Blame the Chapstick.

First off Mom, can you send me that photo from Sister Jones? I didn't get to see it.

Also, if you thought last week's adventure was thrilling, just wait...

We were managing, we had planned the best day ever for Saturday. We all woke up on time, we got dressed, each of us studied for nearly the full hour. I went to grab a headband and when I came back to the room we were going to start companion study. Sister Ray borrowed Sister Eyre's new EOS brand chapstick she had just received for her birthday the day before, and when she was done she tossed it back. Well, Sister Eyre got it and dropped it in the same second because just as it made contact sharp pains streaked up her arm. Quickly her arm and hand began to swell. Sister Eyre began screaming at this freak occurrence and began going into shock. Sister Ray and I had no idea what was going on but we laid her down, covered her with a blanket, elevated her feet, and called our mission president's wife (she may have us on speed dial by now). She told us to take her to Urgent Care in Picayune, MS and so when Sister Eyre was out of shock off we drove. When the doctor finally saw her she asked Sister Eyre what she did because her face said it all. She had no idea what was going on. Today Sister Eyre woke up with now sharp back pains, sharp arm pains, and lots of nausea and still swollen. President McDonough got her an appointment to see a specialized doctor in Hattiesburg and we were off again. He said it was probably a pinched nerve and if it didn't heal in time to come see him again.

I keep saying it because it's the only thing that keeps me calm over everything that has happened to all the missionaries in Bogalusa:

BOGALUSA IS CURSED.

Now I don't know that for certain, but it feels better to say it.

Now the rest of the week:

1. As Mom and Dad already know, I got my ears pierced! I have been considering getting them pierced for a few months now and thought I should wait till I got home. But then I realized that if I got an infection it could be good to be around other people who have gotten their ears pierced and so while we were in Slidell we stopped by the Icing at the mall and now I have holes in my ears. At first it was really strange seeing them in the mirror, but now I'm in love with the extra sparkle they give my eyes. The only problem is they get tugged on by my towel whenever I'm drying my hair. S'ok, I'm happy and still infection free.

2. Sister Ray got an ultra sound. She's not pregnant, they took pictures of her gall balder. We haven't heard anything from the doctor yet so hopefully everything is ok.

3. I broke a spoon eating ice cream. Now we have all broke a fundamental utensil in our house. Sister Eyre: fork, Sister Ray: knife, and me: spoon.

4. We celebrated Sister Eyre's 20th birthday. Yay! With no casualties... till the next day. It ended up being a super emotional day but I met Sequa! The Siamese cat that lives on our back porch. We named it from the movie "The Testaments" (watch it, it's a good movie).

5. I killed a 2 inch long roach on our fireplace. No joke. (*See photo). It was disgusting.

6. I made BBQ ribs, they were delicious.

7. We had dinner with a less actives family on Memorial Day. They made BBQ including ribs, yum. A water fight was involved but mostly I just helped fill the water balloons. I'm good at that, right, Heather?

8. I finished the Book of Mormon! It's the first time I've read it through on my mission and the 2nd time in my life. I've set a goal to read it once more through before my mission is over. I have 4 months. Anyone wanna read along with me?

I love the Book of Mormon so much. It gives so much insight to life, God's plan, my purpose, and a TON of peace. I always feel calmer after reading. The end of the Book of Mormon was sad because of the devastation of the Nephites but Moroni 10, the last chapter is very reassuring and comforting as Moroni challenges us to read and to pray for truth and to Come unto Christ. How have you chosen to come unto Christ today? We should be reaching out to him every day!

I'm praying you all are safe and well, I'm pretty fantastic (thought I can't say the same for my companions). Love you all!

Sister "Stewy" Stewart

 Druggy Eyre.

I made deviled eggs. We didn't have paprika and I used a gingerbread man tray. 

 I got my ears pierced!

 Practiced my drawing skills. Branch President was impressed.

 Sequaw!

 Happy Birthday Eyre!

Giant roach dead.

BBQ rib dinner.

cutest sisters ever.

High.

Party in Slidell! Sister Ray had an early doctor's appointment this morning so instead of waking up and driving the 1 1/2 hours down today, we drove it yesterday and stayed with the Slidell Sisters in their home. It was so fun and it's not over since we'll most likely be doing it tomorrow for another appointment that Sister Ray set up. However, we didn't plan for this one... wish much luck please.

The "Best Week Ever" lasted longer but Sister Eyre ended up with a migraine and took a bad choice of medicines in her system for a while which hindered her working for a good while. Now that's a funny story...

