Week 1 in Florida

Hola familia, amigos, y mi gente!

I'M ACTUALLY A MISSIONARY!!! I love this so much! It's really hot, and humid, and it rains like crazy, and there are no miles left on our car, so we've been riding bikes mostly, but IT'S JUST SO GREAT!!!! And at least we can have a car later. I'm really grateful for that! Sorry for you missionaries who have to deal without it. But honestly, you meet more people on bikes or walking. The other day, I got to give a Book of Mormon to a guy who I'm pretty sure could have been in a gang of some sort. But he said he'd read and call us! But he speaks English, so we'd have to send the English Elders to him (darn). My area is called Tampa 5A. There are 5 areas in Tampa for Spanish speakers, I'm thinking for English missionaries too, but I actually don't know anything about the English stuff. 

Hermana Newbill from the CCM is in my ward, and my district! So we see each other a few times a week! Elder Spach from my CCM branch is also in my district, so when we all get together it's like we're back in Mexico! It's pretty fun.

Mostly we meet with less actives, there are a lot here! But we have 4 progressing investigators, and a few normal investigators that we haven't had a chance to  meet with much yet. But I have high hopes for them! Cubans are really hard to understand, like I was expecting, but I think I can understand them a little more than I thought I would. My trainer, Hma. Russell, says I'm way better at Spanish than she was when she first got in the field, 5 months ago. And now she's fairly fluent, and understands mostly everything! So my goal is to be independent in Spanish by Christmas. I think that's a pretty good goal. 

Here's my favorite story from the week: There's a less-active that Hma. Russell and her old companion had been trying to get to church for a while. He hasn't been in probably 2 years. We saw him one day while we were biking, and he told us that he and his wife are looking for a house, and he really doesn't have time to go to church. We told him he should just take an hour and come, and he said he'd try. He speaks English, so Hma. Russell had me call him on Saturday. I asked him to come, and he told me that he wouldn't have time. I told him that I would really love for him to come and to take the Sacrament. He changed his tone a little, and said he would do his best.

At church, we didn't see him or anyone else we invited. Then we walked out of the chapel and I thought I saw him. I asked Hma. Russell, and she said it was him!!! We were SO excited! We talked to him for a few minutes, he asked for a new Book of Mormon, and then he had to go. But that's not all!!!

 When we got home for the night, we had a voicemail. It was him!! (His name's Jorge, BTW). He called because he was setting up a mormon.org profile and he needed is membership number. He also asked if we could autograph his BofM so that he could always remember the missionaries that brought him back to church. We called him back, and talked to him. He said he was so grateful, and that he felt like he had come back home. It was amazing!! Even though I haven't been with him through all this, I'm just as excited as anyone! I think when a less-active comes back to church it's just as good as a new member joining! I can't wait to see more people come back, and see a few people start coming!

I LOVE THIS WORK!!! It's hard stuff, I'm so exhausted at the end of the day, and 6:30 comes way to early. But I know that I'm doing all of this for the Lord. Este es Su obra, y estoy muy agradacida por la oportunidad de ser un parte de este obra. Yo se que sin Dios, Jesucristo, y el Espiritu Santo, nada de este puede ser funcional. Esta iglesia, este evangelio, es la iglesia que Jesucristo establecio en Su dia, en Jerusalen. Yo se que tambien, El establecio Su evangelio en las Americas, y que el Libro de Mormon es un testimonio de este.

I hope everyone is doing well! I love getting your emails, and I read all of them, even if I don't respond. BTW, you can send letters and packages straight to my apartment! 

Hermana Chrysta Despain

8102 N. Sheldon Rd. #807

Tampa, FL 33615

Please please please!!! Make sure you are all being missionaries. And if the missionaries in your wards ask for help, remember that it's the Lord's work, and it's really Him asking for help. Whenever you can, help the missionaries. I know that they fully appreciate it! And if you help someone else's missionary, maybe someone else will help yours (aka, ME). 

Also! I don't have a camera cord, and I'm hoping to fix that in the near future. But for now, I can't send pictures home. Sorry! 

Gracias por todo! Hurrah por Israel!

Les quiero!!

Hermana Despain