Balo!

Dear Friends and Family:

We met a person who spoke Bengali this week. He taught us how to say "How are you?" and "Good". Good is "balo", with a very slight b sound, so it's more like "alo". And "How are you?" is pronounced "toumikomanatchè" - written phonetically the way I would have written it if it were a Haitian Creole word, because I'm not sure how to write it in Bengali.

Yesterday was Haitian Flag day! Woo hoo! Dizwit Me!

We are doing great down here in Boynton Beach North. One of our strengths this week was, again, our member work - getting members to come out with us, and teaching with them. But one thing we're going to try to be better about doing this week is pairing up the investigators to the members who will fit best with each other, so that they can make friends instead of just providing support. That is one of the reasons that we feel we have not had more people in sacrament this week and in the past.

This week, we had a miracle with a person named Jamesly Pierre. He is Ketty Pierre's brother, and thus is a member of the Petion family, if you remember who that is. It has really shown me how much the Spirit can change things when it is present.

Two days ago, we started a lesson with Jamesly. He made it clear from the beginning that he was atheist, and he had a hard time believing that God existed. But he also said that he wanted to keep an open mind about it, and so we decided to give it a shot. At the beginning of the lesson, he refused to say the prayer. But by the end, you could tell that he had felt the spirit. He said a prayer, and he committed to come to church the next day. In church, the spirit worked even harder on him. After sacrament meeting, we invited him to prepare to be baptized next week. Rather than saying no, he indicated that he wanted to wait a few weeks to make sure that he was ready. But the change between before the first lesson and after church was like night and day, and we had nothing to do with that.

I have noticed that I don't use the scriptures as much as I should while I am teaching. So a few weeks ago, I started to memorize a scripture a day, so that I can think back and remember them in the future when I need to use them. I have kept this up for about two weeks now, and I have a few more scriptures that I can use. I'll keep learning more, and using them in our lessons, and hopefully eventually I'll have the Book of Mormon memorized. (At the rate of one verse per day, I can do it in about 18 years. It's obviously a long term goal.)

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Transfers to Silverlake YSA

Dear family,

Drum roll please...I left Halls Lake YSA on tuesday only to go all the way... to the Silverlake YSA ward, just north of where I was! I could hardly believe it! I was really hoping to stay YSA when I found out I was going to be transferred, but I wasn't getting my hopes up since there are so few YSA wards in our mission, and even fewer that have sisters in them, but what do you know, my wish came true! I love the Silverlake ward! Not that there's anything wrong with old people, but serving in a ward with and teaching young single adults is basically the greatest!

My companion is Sister Bartsch, from Berlin, Germany! She is a powerhouse missionary and I am so grateful for that! Last week I was praying to be put with a sister who really knows why she is out here and who would be willing to work hard so that the Lord could bless us with miracles, and Sister Bartsch is outstanding in so many ways! We have decided that our companionship needs to be exactly obedient. We work hard and listen to the spirit and I know that the Lord is going to bless us so much this transfer!

Unfortunately most of the investigators here dropped Sister Bartsch and Sister Sinclair last week, but we are on the uphill climb and we are going to be spending a lot of time at Everett Community College contacting people this week in order to find new investigators. We do have one investigator who is preparing to be baptized that we are very excited about. Her name is Kenna, and a few weeks ago her roommate introduced her to the gospel. She has jumped headfirst into investigating since then, and she is truly converted! She says that "I don't want to be called an investigator, because I'm not investigating, I already know that it's true." It's all about the member connections. The Lord needs your help in order for the work to actually hasten the way that it is supposed to! :)

This week for Mothers Day I studied mothers in the scriptures and the qualities that women posses because of motherhood being part of their divine role and nature. I remembered a scripture in Moses 6:59 that stood out to me in a devotional I listened to while i was at BYU. (Go look it up right now before you keep reading!)The Book of Mormon talks about how all things testify of Christ, and I think it is so amazing that we as women are also a type of Christ. Just as we bring new life into the world through "water, and blood, and the spirit," Christ is the one who allows us to have new life through those same things. Even women who do not yet have children testify of Christ through who they are and the ways that they strive to follow His example.

Love all y'all! Ich liebe dich!

Love, Sister Slade

Great Week

Dear Friends and Family:

This week has been a great week for me and my companion. One of the biggest strengths that we feel we have had is our diligence, especially in member work. We have had many members come out teaching with us this week, and we went on two splits to get more work done with them. We're planning to keep that up, and to continue to get members to come out with us, and to continue to go on splits as many times as possible this next week. They can make half-days feel like full days, and full-days feel like day-and-a-half days.

For example, on Wednesday, we had splits. I went with Brother Milton to help a new family move into the ward (just a father, actually, but he speaks French so we can't wait to take him out with us!). My companion went with Brother Archie to teach some investigators. We had five lessons total that day, and all of them were amazing, spirit-filled and spirit-led lessons. This Wednesday may have been one of the best days on my mission so far, nothing really bad happened at all, and things just seemed to work out.