So after dinner on Wednesday, Brother Corkern and his daughter Bethany came over to give Sister Eyre a blessing and Bethany mentioned that when she has migraines that she just takes 2 Benydryl which knock her out and it's gone by the time she wakes up. It sounded like a plausible idea so Sister Eyre took some. Well, before long Sister Eyre started acting a little funny, saying some strange things that we knew she wouldn't normally say. She was high to say the least. After a while we gave up on her conversations and said it was time for bed. We had to force her a bit to crawl into bed and keep the covers over her but finally Sister Ray sat next to her and held her hand to keep her steady and she started stroking Sister Ray's nose, "Your nose is round... That means you're not a witch." She sounded pleased about this, then she asked if I had a pointy nose. Her eyes got big as I tipped my head back so she could see my profile. "Oh! Shh--she doesn't know we know." And so I became a witch. The conversation continued on with Sister Eyre hiding from me under the covers and somehow ending with Sister Ray's betrayal and her nose turning from round to pointy. Upset, Sister Eyre ran to the bathroom, which thankfully didn't have a lock because when we opened the door, she was climbing out our small window over the toilet! Sister Ray and I pulled her back in and once more directed her to bed through her distaste. We attempted to cast spells on her to make her sleep but she deflected them with her "shield" (pillow). She grabbed her clock and as it lit up with the snooze button, she began talking to our deer character Jeffery in the next room, "Jeffery, they've betrayed me," then, "It's okay, I found a weapon," and picked up a sewing pin from over her night stand. This freaked out Sister Ray as Sister Eyre got very close to her face with the pin and was threatened to let Eyre get the phone that we had left in the living room. Surprisingly I never thought of the danger I could be in and as Sister Eyre tried to get past me guarding the door, I fought her for the pin and took it away, giving her a slap on the hand to boot. Deterred, Sister Eyre once more returned to bed and the situation seemed to calm down for a time. Sister Ray started reading from one of her journals and I relaxed down on my bed. Then out of nowhere, Sister Eyre jumps up and to the door lick-a-dee-split and is out into the hall and on her way to the phone. Sister Ray throws her pillow, I grab her arms but afraid I might hurt her I let go but continue the chase. Sister Eyre tackled the phone from off the table and I ram into her back trying to grab at her arms again as Sister Ray moves to her front and wrestles the phone from Sister Eyre's clutch. As she steals it away Sister Ray says she going to hide it and she's going to cast a spell so Eyre can't find it. So I stand there in the living room using my Guthrie training to restrain Sister Eyre so she can't move and do something rash to hurt me or herself because she has begun crying and saying how mean we are (luckily there were no profanities). Still holding her, we begin guiding Sister Eyre back to bed and Sister Ray casts another spell, "You are going back to bed and falling asleep in 5 minutes." Drugged Sister Eyre immediately slumps back in my arms and I holler at Ray because I was walking between the counter and closet and if she goes noddle on my now I won't be able to catch her properly, she Sister Ray reexplains her spell and we make it back to the bedroom. With Eyre in bed, she mutters and mutters how she has nothing to live for with the phone taken away and for good measure I pick up her "walkie-talkie" and talk to Jeffery that she's been retrained and the situation has been dealt with. Her eyes go big and Sister Eyre cries, "You betrayed me, too, Jeffery?" Luckily, Sister Ray's spell kicks in at this point and after an hour of craziness, Sister Eyre is out. Dead out and we can relax and we go to sleep our selves. The next morning at 6:30am, we all mumble hellos and good mornings and I sit up and turn to Sister Eyre, ready for another round, and ask, "Eyre, are you still high?" "I was high?" comes her response. She didn't remember a single thing but our camera's and the bruises and soreness prove to her that it all actually happened. Later that morning, as we tried to figure out how this could have happened, we read the list of medicines she's not supposed to take with her anti-anxiety pills and "allergy medicine" is on there. Moral is: DON'T GIVE SISTER EYRE BENYDRYL.

The rest of my week pales in comparison to that night. But we found new investigators while visiting a less active and they are reading the Book of Mormon. We did a deep clean on our house and it was very evident that it had probably never been deep cleaned the way we deep cleaned it in the year that missionaries had been living there. I made pancakes that turned into crepes and back into pancakes. I last minute volunteered to give the Holy Ghost talk for a member girl's baptism and sang too. Attended the wedding reception for a member's son. And had interviews in Slidell that included a messy oil change and getting to see old friends Elder Spence and Sister Garzand and Whitmore.

So that was our week and we're ready for a new one. Wish us luck because I have a feeling the crazy isn't going to be ended yet. Pray. Hard.

I love you all. Sorry, no pictures this week I forgot my camera.

Gotta cha!

