Week Nine

Entering the MetroWest area from Kirkman Rd

Our apartment is in Harbortown 

We live in the MetroWest area of Orlando, and had a chance to take a few pictures while walking during our exercise time that we occasionally take. It's beautiful and we love living here.

Farewell dinner for the Gebs (far end of the table). 

Last Monday our seniors district had a farewell dinner for the Gebs, who will finish their 23-month mission in another week. They work in the office doing cars, bikes, missionary welcome & release letters, phones, IT, picture board, and many other things.

Map of the Mission Units and Apartments

We finally finished the map of the mission, with ward & stake boundaries, churches, missionary apartments and hung it on the wall in the mission office. The mission goes across the peninsula to the Gulf of Mexico in one small area, but is mostly centered in central Florida and along much of the eastern coastline.

Picking up Medical Manuals & Handouts

Jan prepared a medical manual to describe some of the health problems, what symptoms to watch for, and standard treatments. We had copies made for each missionary apartment so they can refer to them for questions.

 Yesterday we helped the Busaths clean out the storage closet at the mission office to make a more private office for Jan to field her medical calls & talk with missionaries. We moved some of the storage shelves to the mission home and the storage garage, and took a load of worn-out beds, drawers, and other furniture to the Goodwill using the mission truck & trailer.  It was the usual warm & humid weather, and we had sweat salt deposits on our clothes by the end of the day. We picked up the printed materials during one of the trips in the truck, and decided the boxes they put them in looked like take-out food from Taco Bell (Kirk's favorite). 

Sis. Nielson trying out the new Med Office

Elder Busath after hanging the
Mission Banner

Cleaned-up mission furniture
stored at an apartment garage.

After the moving & cleanups today we changed and drove down to the St Cloud area to attend a baptism. It was in the Ellsworth ward chapel by the church ranch.

The church ranch entry sign

A silver lining over this cloud

This was the third baptism for the sisters there in the last 4 weeks. The evening scenery by the church was beautiful ... we saw a silver lining around a cloud, and caught a beautiful reflection picture in the pond behind the church. Best of all, though, was the good spirit at the baptism ... the peace of the spirit that comes to those who come unto Christ and show their faith by making covenants with Him through baptism. 

A peaceful pond behind the Ellsworth Ward church

The sisters, ward mission leader, and
Bro Ramsey with his children

The man who was baptized is a faithful

father of 3 children, who were there to witness his baptism. We drove home afterward, rejoicing over our blessings to see and participate in the Lord's work here in central Florida. Even the rain & lightening were beautiful to watch.

Week Eight

This week we had combined conferences with the DeLand, Leesburg, and Orlando Zones on Tuesday and with the Orlando South, Hunters Creek, and Cocoa Zones on Wednesday. They included gospel and proselyting training by Pres. Berry and the assistants, nutrition, exercise & rest guidance by Sis. Berry & Sis. Nielson, apartment guidance by Elder & Sis. Busath, and auto/bike training by Elder Gebs (picture below).

Lunch-time briefing on car & bike policies for the North Zones

Answering an apartment question

On Monday pre-dawn, Jan took and made calls to get a missionary into the ER for kidney stone treatment, and later in the day worked to get another missionary into another ER for a P-day concussion. She used her time at the conferences checking many others with concerns over flu, allergies, foot problems, bites, and infections. We continue to be inspired by the dedication of our missionaries, who try to keep working through their problems so they don't miss out on teaching opportunities. They are well-focused on their purpose here, to invite people to Come Unto Christ. Nevertheless, Jan has to remind them to get sufficient rest and treatment to avoid relapses and complications that could consume more time if ignored.  

The FOM banner  

The Berrys used some games & competitions among the zones to bring a lot of fun into the meetings. At the end of the conference they brought out a Mission Banner and allowed each missionary to make a commitment to do his personal best by adding his thumb-print and name. 

