GREETINGS

Return: July 21, 2011

Monday, July 26, 2010

July 26, 2010 - Oakdale, Louisiana

Hello everyone!

It has been a wonderful week here in Louisiana. Yeah, Hurricane Bonnie never became Hurricane Bonnie ha, so it was tropical storm bonnie that dissipated and we just got some of the rain! I got the package and thank you so so much! I LOVED the shirts and my companions are jealous. Ha! Sometimes I like that I am bigger than them so they can't wear my stuff, but then I wish I could wear theirs, but oh well. Will you PLEASE tell my darling brother that he needs to stop being sick, that he needs to talk to you about it, or else I'm going to have to come home to take care of him and taddle on him when he's really bad. Seriously. Tell Grandpa that I love him and he needs to get better! I am sending them another letter today. Hey did anyone ever move into my room? Or is it just all boxed up?!

I'm glad Jessie liked her gift! I still have yet to see their house/apartment! And I swear Steve was JUST ENGAGED! Man, once they decided that happened WAY fast! You most definitely will have to send me some pictures of that AND Lake Powell. Jessie Bohannan is home?! Tell him hello and that he is awesome. Is Cindy is Alaska? Or is she in Lehi and she just has Capri? When do Paul and Alicia go to Hawaii?

Anyway, it has been a pretty good week!

On Tuesday and Friday we had a really good lesson with Nedra. She has so many questions and is excited to learn more! We committed her for baptism! Well, she is going to pray about baptism! We are going to teach her about what it is...she doesn't really know what it means to be baptized, but then again, WHO DOES?! Most of Louisiana thinks it's just another flouncy plouncy thing! BUT IT'S NOT! Ha, but! Yeah I am really excited! She is asking a lot of questions about the afterlife. She's pretty concerned about it.

We also are getting a musical fireside in the works for here. President and Sister Woods are both coming and President is going to sing even! Jeanette (I think I mentioned her last week) said she is going to try and get the local TV channel to record it and air it. President was pretty stoked on that idea.

On Thursday I was able to go and give Beau the copy of the Glenn Beck story, and he was so excited! So thank you for that! He will give it back, so no worries :D We haven't followed up with him yet, but sometime this week we will. So I will let you know how that goes!

On Friday we taught a woman named Carolyn. OH MY GOODNESS! She had a really cool experience. She was telling us how she knew the power of prayer. After her mom had died she just kept praying to the Lord to help her to know that her mom was okay and that she was in Heaven. She then had a dream. She said her mom looked like she was in a hurry and she asked her "Mom why are you in such a hurry?!" And she said, "Because there is so much to do! I need my pearls!" I don't know why she needed her pearls, but then Carolyn asked "Where are you?" And her mom said "Paradise." WHAT! Awesome. Yeah. If you don't know that the awesome part of the Spirit World is Paradise, read Alma 40. It was a really cool story. We dropped our jaws during the first lesson and then went on to teach part of the second! It was really cool.

Something that is crazy about Louisiana though is that SO many people have experiences with evil spirits and have visions that come true... it's weird! And honestly some of it is true. Sister Holmes, Sister Jack and I all came to the conclusion that it is because Voodoo was practiced here and a lot of people believe in that kind of stuff, so Satan has the power to go in! Satan is a jerk. He can just twist and distort and then people dwell on things and then Satan can possess them and it is freaky! I am so grateful that that has never happened to me! Anyway...

Jennifer! Jennifer....well. Basically she told us she is going to go with her family to the Pentecostal church because she feels most comfortable there. WHAT?! I don't understand. Going to our church is calm and peaceful and invigorating because the Spirit...people speak in "tongues", run around like crazy, and I just don't understand how that is the Spirit. I am glad I was born in the covenant. Mom, Dad, thank you for being members of the church and for not leaving it! I am SO grateful that I know this is the true church!

Beverly and Wayne came to church! YES! We had 3 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH! AHHHHH! So exciting. Beverly was in a lot of pain because she broke her pelvis like 7 weeks ago and just hasn't recovered and she fell a couple times this week, so it just hasn't been healing so well, but she still came! AMAZING!

We had a lesson kind of with Sister Sherwood... we yelled a little bit. It was sad. We were arguing because she doesn't think the temple is important. We told her ... We are supposed to obey the words of the prophets right? You obeyed when you had to get food storage right? Well the prophet told us that we need to be a temple going people. Why is food storage more important than the temple? ... She didn't see it was important. We can't bring it up anymore or she'll eventually stop coming out with us. So it's sad. I wish I could help her see. Maybe when I leave I can write a note, but I don't want to drive her away from missionary work. Anyway enough about that.

I love you all so much and I am grateful that I am here in Louisiana. I know that this is where the Lord needs me. Sometimes I may not see why I am here, but I know that I am having experiences that will change my life and the lives of those around me.

You are the bestest family in the whole entire universe! Love you

Love,

Sister Stacy Earl

No comments:

Post a Comment