Week 15 in Lithia

Hello HAPPY BIRITHDAY!!!

I meant to say so last week since it would’ve been way sooner but I

forgot..that’s awesome about the badminton set! I hope you had a great

day!

The weather has been Rainy but the storm was far enough off the coast

that it didn’t do a whole lot. It was definitely over us though. It’s

continuing to rain, it’s super humid.

Sounds like time is continuing to fly! Graduation as well as the last

week of school happened this past week for Florida. We are hoping that

means people will be more available now haha. It was definitely a very

busy week. We have received many referrals from members and have been

busy contacting them and scheduling lessons. They are all scheduled

for this week and the coming week. One of the Families has their

daughter just get baptized about a year ago. Their neighbors who

introduced the church to her told us we needed to stop by their

family. The family is super awesome and invited us to come by this

week for desert and a lesson. Huge miracle! Their daughter is off at

college, I’m sure they’ve had a lot of questions since she joined the

church.

Lots of craziness in the district this past week. Everyone is getting

sick. One of them is an Elder who’s had some crazy migraines. We are

hoping it’s not too bad. He hasn’t been able to get out much so we

have been helping them out. He’s such a good missionary so we are

hoping he recovers quick. We were able to go by and give him blessing.

The spirit was very strong.

This past Sunday I had a change to interview a nine year old for

baptism. She is super prepared. I love being able to see the change

the gospel brings in people. She is so excited for her baptism and the

gift of the Holy Ghost. We are going to be going to it. There should

be another baptism taking place in the district. We are hoping it all

works out, it’s with the Elder who just recently is getting sick.

Everything has been going really well. I’ve thought more about when I

should leave for Utah. I’m still undecided. It will probably need to

be two weeks like you said. We have a temple trip so I’ll have more

answers then. Do you have any more insights as far as school and when

I should leave?

Well I hope this week goes well!! Have a fantastic week! Love you!!!

Elder Hale

Week 14 in Lithia

 Stroms comin

 aligator in the neighborhood

 Rainbow between storms

 Sinkhole caused by so much rain

 Storm

 Turtle washed up in neighborhood from all the rain

Another storm

Hello!

Time is flying for sure, sounds like a very good week! That’s a blessing with those allergies not being as bad. The pollen has bothered me a bit this year but not as bad as Oregon. They don’t have those pine trees here haha. 

This week was crazy with the weather. The river that is the boundary between us and Valrico is supposed to flood since it poured every single day this week. Not having a car made it interesting but somehow the Lord made it all work out. We were able to set up some solid lessons and taught a neighbor of ours we have been trying to meet with since Elder Reese got here. He’s been reading the Book of Mormon and his family is looking for a church. Super cool! We also got back in contact with some other investigators in the complex. It was a blessing to see how everything worked out. 

One of these miracles happened when the rain died down and the lightning was further away so we figured we would be fine. We walked for about 10 minutes and saw the brightest rainbow we had ever seen. It was right over our complex. We all felt we needed to go back, as soon as we got back to the clubhouse it started down pouring. After contacting some investigators we walked by our neighbors and he was outside. That’s when we were able to have our first lesson with him. We got to meet with him a couple other times as well. 

The Lord works in mysterious ways. We also had a new ward mission leader called. Brother Alvarez. We thankfully still get to work with Brother Chambers since he’s the elders Quorum presidency member over missionary work. Brother Alvarez was one of the ones that referred one of those families to us so we know he’s already very missionary minded. We are excited for the good things to come! 

Well I hope this week is as good as this one. Love you so much! Have a great week!

Elder Hale

Week 13 in Lithia

Elder Hale, Elder Reese and Elder Shakespeare

Sandhill cranes and chicks

Hello!

