Week 28: March 28, 2016

Good afternoon y'all,

         I hope y'all had a great Easter yesterday,  I had a great day yesterday.  But before I get into that I'll give a quick run down of the week and what happened.  So this past week has been a blur....and I can't remember anything that happened.  

       Well I do remember some things but it has just been crazy since I've gotten down here to Ocala.  But I'll try to piece things together as I write.  So to start of when we got down here Elder Dean, Elder Bore and I didn't have our apartment keys or phone.  We were supposed to meet up with some other missionaries and they were going to get those items to us.  But that didn't happen, so when we got to our apartment we had no way to get in so we did what any other guy would do, we went to the back of our apartment and opened the kitchen window and climbed on in.  We did get our keys later from the other missionaries but still no phone.  That is being mailed to us, so it has been quite and interesting week.

      Anyways on to one funny experience from this past week.  So we were out just visiting people that the missionaries would visit before we came into Ocala.  And there was this one lady on our list so we stopped by.  She invited us in, and she had a lot of amazing dogs in her house.  She trains dogs to be service animals, so some of hem were for anxiety, while others were for health issues, and even ones for who were trained to pick up dropped phones, wallets, keys, and even open doors.  It was so cool, but while we were talking to her in her living room something unthinkable happened.  A miniature horse walked around the corner from the kitchen!!!  Yes a mini horse in her house, and guess what.  It was a trained service animal.  It is able to pick up anything dropped, open doors, can be used as a support if someone has trouble walking.  The way she described it was the horse is like a cane with a brain.  It was great.

       So I guess you could say we have been having a blast down here.  Besides the mini horse we have met so many awesome people who we can see were prepared to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ in their life.  I love it so much down here and am having a blast.  Plus I have great companions, they are amazing.

       Finally I just wanted to make a comment on Easter, I loved yesterday and the opportunity we had to remember the wonderful gift we have been given by our savior.  I was so grateful for the opportunity we had yesterday to remember what our savior Jesus Christ did for us.  I love my savior and the gift he has given us to be forgiven of our sins.  I love my savior and I encourage y'all to take time out of y'alls day to reflect on the wonderful gift from our savior.  I testify that he lives, and because he lives we too can live.

I love y'all, have a great week,

         ~Elder Guinup~

Florida Jacksonville Mission

Week 27: March 21, 2016

This last week was great, first of I have some big news...I found out that I'm being transferred this week!!!!  I'm being sent to the bottom of the mission to Ocala!!!  Oh man I did not see this coming, but here's the big catch I'm staying companions with Elder Bore so this is going to be a lot of fun.  More info to come soon.

So here's a funny story: our apartment was given free Chipotle burritos, one per apartment.  This coupon gives you a free burrito with no limits, extra meat and guacamole, all for free.  But then the miracles of all miracles happened.  We saw a ton of them in a trash can, so in essence we got around 15 free burritos!!!!!  We distributed them equally but it was an amazing gift, in a trash can.

Anyways I don't have much time to write today because we are getting things set up in the area since we are both getting transferred.  But just know I am doing great and am having a blast and it is still not to crazy hot but it is starting rise up.  So hopefully it stays a little cold as long as possible.

So sorry its short, really sorry.  I will write a lot next week.  Talk to y'all later.  Bye.

Sunset Selfie over the Trout River

 

 

I hit my 6-month mark so we did a tie burning at the farm where we volunteer to mark the occasion.

Week 26: March 14, 2016

Good afternoon y'all,

          I hope everybody has had a great week this past week.  I'm running out of time to email so I'll make it fast.  So first off today was a blast, a lot of missionaries went to the Jacksonville beach are to go laser tag and mini golf.  It was really fun to do that and relax a little.  But even better was to be able to go to my old area and see my last companion elder Bangerter.  But it was a great day.

         Now for how this last week went okay.   So this past week has been a crazy blur, not to much has happened.  We have found some really awesome new investigators.  One especially isn't attending a church right now and he and his family are looking for one to go to.  He thinks the restoration makes sense, and wants us to come teach his whole family, so that's really awesome.  So lots of cool things happening over here in the hood.  I'm having a blast, so don't you worry about me.  But we are trucking along as hard as we can to continue to do the work.

         But besides that the crazy thing is I hit 6 months since I left home this Wednesday.  It's crazy to think I'm already a quarter into my mission.  But I have loved every second of it.  I'm sorry that this weeks email is short but just know I am grateful for everyone who has been supporting me.  This has been a crazy learning experience so far and I have loved every minute of it!!!!  If there is anything specific that y'all want to hear about in my weekly email please let me know!

Oh man I love the work so much, I'll end it on that note.

Love and miss y'all,

         ~Elder Guinup~

Florida Jacksonville Mission

Week 25: March 7, 2016

Hey y'all,

      I hope y'all had a great week!!!!  For those of y'all who are in the great state of Washington I've heard it's been pretty bad weather wise.  Well the weather up here has been increasing in temperature, but it isn't miserably hot yet so that has been nice.  It is like the perfect temperature to walk around outside.

     So today's email is going to be short because we went to the Jacksonville Zoo today.  But it was tons of fun, we ran around looking at all of get animals and taking tons of pictures.  So I'll add a couple pictures to this email.  But all in all it was a ton of fun, we went with a decent size group of other missionaries.  So it was really fun to just get out and be able to relax and unwind.  

      But here's the spiritual experience of the week, we were meeting with Sister J******, the one who got baptized a week ago.  We were helping her prepare to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead.  In our religion we know that because God loves us all he would provide a way for those who have past to receive the gospel.  So after we are baptized we are able to go to the temple and be baptized for our past ancestors, and give them an opportunity to accept the gospel.  As we told sister Johnson and showed her pictures of temples she began to cry.  She had told us that she had heard her sister who had passed tell her "you need to do this for me". It was an amazing experience for her to know she is doing the right thing and it was also an incredible experience for me as well.  I am grateful for the knowledge I have that through the power of God our ancestors will be able to receive the gospel.

       I hope y'all have a great week,

         ~Elder Guinup~
Florida Jacksonville Mission