Week 1 DONE. (Transfer 5)

HELLO EVERYBODY!

The work is great in Lake Mary! Brandon was baptized yesterday! It only took 5 times, but who is counting. Funniest baptism I have ever seen.Wes baptized him (my first baptism) so he was nervous.  I was laughing so hard my kidneys were hurting ! Sister Christensen was praying so hard. What confused me was Mom was 9 months pregnant with Kai when she was baptized, and from what I can remember it was pretty smooth.  Afterwards Brandon bore the sweetest testimony.  Brandon was prepared. He was an "easy baptism" because he was prepared. He took everything so well. He confidently proclaimed that he knows there is a Prophet and the Church is true. It was amazing. While bearing his testimony he shared how hard it was for him while we met with him because he wasnt sure. The weird thing is, he never shared that with us! He was always smiling! Always asking questions! The Spirit was ALWAYS there. He is a great example. I am excited to see him grow in the Gospel. His girlfriend, Ashley, came to church with us. She is great! I adore her. She also went to the Relief Society Birthday on Thursday. She has sat in on a few lessons, so we will see what happens.

On Friday we got to do a Homeless Connect Project in Orlando. We helped Homeless people get help with free medical care and other things like getting IDS and showers and food. Some of the people were so nice others, not so nice. IT WAS FREE! It was very humbling. Made me more grateful for what I have. It was cool to do. The weird thing though was we didnt stay with out companions. I was by myself! First time in 6 months walking by myself or even just with Elders! I made sure I could always see a missionary.

Well Conference is coming up! I hope you all enjoy it! Listen and learn! How privileged are we to have a modern day Prophet to tell us the will of God!!

I love you all!! Have a great week!

love,
Sister Ploth.

     

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Transfer 5....Where am I going???

Hello Everyone! Well the verdict is in...I AM STAYING IN LAKE MARY!

I am going to start off with a joke....ready?
Whats black and white and green and black and white?.... TWO ZEBRAS FIGHTING OVER A PICKLE!! hahaha. A little girl in our ward told us that last night and I thought it was funniest thing I have ever heard! okay lets get serious

      Things are going great! We are finding a lot of people. Now its just getting them to keep their appointments. So many cancel or they want to meet late at night. This next week our nights are BOOKED! Brandon, David, and Mike came to church this Sunday! Brandon is on track for his baptism this weekend, March 25th (HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY LITTLE BROTHER DREWP!!!) He is really excited. We took him to Longwood's baptism on Saturday and he loved it. I am so excited for him. On Sunday he walked out of Elders Quorum with a bunch of guys saying, "Who's going to baptism me???" haha. Wes Copeland (Recent Convert) will be the one. We are working on getting it to be special. We have listened to Brandon with who he likes and have talked to our Ward Council. It has been a great experience. My goal is to never talk at a baptism while on a mission, its not my job, its the Ward's.
Mike is doing awesome! We just got a text that he is listening to the BOM because he isnt a big reader. He is so cool. Yesterday he asked about fasting because he feels like he should fast. How cool!!


Sister Cruz and Jordan came to church!! Seeing them walk in was great! They loved it. Jordan is really growing and learning, we just need to keep that fire burning. Now we talk to him about missions. He seems to be interested.
             
      I am excited for this transfer. I need to learn something since I am still here!

love, Sister Ploth.

P.S. I am not sure if I already wrote back Ashley Balmforth or Tara Denkers, so...let me know?? (:

Pic 1: jordan cruz
pic 2: district...look at Elder Jensen's butt...eeewww!

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Week 6!

Hello Everyone! Its week 6 of transfer 4!


 So next week I find out if I am going or staying. Bishop Chevrier thinks I am leaving, I think I am staying because I love Lake Mary. I am so glad to be here. . Everyday is a new adventure. We are teaching Brandon and Michael pretty consistently. Brandon is harder to get a hold of because he doesn't have a phone but we leave notes on his door and go over and say hello. He is doing awesome. He couldn't come to church on Sunday but we were able to go teach him with the Tremels last night. Ashley (his girlfriend) was there. She is wonderful! I love her. We invited her to the Relief Society Birthday Party. She seemed interested. We also told them about a temple tour, we have one planned by Brother Eng on March 24th.
Michael is LEGIT. We didn't even think of him as a top investigator. He came to church, he is reading, he is participating in the classes. Elders Quorum love him! He is going to their activities. So awesome. We are teaching him tonight at the Elders Quorum President's house. He has exchanged numbers with some of the guys. I am really excited. He is a way cool guy.
The Cruz Family was so close to coming to church this week. Jordan didn't have clothes. I keep praying it will happen.

