Time Goes Fast!!! 3 month Mark!! 05/25/15

Hey Everybody,

It's my 3 month mark today and it's crazy how fast time has gone, I am doing really good and having a great time in the Florida Orlando Mission. I've had a pretty good week.

Tuesday I had an Exchange with the Melbourne West Elders. I went with Elder Izatt for the day. He's a pretty cool guy and he is really funny. We got to go to the beach for lunch with a member, sister robins, it was way fun eating right next to the beach, later that day we had lesson with J. he is a guy who is really progressing in the church. We read a chapter from the 1st Nephi and he really enjoys reading the book of Mormon. And I could see him getting baptized soon. Me and Elder Izatt had a good day.

Wednesday wasn't the best day I had a lot of problems with my bike, I had a flat tire, but I was able to get it fixed. The guy at the bike shop was really cool, he respects missionaries a lot and will do the labor for free and only charges us for parts. Once we got it fixed we went biking around to see some less actives, we were not able to meet with Sister A.  she was too busy. And on my way to dinner I had my tire pop again. But I was able to get a fixed for next day. I've been having issues with my bike so thank goodness it's car week haha. Dinner was great we ate at a recent converts house, his name is J. H. , he is a really good guy. We meet with him every Wednesday because were trying to keep him as an activated member of the church.

Thursday was a pretty good day we had district meeting in the morning, and just learned more on the importance of being a successful missionary and being diligent in our work. And Friday was our weekly planning and we were able to get a lot done and we're really looking forward to the next week with how the planning went. We also had another member take us to Texas roadhouse. While we were there this random guy walked up to me and Elder Weiss and said thanks for all of the hard work and service you guys do and gave us a $25 gift card. It was pretty cool.

We were finally able to meet with the B Family again, we were pretty excited about that, we had the young woman's cut out hearts and write on them about how much the ward cares and loves them and then they taped them to their door on Wednesday, so on Friday when we talked to the B's they told us how nice it was for them to do that. We had a pretty good lesson with them and taught the plan of salvation and all we can do with the B's  is help them realize how much they're needed in the ward. 

So I had a pretty good week being able to see the people we did, and I'm looking forward to having another great week. The Scripture I'd like to leave you guys with is. 1st Nephi 3:7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. I really like this scripture because I know that if we do things that is asked of us, the lord will always provide a way for us to accomplish these things. So as I am diligent in my my missionary work I will be able to accomplish the things I need to. Love ya and miss you all have a great week.

Elder Gentry

FOM

HEY! 05/18/15

Hey everyone it's been a pretty good week. Tuesday I stayed in my area
and had an exchange with the Vieira elders, I was with Elder Packard,
he goes home in two weeks. We just went and saw a lot of less actives
and had an appointment with the kernel he has been slowly progressing
lately, but hasn't been keeping up on his reading and praying. But
overall me and elder Packard had a great day.

Wednesday we met with this less active, her name is M.A. 
She is awesome she was baptized in the church but went less active age
14 with her family. She is probably like 65 years old and she feels
like somethings missing in her life and she feels like she needs that
guidance in that help that the gospel brings. we taught her the
restoration. And she loved everything about it and she wanted us to
come back this coming week so we're really looking forward to that
it's so nice to see someone progress so quickly.

Thursday was zone training meeting, it's my second one. It's where
everyone in the zone gets together and helps each other become better
missionaries. One of the missionaries in our zone gave a training on
studying effectively. It's probably something that stood out to me the
most. Because if we study effectively for the people that we want to
teach we will be able to help them grow and progress.

Friday was our weekly planning day, Saturday I went on an exchange
with the Rockledge Elders, I went with Elder Smith, he is a really
good missionary we went and saw some less actives. We had a really
cool experience with getting a new investigator for them. We talked to
this guy about the book of Mormon and he was interested and wanted to
learn more about our religion. Me and elder Smith had a great day.
Sunday was a good day as well, we got to end this week by going to a
fire with one of my favorite members brother and sister Wilson. The
members are still taking care of us really well,they are all just so
great, looking forward to a great week and hope you all have a great
week love you and miss you all.

Elder Gentry

FIRST MOTHERS DAY! 05/11/15 WEEK 10

Hey Everybody, it was so nice to talk to you guys yesterday I really
enjoyed it and had a wonderful day. This last week was pretty good.

Tuesday we had Zone Conference, it's where three different zones meet
up to here someone talk to us and help us become better missionaries.
We had Elder Clark of the seventy who does mission tours all the time
and this was his last one. He talked a lot about the effectiveness of
working through members when is comes to finding those to teach. He
asked all of us to try and develop stronger relationships with the
members in our Ward. He also stressed teaching the cans and the
wannas, the people who can progress and want to progress. Because one
thing we can't do is change people's desires. They have to want to
apply themselves to the gospel. It was awesome to hear Elder Clark.

Wednesday was the day we dodged the Florida rain. It was raining all
morning when we were studying and as soon as we left the house it
stopped raining and we got to the church. It started raining again.
When we left the church is stopped raining and we were able to go over
the cosway and go to our appointment, while we were in our appointment
is started raining again it was crazy how we didn't have to deal with
it. We had a good day and were able to meet with quite a bit of
people.

