Oh wow.

I GOT ONE!!! I made a sale yesterday! It broke my bad streak! I had gone almost two and a half weeks with out making one sale, and I got one yesterday!!!! HURRAY!!

As for today...I can't wait to go home. I want to be in my dad's house, see my sister, and talk to the normal people of the Springfield ward. People here in Florida can be crazy, rude, and frustratingly dense. This job is doing an incredible job of teaching me compassion, patience, and skill synthesis.

I took a nap in a church parking lot today. Here in Florida some of the parking lots are grass fields. It's interesting.

Over all, it was one of my better days.

Happy 4th of July. I'm thankful for those who had a more noble cause to live for.

Dates, of several sorts

Dates. I went on one, I have a few set, and I have a few coming up.

I went on a date with a tech on our team. It is the first date I've ever been on with someone younger than myself. BUT it was actually quite enjoyable. We went to dinner and then watched a movie at my apartment. I was surprised at how much more mature he was than his other dating counterparts. He was also very gentle - which is a nice change from the rough-and-tough guys that I work with and atrocious environment that I work in. Also, he accepted my invite to come to church on Sunday.

I have a date set to go through the temple. I'm coming home on July 8th-13th and will be taking time to get a few things ordered. Today also marks two months before I enter the MTC!
Prayers would be very much appreciated.

The upcoming date is the temple. In one week I'll have the opportunity to enter the House of the Lord and make sacred covenants. For more info about the purpose of temples, click here.
For info about the message I will be sharing on my mission, click here.

It's an interesting time in life. A lot of good things are happening, and the future is bright. For those reading, please continue to pray for me. This job is hard, and dealing with myself is hard. I am thankful for a God who answers prayers and for a Savior who atoned for us and makes up the difference when we fall short.

Much love,
Future Hermana Denker!

We can do Hard things.

Yesterday I talked with a dear friend and mentor who has been a huge help in my life. I wrote the following in my journal, and wanted to post it here for those wondering how I'm doing.

Life is all about making decisions and going for them. A bit of wisdom that I FINALLY articulated was that "success is something that assessed where you currently are. Being successful is assessed at the finish line.” Sometimes we may not know where the finish line is, so we may never feel success in our current station, but once we cross that finish line we can look back and thank our lucky stars that we kept going.

I am incredibly thankful for the hard things we do in life because during and after those hard things there are precious moments that we obtain bits of wisdom which open our eyes further than anything we could have previously hoped for. Those insights of wisdom are like flakes of gold and rough diamonds which we can continue to work with the remainder of life to form the most striking decorations to add to brilliant life crafted by our Heavenly Father.

It also hit me, again, how we have such a powerful gift of agency. We choose the type of person we are, what we will and won't react to, and what we will and won't believe.

I believe that this will be one of the most memorable summers of my life!

xoxo - Susan

A marked man

Today I marked Brian Decker as my silent competitor. I can keep pace with him – and I will. He’s beating me by only one sale right now, and that won’t be the case for long.

I called into Jean around 5:30 and asked if he had made a sale. Her affirmative answer was enough of a spark to get me going, so I went and got one. It was great.

I also bought two new swim suits tonight. A cute green two-piece and a fun red one-piece. I really needed a one piece for laps and when I swim with the guys....Oh those guys. I just feel better about being around them if I'm not prancing around in a bikini. But the green bikini is super cute and fits much better than I was expecting it to when I initially looked at it.

The joys of summer sales.

bulletproof

Today was a refiners fire. This whole experience is a refiners fire - well sauna really. Florida is horrid. It is humid, dirty, smokey, and just gross.

Wow - after I said that I realized how negative that come across. The days here are an emotional blood bath. The knocking part of my day ended with me sitting in a roach infested van with no license plates, no AC, and no gas... sobbing my eyes out.

Zac bought a work van which turned out to be infested with roaches. I think a crack dealer owned the car... Any way, the car was also not licensed, which I found out when I met Officer Bruno. I had parked the car on a street I was knocking. Thankfully I knocked into a lady who asked me if that was my car.
"Well, kind of. It's a work van that we just bought." I said.
"Oh honey, I'm so sorry, I just called the cops about it. You'd better take off because they're on the way."
GREAT. JUST PERFECT! OH FOR THE LOVE.
I actually knew I would get off just fine, being little, blonde, and from out of state reeeeeally helps. So rather than run from the cops and get myself in more trouble I waited. Once Officer Bruno showed up, I explained the situation, called my manager, got him on the phone and said "Here, you talk to him". Thankfully the cop was extraordinarily polite and nice. He advised that my manager, the van's legal owner, drive the car home. I strongly agreed, and asked the officer if he'd follow me to a local bank so I could park in their parking lot. He happily did, and then advised me to get out of my area well before dark. Everyone does. Apparently Florida has the highest population of young, single men, who are drugged, armed, and highly dangerous.

So after my encounter with the cop I dragged myself from door to door. At one door this little old lady had just rescued a dog and was trying to get him inside, so I helped her out with that and set an appointment to come back tomorrow. We'll see.

