"Who am I to be so blessed and so loved?"

Dear family,

This week I want to tell you just how grateful I am to have a Savior who loves me dearly. I feel like I don't have the words to describe what I have felt this week through my personal studies and as I have pondered on the Saviors atonement. I love those moments in our lives when we experience such overwhelming joy that we can't help but think, "Who am I to be so blessed and so loved? I didn't realize that it was possible for me to feel such an incredible amount of joy." I had several of those moments in sacrament meeting, with investigators, and during my studies this week. Sometimes in these moments there are no words, and you can't help but just weep. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and He is your Savior. I know that it is only through Jesus Christ that we can find lasting peace and hope. I know that He loves us. He loves us when we feel that we don't deserve to be loved. He doesn't need a reason to love us, and we don't need to earn His love, He simply loves. I know that when Mary Magdalene went to visit the tomb, it was empty. I cannot think of a moment in history more beautiful than this. This week I want to invite you to study the Savior's atonement, and think about and my favorite line from Preach My Gospel:  "As your understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase." (PMG pg 2). I promise that simply setting aside time to study the atonement will be a very special experience and you will feel an overwhelming love from the Savior that will fill your life! I would love to hear some of your thoughts and experiences!

We had lots of fun activities this week that we were able to use to help investigators develop greater friendships in the ward and develop greater trust with the ward members. We had a campfire/BBQ at the beach on Saturday. Going to the beach in Washington is not like going to the beach in California, in case you were wondering. It's freezing. We watched Michael get pooped on by a Seagull, and one of the elders investigators decided to go for a swim. That was entertaining. Shout out to Aunt Jeanna and Aunt Tiffany- they just opened a Cafe Rio in our area! A member took us a few days ago, and it wasn't quite as good as Chipotle (Also in our area :)) but it was definitely a fun time! I'm pretty sure all the Mormons in Washington flocked to Cafe Rio that first week. Sister Goode and I decided to color Easter eggs one night this week and personalize them for each member of our district. For example, we colored Elder Oliphant's egg blue and wrote "We believe in being honest, true, chased by an Oliphant..." We made a sunset egg for SIster Millett since she is always so bright and happy. I colored Elder Rencher's egg yellow then dipped the top in Orange and drew a face with glasses on it and called it the "Ginger Egg." (Shout out to Garett. :)) We also decided to buy cheap plastic eggs and chocolate and hand them out when we contacted at the college. On the eggs we wrote things like "Mormon.org- come on, we gave you chocolate!" and "Mormon.org- make a Mormon smile!" It's amazing how the little things and being sure to have fun can make life so much more enjoyable!

Oh! So this is crazy! This week we found out that Melissa got married!! The week after her baptism we were a little bit concerned because we couldn't contact her and we weren't sure what happened. Turns out she was on her honeymoon. She and her boyfriend Randy, who we thought weren't getting married for quite a while, decided to get married on April Fools Day- 3 days after Melissa's baptism. That's Melissa for ya! We're really happy for them. They are very firm in their goal to be able to get married in the temple a year from now and they are happy as can be, although sad that they will have to leave the YSA ward. Less than 6 months to go before the sealing of Darlene and Everett, and just over 6 months for Bennett and Verna!!

Well, I love all of you! (Bunches and bunches.)

Love, Sister Slade

Punny Names & Matchmakers

Hey family!

The last two weeks have been weeks of growth and I am learning more and more that my mission is about me. It's about serving others, of course, but it's also about me. The atonement is for my investigators, but it is also for me. The Lord cares for each person that we talk to individually, but He also cares for me.

We were blessed this week with a new investigator named Carla who was passed off to us by some of the other sisters. Carla is 29. She spent 7 years in Afghanistan, and as a result has dealt from severe PTSD the last few years. She thinks that the missionaries coming to help her was a sign from God. She has loved coming to General Conference and church. Every time she comes and feels the spirit she sits there and just cries. She needs this gospel so badly, and we are so excited to teach her!

Our investigators are really struggling, so please keep them in your prayers! It seems that we have been blessed to find so many people since coming to Halls Lake that have felt the spirit and begun to receive witnesses for themselves that this gospel is true, but the adversary works so so hard, and an investigator never gets all the way to baptism without all kinds of of adversity. Almost all of our investigators are dealing with drug addictions, guilt, anti from family, fear of commitment, and just about everything else you can think of. In particular, please pray for Gabriel, Bry, and Anthony.

This week in my study I have become fascinated with looking up scriptures in the Topical Guide that include the word "rejoice" or other similar words and phrases. It is amazing to be able to put things in the perspective of our Heavenly Father and really be able to feel the love that He has for us, even when the natural man in us is having a hard time remembering that love. We truly do have every reason to rejoice!!!!

love ya!