Elder Nielson with the pinata

After both conferences there was time to renew 

acquaintances with friends & companions from previous assignments. The piñata shown here was made by an Hispanic sister for Pres. Berry, but many people there thought it looked more like Elder Nielson, who posed for a "likeness" picture.

We had many good visits with the young missionaries and caught a few pictures with some of them as shown here.

Yesterday we attended the baptism of a man who has been taught recently by the sisters who live close to the mission office. He's shown at the right with his wife and two middle children. The sisters who taught him are shown with Jan at the upper right, and his oldest daughter is with Jan in the lower right picture. Their baby was asleep when these were taken. The wife and daughter were baptized previously. There was a joyful spirit among all who attended the baptism, but particularly with the man who was baptized. We were blessed to be there to witness this baptism. They also served the best empanadas we've ever tasted!

Week Seven

Saying bye to Sis S

Tuesday we said goodbye to Sis S, who is returning home early to her family for rehab on her foot & knee as a result of a car-bicycle accident (she was on the bike). She has been doing on-line proselyting from the mission office for a few weeks to minimize her time on crutches, and has been loved by the office staff. 

New missionaries and their trainers at the follow-up training meetings

On Thursday Pres & Sis B conducted follow-up training meetings with our newest set of missionaries and their companions. As always, the meetings were uplifting and enjoyable and the lunch was great. Sis Nielson presented video clips and discussion on adjustments to missionary life, getting enough rest, and avoiding stress.

Spire of our church building with the
 Orlando Tempe spire behind

The Orlando Temple is across the street from the Stake Center building where we had the meetings, and provides a beautiful setting. It is such a bright white, and stands above most of the surrounding landscape, adding an inspiring touch to the whole area. We caught this photo while taking the trash outside after the meetings.


On Friday we had a meeting with Elder Kopischke, of the First Quorum of the Seventy and the mission leadership council. Again, an uplifting spirit, good training, and opportunity for questions and answers with him.  

Sage insight at a restaurant

Saturday our 'Seniors' district visited a Farmers Market and the Charles Morse Art Museum in Winter Park, close to Orlando. We saw this advice when walking by a dessert/bakery restaurant on the way to the market, suggesting an alternative that Sis Nielson could discuss in her next presentation dealing with stress.

Fresh Peaches

The Farmers Market

The museum is primarily devoted to Tiffany collections ... lamps, artwork, furnishings, and a re-assembly of the 1893 Tiffany Chapel that was shown at the Chicago world's fair and later damaged by fire. Picture taking is not allowed in the museum, so we have only our memories of this interesting place.  

Sis Nielson continues to help with missionary medical concerns for our mission and the Jacksonville mission, with many dozens of calls & texts every day that help missionaries navigate the medical system, get treatment and advice, and make us thankful to be serving here in Orlando. She also dispenses much motherly advice, sympathy, and sometimes the "work it off" guidance to help us lose ourselves in this great cause of inviting people to Come Unto Christ, develop Faith, Repent, be Baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End. There's rarely a meeting without her leaving several times to take the calls, consult with the mission presidents or their wives or the regional Dr in Atlanta. 

Saturday afternoon we enjoyed helping Elder & Sis B move beds & furniture to and from different missionary apartments and trying to avoid the afternoon rainstorms. They're fun and uplifting people to be with. The mission district/zone map is still progressing from the prototype shown here.     

  
   

Week Six

Ducks fleeing the rainy parking lot.

We kept the camera in the car this week and caught a few pictures of the Florida scenery during the course of our work. These ducks were crossing the parking lot in the rain when we went to a bookstore to find a Portuguese Bible. 

Wildlife in front of the Mission Home

The wild turkeys were wandering the street in front of the mission home when we went back there to look for Jan's lost keys to the car and the mission office. They went missing about 10 days ago during transfers. We're told that a neighbor feeds these turkeys to keep them coming back. 

