man who is in the rehab center. We went to his room and he told us all about his mother's funeral and how his son called him and so David got to say a few words over speaker phone which was super special to him. We then got to talk to him a little bit about the Plan of Salvation! It was so sweet to teach him that! Then we got to sing I am a Child of God with him and he was trying to remember the words as he sang it with us. I loved it!:)
Then I got to meet Sister Ulin's recent convert, Adam. Oh my goodness! He is super sweet!! He has ADHD and a form of autism and he is in his late 30s. He is a good man. Anyway, Sister Ulin and her companion had to tell Adam ahead of time that her companion was going to be in Royal Palm Beach and that a different sister named Sister Salmond was going to come and teach him. He was super excited to meet us! He called a half an hour before and he asked if we were still planning on coming and then asked if I was there with sister Ulin. It was a fun conversation on the phone!:) When we went to his apartment, the first thing he said to me was that my name was super cool and that everyone should have the last name of a fish. He told Sister Ulin that her last name should be trout. Haha... that made us giggle. We got to teach Adam about the Gospel of Jesus Christ  again and it was super fun to teach it REALLY simply!! It was an adventure!:)

Those two men were the highlight of my exchange!!:)

Sister Clement and Sister Doman (Sister Ulin's companion) then got the opportunity to teach our little family, Danial and Lina's Family. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation. They had lots of questions and it was super good! They set them with a baptismal date for the 21st of March!! Super Exciting!! This Family is really ready!!:)

I love reading the Book of Mormon! I always read something that goes along with my week! I was reading in 2 Nephi 4 and it was when Nephi was talking about putting his trust in God. I love what he said in verses 34 and 35....

"...I have trusted in thee and I will trust in thee forever..... Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen."

I love that because that is exactly what Sister Clement and I did when we were looking for our family!! We put our COMPLETE trust in Heavenly Father and  we were blessed to find our Family!!:)

Ya... there was a lot this week!! But it makes it more exciting!!:) I love being a missionary and teaching the gospel! I love Heavenly Father and for Him helping us in our time of need!! There are always the little miracles that make your days amazing! I hope you all have a Fabulous week!!

Love
Sister Salmond

OLO!!!!

Hello Family and Friends!!

I hope that you have all had a fabulous week! It has been a crazy week! But, it was still fun and we were able to see Heavenly Father's hands in our lives this week! I have to tell you about the rain storm that we got on Saturday. Oh my goodness! It was Crazy!! The roads and parking lots were flooded and cars were crazy and we were soaked!! But, it was super fun!! I will send you pictures of our wetness.:) I had my hair curly that day, the curls were under control until the rain came... haha... ya I had extremely frizzy hair for the rest of the day!:)

Sister Clement and I had an amazing experience with a returned missionary that just got home in our ward. His name is Markee. He just got back and he is an amazing member missionary! He had a friend from High School that he plays basket ball with, and his name is Pedro. He has a girlfriend named Dania and they have one daughter and one on the way. They are a cute little family. Anyway, Pedro was able to see a huge change in Markee, (we heard about how much of a punk he was before his mission):), and he wanted to know why. Markee explained to him about his experience on the mission, and how it changed his whole life. We were invited to Markee's house and we had a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. Wow, I love teaching the Plan of our Heavenly Father. It shows how much he truly loves his children and how he wants us to be truly happy. The spirit was super strong during the lesson, especially when we were talking about Jesus Christ's Atonement, and Markee bore his testimony of the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation. I love it when members share their testimonies in a lesson, it always brings such a special spirit into the lesson.

I finished the Book of Mormon again and I loved it even more this time! Every time that i read the Book of Mormon I am able to learn something different! Every time that I finish the Book of Mormon I also get a reconfirmation that the Book of Mormon is true. How could it not be? Joseph Smith could not have translated this book without the help of Heavenly Father. I was reading in 1 Nephi 9:6 and it says:

"But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words..."

It is so true! Heavenly Father prepared a way to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ back on the earth, He prepared a way for Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon. I can even see it happening in missionary work here! No matter what kind of week we are having, whether it is a hard week or a good week, He always provides a way for His work to be done, He provides a way for us to go and meet those people who are ready for the gospel, and He provides a way for us to be able to be who he wants us to be.