Sister Slade

P.S. Definitely the funniest moment of the week:

1. Elder Caruso and Elder Rencher think it's funny to pun our names. (Sister Knoblaugh accidentally printed my name as Sister "Shade" when I gave one of the talks for Melissa's baptism, so I'm Sister Shade. Or Sister Sledge. :) ) Some of the best have been "I Nephi, being born of Goodely parents..." and "Wow this situation is pretty Shady. It's not very Goode." The following conversation was particularly amusing:

Elder Rencher: Hey, you can't use Michael as your fellowshipper, we already called him, he's ours!

Sister Slade: Sorry, that wasn't very Goode of us, was it?

Elder Rencher: Yeah that's pretty Shady.

Sister Goode: Be careful, we might Rench your investigators out from under you

Elder Caruso: Well we'll just Caruso them right back in...

Also, apparently one of our investigators started dating one of the Elder's investigators this week. Then a few days later the Assistant Ward Mission Leader (Or is it the Assistant TO the Ward Mission Leader? You're welcome, Paul.) wrote a poem and asked one of our other investigators if she would go with him to the regional dance. Basically our calling is to be matchmakers. Gotta love Halls Lake!

Staying!

Dear Friends and Family:

I'm staying with Elder Van Wagenen for a third transfer! This means that I will have had only two companions in about 7.5 months in-field, as compared with 4 companions in 7 weeks in the MTC.

Also, we just found out today, but we will have a surprise mission conference this Saturday. We will hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook, and we will see Bishop Gary E. Stevens, Elder Erich W. Kopischke, and Elder Stephen E. Thomson. It is going to be awesome!

We're very excited for all of the amazing things that will be happening in the next few weeks. First the mission conference this Saturday; then the cultural celebration and dedication on the 3rd and 4th of May; then my birthday and Mother's Day; and on and on. We're very excited to work and help many people come to church and prepare to be baptized, and we're planning to do our best and grow this transfer.

On Friday, we had an amazing experience. We left our apartment, a little disappointed because a member had cancelled on our temple trip later that evening. While biking to the area we were going to be working, we stopped to talk to a man who was walking to work. One of the first things he asked us was "can I go to your church?" As we continued to talk, he started to cry. He repeated several times, "I just want to go to church." He committed to be baptized on the 20th. We are not sure what happened exactly to him, but as far as we can tell there were several deaths in his immediate family. We changed our schedule and organized a church tour with him later that evening. At church, he prayed in the chapel for a while, and he said he felt safe. As it turns out, he doesn't live in our area, so we had to pass him, but it was still an amazing miracle that we found him.

We went on a split this Saturday. It was probably one of my most stressful days on my mission so far. The purpose of the split was so that one of us could go to the temple with some investigators while the other stayed home to prepare for Patchouco's baptism. After praying, we determined that I needed to stay home, while Elder Van Wagenen left for the temple. But after we had already left, we realized that I had forgotten to grab the keys to the church and the font from him. As the afternoon continued, more and more things blew up, and it was a miracle that Patchouco still had desires and was able to be baptized that night. The service was nearly an hour late, and it wasn't as smooth as it should have been, but I was still grateful for the learning experience, and that despite the problems the baptism still went forward. He was confirmed the next day and given the priesthood, so he can go on the ward's temple trip this Friday.

A nice video that you can all watch: http://www.mormon.org/becauseofhim.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Received Blessings

Dear Family and Friends:

It's interesting to look back on the week and discover that most of the blessings that we've received were indirect blessings, miracles that would never have happened if not for God guiding us to where we need to be. Most of the missionary work that we do happens despite our best efforts, rather than because of them.

One example this week was on Saturday. It was round up day, so we had a ton of people that we needed to see. After a dinner appointment, we rode up to Lake Worth. We were going to follow up with a lady named Mya that we had harvest blessed on the street the day before. We got to her house to find that nobody was home. Then the clouds that had been building stranded us at her house. There was massive thunder and lightning, and a very large quantity of rain. The storm interfered with our phone signal, so we could not call anyone to do missionary work that way. We did our best to stay dry on the porch while we waited for the lightning to stop.

Later, as the storm was clearing up a little, a car pulled up and a man got out. It was Carlos, Mya's sister. We said a prayer with him and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He accepted baptism, and we helped him call his boss and ask for work off the next day. It was a miracle that we found him, and it came because God was directing our path.

In the Book of Mormon, I have just finished reading Jacob and Enos. In reading Enos, one thing that stuck out to me was the fact that Enos's faith "began to be unshaken in the Lord". I tried to imagine faith that strong, where you don't have any doubts at all. This faith came to him after he received an answer to his prayers. I believe that that is one of the reasons that God commands us to pray, so that we can learn to trust and rely on Him, and so that we can build our faith the same way that Enos did.