Our new Brazil flag at the MO

Our Portuguese missionaries brought us a tray of 'Brigadeiros' (creamy chocolate balls rolled in chocolate sprinkles) and a new Brazilian flag. Everyone in the office enjoyed the chocolates, and we hung the flag on the wall by the copier at the mission office for a few days. We now have it hung in our apartment.

Our Portuguese Elders & illustrations

The missionaries came by the next night for dinner and to teach us a lesson on the Plan of Salvation (in Portuguese). They're great teachers, and are working hard to find the Brazilians, who seem to diffuse into the English-speaking wards rather than staying together in groups. The picture here shows them after the lesson with the figures they used to illustrate the Lord's plan of happiness.  

Sister Nielson taking a call in her 'office'

Sister Nielson has been busy in her role as mission nurse, responding to medical needs and concerns among our ~210 missionaries plus those from a similar number of missionaries in the Jacksonville mission, which was added to her assignment last week. The space in the mission office is a bit cramped, since her calling didn't exist years ago when the office was laid out. She often works from the Assistant's desk by the copier, but frequently goes outside the front doors of the mission office for better cell phone reception and for privacy to discuss confidential matters. Yes, it's actually quite private outside because in 90-100 degree weather and a similar high range of humidity (heat index in the 100's), nobody lingers outdoors here. This happens so much that she started setting a chair outside, and on this occasion, the mission accountant brought a little table, complete with cover and a bottle of cold water for this photo-op. 

Sis Nielson's calls stack up, oftentimes 3-deep, with missionaries on her land-line, her Florida cell, and her Utah cell phones, mostly between 7 am and 11 pm. She spends much of her daytime arranging appointments with doctors and specialists, taking missionaries to medical appointments and physical therapy, and helping missionaries figure out whether they have an emergency or just need some over-the-counter medication or to get busy and work it out. Fortunately, the Lord has blessed her to perceive the underlying needs and circumstances and to find doctors and resources to meet the continually-arising needs. She does all the medical charting on the LDS medical web site, and her companion helps upload the digital x-rays & MRI files to the church servers and sometimes accompanies her in transporting missionaries to/from appointments. 

Sis. Nielson showing her 'found' keys

Pres & Sis B are very involved with her in contacts with missionaries, parents, and others and they have to make the hard decisions about treatment at home vs in-the-field. 



Sis Nielson worried a lot about losing her keys during the transfers, and retraced her steps almost everywhere looking for them. Then on Friday this week, she found them in the bottom of the first aid kit that we keep in the trunk of the car. Sis B called it the miracle of the keys, after even moving out her fridge to look for them.

Friday evening Temple Tour

Friday we went to a 'Temple tour' where the tour guide explained the purposes of LDS Temples, our beliefs about families, our pre-earth life, where we go after this life, and the importance of vicarious ordinances for those who died without having a chance to hear and accept the gospel and the atonement of Christ. The tour group walked around all 4 sides of the temple while covering the important doctrines of the gospel. There were about 50 people there, half of which were investigators of the church.   

The Orlando Florida Temple on Friday Evening

The temple was beautiful after the tour, with its lights making it stand out as a beacon of the light of the gospel to the world. We're glad to be serving here in beautiful Florida to help the missionaries and support the Lord's work in every way we can. Sis Nielson fielded about 6 calls during the tour, getting a Jacksonville missionary into an emergency room, but kept coming back in her dedication to participating in the tour. 

Flowers outside our bedroom window in Orlando

English class announcement we made for the Portuguese
Elders on some Brazilian group Facebook sites.  

We live in a beautiful area of Orlando: Metrowest















Our Portuguese Elders identified some Facebook sites used by Brazilians in Orlando, and asked for help to post a notice about their English classes for Brazilians. 

Week Five

Our 19 new missionaries with the Mission Pres & his wife.

This week we saw our first transfers, which including 22 new missionaries who arrived on Monday in two groups. The first 19 (shown in picture) left the MTC around 5 am and had a cancelled flight to Orlando, so got rerouted via California to Philadelphia, where they got onto a connection arriving in Orlando Monday night. 

Sisters striking a creative pose.

