Giving talks in Bogalusa take 2

Hello Familia!

Well from what I heard from Mom and Dad this morning the annual family campout went pretty well! Sorry I missed it for the 3rd year in a row. I'm not too fond of this new tradition I seem to be starting. Hopefully I'll be able to get back in joining you in the woods soon.

Meanwhile I'm still in the woods of southern Louisiana.

This week--after the craziness from Tuesday-- I would like to say things calmed down a bit. Truth is again I got to meet new people, investigators and less actives, and I loved it. Apparently I'm starting to become more accustomed to talking openly with people because I chatted up a storm with 2 older woman who were once investigators (now they are more dear friends). And at the end of each visit I bore sure testimony that touched the eyes of both of the women. I loved it and can't wait to go back. But of course something always had to go wrong and Sister Eyre got a bad migraine Saturday that kept her down. But that was okay because it gave me time to work on my talk.

Saturday after Book of Mormon class at the church, the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency asked if the 3 of us could speak. Again no topic but we worked that out easily. I chose hope based on one of my favorite articles in the Ensign called "The Healing Balm of Hope" from last September's Ensign (https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/09/the-healing-balm-of-hope?lang=eng&query=teh+healing+balm+of+hope) I also used President Uctdorf's talk from October 2008 "The Infinite Power of Hope." (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/the-infinite-power-of-hope?lang=eng). These are both amazing talks, I suggest reading them. I told about when I graduated high school with no job, no college, and no money, and yet everything worked out the next semester that I could pay for my semester at college and the next year I was blessed with a new job. I ended with my testimony and with a plea from President Monson to find the light in the dark tunnels we each go through and lean on the love of Heavenly Father.

Also, we were almost out of time after I talked (I was #3) so Sister Ray got out of talking again. Last time she was having chest pains. She's starting to feel jipped, so she volunteered for sometime this month.

Now, I don't have many pictures from this week, but that doesn't mean life has been boring:

1. I made peach oatmeal cookies, not bad but it probably would have been better with dried peaches rather than fresh ones.

2. Sister Cooper is in my district now, she's one of the Picayune sisters. Lunch Wednesday was spent catching up.

3. We almost died. So we were driving around Thursday afternoon getting addresses for our records in some spare time and came to a railroad crossing. Without really thinking, Sister Ray crossed over and discovered a train less than 30 yards from us. We all started screaming till we were safe then freaking out over Sister Ray not looking twice (Luckily the train was going super slow). She said she didn't even noticed the railroad signs and that she had never seen a train on those tracks in the 3 months of serving in Bogalusa. So we calmed down and joked in funny voices, "We could have died!"

The next day, or night, we were driving around again, this time to calm Sister Ray's nerves that had been building from the stress of Bogalusa. Again we came to a railroad crossing and sarcastically Sister Ray slowed down to a stop and jokingly looked both ways, commenting on yesterday's adventure. Well wouldn't you know it, there was a train not 300 yards down the way again going slow. This time we were laughing as we sped across the tracks.

4. Found out that dipped cones from McDonalds are great when you need ice cream and chocolate.

And that's Bogalusa folks!

Love ya!

-Sister "Lucky" Stewart

 Apparently, Hattiesburg opened a Jimmy Johns in the 8 months that I have been gone. I wish I could show you Sister Eyre's face when she saw the sign as we drove by to the library. The JJ Gargantuan is awesome!

Mail Box down! Repeat Mail box down!