Then, around eight, I knocked on a door and started talking only to have the rudest wife in the entire world say "Do you know what time it is!?"
"Yes, around eight..."
"Who do you work for!?"
"General Electric."
"I can't believe you're out here trying to sell something so late."
I think at that point I just started to walk away, but I remember her saying "I want your card!" as I was walking back through her yard, towards the street.
"I don't have cards."
"I'm going to call and complain. It's ridiculous that you're out so late!"
"Don't worry, I won't be back."

That's when I went to car and sobbed, asked Zac how I was going to get home, and sobbed some more. When I told Kerry, Mike, and Brandon via text that we were going to wait until Zac could switch us cars around 10, Kerry called me. I just cried when he asked how my day was. I explained the whole cop situation, how I didn't want to drive, but how I didn't want to stay either. He made some calls, Brandon came to pick me up and he risked picking everyone up and driving home in roach-mobile.

When Kerry was talking to me on the phone, doing what all guys do when girls cry (try to get us laughing and calmed down) he said, "You know, this may suck now, but think about when you're on your mission. You'll be freaking bullet-proof."

Yes, with the armor of God and really thick skin from this job.

Dark Chocolate

Today, when I was in SevenEleven buying a slurpy (gross, I know) I placed my drink on the checkout counter and smiled at the girl. For one reason or another she asked if I liked dark chocolate. I answered that I did, and she replied, "Well, you should try the new dark chocolate Resses Peanut-butter Cups. Like right now, they're that good." I chuckled and told her I wasn't in a chocolate mood, but I'd try them another time. She paused, and then asked how old I was. I responded that I was 21, and inwardly thought "why the heck is she asking me that?" She proceeded to explain that she wanted to get me drunk one day and then get me to try them. Interesting, I thought. I laughed and said, "well, I don't drink, so good luck with that one." She shifted her weight, and put one hand on her hip, the other on the counter, looked at me and said, "You're a Christian, aren't you?"
"Yup. I most certainly am."
"Yea, you give off that Christian vibe."
"Really, How could you tell?" I was genuinely curious at this point. I know a lot of non-Christians who don't drink. Plus, most people don't bring up religion in public.
"You just have that Christ type aura about you."
"Wow, well thanks." I felt honored that she could still see that in me - I had been having a pretty rocky day.
"So tell me," she continued with sincerity, "Why are you a Christian? I want the honest, real reason."
I was a little surprised, but she asked with just such a real desire to know, that I told her about how when I was seventeen, my older sister committed suicide. I explained how that provoked me to search for answers to questions such as 'why are we here?' 'will I ever see Ellen again?' 'How can a loving God let something like this happen?' 'What happens when we die?'
I told her about how one night I just started asking God for answers, and explained to him that if he didn't answer me, I'd go do my own thing. At this point in the conversation I remember looking down at the counter as I was recalling those events and where I was when I had such pointed feelings. I felt prompted to look up and look into her eyes. So I looked up, looked into her eyes, and testified. I was able to testify about how God is our loving Heavenly Father, about how Jesus is the Christ, and about how even though terrible things happen in life, God still loves us and will never take away or hinder our ability to choose.
It was amazing to feel the Spirit confirm those wonderful truths and have such a wonderful opportunity to testify of God and his son, Jesus Christ. All in a SevenElven, and because of dark chocolate!!!

Now about my 'work day': I could hardly get out of the car. In fact, Spencer and I sat in the car most of the day. Zac would kill us if he knew - but I couldn't handle it emotionally. It was rough. When I got home I went swimming with Jean and Jan. Some of the office boy joined us and I won every race we did. I believe a large part of why I won is because I knew that I could. I knew that I had the physical ability to beat every swimmer there because I had previously put in the physical preparation. I also thrive off the grudgingly given respect that comes from doing something better than boys. Once a girl can prove she can hold her own in one area, guys usually aren't as chauvinistically dominating in other area's, such as work.

So I'd call today a success.

Planting a Garden

I wanted to write down a few things I thought about this morning as I was studying scriptures and planting my garden.
First – it is essential to plant a garden every morning. It is what I will sow. This morning I planted seeds of success and multiple sales. As I was studying scriptures I saw the when Christ appeared unto the Nephites they were filled with desire. Desire. That is huge. Once I am filled with desire, nothing can get in my way of success.
On a related note, I was thinking about yesterday, and how Mr. Salzman offered me a root beer. I had chatted with him and his wife the day before, and then yesterday they invited me in for a drink and break from the beating sun. They were extraordinarily sweet and gracious. He made a comment about how he liked my caliber and that’s why he was being so accommodating. I thought about that a lot as I went through the rest of the day, and part of this morning. I don’t think I’ve ever had a hard time getting people to like me – and it’s a gift.
In this job so far I’ve been able to get advice from Zig Ziggler’s former business partner, show a retired residential developer the benefits of a security system, and get Mr. Salzman and his wife to like me enough to invite me into their home.
I attribute much of my success to my dad and his practical counsel, and Heavenly Father for his unfailing confidence and support – directly and indirectly.

To bring it full circle, I see daily the tangible fruit of planting positive thought seeds in one’s mental garden. “As a man thinketh, so is he”