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

Transfer #3!

Hello Family and my dear friends!!!:)

Oh my goodness gracious! I cannot believe that it is already transfer #3! Man, that flew by..... well... time flies when you are having a great time!:) 

So the moment you all have been waiting for about my new companion. This is my 3rd companion in 3 transfers... which does not happen very often AT ALL, especially since I am still a "greeny". But the wonderful companion that is "greeny breaking" me is Sister Clement. Oh my goodness, she is the best! I love her to bits and we have become super close over the last week. The story is, is that when I was told that my companion was going to be her at transfer meeting, I was SUPER excited!! I looked around for her but she wasn't there... I was like, what? where is she?... Sister Richardson said that she would talk to me after the transfer meeting.... uhhhh.... why? Well it turns out that Sister Clement was super sick with the flu that has been going around in Florida.... so she was at her apartment. I then went on exchanges with another sister and we drove over to Coral Springs to pick up my extremely sick companion!!:) I picked her up then took her home and got her into bed. Those next two days we were in the house all day long. I have never been so excited to go outside and work in my whole mission! Our house is so big, it got super lonely, but, I got to read lots of ensigns and watch the church movies a lot.:) But, we also got to talk a lot and to get to know each other. We had a party at the house!:) My companion is the best and she is super happy all the time!:) We are going to do amazing things in this area!:)

We were blessed yesterday (Sunday) to see Liz and Nicklus get confirmed!:) They have the Holy Ghost in their family now! Having that in their family will be a total blessing for that family!:)

Sister Clement and I were also able to have a few of our Less Actives come to church Yesterday!! It always makes my Sunday 50 billion times better when I see these people come into the building! I cannot express how much I love these people! It is always such a joy to see them at their houses and to help them to remember what it is like to have the spirit in their homes. I been able to see a difference in their countenance since they started to come back to church again. I love to see that!:)

The most meaningful part in all of the emails that I received, was the fact that Katie Fackrell asked Jack to Sweethearts! I'm so excited for him to be able to go on a date with Katie! She is so sweet and he is probably SUPER excited!;) His friends at Mountain Crest love my brother and they want him to have fun and to be ok. I love that! That made my day.:)

I love you all and hope that you all are going to have the best week ever!! Always trust in Heavenly Father that he will provide you with the things that you need, both spiritual and temporal. AS LONG as you keep His commandments. He always provides a way!:) I'm super grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission. I know that I say that every time but I really mean it. These last few months have truly been the hardest AND best time of my life, but, it is worth it. It is SO worth it to see the happiness of this gospel change people's lives entirely. I have seen many blessings that I would not give up for anything.:)

Have a blessed Week!!

Love Ya!:)

Sister Salmond

Transfer week! AHHHHHHH!

Hello Family and Friends!!

Let me first start with how intense last night was. OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS!! Last night was transfer calls and that was crazy! We were going through the whole day yesterday talking about what was going to happen to us in our zone. Well, my companion, Sister Ferrari, is transferring and I am staying another transfer in Royal Palm Beach! I have had 3 different companions in 3 transfers, which does not happen very often AT ALL. But, with everything that has been happening in the mission, we all knew that this transfer call would be crazy. We had an addition to our mission from the Tampa mission, Fort Meyers. And then we have 21 new missionaries coming in. CRAZY TRANSFER!! I get to go to transfer meeting though! I love transfer meeting!! It is so fun and you get to see everybody!:)

Anyways, this week has been crazy. We have been trying our absolute hardest to finish up the week strongly since we both knew that we wouldn't be staying together. But, Sister Ferrari and I have been SO blessed to have this transfer together! It just flew by... apparently we were having too much fun with each other and with the people in our area. I am also super excited to see who my next companion is going to be and what Heavenly Father has in store for us this transfer!!:)

