The Start of transfer 11!

Hello everyone!

I hope y'all had a great thanksgiving! We sure did! We enjoyed 3 thanksgiving meals thanks to Sister Mercador, the Pillow's, and the Harris' We also were able to have 2 confirmations this Sunday of Morgan and Anthony! 

WOW! I cant believe its a new transfer! And if you haven't been paying attention I will be spending Christmas in Daytona with Sister Dunford. We even started decorating our apartment for the Christmas spirit and we are rocking out to some Christmas music. 

The biggest thing to happen is that Denie, Brother Staley's girlfriend, accepted baptism for December 22nd! She is amazing!!! She is so sweet and the nicest person. She has concerns of changing but we know that she will change but because she will want to, not for us, because we want Denie and we know Heavenly Father wants Denie in the Gospel. Last night we taught her the plan of salvation and she soaked it up. Everyone needs Denie in their life. She is probably one of the most Christlike people I have EVER met. And plus her and Brother Staley are adorable, but you didn't hear that from me. (:

Brittany and Eric are doing good. They didnt come to church because of sick kids but they are reading The Book of Mormon and praying. And Andrae is doing well too. We are really blessed with the people we are teaching. We just need to keep finding. This week we biked, not a  lot of luck. We did meet a man who said he lost his faith because of the death of his wife 7 years ago. We talked to him about eternal families but he wasn't interested, alcohol is his comfort right now. He was really nice, he even kissed our hands goodbye. Kind of awkward. ahahhaha. 

So with the Holiday season, check out  http://mormon.org/christmas

Lots of cool Christmas things!!

Have a great week everyone!

love Sister Ploth. 

picture 1: beautiful people of Daytona ward at the Harris'. Love these people! (: 

picture 2: the start of our decorating! 

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hello Brothers and Sisters!

So if you scroll down to the pictures you will see that we didn't have just one baptism this Sunday but we had 2!!!! Crazy week!!!

Okay...where to begin. So we had two trainings this week. One in Eustis about closing the gap and we found out that there will be NO TRANSFERS next week. President doesn't want the trainings to get lost so the only thing is changing is those that are leaving and training. With the new age limit for missionaries I also got the news that I will be coming home March 27th. Crazy! Its only a week but it feels so much closer, I wont lie, I kind of had a panic attack but I know this is what the Lord wants and I just need to continue to work hard. Home seems so close but so far. 

Wednesday we had the craziest day!! Back to Back appointments. Brittany and Eric accepted baptism for December 8th. They are awesome! They even came to church on Sunday! She even looked me up on Facebook hahaha. so whoever is checking on my Facebook if you see a request from Brittany Yocum, accept please. (: 

We taught Morgan at the church that night and her mom was there. She signed the record and we thought it was all ready for what we thought would be the 24th, just wait for that part...

Thursday we had Sister training, that 2nd picture is of all the sisters in the FOM. Silly picture huh? I love these Sisters so much!! They are amazing and beautiful and wonderful. I am so lucky! We found out the increase of missionaries the FOM will have 76 sisters within the next 6 months. Holy Talitos Batman! We will all be training, so chances of me "dying" as a training are high AND 4 new Sister areas will be opening next month! this work is progressing and its so awesome to be apart of.  Friday night we had dinner with Brother Staley and his girlfriend, Denie. She is amazing!! We love her and she is so prepared for this gospel. We just need to set a baptism date!! She has come to church the past two weeks. Our biggest obstacle is getting Brother Staley not to take her out on so many dates so we can teach her! hahaha. 

Saturday was my first funeral. It was for Brother Davis, who passed a week ago, What a great guy. It was a really good funeral! I have heard that mormon funerals are really happy and different. it wasn't sad, it was all happy memories and laughing and a big party after...kinda....lots of food. Sister Davis looked so good! She is an amazing lady and she was sure to come and give the missionaries some loving. it was weird to see my first dead body in a casket but he looked at peace and I just kept imagining him in the Spirit World teaching the Gospel. Brother Davis was a dedicated member until the day he died. He magnified his calling, had 100% home teaching, knew the temple ordninaces in english, french, spanish, and portuguese, and gave out Book of Mormons like crazy! I was so privileged to have known him. He and his wife are great examples! 

