Elder Samuel Barlow - Florida Jacksonille Mission

This week was pretty cool and it went by very fast so that was good too. I started this week out with a tradeoff and I went to the are next to us called St John's River with Elder Rawson. We had tons of fun and had fried chicken so it was a success. On Wednesday night Elder Dockstader and I put on a youth activity which was basically a Christmas Party with a couple ugly sweaters and hot chocolate and it was way fun. We have a lot of cool youth who are very willing and open to do missionary work, almost every week someone brings a non member friend either to church or mutual and it's awesome.  Lamelo and Liangelo ball at the ranch Thursday night we had two good lessons with members about how they can light the world with the people around them. Then Friday morning we went and did service at the horse place again and it rained all the day and night before so there is nothing better than scooping horse poop in puddles. All for the good though. That night we went to a priest ...

Second week of the new transfer was really good and somehow its December all ready. Wednesday we went to help Patt spread some mulch in her yard, which she is very particular about but we do it the best apparently because she doesn't even have her lawn guy she hires do it. Afterwards we got to pick fresh oranges and grapefruits off her trees and that was way fun, now our fridge is stocked with citrus. That night we went over to Jerry's for a lesson, we talked about King Benjamin and he said he was going to read the story again because it was his favorite, remember this is a devout catholic non member who totally believes the book of Mormon is true but won't ever convert. He went on to tell us about people in the world who can move things with their mind, he thinks if he tried really hard he could move a marble with his mind, I wanted to call him out right there but I thought it would be better to just let it go really funny though.  Thursday we texted Chad in the morni...

Big news for this week is that I am staying in the same area and I'm super hyped, with the same companion.  So this week was a blur. We started off with some awesome service on the beach. We ripped up a deck and watched the huge waves. Next we had interviews with the mission president and mine was good. I also got to see Sister Wood for those of who dont know she was a parent leader when I went to Paraguay for HEFY so that was really fun to catch up and talk with her.  Thursday was my birthday and I just want to thank everyone for the emails and packages I honestly got spoiled with my friends and family they are the best. And the members here are the best. The gibbons had us over and they are so awesome they made me a cake and everything so that was pretty special and it was such a blessing. The best thing that happened was I had my first baptism on Sunday! It definitely was interesting but it went perfect. The best part was that Ty who got baptized w...