   

We served them dinner at the church, after which the Sisters went to stay at the Mission Home and the Elders stayed at some other places. Three more, visa waiters, arrived later that night with different routing. One of our Portuguese visa-waiters finally got his Brazil visa and left today.  Our little Sister comes from the same town in Idaho where Jan was raised. The next morning they went to the church for interviews, assignments to their new "Trainer" companions and travel to their assigned areas.

Loads of baggage for the incoming & outgoing.

On Tuesday there were 16 Elders finishing their missions with final interviews, going to the Orlando Temple, and then coming to the mission home in the evening for dinner and farewells. We continued to have daily afternoon deluges of rain, which dampened the shoes, but not the spirits.

Shoes drying at the Mission Home

Jan & Sis B visiting with the departing Elders

Farewell Cake

Enjoyed much visiting, singing, testimonies, and last good-byes for dear friends. 

Last dinner at the Mission Home

Wednesday was filled with medical and office work, which also gave some rewarding visits. Jan & Sis. S gave a Book of Mormon to the physical therapist they've been working with. Thursday we received a new Sister to work in the employment resource center & helped move some furniture, recorded month-end vehicle records and received 6 more cars to replace those being sold-off or otherwise replaced. We also had a call from my former work colleague that he and his wife received their Brazil visas this week and will soon leave to work in the Porto Alegre Temple. 
Friday we continued to pick up sick and injured missionaries to take for medical tests and treatments. Received more bikes for new missionaries and shipped out some old ones to returning missionaries. Saturday we had a nice visit with the cable guy who came to fix the internet/cable receiver in our apartment. After seeing the family picture on our wall, he talked about his family and we talked about the church proclamation on the family and the values it teaches. We sent his address for followup by our missionaries.

Saturday night we talked to a man in the grocery line who noticed our missionary tags and said he was LDS. We gave him meeting times here, and he said he'd be there tomorrow. This morning we went to his ward to possibly meet him, but instead of finding him there, we were introduced to an incredible Brazilian member of that ward, with whom we enjoyed dinner this afternoon, and learned of many more Brazilian members and friends whom we had not previously identified. Also gained a better insight of Portuguese language interactions with Hispanic- and English- speaking members and investigators.  

Week Four

We’ve been getting feedback all week from missionaries around the Orlando area to identify Portuguese speaking people in their wards and the reports continue to come in. Kirk has continued to work on changing the pdf stake & ward boundary maps to the same size scale so we can merge them like a puzzle to get a mission-wide map of ward and stake boundaries. It’s progressing, but it's been slow to find time to work on it.

Jan talking to Sisters during a break in training.

Jan put together a powerpoint presentation about stress management for the trainers meeting on Friday, and Kirk helped with the powerpoint formatting & slide advance. The picture at the left shows Jan talking to some sisters during a break at the meeting. 

The whole group of trainers gathered at noon for a picture with the Mission President & his wife just before lunch (below).  

Experienced missionaries who will help train the new missionaries who arrive next week.

The senior couples serving at the FOM office with us.

This week we’ll welcome more than 20 new missionaries and we’ll say goodbye to 15 who are finishing their missions and 2 who got their visas to other countries. One has been our neighbor, and we’ll miss him so much, as he now goes to Brazil.

This picture shows us with the other senior couples in the mission office, whom we have really enjoyed getting to know and work with. They have helped us so much in getting settled here.

Friday we had a great evening going to the Orlando Temple and seeing a family of five get sealed together for eternity. Their two sons were about 8 and 15 years old, their daughter was about 12, and they were able to understand much of the divine and eternal nature of the sealing ceremony that was performed to link them together as an eternal family, even after this life is over. One of the elders who taught and baptized them a year ago was there to witness the ceremony. He finishes his mission this coming week and will return home then.

Spanish moss on roadside trees

Spanish moss grows on many of the older trees alongside the roadways and adds its beauty to the dense foliage. We’ve enjoyed the beauty of so much green vegetation here.

