How'd'do?

Well, it’s definitely been an exciting week. This week Sister McGrath and I accomplished much more! 7 hours of tracting! 3 active member lessons! 10 other lessons! (Our goal.) We ran into some weird people while tracting, including a man who believed in his previous life he bombed Pearl Harbor, a house with 16 dogs in it, and a very drunk girl. We took a member out with us on Saturday, she's leaving for her mission next month and so we've wanted to help her get some more experience. Unfortunately we were unable to use her presence for a member present lesson because both of our planned lessons fell through and we didn't have any lessons while tracting. But it was really fun to spend time with her, she joined us for dinner and we answered a lot of her questions that she has had as she's preparing.

I’m having lots of fun here in Brownlee. We have ZDM on Wednesday and we discussed Elder Kopsichke's(?) visit at Zone Conference. We made a list of things he taught then went around the zone and everyone said their favorite 2 that they wanted to work on. We determined the top 3 and promised that we would all work on these. My favorite of things 3: Don't Worry Be Happy :) (smiley face included). We had again a zone fast and broke our fast together over Little Caesar's pizza, salad, and carrots. It was so much fun to spend time with our fellow missionaries discussing the work going on in separate areas. I really like my zone, it'll be hard to leave all the friends I've made.

Yes, transfers are next week, have you marked the calendar for every 6 weeks? I'll find out on Friday whether or not I'll be staying in Brownlee. I don't know what the Lord has in store but thinking about it I'm comfortable with both. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable is the unsurety whether or not I'll be able to keep all the boxes I've collected to keep things organized. Haha, but I'll manage.

The best experience this week was when we had the worst rejection yet. We had arrived at the home of a return appointment we had set up the week before, we knocked and waited and then from behind the screen door (the main door was open) we heard the adult yelling at the 2 year old to go close the door. We could only smile and wave to child as she slowly closed the door in our faces. Luckily the moment was so funny that we didn't let it deter us and moved on. Next door lived a woman who hadn't been home for our return appointment the week before so we decided to stop by and see if she was home so we could make another appointment to see her. She was not only home but she let us in and we taught her the Restoration. She was thrilled, we answered her questions about religion and god and the prophet. It was an amazing lesson and so exciting. I hope we'll be able to get to her this week (she couldn't make it to our second appointment last week), and see how she felt about the Book of Mormon, she was really excited to read it when we gave it to her. I feel really good about her.

Yes Mom, I got your package! Thank you so much! The jumper is perfect; in fact I'm wearing it right now! Thank you! I'm going to save the hashbrowns for Thursday, we're having the Sister Training Leaders come over and do exchanges with us so they'll be sleeping over.

I've been reading the Our Heritage book that the church put about, it’s a very interesting short history of the church. They mention the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the testimonies of those who heard his voice as they listened to the new Prophet Brigham Young speak. I'm sure your lesson went great, Mom, it’s a great topic.

Experiences of the Week:

Silly - We practiced teaching Sister Simpson the Law of Chastity. As we did so, she mentioned that she just loves looking at young men's "cheeks". Thinking she meant their face, I immediately responded "Well, you can pinch but nothing else." Bad mistake. It took a minute before we could all control ourselves enough to go back, re-comment to that statement and continue on smoothly.

Spiritual - Struggling to know where to tract on Friday, Sister McGrath and I prayed to know where to go that wouldn't make us waste miles, as I said the prayer my mind pictured an apartment complex nearby. As we tracted we found several people who were willing to listen to our message, we lent a Book of Mormon, and made several return appointments. The Lord's Hand, ladies and gentlemen.

Accomplishment- I impressed President Huston as we practiced teaching the Law of Chastity on him. Boo-yah! Thinking about my first practice lesson with him, I can tell I have grown a lot. Bring it on MJM!

I'm in the South - When we got our aids on Tuesday, the Walmart aid was all camo and hunting gear. Duck season started on Saturday. :)

Today we're having a "Burning Party" at the library. The table is covered in CDs and MP3s from all the missionaries. We've been planning to do this exchange of music for a long time, its exciting to finally do it, and to teach every how to do it too! Yay for computer smarts.

No news on Kenny yet, but we haven't lost hope. We have a few new investigators. I think this will be good for the work here in Brownlee.

Six Months on the 27th! Boo-yah!

Question of the week: Do you spell it "y'all" or "ya'll"? (Personally I do the first, Sister McGrath does the second.)

