Well it was my first kind of week in Houma! As you can see in the subject heading it pronounced home-uh. It's pretty great here and I am loving the people. I have already begun to see my fair share of bugs and yes the mosquitoes are huge! As well as the bee's who occasionally look red and even more frightening. But more about that later. It sounds like everything is going well at home, well minus Todd and Grandpa. We are going to include them in our fast that we are doing Wednesday for some people we are teaching. I'm excited to see how everything has changed with both houses when I get back. Not that I'm already excited to come back. Anyway, to tell you about what has been going on with me. The first night in the mission home we had Jambalaya, and man was it good. I really do think that something I ate that night had wheat in it because my stomach was killing me, ha, ha! But Sister Holmes just thought it was funny so it's all good I guess, right?
Well the morning of transfers came and we were off. We got to Kenner and we waited for my companion. Her name is Sister Rachel Schulz and she is from Paradise, UT. She is awesome. I have loved getting to know her and she is such a good example to me. She has been out about 7 months and we are having oodles of fun. At first we were very focused on the work, which is good, but we are having a lot more fun doing it now. Today has been a laughing fest and I am loving it. I was kind of worried about it because Sister Holmes and I laughed so much. But it's been great today. So anyway, as I was picked up we were given a ride back to Houma by Sister Hawkin's and her daughter Rebecca, they are just wonderful and they have a HUGE saint bernard. And I LOVE it. I have yet to pet it because I fear how much it sheds. Man I miss Dave ha, ha. Thank heavens for lint rollers is all I have to say. That day I also met a recent convert named Clarence who is getting ready to put in his mission papers and he is just an awesome guy. He hangs out with the missionaries quite a bit and he just loves them. We also met the Parfaits and MAN! Wow. It was a mad house in there. I want you to picture this: You walk in there are clothes piled everywhere, stains on the furniture, children of colored on the walls, and children screaming like mad running around in their underwear. At one point during our lesson one of the little boys pooped his pants. I don't know how Sister Schulz did it, but through the madness she was able to feel the Spirit and focus. I had a much harder time of doing it. We also were able to go and meet one of my favorite people in Houma. She is a member and her name is Sister Worthey. Ha, she is hilarious. We talked about bowel movements, and my gluten intolerance, and she is just so open and awesome, and she makes me feel like I am at home. She is our mom in the mission field. And she will always buy us toilet paper if our budget doesn't allow it. But yeah, that is Sister Worthey. She is a hoot, so is her husband. He is in the Bishopric and I just love him! Oh and on this same day we went tracting and it was actually a really good experience because the first door we knocked has been a great contact/investigator! They are Roy and Shontell and they are just a wonderful family who I hope will want to hear our message. We are helping them move on the 19th, so hopefully sometime after that.
Well Thursday we did stuff, but we got a Media referral and her name is Raticha Collins. She ordered a Bible and she is looking to God for help because she has a problem with her husbands drinking. She has 3 adorable kids and we are going to teach her tomorrow. We are pretty excited. Friday, what a day, what a day!!!!!! We met up with the District for District meeting and I got to meet the Elder's in our district who are awesome and I also got to meet the Ward Mission Leader and he is just the sweetest old man I have ever met. His name is Adrien Dupre and on Sunday we had lunch with him as a District, and he told us about when his wife died (3 years ago) and then he told us how he lost his daughter to cancer (3 months ago). It was the saddest thing ever! I just wanted to hug him! But I couldn't. And he has just dedicated his life to the church and to the missionaries ever since he joined the church. And oh he is just the best. But on with the rest of the Amazing Friday! We met with a woman named Denise Begeron (Badge-er-on). Sister Schulz and Sister Myer met her at a gas station a week or two before transfers and we were able to teach her the first lesson on Friday. She is a loud, out spoken, spit fire of a woman, and I love her! She has 3 wonderful children who I think are just hilarious. But a lesson that was only supposed to last about an hour went on to be about 2 hours, and it was wonderful. The Spirit was strong. And it was truly testifying of truth. We were explaining things and teaching her and she just kept saying "This makes sense!" And she was so excited about it. She said "Ya'll are makin' me think. I'm not going to change my faith or anything but I am DEFINITELY going to be reading this (the Book of Mormon)." And we told her that it was good to not change her faith because her faith was in Jesus Christ. She is an amazing woman and we are going to teach her again tomorrow, so hopefully it will be another WOW experience. She is going to make us a gumbo and I am pretty excited. I will eat it even if it has sea food in it. Oh! We went and taught a member about the family mission plan for the stake that day and wooooooo! Oh my lanta it was a little...no a lot a creepy in there. We went in there and it felt a little off. And we started to teach and it started to feel good. Then towards the end of our lesson a board fell and all of a sudden I just felt horrid. She then goes on to tell us how creepy and spooky this place is, and I honestly think something is not right in this building. It felt like something was weighing me down. I felt like someone was attacking my Spirit and just wanted to hurt me. I was ready to cry. I was so antsy to get out of there. The spirit just kept being like leave, leave, leave. Sister Schulz said she felt like something was off, but she definitely didn't feel like I did. So I don't know what it was. It was...horrible. Anyway! So Saturday...not a wonderful day so we won't talk about it.
Sunday! Church was good, lunch was wonderful, and our lesson that night, ug. It didn't go at all how we wanted it to. We met with the Verdin (Ver-dan) family. Okay I don't know what it is, but they believe in the Bible, the Trinity, and they believe they have the power to overcome death because they are already God's because they are children of God. They believe so many things that are just so bizzare that I don't even know what to teach. But last night we invited the Bishop to our lesson and he kind of commandeered our lesson and began to Bible bash with them. It was not effective and it was very contentious. At least that is how I felt. I just wanted to yell "STOP! Contention is of the Devil!" It was hard. But we calmed it down after the Bishop had left and we asked them to pray about the Book of Mormon again and then I sang "I Know That My Reedemer Lives". It was a good way to leave. So we left. But next time...we are going to listen to the Spirit more and start over from square 1. If they are still wanting to bible bash with us, we are going to have to drop them. So please pray for them that they will be open hearted and patient as we teach them. All I know is I am here in Houma for a reason, I don't know what that is just yet, but I am loving it. I am having to be more and more patient every day and it's a good thing. My bike...I will send you some pictures, but I have no idea how to assemble it and it says to have it assembled professionally, so we are trying to find a place open today that can assemble it for us. But I LOVE it. It's so pretty and I can't wait to ride it. We don't get to ride our bikes very often (nice to know, especially since we called), but we use our cars a lot. So as soon as I get it assembled, Sister Schulz and I are going to start riding bikes to exercise. Anyway. I love you all very much, and I know that God hears and answers prayers. I also found out that anyone can email me, I just have to write them back. So if you email me, please make sure your address is on there! I would still like real mail though.
Love you all,
Love,
Sister Stacy J. Earl
Love you all,
Love,
Sister Stacy J. Earl
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