This week we have been meeting with many of the members in our ward. I love going and seeing those amazing people. They are always VERY welcoming and loving. We got to visit and then Sister Ferrari and I were privileged to teach them about the Restoration of Jesus Christ's Church. I love teaching that lesson. It really shows how much our Heavenly Father really does love us, and how much He wants His children to progress and to know of the truthfulness of the gospel. Just by teaching about the First Vision, I have gained a stronger testimony of the Restoration. And every time that we teach it to members, it helps them to feel of the special spirit that comes from the Restoration. We then asked them how having the restored gospel in their lives has blessed them. They have always said that the gospel has been so helpful for them and the fact that it makes them truly happy. Since it makes them truly happy we tell them that thereare some people in the world that need that happiness and guidance that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been asking members to pray for that opportunity to find someone in their path that needs the gospel. I love the members in our ward and I am excited to be with them for another 6 weeks!:)

A miracle that we have seen this week was by following the council of Elder Zwick when he came to our mission. He told us sisters that our main focus should be on the Prospective Elders in our wards, because it seems that we have a special "power" that softens their heart to help them to come back to church and to stay active. Sister Ferrari and I decided to go and see a man named Kyle. He is a nice person, he was welcoming and was very receptive. We testified to him the importance of church and how it would bless his life, and we invited him back to church. And guess what.... HE CAME!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited and the ward was so excited to see him at church on Sunday. They just took care of him. I love the fact that our ward was super excited to see Kyle at church!!:)

I love you all and I love being a missionary!! It may be hard at times but with Faith in our Heavenly Father.... ANYTHING is possible! I hope you have a great week!! Next week I will report on my new companion!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!:)

Sister Salmond

Last P-Day together

P-Day Lunch

She's still alive!!!!!!!!!

Week #12

Hello Family and Friends!!!!

I am happy to report a good week this week! Many things happened and I would love to share a few of the special moments in my week.

This week has been a really trying week for Sister Ferrari and I. We have been trying so hard to find new investigators but we have had no luck in finding those individuals that need the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Man it was super discouraging! But, let me tell you what made the week so amazing. Less Actives. I cannot express how much I love the less actives in the ward. I never new how much we touched them until they came and told us.... let me tell  you a few of the experiences.

First off there is Brother Okenyude. He is Haitian. He has been inactive for many, many years. Sister Hunter (my last companion) and I went to go and see him at his home, and he was so nice and sweet! We love him so much. But, then he called us later and pretty much told us that he didn't want us to come anymore, and we weren't sure why. So we respected his decision and decided to try again in a few weeks. But, we had transfers and everything changed.... Then we were at our North Zone Conference and He called us after and told us that he wanted to be active again and he wanted to bring his wife into the church. 

Oh my Gosh!!! I was SO excited because I love that man! He came to church and I told him how happy and excited I was to see him there, and he took my hand and shook it.... he said, "thanks for not giving up on me". Wow..... That made my whole life change. I never knew that just from talking to him and expressing our love for him and his family and our desire for him to come to church could make such a difference. He is now coming to church and is becoming active again!!!!!:)

Then there is the Sanchez family. They have been inactive for a year and they have had missionaries over for dinner A LOT. But, she just never came to church. Then Sister Ferrari and I went to their house and ate Cuban Food. (fyi: cuban food is super delicious!!!! And Mom, fried platanos, bananas, are the best!). Our investigator Family came to church after that and the Sanchez family went up to them and told them to stay active after their baptism, and they bore their testimonies about how they were inactive and we brought them back and how they wanted Liz and her family to go over to their home to eat food with them. WOW!!! God is amazing!!:) Kill two birds with one stone!! Woot woot!!:)

Then there is Nancy. I cannot express how much I love that woman!!! I have loved her since the first moment that I started to talk to her. She has had many missionaries in the past come and talk to her, but she never had the desire to go to church. Then Sister Ferrari and I went, She flat out told us that she wanted to change her whole life! She misses the blessings of the church and she wants to have a temple recommend again. And she said that Sister Ferrari and I just clicked with her and have helped her to realize that..... She came to church with her Jewish boyfriend!!! YAY!!!:)

God has blessed us SO much with our less actives! When you have faith in God, you can do anything! 

The part that is the golden star of our week was the baptism of Liz and Nicklus!! IT HAPPENED!! That was the bestest experience that a missionary could hope for. We changed a families life and their relationship with the spirit and with God's help!! I feel like how Ammon felt in Alma 26. In verse 12 it says:

" Yea, I know that i am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I Can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land for which we will praise his name forever."