Sister Stewart

Eating Worms

First off, Mom, I love you. Your emails are so uplifting. Thank you.

Second, how about that. Skype worked! It was awesome to see my family (though a little blurry). The kids are getting super big and everyone else seems to be getting thinner. What's up? Tell me your secrets! The South is not the best place for a sister trying to lose weight, but maybe if I pray really hard all the fried chicken will turn into grilled chicken and the potato salad will become fruit. ...Ok I don't think I'll be having a miracle like that anytime soon, but it's nice to imagine.

This week has been tough because Tuesday Sister Ray woke up in pain, unable to move, and with a rapid heartbeat that started to worry Sister Eyre. We tried to call someone who could tell us what to do and finally got a hold of the new mission nurse who told us to go to ER. Did I mention that Tuesday was Sister Ray's 21st birthday? HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER RAY! So the doctor ran lots of tests and said it was nothing, probably just heartburn and discharged her. But as she sat up to get dressed, the pain came back full force and she turned very pale. Let's say the next minute didn't make the Bogalusa hospital look very good in my opinion but they checked her out again. Again the tests came back negative to anything being wrong. They had already discharged her so we were sent home with a loratab pain killer and said hopefully it would treat the symptoms.

Tuesday afternoon was fun because the loratab made Sister Ray really loopy. Needless to say Sister Eyre and I had fun watching and listening to her. Eventually she fell asleep. Her birthday wasn't exactly the best but it was memorable!

Also:

1. Sister Eyre ate a worm. We were at a less actives house for dinner and we were talking to her 13yr old son, Christen. I'm not sure how the conversation came to this but he dared Sister Eyre to eat a worm. She told him to go find a worm and she'd eat it. To everyone's chagrin, he came back with a big juicy worm! Well she couldn't go back on her word, so they cut the worm in half, stood next to each other for pictures, counted to three and tipped back. Christen chickened out on 3 but Sister Eyre did it. And made a new friend in the process.

2. Don't try to stuff 21 candles into a Hostess cupcake. The cupcake WILL fall apart.

3. We were at church on Wednesday for a meeting with our branch missionary leader and got to watch as the yard guy hit a rock with the weed eater that flung into the glass of the door and shattered each pane. It looked cool and no one was hurt, but the guy looked pretty embarrassed.

4. Yesterday for mother's day, 3 of the Primary kids sung in place of the rest hymn in Sacrament meeting. It was really funny because the mic failed, so you couldn't hear them mumble the words. So Sister Raines, their director, asked them to be louder. Finally Brother Raines, their accompanist, stopped playing and said "I'm sorry but you're going have to be just a little bit louder." That broke us all out into the laughter we were holding. It was so sweet and tender.

5. I got to talk in church. Since it was mother's day, I planned to talk about my mother and how she has taught me to be diligent and hardworking. If I had had more preparation time I think I would have made my whole talk based on this topic, but we were asked last minute so I found several stories I had saved from the Ensigns and shared those with a couple stories of my mother. I think it went well, at least no one told me to get out afterwards.

Each day there are lots of little things that are good to look for. In Moroni 7:12 It says "Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God." I know that this is true. What has God given you today?

I love y'all!

-Sister Lara Stewart

 Christen and Sister Eyre and their worms.

 Sister Eyre decorated the kitchen the night before for Sister Ray's B-Day, unfortunately we didn't get to use it that morning.

 The Patient.

 Thank you Pratt Family!

 Cupcake fail.

Giant Giraffe Statue in Picayune, MS. 

 Shattered Glass.

My grass grew some dirt!

Wet but happy :)

Meet Trevor.

It's not to scale but essentially this is our house. It's actually not that weird. Just old. 

We enter through the carport because we can't open the front door. 

To the left is the study. I'm pretty much the only one that uses it though. 

Through the hallway leads to 2 bedrooms on the left, Sister Ray's bathroom, and our bedroom. Sister Eyre and i share the bathroom in here. My bed in the blue one.

The left of the vanity is mine and the closet. It's handy for choosing outfits in the morning.

Back through the hallway is the kitchen. Yes, we have a mosaic floor. 

 Members give us extra food. We have lots of Farina, grits, and vegetable beans.

 The kitchen leads into the Family Room where we spend most of our time when we aren't sleeping.

 It's not at its cleanest but that's the Bogalusa house and occupants.

The Silliness Continues

So this week was everything I hoped it would be, but that's life. We did have great opportunities to meet new less actives members including having one come to church yesterday that hadn't been in about 10 years! The Branch noticed and we really impressed her because we got her a ride with another less active, they were doubly surprised. We also received teaching requests from several part member families which is a sign that things are changing in Bogalusa. Now we just have to stay on our game to make them happen.

