"Focus on the little moments and be glad."

Our wonderful zone here in Gainesville! I knew that I was short before I left on a mission, but being out here with all these tall people is just really letting it sink in. Love it :)

Hey everyone!

This week was probably the most productive week of the last two transfers. We haven't talked to a lot of people since I came into the area, mostly because the people here have million dollar homes and are very at ease with their lives. This week, though, we had a few great miracles that just carried us through the week.

As a missionary, life is pretty hard. At home, there are a lot of things to look forward to and that you find fun. What was fun for me? Playing games with friends, playing tennis, being around family, practicing viola, concerts, writing, listening to music, and so on. Being focused on my purpose of bringing people to Christ, I choose to do basically none of those things, so I had to learn to find joy in other things. There are usually a few little experiences or moments that carry us throughout the week in the face of constant rejection and getting cussed out - here are two of them.

I was on a companion exchange with Elder Brown - he's an amazing missionary with a powerful testimony, and a very talented singer. We were walking around an apartment complex - it was hot and the sun was beating down. We were sweating hard (we were biking that day) and nobody in the complex had wanted to hear our message or watch a video about Jesus Christ. As we are getting our helmets back on, and getting ready to peddle away, a car pulls up and a middle aged gentleman with a tucked in button up shirt runs over. He calls out in a southern drawl, "Hey y'all, I saw Jesus Christ on those nametags and just felt like I gotta come talk about the Word with y'all. What've ya got for me today?"

So we talked to him for 10 minutes - it was a great conversation and we were able to bear testimony of the restored Gospel and faith in Christ. We set a time to come back and see him, then biked away. We smiled as we biked away - those 10 minutes had made the previous 2 hours worth it.

Another experience - just yesterday afternoon. We were sitting in church next to a great lady who had agreed to visit church with us. A wonderful sister was speaking on the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was strong in the room, despite the incessant crying of little children. I was getting ready to go up to the front of the chapel to perform - I was playing a duet with our wonderful organist, Brother Cornely. Out of the corner of our eyes, we saw a couple walk in the doors on the far left of the chapel. At first I didn't recognize them. I probably wouldn't have, but my amazing companion Elder Butterfield, with a huge smile on his face, whispers to me, "That's Rey and his wife!"

I wrote about Rey last week - we met him last Saturday and he said he'd come to church with his wife, but then didn't show up. So here he his, with his wife and two kids, walking into church after we haven't talked with him all week. As a missionary, that never happens. It usually feels like we're dragging people to church, and here they just show up. I can't even describe the joy we felt that they came - it just made our day. I'm smiling about it right now just thinking about it. 

So it's little things - moments and experiences with people and the gospel - that carry us through the week. Listen to these words of Joseph Smith - "You know that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves." Lots of applications here, but one is that, in the storms of life, we should let little pockets of light brighten our way and steer us through the day.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week. Focus on the little moments and be glad.

Elder Butterfield and I drove to Jacksonville to get the car fixed and it was fun being back in Jacksonville. It reminded me of the 6 months that I spent here and the special moments that I loved from serving in Fort Caroline.

The sunset was beautiful, and we were biking, so here you go. The sunsets here are always nice, but this one looked especially good.

Just the sunset.