So with the funeral we had to push back Anthony"s baptism and then with thanskgiving the ward is so busy so Bishop wanted us not have baptisms next week so we called president and he said if morgan was ready then do it tomorrow (sunday). We pretty much texted her and arranged it all!! amazzzzing!! she was crying so hard. she is an amazing 16 year old girl, she is going to go so far!! we love her so much!! and all she kept saying was "thank you so much for being the ones to push me to do this" so great!! she will go on to do amazing things!!

well. HAve a happy thanksgiving!! I am thankful for this gospel. being a missionary. YOU ALL. my family. ect ect.

What are  you thankful for??

Love, Sister Ploth. 

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Thank you for loving me so much to cut me down.

 In order to better understand how I have felt this mormon message does the trick: http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#the-will-of-god

I hope and pray that you will be able to feel the excitement that I have and the lessons I have learned. 

I am sooooooo GREAT! From the mormon message, by Elder Christofferson about the Will of God, I feel like a current bush that was cut back by the gardener. Week 3 was so tough. I strongly disliked week 3, but it built us up to prepare for all the miracles that we saw in week 4 and prepared us for week 5 as well. This week we were challenged by Elder Finke to study the Atonement and I learned a lot. And it was a nice reminder of what the atonement is for and how it can help me. One of the big things is understanding physical death. 

This week two amazing people passed away. First off, I got a call Wednesday night from the Eustis Sisters, The Chandlers, one of the twins passed away. I was so sad but grateful for the opportunity that I had to be apart of them! Little Faith Chandler taught me so much and I never even met her! She taught me the pure love of Christ and mighty prayer.  I have learned that because of the Atonement of Christ that baby is PERFECT and will return to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ with no problems. AND! The Atonement helps the parents understand the Plan of Salvation! WOW! It does cover all. I am just so grateful for Jesus Christ and His perfect example of obedience and love. 

Alos Brother Davis, a beloved man of the ward, sealer and past Bishop had a stroke and died yesterday. Looks like I will be attending my first funeral this Saturday. 

WOW!!! Gators out of the woodwork this week!

Anthony came to church Sunday! He is ready to go for this weekend. We had to change the baptism to Sunday since Brother Davis passed away yesterday and his funeral is Saturday at the church but Anthony's mom is okay with that. We just have 2 more lessons and the interview. One of his mom's home teachers, Quincy, is 16 and isn't a Priest and the ward wants him to baptism Anthony, well Quincy was ordained a Priest yesterday! Everything is falling into place!!

Morgan Osborne- Our 16 year old friend came to church yesterday, after church she came to us and said, 'Sisters, I cant wait anymore, I want to be baptized ASAP!" We went over the interview questions and she is set for the 24th! yay!!! The YW's lesson was powerful and the Spirit taught her. Pretty amazing since she hasn't been to church in a month. Maybe that is what she needed

Andrae Gilmore- We met him on Halloween and we taught him last week and we exercised our faith and invited him to be baptized in 2 weeks, Nov 24th. He came to church and loved it. He is ify about the 24th but we are confident that he can make baptism but by being obedient and listening to the Spirit we were able to help him understand our purpose.

Brittany and Eric- Kind of weird situation. They are engaged and Eric is working on getting a divorce from his wife, who he hasn't seen in a year and a half. Well they came to the EQ Thanksgiving dinner and loved it. Eric even told Brittany that he will give up chewing tobacco! They want to "transition to being mormon" PRETTY SWEET! 

And some big things to happen, Brother Staley (he is the one we check our iPad to at night) he brought the girl he is dating to church and she wants us to teach her. She doesn't want to learn for him but to learn. She is way cool! Her name is Denie and is so loving and giving. She gave us some girly shampoo and lotion and stuff this week. 

AND! Friday night!! Our neighbors decided it would be cool to go streaking so Sister Dunford and I had the privilege to see 5 white booties!! hahahahaha. So funny!! They were very drunk. Everyone says to report them but we aren't. We will next time though! 

Also Wednesday President Hall called and because of my wonderful mom and step dad, I get to go to my cousin's sealing next month at the Orlando Temple!! In the Florida orlando mission, we arent allowed to go to the temple expect for departing and when converts go. I am pretty stoked! 

This week is going to be so busy! We have training  in Eustis and Sisters Training!! yay a!! and a million appointments already! This Gospel is sooooo true!! i love you all!

love, Sister Ploth. 

