Gators. This is a pun. Think about it.

WELLLLLLLLLLLLL BUENAS!!!!  Holy smokes this has been a crazy week for emails so lucky for you all this is going to be short and sweet and full of just pictures (:  I’m sure you guys are all just rejoicing 

This week was wonderful despite fighting off being sick (: The body is just coming in clutch and just trying to fight it off. 

Quick recap:

-We have the cutest park pretty close to our house and Sister Murdock and I one morning decided to try and be athletic again and run there and run around this giant lake pond trail thing.  We did (yes we were sore) BUT sickest thing ever, we saw a baby little alligator, like a foot and a half one.  It was so cute.  The first one I've seen in "the wild" lol.  They also have all these like arm machine things outside, we were all "yeah lets do it" (still sore its fine) but I pretty much just worked out next to the most ripped 80 year old Cuban man.  Real like VASA man.

-We helped a woman move her home this week because she has a termite infestation.  Yip, skip, that was a bundle of joy.  I love when one house on every street is being tented and exterminated for termites. (:(:(: 

-Prayed with a 23 year old woman that has 5 kids already. UTAHn?  I felt sick. 

-We were getting pretty defeated this week... untilllll WE FOUND EMILIO, our cute CUBAN new investigator!  He is literally the little man from UP's look alike.  Biggest miracle.  Biggest blessing.  Last door miracles.  We shared the restoration message with him and he loved it, despite having his kittens nibbling and biting my toes during the entire thing.  God is so good.

-We had our first interviews with President Garns. WOW. THAT MAN. I am seriously obsessed with him and his cute wife.  I have really not ever felt so loved by someone who doesn't really know me.  I know he is here at this time for a reason, and going to just change this mission for the best.  He told me so many things that I just needed to hear.  He just makes me smile.  I am so excited to get to know him better and just learn from him.  What a man and an example.

-Got to have the best day ever and go on a full day exchange with Sister Bingham!!!!  Oh my word we both just couldn't stop smiling the whole day!  It was just like old times. Her Spanish is KILLER and we just taught and saw SO many miracles.  And it wouldn't be old times if Sister Bingham didn't get a butt load of mosquito bites.  During our one lesson alone she got 40!!!  Meanwhile my blood sucks and I got none.  Hahaha!  Poor thing.  I love that girl and consider it the biggest honor and blessing to still get to be graced by her sweet presence each and every day.  She’s such a rock.  So cool when you just have family out here.  She is family to me.
 

Well this week I have really been trying to understand and study the difference between weakness and sin, because they are far different, but often related.  They have very different sources though and our responses to both should be much different.  But as we are meek and faithful, God offers GRACE, not forgiveness, as the remedy for our weakness.  Becoming clean is essential because nothing unclean can dwell in the presence of God.  But if our only goal were to be as innocent as we were when we left Gods presence, we would all be better off lying snuggly in our cribs for the rest of our lives.  Rather, we came to earth to learn by experience to distinguish good from evil, grow in wisdom and skill, live values we care about, and acquire the characteristics of godliness- progress we cannot make from the safe confines of a bassinet. 

I am so grateful for my weaknesses.  There are many.  Although frustrating, I am coming to better understand and know my Savior.  I hope to make my weak things strong, and just be a WARRIOR FOR CHRIST. 

I love you all. Thanks for being you and have the best week!

xoxo 

Hermana Dimond 

Our cute little mail box and my even cuter little comp (:(: love her to pieces 

AND THE MANGO TREE (:(: 

Sis Murdock's wonderful parking job. 

We had a little bit of fun helping that woman take all her stuff to the storage until after helping her move

Sis Bingham has ZIKKKAAAAAAAAAA

And just some nightly fun (: 

When you just get mystery food for dinner from the dear Farney family every sunday. the food is just left in the church.  Oh honeys. hahahah I threw one of these sausages at Elder Hafen and he freaked.  Love sharing a ward with these goobers!