I love being a missionary! I love sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It truly has been a blessing in my life to be able to come out here to Florida to meet different people and to be able to strengthen myself through teaching the gospel. I love you all!! Have a Great week!!:)

Love,

Sister Salmond

New week

Hello Family and Friends!!

I hope that you all had a fabulous week! I know that we did! We were able to see Heavenly Fathers hand in our lives this week. Even though it has been really cold this week, (yes, I'm turning into a Florida wimp), we were able to get many things done this week.

Church yesterday was super great!! We were able to listen to a returned missionary speak today in our ward!! He just got off of his mission in Ohio just last Wednesday! His testimony was amazing and you could feel the spirit in the room! He talked about the atonement and how it blessed him and the people in the mission. It is super cool listening to a RM speak when you are a missionary. Because everything that he said about being a missionary was so true! I was nodding my head a lot during his talk. It was just peachy!:)

I can't remember if I've already told you this. But, We have been blessed with another family to teach! His name is Daniel. He just showed up to church a few weeks ago and he has loved it. How he came to know about the church was through his job. He went on a business trip to Utah, and one of his co-workers invited him to church and he loved it. He loved how the families were living, and he decided that he wanted that for his family. He came to our building and we are able to teach him now! We found Meet the Mormons on his cable on demand, and he and his family are going to watch it. I'm super happy that this family has the desire to change! They are an amazing family!:)

I love this mission! It is so fun to meet new people and to help them to come closer to Christ! I love teaching! We are able to see so much happiness grow in their lives. Liz is a great example of this. When we first met her and stepped foot in her house, we could feel the contention in the home. But as time went on as we were teaching her, her home's atmosphere totally did a 180. And you can also see it in her family and how much it has helped her to keep her family together. Having the Holy Ghost in her life and her home has helped her to be able to be a good example to her extended family. She has taken all the pamphlets and everything with pictures of Jesus Christ on it, and has put them up all over the house. She is making her home a place where the Spirit can dwell at all times! She always reads her Book of Mormon and the Bible. She is doing everything that she can to come closer the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She is being a good example to her husband and she is helping him to progress toward his baptismal date!:) I love her!

I hope that you all have a fabulous week! Keep on being good examples to others around you!!:)

I love you all!

Love

Sister Salmond

New hair cut

 New companion

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Hello Family and Friends!!!!

Due to yesterday being a holiday our p day was moved to Tuesday (today). Well Hello! And HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!! The day of love! Gross.... ;) Well, I will be hitting my four month mark here soon! AHHHHHH!! Time flies when you are having fun!! When you lose yourself in the work, the clock just turns faster! Anyway..... back to the bestest things ever.

This week has been a little crazy. Since Sister Clement came to me at transfers with the flu, guess who got it this week.... me. It was awful. BUT, we got to go and work at the end of the week and Heavenly Father blessed us with New Investigators and with meeting more members! Yay!:)

One of our investigators was actually a former investigator of mine. Mama Sinclair and her Kidz!! oh man, I love this Family. We were wondering who we should go and see since an appointment fell through, and I had the feeling that we needed to go and see Mama Sinclair. We went to her house and she was so excited to see us! She asked us where we went and that she saw our car around the neighborhood and she was wondering why we weren't at her house. She said that she wanted to be baptized and that she would come to church! AHHH! I'm Super excited to start to teach her again. She is the BEST!

Another one of our investigators randomly came to church one sunday because he had a dream that he needed to come to church. Wow. He is now our new investigator and we are SO excited to get to know him!:)

The greatest part about being a missionary is meeting the different people and to learn new things. There is a song that I know you all know that we listen to all the time that I'm sure you all know, Through Heavens Eyes. I love that song SOOOOO much. (It is a recording of it with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, so we can listen to it.) Every single time I listen to it, it reminds me of how much you can love a person by looking through heavens eyes. Being here in Florida, with the many kinds of people, you can't judge people by how they look or how bad of a person they are. Being a missionary, whether in the field or not in the field, you should always look at a person and see how much potential they have of changing and being better. Seeing that some of you are taking the opportunity to have some missionary experiences is wonderful! When you help the missionaries to teach them, your job is to share your testimony and to help the investigator to see their true potential. I have seen so many people become truly happy and how much the gospel can help them to be TRULY happy. Be an example and LOVE them! They see a difference, and they want to know why. Loving people is the best!:)

I love you all!! Have a fantastic week!!:)

Sister Salmond