SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON
MAY 5, 2014
There are now 143 temples in the world! A highlight of this past week
was the dedication of the Fort Lauderdale temple yesterday. They
broadcast it to all the chapels in Florida. You had to get a special
temple recommend slip specifically for this dedication. We were told
that for the dedication, the church would act as an extension of the
temple. And it was! It felt just like going to the temple. It was most
members first temple dedication they'd ever been to. I was glad I'd
already been to a few so I could fill everyone in on what it was and
what they needed to bring and do. It was so happy to have our 4 recent
converts all there.
Here are some cool things from the dedication:
-President Uchtdorf was there and gave the dedicatory prayer. He also
gave a great talk about some of the "pioneers" in Florida. Early
church members that faced persecution from their peers, but held
strong and paved the way for everyone else. He made all the Floridians
(a word which he had a hard time pronouncing) feel special and
blessed.
-everyone talked about how for south Florida, their temple used to be
SLC, then Arizona, then DC, then Atlanta, then Orlando, and now they
have one down there!
-did you know the church has a huge cattle ranch in central Florida?
It's called desert ranch and covers several counties. So basically,
the church owns about 3% of Florida. It's the biggest cattle ranch in
the world apparently.
-a great quote by George Q. Cannon about how every time a temple is
dedicated, the power of heaven on earth gets stronger and the power of
Satan decreases.
We have gotten so much rain this week! And thunderstorms too. We got
stranded outside when we were walking and didn't have the car when
this huge storm came. We huddles under the porch of a members home,
who wasn't home, then called for help from our ward mission leader and
got a ride.
I became an expert at repainting grout in tile this week! As well as
using a squeegee in washing windows.
We watched the movie Legacy with Jaime and Sierra last night. It was
fun to introduce them to some more of church history! Plus I love that
movie. Also, I think I'll take my trials, over the pioneers trials.
We had a great lesson with Tim and Carrie, our investigators this
week! Remember when a Sister Waldron and I went and sang to Tim's
sister who was really sick and in the ICU? Well, the elders gave her a
blessing as well. And she survived her stay in the ICU and is
confident that she was healed through the power of God. So now she is
investigating the church along with Tim and Carrie! Pretty neat!
I have been thinking a lot these last few days about the story of the
Widow's mite. And about my offering that I am giving to God while
serving this mission for Him. It doesn't matter the amount that
everyone else is able to give, but what matters is that I am doing my
best and trying my hardest. And that is enough.
Transfers are next week, it's a good possibility that I'll be
transferred...but we'll see! I get to go to a session at the Orlando
temple this Thursday! We get to go around our halfway point and then
again at the end of my mission. It will be great!
Sister Richardson
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