Dear Family,

I was wondering if you had gotten my flight plans yet. I don't get them until two weeks before I go home so that I don't lose them. But, Miami? That is in the complete opposite direction of home! I wonder if Church travel realizes that. Do you think that I'll still get released that night? Just wondering. It seems like everyone wants to know about going home and how I feel about it. It is kind of hard to think that in just a few weeks I'll be sitting at home playing Wii with everyone.

So, a new sister that is coming out when I go home wants to buy my bike. I said I'd sell, so we are going to get things figured out. I'm thinking that $200 for Gary is quite reasonable. I haven't really ridden my bike and it is in good quality. Plus, I'm going to need some money and shipping it home would take a lot of effort. I don't need such a nice bike when I get home. If I really need one, I'll buy a Wal-mart one for $50. I just thought I'd let you know what is going to happen with the bike.

We had a good week this week. We had such a great lesson with John and the Stephens this week! In our last lesson John told us that he would think about coming to Church on the 29th of March, but this week he told us that his wife said they should just go together this Sunday! What a surprise to hear him say that! And, his wife, who is a very devoted Catholic, even said she wanted to come and was curious about what has made her husband change from being a heathen to having a good relationship with God and praying everyday. It was amazing! We had some other really great lessons this week. A member's fiance said that we could start teaching him, and we have been waiting since Thanksgiving. We are really excited about it. Missionary work is great! You should all try and do some everyday!

I'm glad Sarah was able to meet help meet the monthly goal of having 308 baptisms! That is more than our entire mission had last year! That is crazy! Anyway, I wouldn't trade the Florida Tallahassee Mission for any other mission in the world.

This morning I was thinking that maybe Ben and Shannon's baby was born this week, but I guess not. There is a brand new baby in the branch here and it is really hard to not be able to hold her. I'm really looking forward to being able to hold babies again!

I was hoping that I would get the Saturn when I come home. I guess I'll just go with my good old truck. You still have that, right?

That is about all for this week. I love you all so much and am grateful for everything you all do for me!

Love, Joanna

Hi Family,

I have no time to write this week, so I'm sorry this is going to be pretty short.

It was crazy! We had so many miracles happen. Five of our investigators were at church. We got two flat tires, but out of it all come great blessings (people stopped to help us thankfully).

Sister Stowers was emergency transferred to Andalusia this morning. One of the sisters there is going home for some surgery.

I've been reminded of how great our Heavenly Father is. He blesses us so much! He has showered miracles down on us as we have been working to accomplish His work.

We taught Relief Society this week on missionary work. We used some M & Ms as a visual, and I talked about how in the Allred family they are Vitamin Ms. The sister in Relief Society loved it! We told them that they had to take one M & M a day so they can have daily missionary moments. It was really good.

I got the email about the Stephens. They were excited to hear that President Pleshek is my stake president. We are having them come with us this week and we are really excited about it. There was another couple from Appleton here, but I didn't get to meet them.

I love you all so much! You are the greatest family and friends anyone could every wish for. Hopefully, next week i can write more and tell you more about our miracles. I love you!

Joanna

Dear Family!

What a great day it is! We had a very happy week and had some really amazing lessons this week.

We had some really great other lessons this week. Several weeks ago, a member invited one of her friends to dinner when they were taking us out. She came and it turns out that she was blessed as a child in the church and that her husband's cousins are members and have served missions and everything. After several failed attempts of meeting with them, we finally caught them at home and taught them lesson one. It was such a good lesson and they asked the perfect questions. The wife, Gini, became one of our new investigators. Hopefully, this week JJ will also become an investigator. There are going to be great things that happen with this family.

We also met with John again this week. He is so amazing! He did his reading and has still been praying, which most of the people I've taught have not been so dedicated to either of these commitments at first. But, we taught him about the plan of salvation and he told us it answered so many of his questions and he felt that so good about what he had learned from us so far. We tried committing him to come to Church, but he told us that it would take him a while. He also admitted that he has commitment issues, and was afraid of getting committed to this before he was ready. He did say he would come to church and it will probably be within the next couple of weeks. We suspect that he knows that this is true and is a little overwhelmed by knowing that. He said that he has been "praying for the perseverance to see this to the end." He knows that "the end" means baptism because he asked us the last time we taught him. He is so happy about life and the new light we have shared with him. I want to see him baptized so much! There is a couple that is here for a few months who are converts (about 25 years ago) that were in a very similar situation to John. We had lunch with them right after John's lesson and everything they said pointed us to have them fellowship John while they are still here. We were able to set up a sooner return appointment for the 3rd of March. This is what missionary work is all about. I love it!