It is SO true!! Without the spirit and the light of Christ and God, I would not be able to do a lot of the things that I am doing right now. God had blessed us with a family, who was prepared by Him to receive the Gospel and to be baptized. Before we found them we had a terrible Sunday where none of our investigators came and they told us not to come back. Our world was tumbling down. I love the verse in Alma 26:27:

"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

After so much hardship God blessed us to find Liz and her family outside their house that day. I know that God sent Sister Ferrari and I here to find Liz and her family. We were able to change their life, relationship with each other and to help them to stay together as a family!! God Loves all of us and he wants us to be TOGETHER. Liz, Greg, Nicklus and Marice are now working to help Greg and Marice to be baptized. It will happen!!! When Greg was at the baptism, just watching his wife and son be baptized and the love of the ward by the MANY people there to support them, his heart was softened and he wants to be baptized soon.:)

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! Even though it is hard at times, God ALWAYS blesses you in the end. I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!!:)

Sister Salmond

 

Liz and Nicklus Baptism!! Greg and Marice are going to be baptized sometime soon!:)

 Sorry this one is side-ways...I couldn't rotate it.

Week 11

Hello Family and Friends!!!

I have been able to see many blessings this week! As I go farther into my mission, I learn every day more about how to be a better missionary. I learn about how to help my investigators. A couple of things happened this week that I would love to share with you.

President Richardson informed us that we are having a new stake added to our mission. Fort Meyers has been added to our mission with 6 sisters and 24 elders. We are all SUPER excited for this new addition into our mission. I just want to go to transfer meeting just so I can see how crazy this transfer meeting is really going to be. I'm super excited to be able to have a new missionaries that we can be able to be friends with and we can help each other!!!!:)

Transfers are in a couple of weeks.... I'm interested to see how God wants our mission to be.

I am really happy to report about one of our families that we are working with. Liz and her family are progressing SO much! We have seen them every single day this week!! Liz and her son, Nicolas are being baptized on Saturday!! Guys, this is my first baptism in my mission.... and it is a family!!! I'm super excited for them. I love this family SO much!! We taught them about the temple. Oh my goodness! As we were teaching them, their faces got so much more lighter!!!! The spirit was super strong during that lesson. The Lords timing is great! Liz and her family weren't ready two years ago with the Elders, but they are ready now to participate in the ordinance of Baptism. God has softened the hearts of this family. Greg, Liz's husband, is almost ready for baptism, we are going to continue to work with him. And their son Marice is only Seven, we are helping him too!!:) I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!:)

I am starting to continue to understand why missionaries love their missions and the people there. The missionaries change with their investigators. They go through the troubles together. We are going to take Liz and her family on a temple trip in the next few weeks, so that they can experience that happiness that is on those grounds.

I love being a missionary!! It is super hard, but it is totally worth it!!!!!:) As my friend is in the MTC right now, I am so excited that she is going to get to be a missionary too!!! Lexi, IT. IS. THE. BEST!

I love you all so dearly!! And I send my love to Jack. I hope that he starts to do better!:) Have a fabulous week!!:)

The Mission!

Week 10

Hi!

Well, I have officially decided that this week has been a blessing and probably one of the scariest weeks of my life, (as of last night... but more on that in a second...:)). Sorry for the extremely short letter last week, I will make sure that it is at a reasonable length this week.:) The things that I have learned this week is obedience brings blessings, but EXACT obedience brings miracles, and that the spirit is a great tool in keeping us protected.:)

Just to get out of the way the item that happened last night, I will tell that first. Last night at about 5ish, Sister Ferrari and I were driving home. We were in the left hand lane turning left at a light. I had this voice tell me to go into the farthest lane to the right when I turned. I thought, ok..... that is a little strange, but I thought that I should probably do it just in case. The light turned green and I went into the farthest lane to the right... and that is when it all happened. It was like slow motion. The guy next to us lost control of his car and he went over to the left and spun into us. Now before you start freaking out, I would like to just let you know that we both are just fine, just a little sore and that is it. But, he hit us and we pulled over and he did also and told us what happened with his truck. He hit us on the back left bumper and the wheel... which makes so much more sense why I went into the farthest right lane, if I would have gone to the 2nd to last right lane he would have hit the back door on my side and it would have been bad.... THANK YOU HOLY GHOST!!! ALWAYS FOLLOW THE SPIRIT! After that the police came and got the information and made sure that we got home ok (since our tire was dented), in other words he escorted us home watching our tire from the back. I love policemen, they are so nice. After we got home, our zone leaders called us and they came and changed our tire for us since our house was on the way to theirs in Belle Glade. Then the Wellington Elders fixed our bumper in a way to make sure it doesn't fly off the car. Elders are so nice when it comes to helping the sisters. That was one of the eventful times of this week.