My companions are super silly. Note my pictures. They did my hair and makeup on Wednesday after I had an emotional break down. Gotta say I look weird with that much make-up, especially the lipstick but I also kinda liked it so we'll see how much I wear in the future. Sister Ray bought Popits (noisy little poppers) and they began popping them on the carport Thursday morning. We got lost and found a frozen yogurt place, Sister Eyre said it was destiny but somehow Sister Ray resisted the urge to pull in. We have taken to the game Nerts on our off hours and the other morning as we ate breakfast I played a quick game of Solitaire. As I played, Sister Ray started playing Nerts on my cards and then when Sister Eyre finished eating she joined in with Sister Ray. In the end Sister Erye won Nerts and I lost Solitaire. Last night was really emotional so we got out the junk food and Scrabble game. Chocolate was passed around and I won Scrabble (probably because I was the least emotional and most sane at the time). But the night was a really good bonding time and we woke up this morning ready to start fresh.

Bogalusa is a branch, Dad (I think I said that already though). It stretched pretty wide so we can't cover all of it but we're trying to work with the members to change that. The members are nice but they've had some really bad missionaries in the past so we're working to change that. Its getting a lot better.

Last week Gladys Knight and the United Saints Voices (I think that's what they were called) came and performed several shows in Hattiesburg and Shreveport. We rode with our RS President to Hattiesburg and watched the 5:30pm show. It was amazing. The music wasn't all "Mormon hymns so I wasn't sure at first but the spirit was SO STRONG. Sister Knight McDowell and her husband both told their conversion stories, how they met, and their testimonies and there was a brief lesson on the Restoration. I wanted so much to stay for the 8:30pm showing but we couldn't and it sounds like most people didn't get home 'till 1am from that show so I'm glad we didn't after all. The feeling of peace and love, the understanding that whether black, white or purple we are all children of the same God, and the call to serve God in His church were all underlying themes. How much I wish I could have every non-member and member alike see this show, you could never doubt God again.

The Silly Bits of Life:

1. I finished untangling my ball of yarn! It only turned out to be about 4 inches big. When it was stretched and wound around the living room I thought it would be bigger but oh well, it's completed!

2. Sister Eyre writes down funny things we all say through the day. Whether it's a good or bad thing, I don't know, but I have become famous in her book.

3. We received a card in our mail box warning us of a sex offender in the area. As we drove away from the house we found out it was our next door neighbor! We told our leaders but they couldn't do much and even if we were moved it would most likely just be a worse neighborhood. Don't worry our house has very good locks.

4. We all got about 30 bug bites this past week. Summer is here!

5. Our branch members were joking and saying they all needed to go tannning or they would be blinding everyone when pool season gets here. I took off my shoe and watch and said "Come knock some doors with us and that won't be a problem." They laughed and I think considered it for half a second. I seriously have some good tan lines. : )

6. I am slowly perfecting the "selfie."

As missionaries, we are allowed 2 hours each week to watch Mormon.org profiles so that we can share uplifting messages with those we meet. Last week I saw this one about a mission president who gave up golf to answer the call to serve (http://www.mormon.org/bruce). He inspires me as I think about the knowledge our passions can give us about the gospel. Art is a waiting game in most cases and requires a lot of patience and practice. It reminds me of Alma's plea that we experiment upon the scriptures (Alma 32:27), because to develop a style or technique you have to do a lot of experimenting and in most cases just exercise faith that it will turn out. But in the end--whether its a master piece or a failure-- you understand more, you've had fun, and you've grown. Its all worth it.

I pray you are all doing well, are safe and happy. This Sunday is Mother's Day. My love and gratitude goes out to every woman, mother, and wife that smiles at little children and touches hearts each day. Thank you. Thank you.

Happy Mother's Day!

Love, Lara

 Bogalusa has several abandoned schools. It makes me sad to see the still swings and dark windows.

 I used curlers in my hair and when I brushed it out that night I had lots of volume. I feel like the Mad Hatter when the Cheshire Cat stole his hat.

 Sister Ray did my make-up and Sister Eyre did my hair. I chose my outfit.

 Contemplating my brisket lunch, not as good as Dad's.

 I find it funny when 2nd stories doors have no ways down. Fly!

 I got to see a lot of families from my time in Petal, MS. Including the Ishee's!

 Popits! Noisy buggers.

 The movie theater has been closed for a long time...

 The completed yarn ball.

 Not what we expected to receive in the mail.

 My ruined game of Solitaire.

 Troubled young women + chocolate = A crazy night

 Scrabble and chocolate.

When you play Scrabble in the South :)

Smile.