Adventures in Florida! *cue confetti* : Week 2... JAX Beaches

Hello everybody!!! :)
Well here I am. In Florida. I am in Florida.
It. Is. So. Weird. To. Be. Here. But. So. Awesome.
I LOVE Florida!! From the moment I got off the plane I just kept thinking to myself.. "this is where I need to be..awww yeaaaahhhh"

I think my favorite part, so far, are the trees. K. The trees here are GORGEOUS. Why didn't anybody tell me this before?? They are these beautiful knotted oaks with Spanish moss draping down from them... Ohhh they are incredible. AND there are like lizards and frogs EVERYWHERE. WHHHAAAAAAAT?!?!?! THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!! I like to catch them. I’ll try to upload some pictures. :) The weather is super humid but beautiful. I love the humidity. Keeps my skin nice and soft. And sweaty. (ew). haha. There were some pretty big cockroaches in my apartment. Which made me laugh. (I laughed to stop the blood curdling scream from escaping my mouth) Haha.

I am serving in an area called JAX Beaches. And yes. We are by the beach. 5 minutes from it. *cry* haha. Sis J and I drive on the road that is parallel from the beach ALL the time. And the beach is juust out of sight. It just sits there. And is all "Yeah Sis Chamberlain... I'm the ocean... not only can you not go in me... you can't even see me!!! MUAHAAHHA!!" Pure evil I tell you. Luckily, today was our p-day and we were able to go stare at it. And it was beautiful. And I cried. Cause I guess I do that when I see beautiful things. It was really weird to be there without you guys. I thought about you and smiled a lil :) So my area is like... super super super beautiful. It's breathtaking. It's suuper posh. I live in Ponte Vedra. Which is basically a very swampy area dotted with multimillion dollar houses. No biggie. It's fun tracting and going up to these mansions and knocking on the big door. I have expected Brad Pitt to answer or sooomething. It's usually old men without shirts on... (ew..) haha.

We are opening the area of Jax beaches. Which means whitewashing. Which means no investigators. Which means lots of tracting. Which means lots of no's. Which means frustration and disappointment. haha.. Get the picture?? I had all this wonderful zeal and enthusiasm from the MTC and I get out here and I have to set up my apartment (which is SUPER nice by the way) and sit and feel like I’m being unproductive and it was just THE WORST. We had a lot of down time where we had to do pesky little tasks and that made me bored which made me think of home... and then I got homesick and then I got mad at myself and BLAH BLAHBLAH. I think you get the picture. Haha. But fret not! Prayer is an amazing thing and I don't think I’ve ever prayed so hard in my life. Heavenly Father gently let me know that I needed to get over it and forget myself. haha. It was awesome :) It's funny how that works. I also realized I had just barely gotten out and whitewashing is hard and to be patient with myself. I actually heard dad and mom say that to me in my head. haha. So thank you. You guys are such a great blessing to me. And I get soo much strength from you it's amazing.

My companions name is Sister Joseph! She is a very sweet girl. She is very much an introvert, likes reading, riding horses, and anime. She is VERY mild-mannered which is a good contrast to my spazzyness. Sis J has an amazing testimony and is probably one of the most genuine people I have ever met. I really am learning to love her a bunch!!! She is great!!! :) OH! She went to Snow College and watched me perform on LTI. Awesome right??? :) I am definitely in the Lord's hands though. There have been so many tender mercies. I saw my MTC companion at stake conference and I almost exploded with joy cause of how happy I was to see her. I love her. The end.

I finally met the bishop and the relief society pres and they are AWESOME. I love them so much. The bishop is very young and has an adorable family. His house is in the middle of a swamp and it’s just gorgeous. He is a surfer and travels with his wife everywhere. They are such a cool family. The relief society president also has an amazing family!! They are so nice and they made me feel right at home! They remind me of the family off of "Meet the Robinsons" Her parents live with her and they are just a hoot!! Her dad's jokes remind me of your jokes Dad :) Basically everyone here is super nice. There is Utah nice... and then there is southern nice... which is like Utah nice on steroids... goodness! People in the shopping marts are sooo nice!!! And people love Jesus here! Just not Mormons. haha.

Oh and the clouds here and amazing. They are sooooo BIG!!!! Massive huge clouds of awesome!!! :) And they RAIN! And when they rain... goooood glory it rains it rains it rains :) I love it. This really is the perfect place for me. I love my mission president and mission mom. They are so caring and loving. Oh. the Bishop was talking to sis J and I about sister missionaries and got all teary! It was so tender!!! He is such a great man and I am blessed to be working with him. The ward has a really strong desire to hasten the work. Which is beyond awesome!!! I am so happy things are finally starting to fall into place! :) I just love the Lord with all my heart. He has blessed me so much out here. Even though we have 0 investigators and 0 potential investigators... I am so excited to be seeing some "mighty miracles" :) Also, be nice to the missionaries in the ward!!! Do anything they ask and offer them service! They love that. Especially when a non-member or a less active is involved. :)

I love you all so so so much!! I am so blessed to have so much support from home. I sure do miss ya'll and I think about you often. I hope all is going well with you and I can’t wait to hear from all of you next week!!! OH. My address is 110 Clifton Court Ponte Vedra Beach Florida 32082 apt #308 :) So send me letters there. Please. *twitch* haha. I am doing great out here and I am absolutely LOVING IT. I'm glad I still have 17 1/2 months to go cause I still have a lot of work to do! I love you bunches! Keep smilin and don't forget to pray! Remember that Christ will always carry your burdens IF you let him! :)

Kiakahaehoa!

Love, Sister Chamberlain :)
p.s. .... Hi..