Cooling down

It’s even getting cold here!

The last few days reminded me of Washington’s weather.

There is nothing too terribly important to add though I have added some things to the strange list:

There is a legitimate lake called Lake Butt.

We were told to find people that have the "missionary sparkle" by our ward mission leader.

We met a woman named Peaches.

Other than that, all is well and sane here in Florida.

Elder Willard

Various and Sundry

I feel like this might be a kind of repetitious mission because mostly we go out and knock on doors, but that's okay. It already seems to be going by really fast. I have a few interesting things that i write down from day to day though.

Nobody has a front license plate.

My companion spent the night of his grandfathers funeral on the morgue floor next to his coffin.

The first rain I've seen was on the day of the our first baptism here.

There is a member here who married his sister-in-law's sister.

Chick-fil-a isn't that great. I tried it and I don't get why everyone is so obsessed with it.

Brazilian barbecue is fantastic.

My companion also speaks mandarin.

The 2013 Ford Fusion is like a jet fighter cockpit inside.

Our sister training leader looks like the evil queen from snow white.

I've had a persistent blister for the last week, maybe i need some new socks.

There is an elder here who is a professional con man kind of like the Mentalist, though he doesn't fight crime.

We found a snake on the sidewalk that my companion assured me was dead until I walked over it and it snapped at me.

Other than that it's all happy good times here having fun and meeting weird people.

Elder Willard

Veteran's Day

There’s a lot of tracting that occurs here in the Florida mission as it turns out so I don't have a lot of success stories, but I get to meet some strange people: a lot of Jamaicans and Haitians, but few Brazilians. As it turns out there are a fair amount of millionaires here and man; do they spend money or what!

We’re getting everyone whipped in to missionary shape here; it's not so bad, but in Brazil you can get 10 referrals a week and here you're lucky to get one.

Not much to report unfortunately.

Elder Willard

First baptism in Orlando

We had a baptism! (which is a much bigger deal here than in Brazil) a Brazilian that the missionaries had been teaching for two months was baptized Saturday and confirmed the next day. There was an incredible party afterward with all the RMs from Brazil. First time with Brazilian barbeque and it was so good. It turns out there IS guarana here because of so many Brazilians as well as massive supplies of chicken hearts. That was the highlight of the week but the rest was mostly tracting and speaking strange languages.

Hope everyone is well,

Elder Willard