The Errand of Angels: Week 21 Undercover cops and a Manatee mailbox on Treasure Island

Hello Everyone!

(Double click Location on the right to see where I am: Gulfport, Pasedena and Treasure Island)

How are you?! Long time no see! Oh wait, that's true. I have officially been out over 5 months! Wow... Well, by Mother's Day I will have about a year left.

So this week has been really good! We had some really powerful experiences! This area is very different than Carrollwood but I do love it a lot and am so grateful to serve here!

I also learned this week to be very patient with people overcoming addictions. In a lesson with a member who has resorted back to drinking I literally just started sobbing and so did Sis Bush for her because she didn't desire all of the blessings God could offer.  I started sobbing when she said I would have to be patient with her because she wasn't ready to give it up. For some reason I just could not stop crying so she asked me to come sit next to her on the couch and she held me, same with Sis Bush who was also crying. What an interesting phenomenon ... it was actually one of the most powerful experiences I have had. She was so much more open to different things following the meeting. I love her. She is an amazing woman who has been through more trials that I can ever imagine.

Another two experiences that I wanted to share relate to God's infinite love for ALL and EVERY ONE of His children.

Our schedule had been funky with lots of appointments falling through. But I KNOW that if appointments fall through, that God has a better plan for us. So... we had to find what that was. We were biking and Sis Bush called out to me (I was in front) I turned around and she saw a man that I didn't see when I passed by. She briefly saw him, rode by, and then the Spirit distinctly said, "turn around." Woah. I am SO SO glad that she listened to the promptings of the Spirit. We stopped and talked to him. We testified of God's love for him, that God had a plan for him, prayed with him, etc. The man just literally kept on saying thank you and kept on wiping away tears. He had just been praying to God, pleading with Him (right before we talked to him). He knew that we were the answer to his prayers. He said he was moving the next day or two and didn't have a phone (just got turned off and didn't have a new address or something like that). Sister Bush and I were unsure the extent of the experience, but we know that either we were instruments in God's hands of saving that man physically and/or spiritually. He knows that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and one day that will lead him to joining the Church. This experience was so humbling and so beautiful.

Right after him we saw a homeless guy sitting on the grass by the sidewalk. We felt like we should stop and talk to him (side note: we have learned that we can't share the gospel with everyone, so know we have to go by the Spirit. Many of the areas we teach in could be considered "the hood" and there are innumerable amounts of people always outside. The first day we visited this part of town and did talk to everyone it took us almost three hours to go a half mile to our referral's home. Its awesome, but going by the Spirit tends to work quite nicely). So anyways, talked to this homeless man that was literally skin and bone. We knelt down next to him. It was amazing because I didn't even think about how funny this looked with us having our bikes parked on the sidewalk and kneeling on the sidewalk next to this homeless man talking to him. We shared a Book of Mormon with him and taught him some from it about Christ's love for him. It was beautiful just really feeling God's love for this man.

I know that God loves each of His children so much! It is amazing the love I feel for people as a missionary. I am so grateful to feel it :) I couldn't help this week to think of the stories of Christ finding the one lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/luke/15.4-7?lang=eng) and meeting the people "one by one" (3 Nephi 11:15-16 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/11.15-16?lang=eng). He really cares about the one.

Visited one less active, invited her to church, and she came. She hasn't been in years. People in the branch were shocked that we had convinced her to come. Honestly, we were just nice and went by the Spirit. Sister Bush was speaking so it was an easy invite. It was awesome! She is coming again this Sunday!! Loving others goes such a long way.

People in St. Petersburg are very receptive of us but kind of hesitant as well. We either get, "are you 13?" or "why are you asking so many questions?" I am pretty sure many people think we are undercover cops. We have decided that we are undercover spiritual cops. But I guess not that undercover because we have name tags.

The picture is of a funny mailbox. Sis Bush and I saw this one when we got lost on Treasure Island (look up a map of that! our area is Gulfport, part of St. Petersburg, Treasure Island, and Pasendina (name?). We started singing "Barbara Manatee" from Veggie Tales when we saw it. 

We have lots of pictures of funny mailboxes. Oh, how I love it!

My invitation to you this week is to pray about the one person you can help this week. And try to reach out to the one... maybe someone discouraged or downtrodden or someone that just needs a smile.

Have a great day!

Sister Jenkins

This is what I ran to this morning :)

Please, don't be too jealous.