Till We Meet Again...

This letter is from Monday, April 18th.

Hellooooo Everyone! I really enjoy receiving your letters each week! 

I've been incredibly blessed to meet some of the most genuine people that I have ever come in contact with on my Mission. I have been working with the Spanish Branch down here located in the same building as our English ward. They have such a strong desire to have missionaries to help bring people to church. but they are stuck with English Elders. So we go out with Amoldovar who the Ward Mission Leader of the Spanish Branch twice a week. Amoldovar speaks ONLY Spanish so its pretty funny trying to teach with him! We go to families homes and he sorta just goes off and talks in Spanish forever. We have to have the investigators translate portions back to us so we can show him where we want him to read from next. We sang I am a child of God the other day in Spanish and it was an incredible experience!I Truly love the Spanish culture!

Yesterday we went to a BBQ at Luz and Eddie's (Spanish investigators) house and made the greatest tacos that I have ever eaten! It was incredible! We sat and listened to stories about their family growing up and I felt like I was listening to our family's life story. They are all crazy! They have huge families and they all love each other. They try to get together often and it turns into a hectic family get together.

In my last couple of letters, I told you that I am having trouble sleeping. It isn't getting any better, but I've been trying to cope.  I've tried everything that I'm allowed to do to get my mind to shut off and it just isn't happening. Night after night I lie awake. 

This afternoon I got a call that I didn't want to get. I learned that I am being sent home on medical leave. The Church Medical Offices have decided that a Missionary who hasn't slept for more than an hour at a time for several weeks isn't in a healthy spot. They want me to come home and see a doctor. My Mission President has arranged for me to continue my Mission serving part-time at the MTC in Provo while I get my sleep problems fixed. When I get back to a healthy sleep pattern, I can return to the Florida Tampa Mission. I want more than anything to continue my Mission serving the people of Central Florida. I love everyone here, and I'll be back.

May God Bless and Keep You,

Elder Street

Fear not, little flock (Luke 12:32)

This scripture is incredible! It makes me laugh so hard but at the same time its so comforting. I just imagine Jesus walking up to a cute little sheep who is terrified and just calming him down, picking him up and putting him around his shoulders. The sheep, in this instance, would be Elder Street.

This week I spent a lot time in my bed trying to slumber (sleep has been hard to come by). I was unable to do so, but the idea was so nice! Hopefully the cocktail of Herbal medicines that I've been taking will kick in and put me to sleep!

I've been running into a lot of dogs out here on the mission and this week and last week I fell in Love! Last week was my best friend Max (the German Shepherd). This week was an adorable husky puppy who was tuckered out and fell asleep at the park.

I was so jealous of this little Husky puppy! He was just having the time of his life, then he got to sleep! 

I'm running out of time super quick because I was writing back to all of the people that have been reaching out to me this week! Thank you all for everything that you do! This next week I'll write more! This week I'm going to try bass fishing, so wish me Luck!

Love Elder Street

To paraphrase Dumbledore: "One doesn't need to sit in the dark, but simply they can turn on the light." or something along those lines.

I sure do miss you! I've been having a pretty rough week with sleep and I seem to wake up at night and the first few thoughts that come to my mind are the family, followed by my intense desire to buy a German Sheppard puppy! I met a family here that is raising a German and he's seriously the cutest thing ever! Every time I see him I run over and bear hug him! He puts sunshine in my days!

I had an amazing weekend with General Conference. I put a lot more effort in to it than I have in the past and I really tried to see how the message would affect my life. I wrote down very specific questions and feelings that I had been having. And watched with an earnest desire to learn and grow. I felt like the messages that I received, the insight that was given, and the spiritual promptings were like nothing I've ever experienced! It gave me chills. There were times when I cried and times when I wept! and people around me were like "are you okay?" I can't believe that I could have such a personal relationship with someone I've never seen. If I've learned anything about this experience thus far, its that you can truly tap into the spiritual power that is all around us. 

 

To paraphrase Dumbledore: "One doesn't need to sit in the dark, but simply they can turn on the light." or something along those lines.

There have been a couple of times this last week when movie quotes that I don't fully remember have been coming to my mind. For instance in Forest Gump when he's walking through Vietnam for days and its constantly raining. That's me all day long! I sit under my umbrella and wonder if it will ever stop raining! Well it does. Then it gets hot. Then I wish that It would rain.

I've continued to meet so many amazing people this week and im still writing them down! I'm so excited to share these experiences with you! I couldn't even scratch the surface with my writing on how interesting some of these people are!

Thank you so much for keeping me up to date on the Family! I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing so well! Tell Josh when you see him that I want to make an April trip to the Geode beds when I get home! Tell everyone that I love them and that I'm thinking about them always!

Love Elder Street