This is from President Hall's email this week: 

CHRISTMAS

Notify your family that they need to have all Christmas packages to the mission office no later than the 12^th of December to ensure we can forward it in time to reach you.  Secondly, tell them you don't need lots of stuff.  Ask for things that you can use not just move around the rest of your mission.

Pictures: Sister Durr and Wes and Brandon at the temple!

Pic 2: Sister Dunford pre election day last week. We exercised our right to vote! 

Vote of Die??!?!?!

Hello Everyone!

 

I hope all is well. For awhile we were getting some chilly weather but its back to normal but not too hot. Nice and cool. We biked lots this week. Including the Granda bridge. Oh my, our thighs and bottoms were in some pain!

 

This week was kind of slow. Really sad. NEVERTHELESS, we had a good time and tried to make the most out of it. We taught 10 lessons, probably the weakest in my whole mission. We also didnt find a lot of people. No body wanted the Gospel. But we know and belive that "....for ye recieve no witness untl after the trial of your faith." Ether 12:6. We are being tried but we arent letting go. We arent coming down from the wall, we have a great work to do! (Nehiama reference). Halloween we werent bale to go out so we bought some halloween candy, got into our moo-moo dresses, and updated our area book. We are making mega map book so if appointments fall through we have solid back ups. We are going through our area book like crazy. Which leads us to Sunday, we made contact with a former, his name is Wolfgang and yes he is from Germany! He is intersted in Jospeh Smith and more specifics. We are going back there this week. Good thing Sister Allen is from Germany too and her husand is the stake patriarch.

 

This upcoming week is the elections and I was able to fill out my ballot this week, with much prayer, since I dont know a lot, I was able to exercise my right to vote in this country and its always an exciting time. Which brings me to share a few articles of faith from what the Church has put out for the world. The Articles of Faith are the official doctrine of the Church. Here is just two of them, if you would like to see the 11 others you can CLICK HERE

 

 11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

 12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

 

I picked these two to share this week in order for others to have a better understanding of the LDS Church. We believe everyone has a right to worship how they please and we arent here to take away from anyone, just build on to what they know to be true. If they want. We dont forec anything on it. Also, church and state are seperate but we know that our religious views effect the way we see the world and how we beleive the things should be done. The next article of faith, we believe in goverment. So we beleive in being active in goverment. We live in a country where we are free to choose. Heavenyl Father paved the way for the Restoration of the Gospel to be in this country for that reason. So we need to ACT. And this week I was able to exercise my right as an American Citizen. And just some fun facts about the church and goverment.

The Church does not:

• Endorse, promote or oppose political parties, candidates or platforms.
• Allow its church buildings, membership lists or other resources to be used for partisan political purposes.
• Attempt to direct its members as to which candidate or party they should give their votes to. This policy applies whether or not a candidate for office is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• Attempt to direct or dictate to a government leader.

The Church does:

• Encourage its members to play a role as responsible citizens in their communities, including becoming informed about issues and voting in elections.
• Expect its members to engage in the political process in an informed and civil manner, respecting the fact that members of the Church come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and may have differences of opinion in partisan political matters.
• Request candidates for office not to imply that their candidacy or platforms are endorsed by the Church.
• Reserve the right as an institution to address, in a nonpartisan way, issues that it believes have significant community or moral consequences or that directly affect the interests of the Church.

So go out and vote! and have a great week!!

 

love, sister ploth.

happy halloween!

This week Presdient asked us two questions to report on, I think the email to him covers pretty much this week. Here is what he asked:

1.       I would like each of you to tell me if you are happy or not happy in your missionary service and why?

2.       Secondly, do you feel you are productive in your missionary service or not productive and why?

Hello President.

The questions you asked us to report on, are very interesting because this is something I am asking myself. I love missionary work. I love being involved. I love serving. But this week was hard, but the good ALWAYS outweighs the bad. We were suppose to have two baptisms this Saturday, and we didn't. Gwen Ross, was unable to be baptized because of her husband. He didn't want her to be because of his involvement in his church. It was such a confusing week. Here we see people who get baptized all the time and you question if they are ready but Sister Ross was more than prepared. She wanted it so bad but she couldn't act on her agency because of the respect that she had for her husband. He didn't tell us we couldn't come back or that she couldn't come to church BUT she wasn't able to act. I was mad, frustrated, confused, sad, and so many other emotions. I didn't understand what Heavenly Father wanted me, Sister Dunford, or even Gwen to learn. SHE IS READY HEAVENLY FATHER!! WHY CANT SHE DO THIS?? Those were a few things I asked while praying. I have trust in Heavenly Father but it just seemed unfair and from PMG it kept running through my head, "As we rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He can help us endure our trials, sicknesses, and pain. We can be filled with joy, peace, and consolation. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." I was prideful last week. I wanted Gwen to enter into the waters of baptism but I wanted her to enter into that covenant on MY time, not the Lord's time. We aren't sure why Sister Ross isn't able to at this time. A member we have been serving told us, "Sisters, you did your part. You brought her the gospel! You helped her convert. Now its the Lord's will what happens." 