Love you much!

Lucky Lara

 Spent part of the afternoon at Bass Pro Shops with the Bossier Spanish Elders!

 Sister McGrath tried on a working man's jump suit.

 Everyone played a shooting game (true to my word I didn't spend money).

 Do I look like anyone?

 Camo Masks!

Who needs Cat in the Hat when you have the Hat Cat! 

 New fashion statement.

 A tabby calico!

Super Sister Stewart.

Scatter Sunshine

And so another week goes by. I'm still alive and kicking.

Back tract to last Monday, Labor Day and preparation Day, with not too much to do, we joined our ward for a fish fry at the Loftin's lake house in Benton, LA. The turn out was great and Sister McGrath and I were able to meet and talk to a lot of the members. The fish was delicious, Brother McCabe made it. Dad, he had a nifty container to bread the fish while not over breading it or getting his fingers covered in coating. Would you like me to buy this for you? It looked pretty handy.

Last Tuesday we had Specialized Training. During Zone Conference every other transfer, this is usual the second day, when we separate the younger missionaries from the older ones and receive more specific training to our mission ages and titles. The best part is the sister training in the afternoon when we get to hear from our STL's (Sister Training Leaders). We love these sisters, one of them is my old companion Sister Johnson, and the other is Sister Mongie who came out with Sister Cox. They are such sweet and loving sisters, and they really know and love the work. Very inspiring. All the missionaries went to Firehouse subs for lunch, It was super good, but pricey, a special occasion kind of lunch. We learned about a new book developed for missionaries to help with stress management, I haven't look through all of it yet, but it looks like similar advice I had been receiving from leaders already. (This was a relief to Sister McDonough, to know that she'd been telling people the right things.)

Finially on Wednesday, we were able to email and then set out to the work. We had several lessons with potential investigators then met with a less active member. As we talked to her, her oldest daughter who was staying with her for a time came out and greeted us before disappearing into the garage. She came out a moment later with a suitcase... FULL OF MARDI GRAS BEADS! She gave Sister McGrath and I each a grocery bag full of the necklaces. Curious, we graciously accepted and later on that evening, tried to put them all on as the daughter had mentioned people would do, putting on necklace after necklace till we couldn't hardly see. Have fun looking at the pictures :)

As we talked to an investigator on Thursday, we came close 5 times to getting referrals of people we could go share the gospel with as she discussed friends who might be interested. But each time we asked where they live or if we could send missionaries to them she was say "Let me ask them first." She's been hard to teach because she has been hesitant to fully accept the gospel, but she follows God and acts with such love to each person she meets that she is definitely an example to those around her. Afterwards we went to a service project in Shreveport we had heard about from a church member. Church for the Highlands and several other churches around the area, participate in working with the Food Bank to provide a "family style" meal for those who come, in which volunteers like us, serve the food or sit at the tables hosting and encouraging family-like discussions during the meal. I was super nervous when we arrived and felt like I didn't belong, but as I showed an effort to work and do everything correctly, the people in charge opened up to me and we were all laughing by the time we left and we're being asked to come back. It was really funny because as I was talking to a youth volunteer, I asked her name and when she looked up to answers she saw my volunteer tag attached to my missionary tag. She jumped and said "Oh snap, you're a missionary!" Surprised myself she explained that she was a member of the Shreveport ward and had started volunteering for her Integrity project in Young Women's. Later on in the evening she introduced Sister McGrath and I to other young women from that ward and to non-member friends who also volunteered. It was great fun and if miles will allow us, Sister McGrath and I plan on returning again next Thursday.

Sister McGrath and I have discussed having days of celebration for our Elders here in the Brownlee Ward. On Friday we celebrated Elder Capron. We had the Zone Leaders send out a text to have people wish him a great day, had the Simpson's put a banner on his door, and we made him cookies. When we asked him if he knew who had started this, he thought it might be us but Elder Spence changed his opinion to the Zone Leaders. Then on Sunday we celebrated Elder Spence, again we had emails sent out, and "star-attacked" (that one threw him off, he didn't understand how we did it so fast), and because he's watching his weight made him a crown rather than cookies. I really hope they both felt the love we have for them and will feel encouraged to keep being awesome. Hopefully I can do similar things for the other missionaries I meet. I know the difficulties of being a missionary, and I want everyone to feel loved.

