Don't Be in a Hurry

It has only been 4 days since I last wrote but, again, there is a lot to say.

Let's start with Thursday. Sister Baker arrived safely and Sister Totterer left with me crying a little. Sister Tebbs and I didn't really know who she was and so we waited till they called her name to introduce ourselves. We went straightway to go get her luggage and--eek!--her luggage was not in the "Clinton/Jackson" Zone room. She said she had marked her bags correctly with green tags but could have made the mistake of putting yellow on instead (the colors were very similar). We told the APs (Assistants to the President) and they got right on it to warn the "Sliddel/Gulf Port Zones" that her bags were coming down. The day was spent in Clinton emailing, lunch, writing letters, dinner, and finally just chilling while Sister Baker played piano and Sister Tebbs wrote her letters. Elder Edwards dropped off her bags and the bags of some others who had done the some thing. Unfortunately, her bike hadn't made it, so that will have to be delivered later this week. It made for an interesting first adventure.

The next day it was warmer, so we spent a good portion of the day walking rather than using the car (even though we had 90 miles left). We visited the Diamond family. Sister Diamond in about 95 years old and still does most of the cleaning and cooking. She has a son and daughter that live with her and her grandson and sometimes great grandson that live with her. After talking for a while and hearing stories from Sister Diamond's childhood, we shared a short spiritual thought from Alma 26 as Ammon talks of how his strength comes from the Lord. To our shock and awe, Lydia and Fred (her children) joined our thought and even gave a little input. It was an amazing feeling. As we walked on, we met our investigator Rosa outside and stopped to talk to her. Her cats were a distraction so most of the conversation was about them. Sister Baker laughed as Rosa lifted one of her felines up above her head like baby Simba in the Lion King. We always have a good time when we are with her. We ended our day with my semi-Chinese dinner in honor of it being Chinese New Year: terriyaki chicken with vegetable-yellow rice. Yummy.

Saturday was really neat. First off, we had a lesson while tracting, that doesn't happen as often anymore since the mission has challenged itself to have an opening and closing prayer with each lesson. Then we met with our investigator Alaysha, found she was 14, but she was so eager to learn. We read with her 3 Nephi 11 and talked about God's love that he sent Jesus to visit those here in America. I have good feelings that Alaysha will be able to truly feel God's love for herself. Later on in the day we stopped by our investigator Joy's home. Last time we saw Joy she had told us she was going to focus on her bible (meaning she didn't want to read the Book of Mormon). In respect to this we asked what she was reading in the Bible and she said 1 Corinthians when Peter and the apostles are passing out the sacrament. We read and discussed that and then I felt like I should go ahead and share where it talks about the sacrament in 3 Nephi 18, briefly mentioning how it needs to be done with proper authority and how we shouldn't cast out those who partake of it unworthily but to minister to them and pray for them. To my shock, her church only partakes of the "passover" (as they call it) once a quarter and last week we talked to someone who only takes it once a year. That hurts to hear that. In 3 Nephi 18 it uses the word "always" when describing the sacrament, and through modern revelation we know that means weekly at church. I'm grateful for the understanding in this church of baptismal covenants and how the sacrament is a renewal of that covenant, because it means the sacrament is that much more important!

So on Sunday in Fast and Testimony Meeting, following my goal to bare my testimony every month, I stood up and gave a brief retelling of this experience with Miss Joy and how we had had several times in the passed week that the importance of the sacrament had been brought up to us. Its a sign to me about just how much the Lord works in repetition. The scriptures are another sign of this and the Lord's pattern with calling a prophet. How grateful I am for the scriptures. I love studying from them. I feel so much smarter and happier the more I read. I pray everyone can feel like this, and I know everyone can! Its the promise of the Lord. So liken and apply everybody!

Last thing to mention, the weather--of course. I was warned once before I came out that Mississippi has weird weather. I knew Utah was known for strange fluctuations, but my companions have all remarked how mild Utah is compared to this. Tuesday it iced and snowed, Friday was warm enough for short sleeves, and then Sunday it down poured like Niagara Falls! To add to this it's predicted to snow again on Friday. Say it with me--OY! We were short on tracting hours (one of the only things that have a quota of getting per week) and so we had to go out in it. We walked for about half an hour before we met a nice man named Jerry. His wife wasn't home so we sat on the porch and he asked us questions. They pretty much all pertained to the Restoration lesson that we teach as missionaries and so we taught. At first we were nervous because often times when people have questions, they want to bible bash or debate about gospel doctrine, but the Lord has blessed us the last several days to find people who are truly just curious. Their fear is that we will pressure them to convert but even though it sounds like that's our aim, our purpose is merely to invite. I love the relief that you can see come over people when they understand this, like the Savior as he said "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden" (Matt. 11:28), and we invite them to learn more. As we talked the rain steadily came down harder and harder and as we left Mr. Jerry's we decided that it was understandable if we didn't get our full 7 hours this week. We were only an hour short but in the 40 yards from Mr Jerry's porch to our car we all were head to toe soaked. I looked over my bag in disappointment, my camera had water on the lens (it dried off this morning) and my scriptures appear to have just a little water damage as well, that is they are slightly wave-ier than they were at church yesterday. I can still read them and they aren't completely falling apart, so I don't mind, its just a memento of the devotion I showed to the Lord on my mission. Everyone thinks we're nuts just for walking in the hot and cold let alone the rain.

Bad part about the rain: first, the humid, and two, the bugs that come out with the humidity. Yep. Middle of winter and I have bug bites up and down my legs, they itch so bad! I need to go back to tying a fabric softener sheet on my bag. It worked before.

To tell a little about Sister Baker. She's from Utah--SURPRISE! Haha, so many missionaries are from Utah, in fact, she knew a hand full of these elders and sister out here while in high school. She's from Kalesville, Utah. Has 3 brothers, 2 older and 1 younger. She is a total nerd and loves Doctor Who and wears Whovian socks and a Loki shirt. She's 20 years old and was saving up for college before she came out. She's been in the field 6 months, all of those being in Bogailusa, Louisiana (Bo-ga-lu-sa). She's a pretty joyful person but can get a little stressed at things. It sounds like this could be a pretty good transfer as long as we can keep her calm about all the work that will go into it.

That's my life. Trying to follow spiritual promptings, teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who say they already "know" it, and praying for those that just don't understand the full picture.

In my readings from the Ensigns, I've been reading in the June 2010 Ensign. Several articles have stood out to me, but the one I would like to share with y'all is "Don't Be in a Hurry" by John C. Thomas, its from a devotional address given to BYU-Idaho. In it he quotes Elder Richard L. Evans of the Quorum of the Twelve, "There seems to be little evidence that the Creator of the universe was ever in a hurry. Everywhere, on this bounteous and beautiful earth...there is evidence of patient purpose and planning and working and waiting." Sister Diamond in our ward made this comment earlier this week as she talked about how hard it was to establish family scripture reading in her home: "If once a week is all the time you can give to the Lord, maybe that'll be all the time He'll give to you." Of course, I know the Lord is more merciful than that, but it shook me, what if the Lord only gave us as much thought as we gave him? What is your devotion like to Him?

I'm praying for each of you, that you are happy and healthy. I just passed my 10 month mark, anyone starting on a paper chain for me yet? I would have one if it wouldn't take so much room in my suitcase, ha!

Love y'all!

Your Favorite Mississippian Missionary,

Sister Lara Stewart

Ps. I've noticed that the office has begun drawing a little "L" on all my forwarded mail. That's because there is another "Sister Stewart" in the mission. If you could, please write my first name on your correspondence. I'm so grateful for your letters! I want to make sure I get them! :)