Hola mi familiga...I probably spelled that wrong, but it is okay!
WELL! Transfers came and went, and I am staying in good ol' Lafayette, and guess who is coming to be my companion....SISTER LEAH CAMILLE HOLMES!!!!!!!!!!! No lie, I am dead serious! Isn't that crazy! I am so excited to get to serve with her. I am sad to see Sister Aka go, but it will be a lot of fun. Sister Aka is going to be serving in Oakdale with Sister Hislop and Sister Smith (she's a visa waiter going to Brazil). But, I am very excited!
We had a pretty discouraging week in some things, but we did have a couple of pretty marvelous miracles this week!
On Tuesday we had a really long District Meeting, and then Sister Aka and I set out to go finding. We were determined to have a Mardi Gras miracle. Ha, oh and by the way, because we weren't in the heart of down town, we did not see any parades, but we did have on guy throw a bead at us, and there were 3 float/carts that were carting around the people that were too drunk to drive ha, ha. Man, when they drove by, the music was so loud, and you could just smell the alcohol. It was crazy. It made me very glad that I was not in New Orleans, because I hear it is ultimately crazy there ha, ha! Anyway! We went tracting in this cute apartment complex, and the first door we knocked on a lady opened the door said "Hi! Come on in!" And we started talking with her, and man she was just a sweet heart, and she had a ton of concerns about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She just kept asking question after question, and we got to the end of the lesson and she was excited and we were going to come back next week. Sadly, this tale has an unfortunate ending, and we gave her a call to see how her reading was going and if she had any questions, and she told us she did not want to join the Mormons because she didn't believe in Joseph Smith or the gold plates....Ugh. Man I hate it when that happens! You experience a miracle, and then Satan gets the best of them. THE WORST! Satan is a jerk, that is all I have to say about that.
WELL! Transfers came and went, and I am staying in good ol' Lafayette, and guess who is coming to be my companion....SISTER LEAH CAMILLE HOLMES!!!!!!!!!!! No lie, I am dead serious! Isn't that crazy! I am so excited to get to serve with her. I am sad to see Sister Aka go, but it will be a lot of fun. Sister Aka is going to be serving in Oakdale with Sister Hislop and Sister Smith (she's a visa waiter going to Brazil). But, I am very excited!
We had a pretty discouraging week in some things, but we did have a couple of pretty marvelous miracles this week!
On Tuesday we had a really long District Meeting, and then Sister Aka and I set out to go finding. We were determined to have a Mardi Gras miracle. Ha, oh and by the way, because we weren't in the heart of down town, we did not see any parades, but we did have on guy throw a bead at us, and there were 3 float/carts that were carting around the people that were too drunk to drive ha, ha. Man, when they drove by, the music was so loud, and you could just smell the alcohol. It was crazy. It made me very glad that I was not in New Orleans, because I hear it is ultimately crazy there ha, ha! Anyway! We went tracting in this cute apartment complex, and the first door we knocked on a lady opened the door said "Hi! Come on in!" And we started talking with her, and man she was just a sweet heart, and she had a ton of concerns about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She just kept asking question after question, and we got to the end of the lesson and she was excited and we were going to come back next week. Sadly, this tale has an unfortunate ending, and we gave her a call to see how her reading was going and if she had any questions, and she told us she did not want to join the Mormons because she didn't believe in Joseph Smith or the gold plates....Ugh. Man I hate it when that happens! You experience a miracle, and then Satan gets the best of them. THE WORST! Satan is a jerk, that is all I have to say about that.
But, after that we went and we committed the Lewis family to invite someone to be taught in their home, and yesterday we went by to see how that was going...Ha, ha, well we actually had met the people she was going to invite, and we were going to teach them yesterday, but our appointment fell through! So, we helped them out a little, at least they know that they are somewhat interested now ha, ha! But that couple is great, I hope we get to start teaching them soon. They were living in New Orleans, but they left there because he got shot for calling the police...man the world is corrupt!
On Wednesday we got put on lockdown on account of there was a huge tornado warning throughout the whole state of Louisiana. A tornado touched down in Kenner (near New Orleans), and also in Rayne (near here). The one in Rayne was crazy! The mail man ran to his truck for safety, and the tornado hit him, and he got thrown into someones house that had the roof taken off, and the truck was thrown somewhere else. It was a CRAZY story. But yeah, while we had no tornadoes over in our side of town, it was nice and sunny, and Sister Aka did some yard work while I updated our Area Book. Sound familiar? Ha, ha! Yeah, she was like..."You should be glad you weren't in there. There were bee's and fire ants." Yeah...I'm pretty sure I would have freaked out. I hate fire ants. Their bites are the pits!
