First of all, this week was Halloween, which is normally awesome. But when you're a missionary and you're in Florida where standards aren't quite what they are in Utah, it's not the best experience. Let's just say I thought I was de-sensitized to everything already, but I'm definitely not...Oh man, what a crazy crazy place I'm in. Let me tell you, the poor areas of Florida are like India, but with drugs. But I still love it so much, it's so fun living in a completely different culture, even if it is scary and you have to close your eyes on Halloween.
I found out that I'm racist this week, but not the way you'd think. I'd heard a lot of people say that all black people look the same, even though I'd never thought that. However, this week, I realized the opposite. All white people are the same. Every time we knock on a door and I white person opens, I immediately think "rich and rude". Then they slam the door before we can open our mouths, and I know that I was right. That's not always true, because we have met some really cool white people, but for the most part...
Also, I love black people so much! They're all so unique and fun! Especially Haitians. And Jamaicans, I have a deep love for Jamaican people. Every one we've run into has been so nice, and they always offer us food too, which is a nice bonus:)
So, on Friday we were walking to an appointment and I walked right through a spider web. I immediately thought "huge banana spider" so I freaked out a little and got it all off me as fast as I could. Luckily, I didn't see any spider. We went and met our appointment, walked in and sat on the sofa. About midway through the lesson, I felt something crawling on my head, so I just brushed at it thinking it was a small bug or something, and a huge spider fell off my head and landed on the floor! Oh gosh, I've never gotten the chills as badly as I had them there. Towards the end of the lesson, I saw the spider walking up our investigators leg, and she saw it and didn't even care! When it got to above her knee though, she just casually flicked it off, and of course it landed on my lap. I have never reacted as quickly as I did in that moment. I stood up and slapped it off, then squished it. The bottom of my shoe has a nice, yellow, mushy paste on it now...fun times. Spiders are definitely the worst things in the world.
Anyway, work wise, here's what went down this week! We've been working a lot on re-activating less active members, like John, the guy we ran into a couple of weeks ago. We've taught him three times now, and he's come to church the past few weeks, and has committed to come every week from now on!! We've also met with Oswald, a cool Haitian guy (though he's super feminine and keeps asking us for the Elder who baptized him's phone number). But we've also re-activated him and got him reading in his scriptures every day as well. Marie and Jennifer are coming back from their trip this week, so they could be baptized this Sunday! If not this Sunday, then definitely next week! Also, Jean Claude (the guy who we left a harvest blessing with who was smoking about three weeks ago) has had all the lessons and come to church twice, so he could easily be baptized this Sunday. He's lacking the strong desire right now though, so we've got some work to do this week! Also, we met with Tatyana's mum, Elta, a couple of days ago and started talking about the Plan of Salvation. It was the first lesson where she had questions that actually were about the lesson, and she listened the whole time and wanted to learn more. So we may be getting somewhere with this!!
I realized this week that I love the Book of Mormon more than I thought! I honestly never gave it enough credit before my mission, but reading in it and studying it makes me so happy every day now! Also, I have a new love for the Mormon message videos on Mormon channel. Check those out, because they're awesome!! I know that this is the true church, and my testimony of that grows every day. I know the Heavenly Father is real and loves all of us, and I am so glad for this chance to help others come to learn that too. I love you all so much! Have an awesome week!!!
Elder Skidmore
