Happy Fourth!

Days on a mission are very long, but the weeks are super short. I've officially been out for one month last Friday, which is way weird, but I love it! 

Last P-day after emailing, we went to Stewby's for lunch. It's a super good seafood place that a member owns and lets the missionaries eat at for free, so we go about once a week. Then we went to  Bippy's, a frozen yogurt place also owned by a member who lets missionaries have 10 oz. free on Mondays. I'm yet to meet the owners, but I already love them so much. :) 

Tuesday was Sister Stephens' birthday! While she was in the shower, I made her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from a mix and we had cookies for breakfast! I love being an adult! ;) That day we taught Jim and Vicky, a really sweet older couple that are so awesome to teach. Vicky is a less active member of the church, but has been coming back and strengthening her faith and helping her boyfriend Jim to learn about the gospel. They're like grandparents to me. When Sis. Stephens and I were almost out of water, they gave us a huge thing of bottled water, and another day they gave us a big thing of blueberry muffins. Little tender mercies! Also on Tuesday, we taught Rodrick and Akiria about following the prophet, and played a game where we blindfolded them and they had to follow our voice to be led through a maze of chairs to find the cookies. :) It's so fun to teach kids! And they're awesome learners and great at retaining information! They love the gospel and Jesus Christ, and their Grandpa Roy is a wonderful example to them. He takes them to church every week and reminds them to pray and read the Book of Mormon. 

On Wednesday, we had lunch with Eileen who's in her sixties and takes care of shelter dogs. She also has a lot of parrots, which is what that random picture of me holding a parrot is from last week. :) We taught her about the Plan of Salvation, which she loves since she has a daughter who passed away several years ago. 

Leslie is a less active member who we've been visiting recently, and he sure loves to tell us long stories. :) He lives in a nice house right on the water, so it's pretty sweet to sit on his deck and look out on the ocean as we visit. The other day he gave us spicy boiled peanuts to try. Boiled peanuts are pretty good! Weird, but good! That's how I'd describe a lot of Southern food. Also this week, I tried cheesy grits, but I wouldn't rate them as highly. 

On Friday we had zone conference, which is pretty much all the missionaries within a sixty mile radius. I think it includes three other cities besides Fort Walton. We got to meet our new mission president and his wife, President and Sister Smith! They're from Mesa, Arizona, and are super kind and chill! Sis. Stephens and I had dinner at a little boat landing dock (technically not a beach, so we were allowed to go there) and had a dinner of muffins and granola bars. :) It was awesome. 

Some other highlights from the week:

 

When it rains in Florida, it's still hot outside, so steam comes up from off the sidewalk and roofs! It's crazy!
The other day we met a guy named Frederick who told us right off the bat, "I'm drunk right now, but I'll listen the best I can." :) Don't worry, he was nice and was interested in our message, so we met with him the next day and he said he'd be sober then. He was, and he loved what we taught about the Restoration! 

This week I've learned the importance of just opening your mouth to talk to people. We can't give people a chance to learn about the gospel unless we talk to them in the first place! Sometimes it can be scary to talk to random people, but I'm getting better at it! Try going out of your comfort zone to meet new people and get to know them. We're all children of God trying to do the best we can in life. I love that in Preach My Gospel, it says, "No matter what your challenges or concerns might be, the Savior and His teachings- the gospel- will help you." I'm finding that to be so true! Thanks for all your support! Love y'all!