The couple that are going to be John's friends are some snowbirds from Appleton, WI. They are truly amazing! He is a sealer in the Chicago Temple and was in the temple Presidency there a couple of years ago. We had lunch with them this week and they are both amazing converts to the church. I'm so glad that they came down here while I was here. I think that when I'm home we should go down and visit them. They are really neat people that I think you would really like.

Transfers were last week, and now I am in my final transfer. It is hard to believe that it all is coming to an end here in a few short weeks. We, as a companionship, have decided that this is going to be the best transfer of the mission and have dedicated ourselves to it. We have some really great things that are going to happen here.

Oh, I got my hair cut last week. It was really just a trim, but a pretty good sized trimmed. I don't have any pictures yet, but I'm planning on printing some off today and I'll try and send some home soon.

I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for your love and prayers. It is so great to know that I have so much love and support from friends and family! I love you all!

Love, Joanna

Hi Family,

This will probably be pretty short since we don't have much time left today. Sorry for the bad typing too. Npothing is happening with transfers. I will end my mission here in Destin. I'm happy with it. I like it here. It is really hard to believe that in six weeks I'll be coming home.

Jose's baptism was so good! It was such a spiritual occasion. Everyone there really felt the spirit. Jose was so happy to get baptized and then receive the Holy Ghost on Sunday. I love seeing people come to receive the ordinance of baptism. It is the greatest thing to be a part of. I can only ever think of how happy Heavenly father is with each one who gets baptized.

Melissa got baptized this weekend as well. I didn't get to go even though President Summerhays entertained the idea for a little bit. Another girl also got baptized that I had met and knew her mom. It was really exciting to see that she got baptized because I had no idea. I'm so excited that things are going so well.

We had zone conference this past week and it was really good. I learned so much and had such a good interview with President Summerhays. I got a letter in the mail from President Pleshek. It was nice.

I'm sorry this is so short. Hopefully next week I'll have a little more time to write so I can write more. I love you all! Thanks for everything that you do!

Love, Joanna

Dear Family,

It sounds like your week was about as good as my week. We did have a couple of exciting things happen, though. Tuesday we helped some members lay laminate floor in their house. I was really good at it. If we ever want to put it in our house, I know what to do. Just don't ask me to measure/cut. It seems like the old sewing problem about cutting it too small is still a problem. But, we did a room in their house, and it looked good. I got a pretty good size bruise on my knee from being on a hard wood floor all afternoon, but helping them outweighs my tender knee. The other thing of excitement is that Jose had his baptismal interview this week. He is excited to get baptized this Saturday. We had some really good lessons with him, and he told our district leader this week that he was planning on serving a mission.

We had a really great lesson with a man this week that we had met several weeks ago. He had actually done his reading and had prayed like we had asked him to pray. It was kind of a surprise because lots of people don't keep those commitments. As we talked with him he told us that he feels such great comfort when he prays (he didn't pray often before) and he really finds the Book of Mormon interesting. Then he said, "I don't know what all this is leading to or where this will all end, but I really like meeting with you. I don't know if I might have to say 'no' sometime in the future, but I want you to keep coming back." I was shocked! We don't always have the most interactive lessons, but he actually asked us questions and made comments. But, he is really nervous about everything because he hasn't been too religious in his life and doesn't know what to expect. He told us that he wouldn't be able to meet with us every week right now, but once he gets a little more comfortable with religion he would. So, in two weeks we are going to go back. He is such a great person! I feel really good about him.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful here! It is hard to believe it is February when it is sunny and 70s here. There were a couple of cool days, but nothing to really complain about. I think the lows were in the thirties.

There have been several people from Wisconsin at Church. A member grew up in Waukesha (I think) and his mom has been here for a while. She said that she knows Shannon's family from way back. Their last name is Lillian. Does that ring a bell Shannon? There is also a couple who is going to be here for a month or so from Appleton. She told me that they have a granddaughter at BYU.

Thanks for the Valentine's Day package! The cookies were great! I also got a reimbursement check from missionary medical. I might try and cash it here or just wait until I get home and cash it then.

This week we are looking forward to Jose's baptism and also zone conference. It should be a really good week. Next week is transfers. I don't know what is going to happen. I'd like to stay here, but I don't know if that is what would be the best. I guess we'll see what the Lord has planned.

I love you all! Thanks for everything!
Love, Joanna