It was so great talking to you too! I love seeing how much everything has changed. Crazy how fast everyone has grown! That’s probably what it was.
Don’t worry about it, Elder Klebingat said it’s okay to be thinking about the future. It’s definitely something I’ve been starting to think and pray about. Same here, I’m still not sure why it’s a Friday but oh well. Yes that’s the greatest blessing. I’ll keep you updated with anything new. Thanks so much for all you’re both doing so I can focus on the work. It’s a huge blessing!! These Elders are starting to get a little trunky, not bad but it helps when you’re giving me the support I need to keep on giving my all. I’m hoping that dinner was good haha!
This week like I said was absolutely filled with miracles. My mind is super tired so I don’t remember which ones I shared. Needless to say most resulted from the members giving us referrals and those referrals and others in the area being very prepared.
One miracle I haven’t shared was on exchange this week in Valrico. There was an email I realized didn’t send so we stopped in the shade next to a house. A woman walked outside and didn’t see us until last minute and got startled. She laughed and asked if we wanted some water. She then explained how they used to meet with missionaries and would love for them to come by again. Then, we saw a miracle with a man who’s sons both served missions and one of them is a Bishop. He was super nice and loves family history. He also gave us his card and said to stop by whenever since he’s retired. It was so awesome! We are all loving the work here. It’s great being with missionaries who know what they’re doing. We are praying and hoping baptisms will come from these miracles. We are doing all we can do they don’t slip away!
It was so great to talk to you! Thank you for these great mother you are and the great example you are to me. At the part members home they asked what characteristic we would name when we think of our mothers. Mine was immediately service. You are always giving yourself so freely to us. I love and appreciate it so much! It helps me know what kind of woman I would want to look for in an eternal companion. I appreciate it so much!!
Well I will try and attach some pictures from this week. I hope everything goes well! Love you!!!

Elder Hale

Week 12 in Lithia

 Elder Klebingat and Elder Patick

 Florida storm

Lithia

Hello!!!

Sounds like a fantastic week! Today has been crazy so if I don't get

back to everyone please send them my apologies. I can't believe Hazel

is already 7!!!! Where has time gone?? She's going to be getting

baptized very soon! So awesome! Also, sounds like EVERYONE is

destroying their sport. That's so great to hear!

Things have been a lot different since solely covering the Lithia

Ward. It's been a huge blessing because we are now able to more easily

follow up with the investigators we are finding. We met this awesome

family from India this week. We didn't even get to the driveway and

they were freaking out, super excited to see us. We have met with them

twice and will be seeing them again this coming weekend. They should

also be coming to church. Huge miracle!

Another miracle this week happened late at night. The day was long, we

are on full bike right now. (The elders we are on car share with one

of them can't bike right now, so they are working to find a car so we

can do our exchanges/have a way to get to baptismal interviews). It

was 8:30pm and we felt a need to pray for direction. We had the faith

and set the goal to hand out a copy of the Book of Mormon and set a

return appointment. We began walking toward a members home and saw an

open garage. There was a man inside wearing a BMW shirt. In the garage

and the drive way were some really nice custom made BMWs and an Aston

Martin. We began the conversation asking about the cars, eventually he

asked what we did and we began talking about the gospel. He was very

interested in the Book of Mormon and said his wife would be too. We

will hopefully be seeing them again this week. Such a tender mercy

from the Lord. Faith truly does lead to miracles.

We have been in contact with the Valrico Elders and the investigators

are doing well. We found out one we met a week and a half ago has

already read 50 pages of the Book of Mormon! We invited him to read

the introduction haha. The Ward is going to love those Elders, Elder

Stringham and Elder Call.

Being in a tripanionship has been awesome! The members love Elder

Shakespeare and I do feel it's increased our faith and lowered our

fear to talk to everyone. Hence the many miracles and people we have

found this week.

We had the blessing of Elder Klebingat and Elder Patrick visiting the

mission. It was so great seeing Elder Klebingat again! I learned so

much about how I can be a greater instrument in Gods hands. Elder

Patrick is from the Tampa 1st Ward. He was just called this last

Conference. It was great seeing him again, we always joked around he

would be called as a 70 and it happened!!

Our Sunday was super busy. Elder Patrick joined the Ward Council and

the Ward. The fast and testimony meeting was powerful. They had their

Coordinating council which includes him, all the Stake presidents in

the mission and president cooper. So they call took a break and came

to our ward. Needless to say there were some great testimonies. The

members in the Ward were on fire. All their testimonies were very

missionary minded. Afterwards we had several asking for copies of the

Book of Mormon and asking for us to come into their homes. It has been

amazing to see the missionary fire that has come in the Ward. We are

looking forward to increased fruit as the members are equally yoked in

this work.

We are planning on skyping at 5pm our time. So I will call about

5:30pm our time 2:30pm your time if that works for you? Is church at

11pm now?

We have had a lot of crazy storms too. It's been heating up a lot

lately, I guess that means it's getting closer to the summer haha.

Well look forward to talking to you all this Sunday!!! Happy early

Mother's Day!!!! You're such a great example to me. Love you!!!!

Elder Hale