Bathroom Stops for Days

HEYYYOOOOO!!!! ITS THE DAY. . .LUNES!  Your fav. J/K. MY FAV (: 

What a crazy good week here in Hialeah! I am honestly so shocked that July is almost over and I’m not like absolutely DYING of heat.  Like definitely it is humid as heck, but either its better then I thought it would be, I'm getting used to it, or I just prepared for the absolute worst, because its not terrible. (: SO BLESSINGS.  But it still is hot so I’m drinking water like its my day job, and poor Sister Murdock is just getting the effects from it.  Hahah, we literally get anywhere, and I’m like "girl sorry we gotta go, I have to go the bathroom so bad".  Hahah, she’s such a trooper.  We are literally just like best friends.  We just crack up all the time and are just really working so hard together and having so much fun while we do it!  We finally feel like we are understanding our area a little better and starting to get a grip on things, which ya know, is always a good thing (:  Our ward is boss.  Our ward mission leader Gabriel Banderas is an RM so he just totally gets it and helps us all the time and is such a homie.  Its really hard tho as our Bishop is so awesome too, but he has had some bad experience with missionaries in the past, so he has some pretty weird trust issues with missionaries in general.  It is something we are going to work really hard with while we are here, to try and get rid of that, because the work can’t progress when there is weird tension like that. 

Well a few of the highlights from the week: 

-One day while knocking, mother nature just decides to do the daily down pour, so we were just drenched outside, but took shelter under a palm leaf, so all is well (:  I kind of wish I could have been a person to drive past us during that, comedy!

-One of my favorite parts about being a Sister Training Leader is just getting to go on exchanges with the other sisters, and just getting to meet them.  This week I got to go to the Silver Lakes area for a day, and I got to go back with Sister Monson, who I lived with last transfer.  It was so fun to be with her, and just learn from her.  There is so much to learn from everyone and I just love it so much.  So many things that she does that I want to implement into my missionary work.  Its always on those exchanges that I am like, "so why am I the "leader" in this again?  I just always feel so inadequate, especially when I am the younger missionary on the exchange, but I am just learning to trust in the Spirit and the Lord more and more each day.  As part of he exchange though, we went and did service in her area at a place called Flamingo Gardens, which is like a huge animal and botanical garden. Literally we got there, and they LOVE the missionaries, so our "job" was pretty much to walk around the whole park and pick up peacock feathers and trash, while touring the park.  So yeah, best service day ever I would say.  Until it started DUMPING of course (: you are either wet out here from rain or humidity.  You just gotta take your pick.  We also went to this old folks home and taught the sassiest Cuban women ever.  Hahaha, but they were all just in tears with what we were saying.  Cutest little ladies.

-Crazy crazy coming home one night TO A HAND DELIVERED PACKAGE TO YOUR HOUSE FROM ONE OF YOUR BFFS EVER CHAN!  I think I would have died if I would have seen him and his family though, but it just made my day! (: 

-Well we don’t have any super solid investigators right now, which is kind of a bummer, but that is just getting us more and more fired up each and every day to go out harder and harder and find those people who are ready to hear of OUR voices, even if it is in our Gringa Espanol (:  Everyone thinks that I am from Columbia or Brazil though, so not sure if that’s a good thing or not?)  A scripture that I loved this week I found in Lamentations 3:25 and it says, "The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.”  Sometimes the best things in life come with time and with patience. Patience is a virtue and one that I am striving each and everyday to develop more and more. The Lord has so many marvelous things in store for each of us, we just need to wait and LISTEN. 

Excited to see miracles this week. I hope you all have the best one. Keep smiling. 

Until next week, that’s all from the sunshine state itself, 

xoxoxo

Hermana Dimond 

My home gal Sister Monson (: 

And the package from Chan Chan and his fam !!! Craziest surprise! 

Olive Oil?