We saw SO many miracles this week! Sister Ferrari and I found awesome people who came to church yesterday and they want to be baptized!:) We are working with them and teaching them to help them to keep on having that burning desire.

One of the Ladies that came yesterday is named Christina. She is super sweet! As we were teaching her, we found that she only knew about Jesus Christ and that he died on the cross. That meant that we needed to teach even simpler to help her to understand the doctrines of the gospel. Good learning process for me!:) We found Christina last Sunday. We had a hard time with our invesigators last week, and none of them came to church. We were discouraged and we were starting to doubt our area. But, we both decided that we need to be EXACTLY obedient and just go and knock doors and be happy. We did. And that is when God provided us with a miracle, Christina. She is super shy but we love her and she is solid.:)

Another investigator that we found was Liz and her family. We were just knocking doors and praying with people when we saw Greg, her husband, fixing a bike outside in their yard and we went and talked to him. It just so happens that we came at a good time when times in their family relationship was getting a little bit more difficult. And they had actually met with the Elders two years earlier. So the Lord prepared them to receive missionaries again. Yes!! Life is Good!! Liz came to church and she absolutely LOVED it. She told us that she is totally going to come again next week!! SOLID!!:)

We had the opportunity to have a North Zone Training with Elder Zwick of the Seventy. He was absolutely AMAZING! He and his sweet wife answered our prayers of how to help our area to be more successful. Sister Zwick said something that stuck out to me a lot, "Hard is not bad, Hard is just Hard". It is so true, I have really been able to realize that this transfer A LOT. Even when our area gets hard and everything seems like it is going to fall apart, we can't give up. It seems like the adversary has been working on our mission in discouraging us, our numbers aren't as high as they usually are and we aren't having as much success. But, even if it is hard and Satan is working hard, we as missionaries are the army of God and we just work harder. We as a mission are going to show Satan what is up!:) Elder Zwick talked alot about member missionary work and how much more we need to work more with the members to get the less actives back to church. They are just as important as the recent converts. We need to have a balance of investigators and less actives so that ALL of Gods children will have the opportunity to be truly happy.:)

I love being a missionary! Meeting people who need the gospel has been a true joy and eye opener for me. It is AWESOME!!:) I hope you all have a fantastic week!! I love you!!:)

Love

Sister Salmond

Week 9

Hola Family and Friends!!

Let me first say that all of the letters that I got today all made me laugh. I love reading the letters and hearing your voices as I read them, that makes it so much better since the personality is there!:) There has been a new addition in the family!! Yay! Little Jack is so cute Maggs! I just couldn't stop looking at his face. He is absolutely adorable!:) Jack is a perfect name for him. The story about Mom roller blading made me laugh, I have always wanted to skate like mom but sadly dreams don't come true sometimes. But life is still JUST PEACHY!:) And Dad, Jack's room look AWESOME! I love it, that is totally what Jack would put there!:)

I am proud to say that this week has been a great week! Sister Ferrari and I have been more unified this week! We have learned to teach in unison with the spirit. The spirit is really the testifier as we have found this week. We were teaching this man named John. He was so amazing! The first lesson that we were there, the spirit was SUPER strong. We testified of the Book of Mormon and it's truth, and of the blessings that come when we put our trust in God during the hard trials of life. Even when he had felt the spirit and he started to recognize the blessings of keeping the commandments, he was convinced by his brother (who is a JW). Silly JWs. But, that was a great learning experience for us and for him and the member we took. Even if he didn't accept the gospel after a while, we still learned together! God really does answer prayers and he has a plan for ALL his children. The adversary is working hard on our investigators, but we work even harder to tell him, what is up.:)

I love you all! I pray for you often! Have a fabulous week!!:)

Love

Sister Salmond