On Sunday, we skyped at a member's house, and we had a great time. It was really good to see you all, chè fanmi mwen an!

I can't wait for zone conference tomorrow, especially so that we can learn what we as a mission will be allowed to do in the temple. I can't wait to go back again, especially to the FFL temple, considering how much effort we have put in to get people to go there and to prepare for it.

Inspirational quote of the day:

"And now, is not this grievous to be borne? And is not this, our affliction, great? Now behold, how great reason we have to mourn.

"Yea, I say unto you, great are the reasons which we have to mourn; for behold how many of our brethren have been slain, and their blood has been spilt in vain" (Mosiah 7:13-14, Book of Mormon)

Starting about a week and a half ago, I have decided to memorize a scripture a day for the rest of my life. I've managed to do it every day so far. Wish me luck!

Thanks,

Elder Slade

P.S.: Transfers are not next week, they'll be the week after that. I got it wrong while I was skyping!

Kisa lamou ye? Bebe pa blese m! Pa blese m! Ankò!

Dear friends and family:

We will be able to Skype, but we have no idea at what time, so I'll just write down the skype account you want me to call. We were thinking we will call some time around 5:30 (our time), but we will call briefly earlier in the day to iron out the details.

We have had a great week! We're a little disappointed that we were not able to get any investigators in sacrament, but I can't say I'm surprised. The dedication of the temple was a worthy alternative.

Part way through the week, we found a really awesome family through harvesting. We met the father, and we asked him to leave a blessing on his home and family, and he agreed immediately. He and his wife and their six kids (except for one who was still returning from School) all lined up for the prayer. They told us that they had been praying for someone to come and bless their house. They had tried to get people from other churches to come and do it, but without any success. The family accepted baptism, church, and a return appointment.

It was a great miracle, one of the best highlights from this week. Unfortunately, we have been unable to meet with them again.

Going to the cultural celebration was another great event from this week. I am very grateful that we were able to go and to watch and participate. The online video doesn't show much of it, but every missionary in the mission was there, sitting all together. We came down in the second to last song and joined in for the third verse, then we helped sing the finale as well. It felt like a vacation, more than anything. We sat back and watched the show for the most part, and we had the opportunity to "socialize" and to talk with our previous companions for an hour or so before the show started. It was really fun!

But the best event was, of course, the dedication the next day. I was curious to see how they are done, and I feel like I learned a lot from the talks and from the experience as a whole. I especially loved the talk in the second session, by Elder Christofferson. He really laid a lot of things down in a way that helped me to understand the purpose of the temple, and our purpose in life.

Our area and companionship have several investigators who are progressing with a date. We will be focusing on them, and getting them to continue reading in the Book of Mormon, and to come to church. And of course we will keep up our efforts to find others.

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Thanks,

Elder Slade

“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves" -James Barrie

Dear family,

We just got the transfer news a few minutes ago, and it looks like I will be saying goodbye to the amazing people in the Halls Lake YSA area and leaving for a new adventure tomorrow afternoon. Lots of mixed emotions. It has felt like it is time for me to experience the next thing that Heavenly Father has in store for me, but it is always very hard to say goodbye. I will miss people like Bry and Carla and Gabriel and Minami. And I can't even start on the ward members! I am so grateful to know that because of Jesus Christ there is no such thing as a permanent goodbye!

So here's a miracle story from this week! Washington people are crazy. A few nights ago Sister Goode and I woke up at 2 in the morning because the neighbors below us were shouting profanities and blasting music and banging on their ceiling (our floor). These neighbors have been pretty rowdy before, but never anything close to this bad, and it was obvious that they were really ridiculously drunk. The walls were shaking and it was actually pretty scary. We started to feel really dark and nervous. We weren't sure what to do, so finally we decided to call our Zone Leaders. We talked about a few different options, including calling the police, but finally we decided to start with just saying a prayer. Sister Goode and I knelt in our living room, and I'm sure the Elders did the same, and Elder Caruso said one of the most inspired prayers I've ever heard. He prayed that our neighbors would be stilled even thought they had "given their agency to a bottle," and he prayed that we would feel the angels that would stay the night with us. Instantly after Elder Caruso finished his prayer the screaming and noise that had been going on for forever stopped, and it was quiet after that for the rest of the night. We ended up getting like 4 hours of sleep that night, so the next day was definitely a long one, but it was a powerful experience to have that prayer answered so quickly!

I have learned lots from my study this last week, but I particularly loved reading in Alma 5: I LOVED verse 38. Rather than share my insights on this verse, this week I want to hear what this verse means to all of you! Remember that letters are a great way to show a missionary love!!!!