On Sunday, our intermediate hymn was "Scatter Sunshine" which has a repeat in the chorus. Our organist didn't realize this at first and skipped the repeat and moved on to the 2nd verse. The congregation stood in confusion till finally she stopped playing and there was a moment of silence. Luckily the chorister lead us back into singing starting at the second verse and the organist remembered the repeat for the next to verses. I don't know if everyone else thought that was fun, but Sister McGrath and I were full of smiles at the dedication showed to sing the hymns. That evening we had dinner at the Burns, Brother Burns is our Ward Missionary Assistant. I feel so much at home when I'm at their house. They have 6 kids, and so much of their lifestyle reminds me of my own years growing up. After dinner we had a missionary correlation meeting and my strange analogies began, making Brother Burns and Brother Kitley laugh as I warned that discussing the history of some of our members was "getting into a bowl of chowder you do not want to eat" (Both of them just moved here this summer).

What a long, full week. Sister McGrath and I have done nearly everything we can as missionaries it feels. Specialized training, tracting, teaching, service projects, traveling for long periods of time. I often wonder to myself what it would be like to be a missionary in Mesa. My area would certainly be smaller, and I would probably have less miles to spend, and have more members to befriend. I'm not complaining because I have certainly fallen in love with Louisiana, people and all. Transfers are in 2 weeks. Think I'll still be here? Where ever I go, I know the Lord is my guide. He blesses me as I do this work.

Talk of the day: "Four Titles" by President Uchtdorf, from the priesthood session of General Conference, April 2013. I loved reading the descriptions he had for our priesthood holders (and for all members alike, in my opinion). And the most important part, that we are sons (and daughters) of God and heirs of his kingdom.

I love you all. Thank you again for the birthday wishes!

Love, Lucky Lara

 Sister McGrath is always looking for opportunities to enlarge her talents, even if they aren't the most comfortable circumstances.

 The group of sisters gather on Tuesday for Specialized Sister Training (yes, that is Sister Johnson making a face).

 Before I could wear the madi gras beads I first had to separate them...

 ...Then I had to try not to fall over...

 ...The Same for Sister McGrath.

 The Red River while tracting.

 The homes in Shreveport are so beautiful, I wish I could walks these streets with you, Mom.

Richard is fixing up a bike for his dad... in the living room.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Well, it was the quite the build up but its official: I'm 22!

My birthday and the week leading up to it was great! Sister McGrath and I had a great week being missionaries, teaching lessons and finding new investigators, while also being silly and spending time with our members.

Last Monday was preparation day, so we decided to go to the Louisiana Boardwalk, the outdoor mall here. He had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (probably won't be going back soon, too expensive). Then on a whim and as a birthday present I bought a new friend at Build-A-Bear, a red panda named Mandarin. I have found that for missionaries, it's more fun to practice in companionship study to stuffed animals than to walls. Plus, there are times on the mission when you just need to squeeze something soft. We ate dinner at the Dean's, a big family who sings before meals and is always loving. We had some really great gumbo with okra in it, I am working on getting the recipe. Then afterwards, us four missionaries taught a Restoration lesson to their family. For not preparing very well, it went great and the family liked hearing form the missionaries.

After waking up on Tuesday, we went jogging down our front walk and saw an armadillo cross the road! Can't say there was much to it, just looked like a large gray mass rolling across the concrete. But I saw a live one! And that path has now been deemed, "Armadillo Crossing." Tuesday was tiring with 2 hours of tracting, a lesson with a great woman who loves learning but isn't so sure about changing churches. Then we had a member dinner with the Yarrington's, a new family in the ward who's oldest went to BYU-I so we can talk about our experiences a lot. Most exciting we had Asian food including chop sticks! To end the evening, Sister McGrath and I got in an English accent kick and only spoke to each other in an English accent the rest of the night.

Wednesday was District Meeting, Sister Simpson made a really good Cheeseburger in Paradise casserole for lunch after. We helped a less active pack then headed over to Sweet Frog frozen Yogurt because a friend in the Bossier ward invited us and the Bossier sisters. It was a girl's afternoon before heading to Book of Mormon class. We missionaries don't teach Book of Mormon class anymore, our ward called a teacher, but Sister Huber is an amazing teacher, and I felt the same coming out of that class as though I had put all the work into it. After class we had planned to do a practice lesson but our ward members were playing volleyball and we thought it would be more fun to join them. It was a great way to get to know the members better, and to show that missionaries can have fun too. I think it inspired some of the youth to consider missions more.