Ooooooooooooooooooooooo! On Friday, we had a really neat miracle. We decided that we were going to go and tract this neighborhood called Kings Cove, where we had met a man named Shane (I think I told you about him about 6 weeks ago). Well, we have been trying and trying and TRYING to get an appointment with him, but we have had little success. Well, on Friday we decided to risk our lives, and ride our bikes down Verot School Road (where there are no side walks, it is a 2 lane road, and there are ditches on both sides! It is also one of the main roads over here!) and head towards Shanes. Well it was about 7:30pm, and we were just riding up to the turn to go down into Shane's neighbordhood when we see him! Yes. Shane just happened to be heading out to walk his dog Blue (which is the cutest pit-bull that I have ever seen! And a push over to boot.). Well, he see's that it is us and we talk about the fact that we are on bikes, and he invites us to walk with him. We walked with him, and we were able to answer questions that he had from the first time that we met him, and then we basically taught him a Restoration. It was a really cool miracle. He asked us for a copy of the Book of Mormon before we were able to even offer it, and he is excited to read it, and he really wants us to wait for about 2 weeks before we contact him, but we will see...I think we will give him a week just to check up on him. He is a really great guy, and I REALLY want to teach him. Bah. But yeah!
On Saturday we went to see the Muhindo's. I don't know if I have ever mentioned them, but they are a family from the Congo that missionaries have been working with for a LONG time. But, they only speak French, Swahili, and Ningala, and the tiniest bit of English. I say only, alright that is quite a bit of languages, but they don't speak English, and it is hard because we go to the lessons and I am a usually a useless object! BUT!!!!! I actually got to help teach, and Sister Aka taught me how to say "Can we start with a prayer?" In French! It was really neat. It felt good to actually help teach them even if I maybe made it more confusing. Oh well, what can you do? Sadly we won't be teaching them anymore, because they basically dropped us, and my companion no longer speaks French. So sad.
Well, on Saturday when we were tracting, we met a couple named Gregory and Shannon. He had just come in that morning from being off-shore, and he had to leave that evening to go back off shore. Mom and Dad, I know you're whole commuter marriage time was/is hard, but man, sometimes these men go offshore for a month or more and then they only come home for a month! It is insane and sad. But, they told us to come back on Sunday around 2. We thought they wouldn't be there, like most people, but we came back on Sunday at 2, and my oh my what a miracle it was. We go and knock on the door, and Shannon invites us right on in! We get to know her a little bit, and we start teaching her. She was raised Catholic, but she does not like it at all...the lesson that we had was amazing. We invited her to come to the Relief Society activity (which is tonight), and she is SO excited. We are going to be teaching her again on Thursday. My favorite part about that lesson was when we said goodbye. She gave us hugs so tight it was like she didn't want us to leave! It was cute. I love Shannon already, and I am really excited to start teaching her. She is so excited to read the Book of Mormon. Ah! It was the biggest miracle.
You know, number wise we have had a really horrible transfer, but we have had some pretty amazing miracles. Now some of them haven't lasted, but hey, they were still miracles that will hopefully lead them to the gospel in some future date. I know that sometimes it may not seem like I am making an impact (to me at least), but I just have to hold on to the fact that one day I'll be able to know the impact I have made (whether it is in the resurrection or my earthly future, I have no idea). But I am so grateful to be here. I am so thankful for my wonderful family supporting me. Thanks for being so wonderful! I am so happy to be here, and I am so freakin' excited to have Sister Holmes as my companion again. We will have oodles of fun.
Oh! And Brooke Thomas, if you are reading this. Thanks for the email and I am sorry I haven't written you! When we do laundry at members homes it is sometimes hard to write. Anyways, I love you all! OH! AND THE MOST EXCITING NEWS IS...I GET A CAR AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! And just in the nick of time. It is starting to get warm, and I really don't want to be riding my bike in the heat of the summer. No bueno.
Well family I love you so much and I hope you have a great week!
Love you!
Love,
Sister Stacy Jo Earl
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