I'm in Port Charlotte!

Elder Nilson and Elder Griffiths. (Thanks to the members in
Port Charlotte for sending this photo!)

I'm in Port Charlotte now! If I could describe it in two words it would be "spread out" because the houses aren't as close together as I'm used to seeing in Florida. It's a fun area so far and I'm with Elder Nilsen. He's been out for 18 months and he is a solid missionary. He's very athletic and is very bold when we teach people. I'm learning a lot from him and we're working hard. This ward we're working in hasn't had missionaries for a while so they are supportive and ready to help. They're awesome! Have a great week!

Port Charlotte is the southern-most part of the Florida Tampa Mission.

Pacing and Hoping

Occupational hazard.

There are certain times in my mission when I get stressed. These times include: baptisms, confirmations, and church attendance. Satan wants to stop people from being baptized so whenever it is the day/week of a baptism, missionaries get anxious about what the adversary will try and do to prevent someone from making a covenant. Same thing with a confirmation. These two things don't happen nearly as often as the stressful ordeal of church attendance. 

Basically, the sum total of everything we do in a week is pointed toward getting people to church. When people show up, we are happy and anxious about making sure that our investigators have all of their questions answered. When they don't come to church, they don't progress toward baptism and we get sad. 

The stressful part is standing in the foyer of the chapel and waiting for our investigators to arrive. We anxiously pace back and forth and hope that they will come. We will usually give them a call and most of the time they won't answer. So we just pace and hope that they are coming to church. Sundays aren't super relaxing….

Discerning Needs

Elder Griffiths studying diligently.

This week we've focused on setting a baptismal date with everyone we meet. Most people are surprised when we say that we extend a date on the first contact with someone but it actually helps us to discern who is more prepared to hear the gospel and who's not. Now, does that mean that we give up on people that say no? No. It just means they'll have to learn a bit more about priesthood authority. Again, it helps us to discern what they need. Have a great week!

Worth Every Effort

Missionaries in Elder Griffiths' district.

If there is one thing that every missionary can identify with, it's being tired. I'll try to explain a little bit of why. From the moment missionaries wake up to the moment we go to bed, we are doing something. There's no down time. Especially in the Florida Tampa Mission. 

We wake up at 5:45 so that we can be working out by no later than 6:00 a.m. and if we are even one second late, we aren't following our mission rules. We work out from 6:00 to 7:00. Then we come home, eat breakfast and get ready for the day. From 8:00-10:00 we are studying and planning our lessons. In our particular mission, we then have planning from 10:00-10:30 (most missions have planning at night but ours changed it because missionaries struggle to focus during planning at the end of the day). At 10:30 we go out and proselyte. We take small breaks for meals, and we stay out until 9:00 or 9:30 depending on if we have teaching appointments later in the night. In our mission, we go to bed at 10 o'clock. So from 9:00-10:00 is when we need to write in our journal, pray, take a shower (this is Florida after all), and do any daily cleaning chores. 

It's not just a physical tired but a spiritual tired as well. We spend all day listening to the Spirit and trying to discern people's needs and running around talking to as many people as we can. Now, I'm not trying to brag or say that no one works harder than a missionary. I'm just saying that despite the tiredness and despite all the requirements, rules, and exactness that's required of us, it's worth every effort.