On Thursday in my spare time I decided it was time to clean up our collect piles of missionary supplies. It was like Christmas finding new pass along cards, more pamphlets and discovering more artwork! While we were proselyting we stopped by a new investigator's that we had met on Tuesday. While we talked she searched her I-pad and brought up her bible app. Sister McGrath paused her and asked if she could go back to another app she had seen of a little gold man with a trumpet. Our investigator, unbeknownst to her, had downloaded our church's gospel library. Not sure why she had. We're going to try and find out next time we see her. It was a busy day and in a row we taught 3 restoration lessons. Oyish! Then when we got home there was a giant package from Mom and Dad! Sister McGrath had fun taking pictures of all my silly reactions and I loved seeing the creative ways Mom wrapped and "labeled" the gifts. It was a lot of fun. Thank you Mom! Thank you Dad!

It was a busy birthday, starting with a workout, then dehydrated cheesy hash browns from the box Mom sent. We had scheduled an early lesson in the morning which fell through so we when to the library and finished our studies. Scary part was that a giant bug landed on me. It was so big that I actually heard a thump as it landed on me, but its okay, Sister McGrath saved my life. Knowing we we're going to lunch in Bossier with the other missionaries, I asked to stop by the Simpson's and say hello and take a few pictures with them. At lunch I received more gifts from my fellow missionaries including candy and Elder Burt gave me a conch shell from his time serving on the cost of Mississippi. We visited the Lawrence's, then went and had red beans and rice with a returned member and her granddaughter. As we sat at the table talking to little Brooklyn, she said, "Nana made dinner and I made the cake." I froze and stared at her for a moment before glancing at Anita. I hadn't said it was my birthday but apparently Sister McGrath had let her know while I wasn't paying attention. It was so sweet of her and the cake was delicious too! After dinner I got a surprise call from the daughters of a part-member family we visit regularly and stopped by their house to receive an entire sheet cake of honey bun cake (the best part of the South) and a loving card. We were late to our final appointment of the night, but Cheri forgave us and instead of getting into a deep doctrinal discussion we spent the evening just talking. Finally, after planning Sister McGrath surprised me with a gift of her own from our shopping experience the week before. At Old Navy I had been contemplating heavily buying this one owl necklace (not knowing I'd receive 8 the next week for my birthday (all of which I love!!!)) and she was strongly against me buying it, drawing my attention to the fact that I was already buying quite a few other things, I agreed and put it out of my mind. Then surprise! She had bought it for me!

Saturday and Sunday were more regular proselyting days, but so full of cake, I have started a weight loss regiment.

Now I know it is Wednesday which means there are 3 days I am not telling about, but I will save them for next Monday when I'll be back to a normal writing schedule. Just know that Monday was Labor Day, yesterday we had Specialized Training, and today our District Meeting was canceled so we finally had time.

Thank you to all who wished happy birthdays and sent gifts and cards! You truly helped make this birthday the best ever!

Love you till we meet again!

When September ends I'll have been out 6 months!! Whoot!

Love, Lucky Lara

 Smile! At the Louisiana Boardwalk (mall).

Bought a new friend for my birthday! A Red Panda named Mandarian. 

 Opening my package from Mom and Dad (didn't think we'd have time to open it on my birthday).

 Mom put cute images on the inside, SURPRISE! I loved it, them are now hanging in my room :)

 Subway is good <3

 New necklace, "Where ever you are, You'll always be... In my Heart." With Owls!!

 "You're a Star!"

 Sticky note says, "Can you eat all this?" Um, yes... By October 2014, at least :)

 Instead of buying new watches all the time i just have to switch out my bands!!!

 HAPPY PILLS!

 Oreos!!!

 Happy bubbles!

Coco Puffs and the other side of the lid. I love the hamster. 

 Still figuring out how Mom fit all of this into one box.

 Birthday breakfast of cheesy hash browns (thanks mom) with hats and banner (obviously before my shower).

 We stopped by the Simpsons so I could take a picture and celebrate a little bit of my birthday with them.

 Lunch at Ryan's (buffet place) with my fellow missionaries. ZL's Elder Burt and Elder Souter, and Elder Hanzilk from Bossier Ward.

 Jimmie and Sue are some of my favorite people, today was their anniversary! So we celebrated together.