Hola mi familia (:(:

It’s that time again and this week on the Florida nut case show: 

WHAT A WEEK!  But such a good one! It flew, as time seems to really being doing right now!  I ended my time in cute little Miramar, we had our final hoorah with the cute members, said goodbye to Monica, who just bawled when we told her that we were leaving.  All the members died when they found out I was leaving too and that elders were coming in hahah.  But it’s fun because they are still in my district so I can ask them about anyone anytime that I would so desire.  Seriously grew to just love that area and those people.  One transfer is not enough in one area.)  Anywhoo, I said goodbye to Sister Call, who is CHILLIN AT HOME RIGHT NOW???!!  It id so weird haha, and said hello to SISTER MURDOCK, my cute new comp from Kaysville Utah, a fellow Davis Dart. (:  We saw each other at transfers and just lost it.  Still cannot believe that we are together and in HIALEAH.  We immediately just hit it off, and then got to the house and got immediately overwhelmed lol, because everything was a fat mess, there was really not too many notes on anything about the area, and we pretty much started from ground zero. But after cleaning out our entire house, scrubbing it from head to toe, 3 garbage cans later, hours of sorting and calling members, getting our 50 page ward list printed off (literally everyone is less active) we are ready to be ourselves again and go full gas no breaks and just have a party while we do it!

I am serving a mission in straight little Cuba right now so that is just making it all the more fun. Seriously every human here is from Cuba. Their Spanish is so nast, but I am determined to get a good Cuban man impersonation by the time that I am done here, haha, which hopefully is awhile.  With President Garns, he has told us that he is going to be having us stay in our areas for longer now, which just really makes me happy. I feel that is going to help the mission improve so much.  I just really want to make a mark and make a difference in this part of the Lords vineyard.  We decided that we were going to try and know every member by name and well, and since literally everyone and their dog is named Maria and Jose and last names like Hernandez, Lopez, Garcia, Rivera lol, we decided that pictures were the way to go.  Yesterday we took pictures of almost every member and us and the Elders are making a book.  Best thing we ever did do (: 

Well speaking of Cubans, bless their little hearts.  We went to go see this man Chester lol (just that name gives me the geebers) but his dad answered and told us that he was not home as he was test-driving his car.  He happened to put olive oil in the car instead of normal automobile oil?  Oh honey, good work, definitely got a good kick out of that one.  Poor thing!  Chester needed a prayer no doubt. 

We were not able to find too many people these last few days, but I know now that we are back on our feet, we are just going to have a wonderful week of miracles and finding.  It’s been nothing but a BLAST living with my little HIJA SISTER BINGHAM again!  It was so weird just like being together, but like not being comps, but we are figuring it out!  She is just the freaking best, and I consider it the biggest blessing that the Lord has put me back in her presence again. 

Met the Fuentes family last night, from Venezuela. They made me probably the best empanadas that I have ever had in my life. FAM. I will attempt to learn so I can make this for you.  You would die.  They are the sweetest family I think I have ever met.  Just made us literally feel like family from the second that we walked into their door. T his ward is already amazing, I can already tell.  Except the Bishop has some weird thing with missionaries, but we are going to change that (: He doesn't let them come to ward council?  Which is like a huge no no.  But don’t fret.  After a good talk on the phone with him, guess who got us into ward council?? (: ya tu sabes. lol.  Its gonna’ be fun. 

Well Life is just good.  It is stressful but good.  No complaints here.  Not even the humidity (: Got a quick quote that I read this week that I wanna’ share: "If everything had to be known, if everything has to be explained, then there is no need for faith.  Faith to be faith must go into the unknown.  Faith to be faith must walk to the edge of light, and then a few steps into the darkness."  Take a few steps into that darkness this week.  It will never lead you astray. 

I am so beyond grateful for the things that I am learning each and everyday.  I consider this the biggest blessing.  I feel so blessed and feel so much love. Keep rockin’ it everyone. I just love y’all so dang much. 

Tune in next week folkssss. (: This is Hermana Dimond and your watching Disney Channel (draws with the wand). (lol sorry I had to)

xoxox 

Hermana Dimond

Saying goodbye to Monica.

Saying bye to the gals and the nicest missionary house ever!

The Three Generation pic

Elder Lewis.  Literally my older brother.  Love this man!

Sis. Bingham sick once again.

And we back kids!  (:  the duo is back! 

WE'VE GOT A BANANA TREE IN THE BACK YARDDD

SIS MURDOCKKKKKK (: 

The Fuentes fammmm, Oh I love them!

Best food in the freaking world. Venezuelan food !