NOVEMBER 07, 2016 

 I WAS BORN IN THE GHETTO, I THRIVE IN THE GHETTO!

Hey Everyone!!!!

Its hard to believe that I'm HERE! Its so great! Its nothing like i ever Imagined but I love it still the same! 

Florida is great! the weather is perfect. There is water EVERYWHERE. Its so green and awesome! The bugs are crazy and so for that reason,I have to wear PANTS....yup. but its all good, i dont want Zika. 

My first dinner on Tuesday was with a Cuban. I had no idea what was going on the entire time and felt like I learned absolutely nothing in the MTC. BUT, I feel like I have already made so much progress with my Spanish! The first day was the hardest. Ive learned that I really hate knocking. A lot. I'm not sure why. but honestly the biggest thing is that we keep a good attitude and are positive about everything. Its hard. Its not supposed to be easy or even fun sometimes. That's not the purpose. 

But I LOVE the people. Especially all the recent converts that we work with, they are amazing! i love them!!!! They all have amazing stories and are truly converted to this gospel. Its inspiring. Their faith is amazing. I love talking to them and they are so patient with my Spanish its awesome. 

Our ward is so great!!!! They are so loving and awesome. Everyone just kept on giving us food ahahah. We got like these random zip block bags of crackers and stale cereal. It was kinda odd but that's just how they show their love and appreciation to the missionaries. Yesterday we started meeting with the auxiliaries to try to locate the less-active members and it got us SO EXCITED to go to work. We are really feeling so motivated and excited right now. This week is going to be amazing!!! 

My companions names is Hermana Leslie. Shes so sweet and patient with me and I am so grateful for her!! She is from Idaho and just awesome!. All the missionaries here are exactly obedient to everything. Its not cool if your not obedient.Its going to be so good for me! Im so ready to just learn and grow so much. 

Right now I am serving in the Miami Lakes North ward. This area is pretty much all Spanish speakers which has been so great. I have met people from all over the world. Its the definition of a melting pot. The people are so loving and humble here and I have just been so blessed to be called to serve them. I am not 100% confident in my Spanish at all but I am working so hard and so motivated to be able to talk and interact with them more. 

I'm so ready for this experience. Its hard. A lot harder than I ever imagined but it gives me so many opportunities to exercise my faith in the Lord and his will. I know that HE called me here to represent him to these people. I know that HE knows me and loves me and all of his children in this area. I truly love these people so much. They are amazing. Im so humbled to be given this opportunity. I cant wait to have another week out here. I love you guys and am thankful for your constant support and love for me! I can feel it all the way down here in Miami Gardens, Florida! I pray for all the time! Stay close to the Lord! 

Hermana Staffieri

OCTOBER 31, 2016

HOLA!

Primero, I love you all. Thanks for the constant support and love! You guys are awesome! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I bought myself a Bueno Bar at the tienda today and enjoyed every bite. I don't know how I have never had a Kinder Bueno Bar before but they are amazing! With that being said, the last day in the CCM has been awesome! We haven't done a whole lot but I'm totally okay with that. We hopefully are going to play a good game of Vball after this and then its just back to packing and repacking and then packing again. Everyone is getting so excited to ship out and we are all so prepared and ready! This has been such an awesome experience and its hard to believe I am already heading out to the campo pero yo soy muy lista! (don't judge my Spanish) 

This week was great! The highlight of my week was by far, TRC. I'm not sure if Ive explained TRC before but its when members or nonmembers from outside the walls come in and we have the opportunity to teach them! This week we got to teach a sister who has 2 children and is a convert to the gospel. She was so awesome! Ill attach a picture of her! I love her! We taught her all about Enos and his mighty prayer to the Lord. She was so enthusiastic about the gospel and excited for the work! The thing we focused on the most was Enos 1:9 and how when we are truly repent and forsake our sins, we will be so filled with the Lord's love that we will can't do anything but share the gospel. I testified that that was why I was out here. I love the Lord and know that without him I would have no hope. I have had true repentance and I have felt the joy and love of the Savior in my life. This is why I am here. I have such a love for the people of Florida and everyone I come in contact with. I am so grateful for that because it makes serving them come so easy. My purpose is to invite all to come unto Christ and believe in him and partake of all that his true gospel has to offer. I love this gospel and know it is the true church on this earth. 

​I'm nervous but so ready for Florida. I have been well prepared through my MTC experience and have tried to just love every minute of everything, especially through the challenges. I don't know perfect Spanish and I know its going to be hard but I am so ready! ​I don't think I'll get to email again this week but just know that I love you all and pray for you daily!! Thank you for everything! 

Hermana Staffieri

OCTOBER 26, 2016

THIS IS AWESOME!

Hey Buddies, 

So, my time at the CCM is coming to a pretty quick end! I know a lot of people hate their MTC experience but I wouldn’t trade mine for the anything! This past month and a half has been the ultimate roller coaster of emotion. In the beginning, it was pretty hard. I honestly felt like this wasn’t for me and I wasn’t going to be able to make it but somehow I did! My faith in the lord’s plan for me has increased then fold as I have taken the time to strengthen my relationship with him. Everyday I’m out here is just a new opportunity to grow and learn more about Him. I am so grateful for this adventure. These next 18 months are going to be so amazing and I am so blessed and humbled to be able to represent our Savior, Jesus Christ, and his restored gospel on this earth. Often in the beginning I found myself exhausted and worn out having to do SO much and be SO much in such a little time that I got pretty frustrated with how difficult this work can be. But, as I learned more and knew my savior more I realized that difficult his life was. I’m in the service of Him so why should I expect his work to be easy? when did he ever have it easy? Not to sound cliché but, nothing of worth comes easy. I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is just to find joy in the struggles. It doesn’t matter how hard your working if you don’t have joy all the while and a lot of the times the joy is the hardest part. In Russell M. Nelsons talk he said that None but that saints can feel joy under horrible circumstances. True Saints feel joy in all things. 

On another note, this week was really awesome! the highlight of my week was our lessons with Vanessa and Mitzy! Vanessa has always been kind of hard for us to teach because she doesn’t get really into our lessons. Although, this week we taught her about how the gospel blesses families and she really loved it! I love teaching about that because I have such a testimony of it! I am so grateful to have the gospel in my family and I know that it has blessed my family right now and my own future family. Our lessons with Mitzy were so awesome! She has had the hardest life and so the gospel can help her so much! We had our last lesson with her on Monday and the spirit was so strong! I testified about the love of the savior and just felt so much love for her and the people I get to teach in Florida! I’m so excited!!! 5 more days!!!!!

The typical hilariousness occurred in my district this week. Everything is just so much more because Dwight is our new District Leader. Not gonna lie, we were all pretty much losing our mind because of it! Every free moment that we aren’t studying or in class, we play mafia. I get pretty into it. We for sure had some major alliances going down. 

I also made the coolest Latino elder friends this week during our service project! They are so crazy about futbol and we bonded pretty hard over that! Oh, and I also taught them how to fold fitting sheets for our service project so we are best buds now. Every time they see me they yell my name even though it’s so hard for them to say haha. 

life is so great here! I’m having the best time! This is the best decision I have ever made! my scripture for this week comes from 2 Nephi 1: 23, it says ¨Awake, my sons, and put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust.¨ We are constantly being attacked by the adversity on a daily basis so we need to put on the armor of righteousness every day! Satan is just as real as God and Jesus Christ. I challenge you this week to arise and be ¨absolute¨ in everything we do. I miss you all and pray for you every night!

Hermana Staffieri