Later in the week, Elder Shelley asked us when do we feel like we are fulfilling our purpose the most. The answer..when we are teaching. And if we follow PMG we need to always be TEACHING! I know sometimes I don't always give 100%, thank goodness for the Atonement. I cannot worry about what I cant control, but worry about what I CAN control. I control my attitude, I control how "wide I open my mouth", I control my obedience. No one else has control of that. I have my agency and I can act on it. 

So long story short, I am HAPPY about my missionary work. Why? because its a constant battle of learning. The Lord guides this work. He gives us multiple chance. We just had a return missionary in the ward speak yesterday and one thing he said was if we saw all the good that came out of our trials we wouldn't work hard for our "prizes". I love missionary work. I can confidentially say, I have no regrets. There isn't room for regrets in this gospel, only improvement. It remind me of a quote from Elder Nelson, "We all need to remember: men are that they might have joy—not guilt trips! We also need to remember that the Lord gives no commandments that are impossible to obey. But sometimes we fail to comprehend them fully."

Next part, do I feel productive? Well, baptism wise, no...not at all. BUT I know I am doing what the Lord wants me to do. I know how to utilize the time as a missionary and find meaningful activities. I have really grown out of the habit of saying, "Well what should we do now" Instead, my mind is constantly thinking about back ups and we pray we aren't sure and we let the Lord and His Spirit guide. I need to stop being a perfectionist and remember the Lord and keep reading and re reading "A successful missionary" PMG PG 10. 

love, Sister Ploth

So thank you all who kept Gwen in your prayers. On Saturday we were able to go down to the temple with Bishop and Sister Crookston so she could see it. We all forgot that the grounds would be closed but just her seeing it was amazing. As I looked at this beautiful, daughter of God, I wept because I knew her desrie and I saw her patience. I have no doubt that Gwen will be able to enter into the Lord's house one day. I am not sure when. Maybe she needs to wait for her family to come here from Jamaica. Maybe her husband needs the Gospel. Who knows. For now, we will involve her as much. She is still going to work on getting Sundays off so she can more fully participate in Sunday services. 

We did meet a cool guy this week. His name is Travis...actually we met him two weeks ago, in the rain while biking. He is 22 and so awesome! He grew up in foster care but you would never guess it. He is going to school to be a sports journalist and has a job! He is pretty self sufficient. He was asking amazing questions and he is looking for more in life. When we invted him to church he said, "Whoa Sisters, baby steps...baby steps." ahahah and the lesson was AT THE CHURCH! We are seeing him on Thursday. 

Saturday night as we were driving home, we went through the neighbor right before our complex...we were at a stop sign and I looked at Sister Dunford and I saw this creature thing on a driveway.....I point and say, "WHAT IS THAT!!!" Now...what do y'all think it was??!?!?!?! Okay, I will tell you! A BEAR!!!!! WE SAW A BEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We watched him walk over to a tree and climb up. It was in a cul-de-sac so we drive slowly to see if we can get a picture. I roll down my window and it sounded like it was hissing at us! We quickly took a picture of the tree and sped off. SUper cool. So the second picture...there is a bear up there! 

There is our week. I hope y'all are doing well! We are now back to an empty teaching pool but the Lord needs us to go out and find someone. And we will! Maybe it will be a family!! Oh and dont worry...we didnt get bunch from Hurricane Sandy...but it is really windy and cold. So weird!!

Have a great week!

love, Sister Plorh. 

Happy Bike Week!!

Hello Everyone!

So its Bike Week and its SOOOOOO cool. So many people biking around. I am super jealous. And I guess Romney was in town this past Friday so Daytona Beach is a jumping place to be right now.

