Spring has finally arrived in Orlando, Florida!

 

Drum roll please, I am happy to report that frosty windows in Orlando, Florida are now

a thing of the past.

 

 

Spring has finally arrived! The weather has been in the 80's for the past three days with a light breeze and although I know that the HOT weather and humidity are probably not far behind, I am loving the warmth and sunshine.  In fact I am not the only one...

 

 

I am not sure if I am suddenly more observant or if in fact all the creepy crawlers, once hidden, are now out basking in the sun. Everywhere I turn little lizards slither by.  This little guy greeted me outside the Mission Office when we arrived for the day. Another poked his head out of the vent at the back entrance of our temporary home, but was camera shy.

 

 

 In honor of all the Florida alligators which I have heard so much about and still have not actually seen (not complaining just stating a fact) we decided to purchase a Wally Gator toothbrush holder for our new apartment. We pack up and clean bright and early Wednesday morning, April 3rd, drop our things off at our new apartment and then quickly head back to the Mission Office for work.
I can't believe I am actually saying this, but I am going to miss our little room.  It was clean, quiet and perfect for our needs at the time.

 

 

 On Friday night we had to say good bye to Uncle Barton, his Florida vacation had come to an end. His daughter, Natalie, and nephew Adam, left on Thursday morning after spending the past few days at Universal Studios so I think he was ready to relax and hang out with us old folks. We met for dinner at a Mexican restaurant by the name of Abuela's.  The funny thing is that I mentioned to Elder Busath when we arrived that I thought the word "Abuela" meant grandparent, something I learned from watching Handy Manny and Dora the Explorer with our grandchildren. Well Barton, a returned missionary from a Spanish speaking country, confirmed it! Thanks, Lucas, Mason, Jill, Dax, Cale, Jett, Charles, Thomas, William and Sienna, for helping Grandma learn a little Spanish. I wish you were here to continue to help me because the ward we live in speaks Spanish as well as English and we are actually planning to attend weekly classes given by our very own missionaries to help us better communicate with our new ward friends.

*On a side note, I just discovered that one of the young men in our ward has two cochlear implants!  According to my source he got them as a small child.  He would like to learn sign language and serve a mission one day signing to the deaf. I haven't met him yet, but he bore a sweet testimony today of his recent experience at Youth Conference even though he just had his wisdom teeth out and his face was still really swollen.

 

 It's Easter time!!!!

Without a single pot or pan available until next week we made use of what we had. Eggs, dye, water and vinegar, check. The eggs may not be hard boiled, but they still turned out better than I had hoped. My refrigerator and I are so happy :)

 

If you squint your eyes and put your nose right up to the screen (I am laughing just picturing each of you doing this) you can actually read the names on each of the eggs. Grandpa, Grandma, Esslinger's, Gibson's, Bacchus', Hudson's, Busath's and Peterson's.  Just a wonderful family of good eggs!

 

 

Even though we failed to notify the Easter Bunny of our new address,

we still had much to be grateful for.

 

It's Easter Sunday!

 

It has already been a wonderful day, and it's only half over. The weather outside is beautiful and we are thinking about packing up our roasted chicken and potato salad from Target and having a picnic at a local park. We are looking forward to skyping with our grandchildren later today and with the 3 hour time difference we may just stay inside and anxiously wait for their call.

Our church meetings today were inspiring and we actually took every opportunity to introduce ourselves and make new friends. To be honest that is not something we would have been comfortable doing just a few short weeks ago, but wearing the badge of a missionary helps you to do things you wouldn't normally do. We even had the privilege to meet with our Bishop briefly and get acquainted. The best thing is that during the course of our conversation we now have a special assignment. Six weeks ago the stake re-aligned all the ward boundaries and the Bishop wants to be sure that EVERYONE in our ward is made to feel welcomed.  Many letters were sent out informing the new ward members of the changes and inviting them to join us, but unfortunately a large number of letters were returned due to bad addresses. 

Our new job is to find those people whose names appear on the returned letters.

We are so excited, seriously, and can't think of a better way to get to know the area,

offer our support to the Bishop, and serve the Lord!

 

We are so blessed and are grateful for your support. Even though we miss being with our families and friends we know for a certainty that we are where we are supposed to be.

 

In closing, just some food for thought as we celebrate Easter.........

 

" He is not here, but is risen."  Luke 24:2-6

 

"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it." 

The Prophet Joseph Smith

 

 

Amen