So, I am now in Hollywood, Florida, in the Ft. Lauderdale Zone! Still Spanish(of course) but there is so much more English here! And we are so close to the beach, it's crazy! I think we might be somewhat close to the hotel we stayed in in October for Dad's dental seminar. So my new Companion is Sister Osborne. She is from Pleasant Grove, Utah, and has danced ballroom all her life! Which is super cool, because I love ballroom!! She is really sweet, too.
It was fun to see everyone at transfers (I know a few more missionaries by now, and a lot more faces at least, ha) We white washed into our area and took it over from Elders, so as you could imagine, the house needed a bit of work. But its a really nice house! We love it. The moment we opened the door we were like "whoa" because it is so open inside! I'll send some pictures, but I forgot to take one of the outside, ha.
So the first day of the transfer was really fun (not the traffic getting to our area. of course, which should have only taken like 20 minutes but took an hour..) for the first three hours or so. We hit a bit of an obstacle while knocking doors that has made the last few days mainly stay at home days. So we don't know our area at all, of course, so we decide to knock around the chapel. What could go wrong with that, right? So we get about 30 minutes in, and come to the house on the end of the street. We haven't shared a prayer yet, and I am super excited because it's the last house on the street! Time for miracles! There was a big white gate around the whole house, but I kept saying "It will be open, it WILL" and it was! Miracle number 1! So we head right on in, and we only get a few steps around the driveway(the front door was around the corner) when this huge white dog comes silently around the corner. Him and I make eye contact and just stare at each other for about two seconds, neither one moving. I had entered first and so Sis. Osborne hadn't even seen the dog at this point. It was terrifying, let me tell you. I tell Sister Osborne, "Sister, Run" in a hushed voice and take off back toward the gate. Bad Decision! Found out later that you do not run from an aggressive dog, you crouch down and throw something at it and show it that you are ready to fight. The dog will almost always back down, but instead, we encouraged this huge dog to chase us off his property. I felt really bad for Sister Osborne. I got to the gate first but it was closed, so we lost a few seconds as I yanked it open. We both got out, but not before the dog got a few bites into Sister Osborne's legs. She has a puncture would on the back of her upper right thigh (and a huge nasty bruise now) and two on her left lower leg, one on her calf and the other around her ankle. We were freaked out, and I said a prayer right after to calm her down a bit, but no one was answering their phones. We tried Sister Richardson but no luck. And I couldn't find the new nurses numbers on the phone either, so we tried calling the ZL's but they didn't answer and the DL didn't have the number. The ZLs called us back and told us to call the AP's, who luckily answered and we were able to get a hold of the mission nurse who was working that day Brother Stahl. He is actually in the Hollywood English ward, but for some reason was 150 miles away in a grocery store (poor guy, he was so worried for us). Luckily everything worked out, we filed the police report and finally got Sister Osborne to the ER. The hospital is just down the street from the chapel. It was awkward at first, because out ward was going to have an FHE activity at 7:30, so they all start showing up and Sister Osborne and I are just chilling on the couch waiting for the police to show up (it took them an hour and a half, ugh) and then Brother Stahl called again and told us to tell the Bishop and get his help, so everyone started finding out and worrying over us, so I guess it was a great way to meet the members, ha. The Bishop was so great though, he and two members (a sister of course) came to the ER with us, and he and his wife stayed until we could leave. We didn't get home until just before midnight, and she got bit around 5:40 that afternoon. It was a long day. So yeah, transfer miracles! Sister Osborne survived a dog attack and is on the mend! She had to call home, and so now is struggling a bit with homesickness, but we are doing the best we can. We even taught a lesson yesterday! We are taking it day by day, and I have been doing a LOT of cleaning, ha, but the house needs it. The car, too. Nothing that a little tender lovin' care won't fix!
So yeah, not too much has happened since, we haven't been able to contact an investigator who the elders were working with, but hopefully we will be able to stopbyplace today or tomorrow and see what's up.
I hope all of you have a great week! I love you all so much, and even though we haven't been able to go out and work as much these last few days, we have seen miracles! We have gotten a lot of referrals from the Zone Leaders (english) and our District Leader(Creole) so we are still working! It's a new experience for both of us. Sister Osborne has been out 7 months and has served in some half English areas, so we will be working on getting better with the language together as well. It will be super fun!
Well, thats about it for this week, Bye!
Love,
Hermana Stokes
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