But a s a missionary its always great! We had a great week. First off, we have Gwen. She will be getting baptized this Saturday, OCt 27th at 6pm BUT she needs all of y'alls prayers. Charles (her husband) at first said he supported her but now he doesn't so she is struggling because she doesn't want to upset him but she knows this is what she needs. We will be seeing her everyday. Pretty much, this whole week is playing it by ear. But yesterday she tried on her baptism clothes and got a blessing from OUR NEW BISHOP!! yes, through all this we have a new Bishopric. Bishop Crookston. He is legit though. The Crookston's were the first member meal I had here. I love them! They have been so involved with Gwen too. So its really cool. Oh and Dad you would love SIster Crookston, she has like 13 guns...hahahahahahahahaha. They are super cool. I love Gwen so much. She is an amazing lady and everyone should know her.

Next big miracle, Morgan, the 16 year old girl we are teaching has a baptism date for December 22nd!! Yessss!! Finally!! I love her. She is so cool and so spiritual. you would never guess she isn't a member. She is legit. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity yesterday, She agrees and knows they are good. We taught the Law of Chastity by using this video,http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#i-choose-to-be-pure   Its an awesome video. One of my favorites. 

We biked in the rain again. So fun. Its easier to talk to people when you really look like a goofball. We have been working with Sister Mercador a lot. she said she is coming back to church because of us. I love her to pieces. She is so giving and loving. Unfortunately, sometimes people aren't kind to others but she came to church! 

With the pictures attached... I just hit my 400 days and we were by beachside so we thought we would snap a picture, don't worry, we didn't go on the beach...thats from the parking lot. Then!! Sister Durr...I mean Shannon.....came to visit!! It was so cool to see her. So weird. But cool. I love her and I am so lucky to have served with her.

Well I am still lvong this work. I am so grateful for this chance to be able to do this. What a blessing. I wish everyone could go on one. 

Until next week,

All my love, 

Sister Ploth 

oh and check out the latest mormon message...POWERFUL!!

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#daughters-of-god

Today is district prep day...we are going on a tour of a chocolate factory!! woot! 

Transfer #10...ready...set.....GOOOO!!!!

Hello All!!

 

So here I am..10th transfer! And I will still be In Daytona with Sister Dunford. Woot woot!! Sad news though, Lake Mary now has Elders. So no going to Lake Mary to end this 18 months. But thats okay, we have some great things going on here In Daytona, and a lot of progressing.

 

First off, we had Mission Conference this week!! What a crazy adventure. We woke up at 4am to be at The Elders' by 530 to be in Orlando by 730! Oh man oh man! Crazy!!

 

But Mission Conference was mind blowing! We had Elder Zwick and he is way cool. He and his wife have been doing missionary work for 23 years!! And not just member missionary work, but for the church headquarters. CRAZY!! I learned a lot, mainly how to improve teaching. We need to shorten and intestify. When people are exposed to short, powerful, pure doctrine and testimony, they can feel the Spirit. It was a great chance to be spiritual fed. I wish I had my notebook to share more, but I left it at the apartment.

 

But we had a good week! Besides from eating......SALMON CASSEROLE!!! I wanted to DIE! A member made it and when Sister Dunford put some on my plate, the member said, "Oh you need to eat more than that!" And Sister Dunford looked at me with the saddest eyes and put more on my plate. I kept saying to myself, "Okay...this isn't too bad" but oh man, It was! THEN! She gave us the leftovers, but we threw them away. Heck no! That isn't going anywhere near me again! About a hour later from that appointment, our investigator, Sarah, cooked us dinner. It was super good!! But we were full! BUT! It was worth it.

 

We have one week until Gwen's baptism! She is doing so great!! She is an awesome lady. Everyone needs to know her. The ward already has her a visiting teaching companion and they are working on home and visiting teachers. We are working on the baptism program this week. A perfect program is on its way! She also asked us to send the missionaries to her daughter and grandchildren in Jamaica!!!

 

We did some service for a less active lady. She is so fun, kind of crazy! We were there for 2 hours cleaning her trailer and she kept giving us stuff and we didnt want to say no, so we have to get to the goodwill sometime. We gave a lot of it to Elder's Recent converts, jade and hope, they are 12 and 13 and sweet girls. They dont have a lot to begin with. And the less active lady gave me....A SKANKY NIGHTIE!! hahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahaha. Last time we were there she gave Sister Dunford a string leopard print bikini so of course I needed something...ahhaha.

 

Well time to make this the best week 1 in the history of the FOM!!

 

love ya all!!