Love, Sister Slade

P.S. I don't remember if I told you about our investigator Jesse or not, but a few weeks ago I contacted this Irish guy in a wheelchair at the college. We had a very powerful first lesson with him, where he told us about all of the struggles he has been through in his life and how his faith in Christ has helped him. Unfortunately we weren't able to keep teaching him since we found out that he lived in Silverlake YSA's boundaries. We did a pass-off lesson, and I just found out that he is on date to be baptized!! So exciting! Hearing things like that gives me the hope that the investigators here that I won't be able to see continue to progress will be taken care of. In the Lord's timing I guess!

Trust in His word

Dear friends and family:

"The Fort Lauderdale Temple dedication marks the first time that the Church is broadcasting a cultural celebration live and on the internet. This means that anyone with a computer or device with internet access can watch and enjoy the cultural celebration next Saturday. Make sure your families and investigators have an opportunity to watch it.

Next Saturday, May 3, 2014 at 7:00 pm EST (be thoughtful of the time difference), the cultural celebration will be broadcast live on the internet at:

www.lds.org/broadcasts/languages/florida-cultural-celebration/2014/04." (President Anderson)

"Mothers Day is in two weeks, Sunday, the 11th of May. You will have permission to call home that day with a 30 minute time limit. You may use Skype if it is not an inconvenience to members. [...] Please organize this appropriately with your family." (President Anderson) I have no idea what time we will be calling or skyping.

Elder Van Wagenen and I are very excited for the temple dedication and everything that will be happening in the near future! We have had a great week. We received many new great investigators, and we are very excited to keep teaching them and finding new people to teach.

Unfortunately, all of the people we are teaching didn't show up at church. It was very anticlimactic, considering that we were expecting 8+ people to come. But as it turns out, most of our investigators had good reasons they didn't come, so they're still cool, and they're still preparing to be baptized on the 18th. For example, Yoline (who we found on Wednesday, and who is very excited to read and to come to church) was kidnapped by her family the night before, because they didn't want her to come. There was a lot of miscommunication with other investigators as well. We'll make sure we do better in the future with getting everything prepared and cleared up long beforehand.

I have a hard time believing that we'll get a lot of investigators in sacrament meeting this week. The biggest reason I feel this way is that we won't even have church this week. We'll have the dedication!

This week, we had a pretty funny experience. It seems trivial, but you can learn an important lesson from it.

We talked with a person and asked him if he wanted us to come and leave a blessing in his home. He agreed, and he gave us the address. The apartment number was 2317. The next day, we went to building 2, floor 3, and we started walking down the hall. We got to rooms 2311 and 2312, and we could see already that there were only four doors left. There wouldn't be a 2317. But we kept walking, trusting that that the man wouldn't have given us an address that doesn't exist. As it turns out, that apartment building skipped #2313. So #2317 was the very last room. We entered and left the blessing, and he and his wife are preparing to be baptized.

I compared that to our faith in Jesus Christ. Even when we look forward and think that there's no possible way for things to work out, we just need to continue and trust in his word. If we had turned around when we realized that he had given us a "fake address", we would never have seen them again, and we would have missed out on blessings!

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Apostasy starts in the sink!

Dear family,

Today starts week 6 of this transfer, and I feel like my time in Halls Lake might be dwindling. I will be very sad to leave, especially since there are still investigators like Bry and Gabriel that I would love to be able to help still. At the same time, it feels like it might be time to move forwards toward whatever else the Lord has in store for me. We'll see what happens next week!

I wanted to share an experience with you that I had this last Saturday morning. Sister Goode and I were staring down another very long day of tracting. We decided to kneel down and say a prayer to know which specific members we could go teach that morning. After we prayed and thought of the names, we made some calls and had appointments set up with two of the sisters in our ward. Basically we started by telling the sister that we were there to ask her for referrals so that she wouldn't be surprised. We then taught the restoration pamphlet lesson and afterwards had her say the prayer and sit quietly, the same way we do with investigators. Afterwards, instead of inviting her to be baptized, we asked for referrals. The first lesson went well, but it was when we went to the second members home that we had a truly amazing experience. Shanna had been reading the account of the first vision before we came, and as we talked the spirit was very strong. All three of us were in tears by the end, and after Shanna's prayer she had two names come to mind of people she felt would be good for us to visit. The first lesson went well, but I really believe that what made the second lesson so special was the fact that Shanna had prepared. Preparation is an eternal principle! The Lord knows He can trust us with spiritual experiences when we do the work that is necessary to prepare for them!

Love you all! I'm sending a giant hug your way!

Love, Sister Slade

P.S. In case any of you have trouble with dishes:

We were at volleyball and we asked Elder Rencher and Elder Caruso if elders ever fight over the dishes. Their response was that no, they don't, but they did have some very good advice for how to keep dishes under control. Elder Rencher started to explain how you have to empty the dishwasher right when it's finished so that dishes don't pile up, and Elder Caruso somewhat frantically exclaims, "Apostasy starts in the sink!" We now have an "Apostasy starts in the sink" sign hanging proudly in our kitchen :)