I am extremely excited for General Conference; almost as excited as I am for the temple trip. For our vision in April, we are going to have a temple trip every week of the open house. (Our investigators at least, even if we don't go on each trip.) General Conference is going to be two of the busiest days of my mission/life. We have a baptism planned for Patchouko Metellus at 10:00AM on Sunday, before the session starts. I can't wait!!!

Fact of the day: Blue Bell Ice Cream is only $4.97 here. In Colorado, it was ~$7.50.

Fact of the latter-days: the Florida, Fort-Lauderdale temple open house opened two days ago! A man stood outside it, passing out anti material which was, frankly, ridiculous. It's odd to think that anyone believes it.

Random event from the past week: I taught the restoration to a random stranger in Wendy's, while I was waiting for my companion who was in the bathroom.

Have any of you ever heard of Publix? It's like a more expensive version of Wal Mart, but I'd never heard of it before coming to Florida.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Dear family,

Not much time today so I'm going to quickly give you the highlights from the week! Melissa's baptism was on Saturday and it was wonderful! The spirit is so strong at baptisms when the investigator has become truly converted and they have prepared for the commitment that they are making. Melissa was very emotional. Right before she stepped into the font she just started crying and hugged us and I felt so warm. These relationships are eternal! It's days like Saturday that make it all worth it in the end!

We put Gabriel back on date this week. It's a soft date, he is still scared but he has committed to pray specifically about that day and prepare himself for May 3. We decided to go into the lesson and just ask him the Baptismal Interview Questions without telling him what they were. It was cool to see afterwards how surprised he was to find out what they were and discover that he really does know everything, he just needs to face the obstacles that Satan is placing in his path. Pray for him!

Bry is so solid. He LOVES the gospel and regularly texts us updates on where he is reading in the Book of Mormon. We all proudly refer to him as the "modern-day Nephi." He has made a TON of progress on smoking, but he still has a little bit more to go before he has quit completely and can be baptized. Pray for him!

I got a priesthood blessing from a member of my bishopric this week, and it really helped me with some emotional struggle that I've been having. I definitely have a testimony of the Priesthood power. You Priesthood holders, stay worthy to be able to use that power whenever you are called upon- at a minutes notice. The Lord gives us so many blessings, and one of the greatest is the restoration of the Priesthood. I have been able to see this both from the blessing and from the baptism this weekend.

I love receiving letters from you all! Let me know how you're doing- even if it's just a quick note!

Love you all!

Sister Slade

Ward Game Night

We had a ward game night on Friday and totally rocked it at Disney headbands!!! How is it that the two people who haven't seen a movie in months and months were the ones to win a Disney movie game? (Movies? You mean they still make those? :D)

Blessed

Dear friends and family:

Charles, Nislande, Erlanda, Ketty, and Lornise were all confirmed successfully this week. Brother Ramos confirmed Charles, but Elder Van Wagenen and I traded off for the other four. Also, Fadens and Stravensky were baptized. It was a good service; all of their baptized family members were there to support, but we were still unable to get their parents to come, because of work. It was another case where the parents were glad that it was happening, but they still don't realize how important it is enough to act and come to church and the baptism.

God has really blessed us these last few weeks. Before the Petion family, Ed, and Charles, I had only baptized one person in about three months (Lucy P., from when I was with Elder Winslow). I have been more than a little discouraged, especially in this mission where standards are to baptize two a month and we are encouraged to baptize weekly. I have been relieved to be baptizing again these last few weeks, but looking back there's nothing really that we did to have these baptisms. They are all miracles from God. We found them all miraculously, and most of them are the type of people who only had to be introduced to the church and invited to come. They would have done the rest themselves.

This transfer is going by really fast for me. There are only three weeks left. A few things that we are going to focus on for the rest of the transfer, and this week in particular, are:

Inviting people to the temple open house

Getting the parents from the Petion family to come to church and support their kids more

Learning to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost better

Finding!!! This has always been a weak point for me, and I would like to go to God and let him make it strong. Especially finding through members and recent converts, not just our own efforts

Elder Van Wagenen and I still get along great. We don't always agree on the best way to do missionary work, but we usually don't let that get in the way.

Fact of the day: everyone calls the Ward Coordination meeting "Correlation". There is no reason to do that. It is the wrong word. It means something completely different. Preach My Gospel never says "Correlation" at all. Nothing does. So why do we use that word? I don't know. Don't ask me.

I just realized I might not have ever told all of you: in this area, there is a member who is a franchiser for a bunch of McDonalds. He gives it to missionaries for free. It is really nice of him. Us missionaries are very grateful.

The Florida Fort Lauderdale Temple open house starts this Saturday, the 29th. It goes until the 19th of next month. Then, the cultural celebration will be on the 4th of May. The prophet will be attending. Then, the actual dedication will be on the 5th. It will be amazing. I can't wait.

Thanks,

Elder Slade