              
Members are finding! We are role playing! Now we need to have them the confidence to act. Sister Christensen made a good point. We are praying for the members to find people who are prepared and they are. Now we need to pray that the people they find will want to listen and the members will have the confidence to act. Our Ward Missionary Leader (Brother Eng) has a lot of great ideas! He is so helpful. We are blessed to have the leadership we have here in the Lake Mary Ward.


This week was leadership trainging so Sister Christensen went to it with Sister Durr and Sister Kaaa. Sister Durr and Sister Lima spent the night on Tuesday. Wednesday I went to college park with Sister Lima and Sister Poulsen and Thursday we came here to Lake Mary. Being with Sister Poulsen and Sister Lima was good. They are wonderful missionaries! So loving! Sister Lima is friendly and loves everyone. She wants everyone to have the gospel. Sister Poulsen is sweet and cares about everyone. She wants to not only serve non members, members, but missionaries. I have never had another missionary ask me "What can I do to help you?" In everything! It was great. I also loved getting to know them and serving them while they were in Lake Mary (like making dinner and making sure they were comfortable). There are amazing Sisters here in Orlando and I am excited to meet the rest of them! We are having Sisters Gathering this week, so all 18 of us Sister Missionaries get to come together.

Funny story of the week:
We were biking home one night and these 2 young black guys start yelling at us "Hey crackers! Get out of our neighborhood!" It took everything I had not to laugh myself off my bike. The member we were with (she is working on her papers) was so scared. Sister Christensen and I were like "whatever!' because we were in a safe neighborhood, it was late, and there were lights EVERYWHERE. We dont bike in unsafe places. Plus we were so far from those punks. So funny!!

Well everything is going well here! I love you all! Thank you for everything!!

love always,
Sister Ploth.

Picture 1: Sleepover with Sister Durr and Sister Lima
Picture 2: Exchanges with Sister Lima and Sister Poulsen
    

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The Fruits of Our Labor!

HELLO LOVED ONES!! It is a beautiful, sunny day here in Orlando, Florida! We are so blessed!!

Yesterday, Sunday, was AMAZING! Wow. So many miracles! First off, we were running late. It was weird because we weren't slow, we weren't doing anything out of the ordinary. So we were trying to get to church and I tell Sister Christensen, "Brandon IS at church today." We pulled into the parking a lot and he was there! We squealed! We were able to sit in front of him and Sister Christensen explained to him what was going on. With it being Fast and Testimony meeting sometimes i am kind of nervous to what would be said but this Testimony Meeting was the BEST! Short and powerful testimonies. FILLED with Gospel Truths. No stories or long drawn out testimonies. The Spirit was so strong, I felt it from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes! David walked in just as it started! 2 out of 3 isnt bad. Gospel Principles was great. Brandon shared that he wanted to bear his testimony. David expressed his love for the Book of Mormon. Well 10 minutes didn't even pass and in walks Michael and Kari (his girlfriend). They brought all their kids and had put them in primary. 4 investigators at church! WOW! They all LOVED it. Kari said she really liked Relief Society. Micheal's kids loved primary. Brandon is friends with the 1st counselor of the Elders Quorum Presidency.  So Brother Tremel totally took over with Brandon and bore his testimony to him. It was all so amazing. David kept asking "What do I do now?" He has a baptismal date for April 1st, so we kept telling him just to keep learning and reading the BOM and coming to church. Overall Sunday was the BEST!

 I am learning a lot about patience and how I can approve. This week we had a few funerals in the Stake and they were close to the members in our ward. Studying the Plan of Salvation this week made it so REAL. To know Heavenly Father loves us so much He made a PERFECT PLAN so we can return to Him. It is perfect and as we STRIVE we can obtain celestial glory. I love the word "strive". I have read it a lot lately. We aren't asked to be perfect, we are asked to STRIVE. (I LOVE this video on the Plan of Salvation: http://www.lds.org/pages/the-plan-of-salvation-d-and-c-video?lang=eng&query=plan+salvation)

The Weather is great here. On Thursday I got sunburned. I was pink. I have a nice white shoulder and brown arms now. Weird.


I am loving the work. It is great. Some days I have "bad days" and I don't understand but days like Sunday makes up for the days. Thank you all for your prayers and letters. I am way behind, but don't worry, I WILL catch up!!

love,
Sister Ploth

Picture 1: Eng Kids (4 of 5). Our Ward Mission leaders family
Picture 2: Wednesday was so nice!

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