New members.........

This is the Armsby family who were baptized last week. The father is still deciding if he wants to be baptized. They are with Elder Kikongi and Elder Garrett. This is Tekeyla Johnson who was baptized 2 weeks ago. She has 3 children and is single. She is a friend of Jessica Martin who was baptized a couple of months ago. Jessica has been great at sharing the gospel with her friends.

I was fortunated to be able to play the piano at both of their baptisms.

Love those lips......

This week Sister Schulthies came into the office to pick up a package that her Mom had sent. She found a package of wax lips like the ones we used to get when we were little kids. She gave Tim and I each one and we just HAD to get a picture with them. I have almost decided that I like the look. It kind of hides some of the wrinkles that I have.

Winter is here......and the baptisms keep coming!!

We have had another week of packed activities. Besides our 9 to 10 1/2 hr office days, we took Tina clothes shopping for 2 1/2 hours, attended as a representative for missionaries, a seminar for "how to start your own business", a 4 1/2 hour lecture on "Making a successful marriage" and a baptism for a family of four. Somehow I managed to also go get my hair cut.

The baptism was beautiful as a mom and a teenage son and daughter and a 10-year daughter were all baptized. The father is coming but not quite ready. It is so heartwarming to see almost the whole family join together to support each other. They were confirmed in church today as well as the sister who was baptized last Sunday after church. The mom is the one who wanted to sign up to go to the temple her first time at Relief Society. Today they again passed the sheet around for them to sign up to ride the bus on the 14th of November. She signed herself as well as her teenagers up. It costs them $25 each to ride the bus so that is quite a sacrifice. They will be a strength to the ward.

Today in High Priest the leader was counting the different nationalities in the class. Dad thought there were about 10 men and there were 7 different nations represented. I would love to know all of the nationalities in the ward. The mom who was baptized today is from Barbedos and the husband is from Jamaica.

Socrates is a young man from Cuba in his late 30's and was baptized about 2 weeks ago. He is receiving the priesthood today. I met him in the hall between Sacrament meeting and Sunday School. He gave me a hug and kissed my cheek and said, "Here is one of my favorite women." I said I was excited for him to get the Priesthood today and he told me that he dreamed last night that he was being prepared to fight in an Army against Satan and just when he thought he was prepared he would be told that he needed to know more. He thought about his dream this morning and knew that it was testifying to him that he is preparing to fight that very battle with the adversary now that he is a member. Satan will try to destroy him but he felt safe knowing that he was going to get the priesthood to help him fight Satan with the power of the priesthood. Tears welled up in his eyes as he told me that he was so thankful that his friend and neighbor had shared the gospel with him. He wondered why people are afraid to share something so power and special to them. He will be another great addition to our ward!

The weather turned cold today as a cold front went through. It has been in the upper 80's and today it is about 69 degrees with a wind. That is very unusal. It is the coolest it has been since February. I almost want to put on a jacket SO Brian and Mary, maybe you better bring jackets. However, it is supposed to climb back up to around 84 by Thursday. I know you are probably saying "Wah, wah." With the humidity it makes it feel colder. I was actually glad to get out of the air conditioning at church and into a nice warm car.

Where's the Pastor..........

I got a call from a lady who said she had been kicked out of her apartment and lost her job but that she had been hired for a new one and had bought the uniforms. She went in to start her job and found out that it was given to the boss’s niece. Now she is living in a motel and only has 37 cents in her pocket and she has a little dog. She needed someone to help her pay for her motel. She is not a member of the church. I told her that we weren’t a “mission” of that kind but if she would give me the address where she was I would look up the Bishop in that area to see if there was anything he could do. She said, “Let me talk to the Pastor.” I told her we didn’t have a Pastor, that we worked out of the Salt Lake office. She told me her address but it was spelled funny so google wouldn’t pick it up the first couple of tries. She said she was in Fort Lauderdale. Finally she spelled it to me and I said, “It looks like that is the Coral Springs Bishop.” She said, “I told you I was in Fort Lauderdale. I don’t feel Jesus in this!!! All I need is help to get my rent paid. If a church can’t even help a person in need, what are they for.” I tried to calm her down and said I would give her the name of the Food Bank and Homeless Shelter and she said, “I am not homeless and I don’t need the government to help me!” I gave her the Bishop’s phone number and then said, “He probably won’t be able to get to you until this evening because this is his home phone and I’m sure he is at work right now. He is usually at the church only a couple of evenings a week.” That put her over the edge and she basically said “Thanks for nothing!” and hung up. You feel so sorry for people like this. It makes you wonder where their families and friends are in their time of need. I am so grateful for many many family members and friends that I could turn to and know that I would get help if I were ever in that position and I love everyone of you!

The part in the hair........

This week at zone conference the missionaries were reminded that President Hale likes them to wear a part in their hair and their ties to their belts. We were then talking to the President at lunch about the part in the hair and Tim said, “I thought you said wear part of your hair.” The President laughed. Later we were singing to the missionaries with birthdays and Elder Hogge (a Senior Elder) went up front for his. He only has a little hair around the back and sides of his head so the President said, “Have you noticed the nice big part in Elder Hogge’s hair? And Elder Holdstock thought I said to wear only part of your hair.” The missionaries weren’t sure whether to laugh or not for fear of offending Tim and Elder Hogge. The President has a cute sense of humor.

We're sizzling......

Okay, it is hot here. This week the weather has been breaking records. I think the normal high is about 87 degrees. We have been around 92-93 degrees. With the humidity it is supposed to be feeling like 102 degrees AND IT DOES!!! Poor Tim had to help inspect about 10 cars today at zone conference. It took he and Elder Dallilng about 1 1/2 hours in the heat. They both came home exhausted and sweating like pigs. That's Florida for you!!!!
They may have a hard time finding a place to build the temple as the highest point in Florida I believe is 500+ feet and that is up near Georgia. The highest points around us are the garbage dumps and the overpasses and I'm not pulling your leg!!!!!!

A new Fort Lauderdale Temple!!!!!!!!.......

Our prayers were answered today when they announced in general conference the coming of a Fort Lauderdale Temple!!!! We have been praying so hard and working so hard for the saints here in South Florida to be blessed with a temple. It is now paying off. We will have to continue to keep them faithful and active so they can attend when it is finally built. Our mighty prayers are powerful. Every day at 9 am our missionaries kneel down and offer a “mighty prayer” to have the missionary work go forth in our mission. President and Sister Hale are great at making that happen as well as our great force of Helaman’s Army. Tim and I decided to stay home and watch conference on our laptops. I so wished that I had been at the stake house when it was announced to hear the reaction of the people there. If I had it my way, we would have gone to the church but Tim didn’t want to get dressed up.
While I was ironing this morning, I stubbed my little toe on the foot of the ironing board and I think I broke it. I heard it crack and it feels funny and is bruised. It's a good thing I'm not one of those missionaries who walk the streets all day long.

World record........

The President told Tim and I tonight that he had been told that our mission led the entire WORLD in percentage of increase in baptisms per missionary for the last quarter. We hit a record high of 61 this month compared to about 25 a year ago. Our missionaries are the best!!!! It is amazing how you can love so many young people. They are helping to keep us young. One of them told Tim and I last week that we remind him of his parents. He then told us how they didn't have much money and were very frugal. I'm not sure if that is why we are like them or just what. Keep praying for our success and for a temple here in South Florida.