Birthday dinner at Anita's with her granddaughter Brooklyn. I wasn't aware Sister McGrath had told her about my birthday. What a surprise!

Some of my MTC sisters gathered together again at a 5 zone Zone Conference.

The ELECT

HI Everyone!

It's me again, can you believe it has already been another week?

Last week was full of exciting new adventures. Sister McGrath and I started at Old Navy, last Monday, and I was able to buy a couple shirts and a cute new owl tote bag. Tuesday, we had several lessons with investigators and our ward missionary, Sister Maranto. She is an amazing missionary. She connected easily with our investigators, and bore testimony as we explained the First Vision. Dinner on Tuesday was at Sister Baker's, around the corner. We let it slip we were having dinner there and Sister Maranto called her up with a quick phone call consisting of "I heard you were feeding the missionaries. I'll be over in a few minutes." Haha! Sister Maranto is Sister Baker's visiting teacher, they are good friends, there was plenty enough food to go around. Then after dinner, we spent the night at the Simpson's in Bossier! I didn't sleep too great, but any time spent with the Simpson's is the best.

Wednesday was the long day. We had Zone Conference, all the way in Monroe, LA. Sister McGrath and I rode carpool with Elder Spence and the Spanish elders in the Bossier Ward. It was squishy in the back seat, but luckily when I switched to the other side of the car on the ride home it wasn't so bad. Elder Kopischke of the Seventy from Germany spoke to us. He was incredible! Think of a cross between President Uchtdorf and Elder Holland. Incredible. He explained that President McDonough holds the toolbox and we missionaries are the tools. But the Lord is the master. He asked, "What kind of tool would you like to be?" We have to trust that we are where we are supposed to be. He encouraged us to ask questions, and to teach only those you receive us and teach them only so much as they are ready for. And stated, "Love is the only way... If you love your investigators, you won't have to worry about how many lessons you teach." But my favorite quote was "This is not about converting everybody, but about converting the ELECT."

We have a really good Ward Mission Leader. He went out with Sister McGrath and I to a new convert's home to teach him the second lesson. It went great, the member, mentioned before as Richard, is really getting it. He's soaking every thing in and then radiating it back out. It's been so fun to watch him grow. Then after our meeting we met our Ward Mission Leader at Dairy Queen down the highway and discussed how the lesson went and things that had been happening in our area including our individual meetings with Elder Kopischke.

There's no new news on Kenny. We have a return appointment scheduled with him on Saturday but he had to cancel. Sister McGrath and I were so sad, we were so excited to meet with him and had a member coming with us and everything. Still he's in our prayers.

The biggest accomplishment for the week: tracting 5 hours, including 2 straight hours Saturday evening. I'm sorry President but I don't like tracting, and I keep feeling like if we are in a lesson, its okay not to tract as much. However, last week our zone leaders challenged us to do at least 5. With a good attitude and a cool breeze it wasn't hard. My bag wasn't heavy, we taught principles, prayed with those who would listen, set a return appointment, and stayed joyful.

Sister McGrath and I are finding fun ways to keep entertained. We dance and sing really loud in the car, taking time to memorize our favorite songs. After planning we had "Angel of Music" stuck in our heads, and sang to each other rather than talking, using its tune as our base. On Saturday, we tracted for 2 hours, so between houses we named everything that started with the letter "M", beginning with McGrath! "All work and no play, makes a minute feel like a day."

Now in our ward, we had a new family move in, last name Bell's. The only problem, we already have Bell's. My solution: Shiny New Bells, Used Bells, and Rusty Bells.

Last Sunday was Stake Conference, President Judkins (previously 1st counselor, now released) spoke and bore testimony of 3 things, and related these 3 things to Star Trek! Everyone was awake to hear how you could relate the Gospel to this syfy television show. I was so intrigued myself, that I drew my district acting out what he said (found in this week's photos). First he compared a wrist communicator to prayer (Sister McGrath) and how a communicator works everywhere as a connection to the ship. Prayer works everywhere, connecting us to our Heavenly Father. The ability to Teleport is the Resurrection. Just as in teleportation the body is disintegrated and put back together somewhere else, the Resurrection is the reuniting of our spiritual bodies with immortal, physical bodies. Then last he considered the phaser, a weapon that can either kill or be "set to stun." This he compared to the Word of God, the scriptures, that as we read can penetrate our hearts. I loved these symbols, and it was fun to dress up my fellow missionaries in the attire.

