Hello everybody!
Well sheesh! Everything just seems to be changing around the house! I can't believe it! Ha, ha! But, it does sound like things are going splediforous at home! So wait, Todd replaced one engine, why are there 2 in the garage? Oh, and I LOVED the picture of Andy in the boots, ha hilarious. Um yes, I got to hug Sister Worthey and you mom! ;) I love her! It was soooooooo good to see her. I can't believe it's been almost 7 months since I've seen her. She's just the best. I think I am destined to go back to Houma at the end of my mission. It just wouldn't be right if I didn't get to!
But we won't dwell on that now, we will focus on the here and now in Covington. Things are going pretty well. We didn't get a lot of teaching appointments in this week for various reasons. Tuesday--we helped the relief society with one of their "meetings". We helped with the set up, during, and clean up. But hey, we got a free dinner in the process. Unfortunately there weren't really any missionary opportunities there, so our time could have been used elsewhere. It was good to get to know the Sister's a little bit better though. This ward has so many wonderful people, and it's been nice to get to know them. Wednesday--we had interviews with President Woods. Well it was really good. I was able to get a lot of questions answered about missionary work, and I also was able to have a heart to heart with Sister Woods. I really needed it. Oh she is just the best. But that lasted pretty much most the day, so not too many teaching appointments. Thursday--it was our weekly planning, and we were doing pretty well until we got to the end. It took us a little bit longer to sort through some things. Then on Sunday, we had church, and a meeting with Elder Gay (he is the area Seventy I believe). So that cut into our teaching quite a bit, but we still had some really good things happen. And I will tell you all about them...right now... yes.
Monday we got to do a little bit of service for a woman named Ollie Walker. She is a character. Remember Princess and the Frog? Okay...well how about Mama Odie on that movie? Yeah, she reminds me of her, but put her in 80's pant suits...awesome! Ha, ha! Anyway, we were able to rake her leaves for her, and it was weird. I don't really remember raking leaves much, but Sister Clawson was like a pro at it! She really likes yard work, and I can't figure out why! I guess someone has to. Ha. But! It was fun, we did it in our skirts, and I felt like one of those old fashioned women who did everything in their cute little outfits. It was fun. I wouldn't want to do it all of the time, but it was an experience!
On Tuesday we tracted this cute little neighborhood called The Village. And we found a really cute girl named Carly. She actually has a friend that is serving his mission and she said she did want to learn a little bit more about the gospel! So we have been trying to see her, but it hasn't been good timing. So hopefully we will be able to see her again. We were also able to make some other really good contacts, and we are excited to see them again!
I mentioned that on Tuesday we helped the Relief Society, and their activity was assembling gift jars (like ones with food and you add certain ingredients, and bam! You have food?), tiles with vinyl lettering, and the huge clothing swap thing. Man alive! There were SOOOOOO MANY CLOTHES! And half of them were butt ugly! For the life of me I could not figure out why people would wear so many of these ugly clothes...I guess we wore them in the 90's...some of them even the 80's...but a lot of them were way ugly. I should have dressed up in them and taken a picture...alas, I did not. Oh well! It was fun.
On Wednesday at interviews, we had this way inspirational instruction from Sister Woods about following the Spirit. Well that night we got home, and pretty much all of our plans had fallen through. We sat there in the car, and said a prayer about what we needed to do. We kept feeling promptings to go certain places, but people either weren't home, or were sick, or it just didn't work. So it was a little frustrating, but I figure the Spirit was testing us to see if we would really listen. And we have been having more success as we listen, so that has been marvelous.
Thursday we went to follow up with a girl that we had tracted in to, and her name is Caitlyn. I don't know how interested she is, but we were able to give her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she said she would read! It was a long conversation, and it was really good! I hope we will see her this week, spiritually that lesson was awesome, but the worst part was I was EATEN ALIVE!!!!!!!! I hate mosquitoes. I had 11 bug bites on my right leg, and like 5 on my left. Ugh, I would much rather have them bite my arms, they don't itch as bad. I don't know why, but it's true.
You asked me what my favorite teaching moment was, well I would have to say it was our lesson with Bettie and Sister Conlin on Friday morning. Bettie really likes Sister Conlin (She is the Stake President's wife), and we were able to talk about the law of tithing and the law of the fast. Bettie was just so accepting! She basically said, "Well, Jesus gave me everything, so why can't I give him something!" And she said she had no problem with fasting! Every time Sister Conlin testified of something, it was wonderful! Bettie didn't interrupt her at all! And she tends to interrupt us on everything. Ha, ha, sad but true. Oh I forgot to mention that Bettie went to the doctor this week, and I don't know if I told you, but she has been having a lot of health problems since early September, well she went to a cardiologist because her Doctor told her she should, and guess what! She had a freakin' heart attack in early September! No wonder she is so weak! On top of that, she had bronchitis, and a bad reaction to some medication she was taking. So basically I thought she was full of fooey, but she has legitamate reasons to be the way she is ha, ha! So I kind of feel bad, but it's okay, we'll just help her gain a testimony, be baptized, and everything will be alright!
Also, on Friday we had a really good lesson with Doug. We hadn't been able to get a hold of him for a couple of days before his appointment. We had scheduled a member to come with us, and we weren't sure if Doug would be there. I told the member that he should just plan on it, and if he wasn't he could go on his date night! We were really worried he wouldn't be there, but I just had this feeling of peace that it would work out, and that he would be there. I just knew that he would be. We pull up to our appointment, and he's sitting outside talking to the mailman. I love Doug. He is a really good guy, and I guessed he was in his 60's...wrong, he's 74 ha, ha! Man he's old. Even though he doesn't show it much, I think he is truly excited about what we are teaching. I really do.
The meeting with Elder Gay was really neat. He told us that we need to double our convert baptisms. Ha, President Woods said "Right now it seems impossible, but I know the Lord will provide a way!" I just kept thinking how true. Right now everything seems pretty near impossible, but I know that when we work our hardest he will provide a way.
I am so grateful that I am serving a mission. I am grateful for the people that I am serving. I am grateful for the members and all that they do for us, and I am grateful for my wonderful family and friends that are supporting me at home. I really am. I definitely couldn't do this without your support. I look forward to every email, and every letter I get, so thank you for all your support. I love you so much and I want you to know that I know this church is the ONLY true church. Being here I have learned that other churches claim that as well. Some people ask...well how do you know? I remember that Joseph Smith had that question as well, and that he did as James directs. He asked God. This week I had the opportunity to finish the Book of Mormon for the 2nd time on my mission. I was able to get on my knees and to ask our loving Heavenly Father if it was true. I know it is. That is the only way you can know if this is truly the Lord's church restored to the earth. That book, is the thing that sets us apart from the worlds churches. I know it's true. For any of you who read this, if you don't know it's true, REALLY read it. Study it, and you'll know.
I love you all so much really I do. Thanks for all the prayers.
Love,
Sister Stacy Earl
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