Sister B with a Mexican hat 

Our senior district went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Saturday, celebrating Sister B’s birthday and bidding farewell to another couple who finishes this coming week and will return to their home. We love them !

Week Three

Birds in our wayside pond.

We tried to make time to walk for exercise this week, and made it three times. It’s beautiful in the early morning and soon becomes hot and humid. This picture shows a pond along our walkway. There are always a few white birds at this pond (White Ibis? Baby Storks?). At first we thought they were statues because they stand so still, with no ripples in the water, but on the way back we saw they had moved. So now we know.

We met with the Mission Pres about working with the Portuguese-speaking people here. He wants us to get more information about where they are and how to reach them. We’re told that their population declined greatly during the economic slowdown. We often hear Portuguese at grocery stores, but so far have identified only a few dozen Brazilian members among the wards in South Orlando. Most have gone into the English-speaking wards. We estimate there could be about 16,000 Brazilians living in Orange County, mostly in South Orlando, compared to about 300,000 in all of Florida (mostly in the Southeast). They are overshadowed here in South Orlando by more than a million Brazilian tourists that come to Florida each year, for the theme parks, sightseeing and recreation, and shopping. We’re told that prices here are about half of those in Brazil for many items, so this is a great shopping destination. We like to send referrals to Brazil, but we get more excited over Brazilians who actually live here. We have met with our Portuguese missionaries and ward & stake leaders to help us understand the Brazilian demographics in our mission, which will be ongoing in the months ahead.

Jan worked nearly full time this week on medical concerns. It looks like we’ll lose a couple of missionaries this week over injuries and to receive treatment. Most of our other sick and injured are continuing here, setting some great examples of faith and perseverance! One elder passed 3 kidney stones within a week, with only a few hours at a hospital, and has faithfully continued his missionary work on splits with young men in his stake to increase the coverage for him and his companion. Jan checked the swollen knee of another whom we met biking back to his apartment. Kirk, the elder’s companion, and our mission accountant gave him a blessing and Jan gave him a brace & instructions on icing and treatments for the coming week. Jan follows up with her medical contacts regularly until they recover or return home.

We went to the Orlando Temple this week with our seniors district, and bid farewell to several who are returning home. We need more senior missionaries to fill in for those who are leaving, particularly office specialists, member leader support, and employment specialists. Let us know if you want to explore this opportunity to serve in sunny Orlando!

Sugar Mill Ruins at Ponce de Leon Park

Yesterday on our prep day we went with our mission accountant & office secretary in the mission truck & trailer to the Ponce de Leon Park, kind of close to the Atlantic coast. The park has ruins of an 1800’s era sugar mill, and more importantly, the Fountain of Youth. Jan enquired of an elderly lady using a walker if she was there to visit the fountain of youth. She replied that she’d been coming there for many years, but it just doesn’t work. Pois é. The next picture shows the mission accountant, secretary, and Jan by the dried-up fountain, which is now diverted to a nearby pool (for external use only).

Sign at the Now-Dry Fountain of Youth

After the park the four of us drove near

Accountant, Secretary, and Jan @ Fountain of Youth

the coast to convert a former senior couple apartment to one for a pair of young missionaries by exchanging furniture, adding another desk, etc. A tenant in the adjacent building introduced herself and asked if we were moving in, so we explained we were just preparing the apartment for younger missionaries. She kindly offered to donate an end table & a pair of lamps, which we gratefully accepted for use in some of the other missionary apartments. It’s nice to meet good people! 

We spent the rest of Saturday visiting a few sick missionaries scattered around the mission and delivering white boards to some others for planning. We are continually refreshed by the faith, courage, and diligence of our wonderful missionaries! 

Today at church we were glad to meet Brazilians from three separate households in our Spanish/ Portuguese ward, plus a family visiting Orlando from Sao Paulo. Visited another dear Brazilian couple after church who attend an English-speaking ward and lived for years in Utah. Our members are so kind and supportive!