Thursday was a pretty good day we just met with a lot less actives and
try to find more people. And Friday I had an exchange with Elder
Anderson. He came down with me for the day I had to plan the day. So
we went and saw some less actives one of them is brother C.  he's
just really cool guy he got married and sealed in the temple to his
previous wife. But his wife that he is married to now is not member so
it's holding him back.he still makes it to church every once in a
while it was good to talk with him. Saturday we did some weekly
planning. And Sunday was just a good day at church and it was so nice
to talk to the family. I hope all of you guys have a great week love
you and miss you guys

Elder Gentry

HEY FROM FLORIDA 5/04/15 Week 9

Hey everyone, this has been a pretty good week. I went on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders Elder LefHoltz on Tuesday, he is from Georgia so he only lives 5 hours away. He is a way cool guy. We went and saw N.  again haha and taught him about the blessings of the temple. We also went and taught there investigator A. , the restoration. A.  is an interesting guy. For dinner, I tried for the first time Haitian food, it smelt like dog poop haha but actually tasted pretty good. Cause we kinda have to eat all the food that our members give us haha. Later we went and taught a mother and her son the importance of the sacrament. And how we can truly think about what our savior has done for us. It was a great day in Viera.

We met with one of our Less Actives Z. L. , and things have really been going good with her and we are really excited for her and we are seeing more and more of a desire to have the gospel In her life. We taught a lesson on faith and how if we have faith we need to act upon it to show love for our Heavenly Father and as we pray, read and go to church we are showing acts of faith and she is showing more and more Faith everyday.

Me and Elder Weiss went to Texas Roadhouse for the last time with the V's. cause they are going back to Utah for the summer. So we are going to miss one of our favorite members. One thing we were able to do with a couple in our Ward Brother and Sister F. We got them out to a lesson with brother and sister B., but the B's. were leaving when we got there. So we just introduced the f.'S to the B's and we were able to start that fellowship, hopefully we can meet with them this next week.

Another thing we had going good this week is we met with the K. Family. They are the brazilian family. We just talked about the church and some things we believe in for like an hour and Brother K. said, I'm willing to talk to you guys and get to know you but I'm really not interested in changing from being a catholic. So we testified to him the Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong and it changed his desire when we invited him to read and know if it is true. So he accepted our simple invitation to read from the Book of Mormon. We are really excited for them and we can't wait to see them progress 

The scripture I want to leave with you guys this week is about having faith, cause our faith In the people that we find has been tested this past couple of weeks.  It is in Ether 12:6, 6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. So as we show our faith in the people that we find we will see miracles. So we are excited and looking forward to this next week. And I hope all of you guys have a great week love and miss you all.

Elder Gentry

FOM

April 27, 2015 Week 8

Hey everybody, it's been a pretty slow week, there hasn't been much going on. I didn't have an exchange this week because it was the first week of the transfer. I'm with my trainer for at least one more transfer I'm really excited about it.

One of the more exciting things that happened this week was that we had a lesson with this lady named R.K., she is Brazilian. She has a really cool family she's married and has two boys and two girls. We gave them a book of Mormon and invited them to read it. We hope they really will progress. We could really see them being really strong people in the church, so we're really excited for them.

Another thing that happened this week is we got one of our less active members to come to church. We've been meeting with her for about three weeks now. She called us five weeks ago and said that she needs a break and she doesn't want to meet with missionaries anymore. So we gave her two week break and called her back and she wanted to meet with us some more and she's really learning a lot. She's realizing how important this is to her life. It's really cool to see this change in someone's life.

Probably the best thing that happened this week was our meeting with the B family. We had a really long lesson with them. We talked and got to know them a little bit better and just kind of hung out for a while. And then we followed them up on reading the book of Mormon. And they haven't been doing the reading. So we scratched our lesson and decided to read from 3rd Nephi chapter 11 about The coming of Christ and how Christ told everyone how baptism needs to be. The spirit was so strong in this lesson it felt like we were actually witnessing Christ talking to everybody. we stressed the importance of baptism to them. We invited them to be baptized and the whole family has the desire to be baptized but they did not set a date so we are really hoping with this next lesson that we can go in and help them really progress, we have some members from our ward coming with us to the lesson and we really hope that'll help them.  We're really excited about it! 

I'm doing really good and I'm having lots of fun here in the Florida Orlando mission. I'm really enjoying all of my experiences. I love the members of the Melbourne ward and this is such a great area. And the scripture I'm going to leave you guys with is from our lesson with the B family. 3rd Nephi 11:9-11. 9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying: 10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. 11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning. I just really like the scripture because Jesus Christ really is the light in the life of this world and he has done so much for us.

Looking forward to a great week coming, I hope all of you guys have a good week love you and miss you all.

Elder Gentry

Me and the New Elder in the ward, Elder Anderson, not my companion but glad to have him in our ward! His mom knows mom from high school!!