Movie of the day: "A Mother's Hope" http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2371781721001

Love you all, Thank you for the love. I've already gotten birthday care packages from Gayle and Kristi and birthday wishes from Grandma. Keep smiling, that's what you make me do every day!!!

Love Lara

 Had to say goodbye to a great friend. Ashlee flew back to China on Tuesday.

Drove to Monroe, Louisiana for a Zone Conference. Carpooled with the Spanish elders from the Bossier District and Elder Spence from my district. Elder Hanzlik took a nap. 

 That was a very squishy car ride.

 Mr. Driver (Elder Spence).

Louisiana is NOT flat. This is Hwy 1 to Mooringsport. Will not be biking this. 

 The skies in Louisiana are gorgeous.

 Sister McGrath is more excited for my birthday than me. Someone finally took my advice and made a paper chain!!!!

I love weird flavors and I LOVE Pringles! (Mild Jalapeno and Cheddar and Xtra Tangy Buffalo Wing Sauce.) 

Package from Kristi! 

Bossier's Angels (Sister Martin, Tebbs, and Cox)

 New Necklaces!

Brownlee in Star Trek mode based off President Judkins talk at Stake Conference.

:)

Dear Peeps in Mesa (and other places too),

Sorry, I didn't get a letter out in the mail last week, it's on its way now.

Fun things in the work:

Black out during in depth less-active lesson: Last Saturday we were teaching an older woman who had been baptized with her husband but doesn't feel like she was told everything and that wasn't right. We were discussing that we believe that we can become like God and the difference between becoming "like god" and becoming "god" when the lights went out. With few windows in her house it was really dark, but luckily she had a Coleman lamp nearby. It was a good thing though because we were about to be late to our dinner appointment after, so since we couldn't read the scriptures, we stopped the lesson there. It was fun listening to the thunder, Louisiana has good lightning storms.

Used my talents to help Sister Madsen with RS activity: Sister Madsen is the weeknight activity coordinator and she needed a lot of help for the activity so we went over to her house on Thursday and helped her make pinwheels, taught her about BINGO random generator cards online, and made and decorated peanut butter rice-cripsies (she was most happy for that because she hates decorating cakes). It was so much fun, though we were there for longer than we really should have been, but I finally got to use my more technical-crafty side.

Then we had some investigators planning on going to that activity which meant that we could go to. There wasn't enough time to return to our area to tract so we went to nearby Brownlee park and did our studies that we had missed that morning. At the park we met so many people that we knew, including the Bishop and his family. It was really fun to see them and to enjoy the nice day as well.

Spirit of Elijah touched me and an investigator: A couple weeks ago we got to meet with a member and their co-worker for breakfast and discussed family history. She filled out a pedigree chart and we gave it to our Family History consultant to fill out. On Saturday, we met with both of them and our consultant showed tips and tricks on how to use Family Search and find old names and records. While sitting their we found a few names and the places that they lived. Seeing the joy on the investigator's face was wonderful and then as we explained baptism for the dead and the Church's viewpoint on the family really brightened her up even more. I only wish I could do my own family history work now, but it'll have to wait :)

Scary house, nice man: Tracting last Saturday, we were about to go up to a cute blue home that was a little decrepit and had rusty cars out front and, from the sounds of it, a large dog inside. Sister McGrath immediately turned around and we started walking away. But we stopped each other, and thought, "What if this is the one?" Quickly we turned back, and walked up to the front door. Nervous like crazy we knocked and indeed there was a large dog which was held back by a man named Kenny. He stuck the door, put the dog away, then opened it again and joined us outside. We talked to him a bit and he said he was interested, we shared with him the Book of Mormon and he said he'd read it. Just goes to show that a scary house does not mean scary people. :)

Found a nature park and Kim: Barred Owl!!! While out and about on Sunday, I discovered a hidden nature park outside of Blanchard. Curious we drove in and parked. We went in the visitor center to ask if they had a bathroom and were met by one of the part time workers there. Almost immediately we struck up a conversation about us as missionaries and our purpose in Louisiana. She was really open to our offer to teach her, but due to a shaky schedule, wouldn't set an appointment for us to come by. Afterwards we took a moment to visit their aviary which included 3 species of owl, including my favorite barred owl! Then Sister McGrath kissed their deer.

Fun Things with fellow missionaries:

Playing signs, Gangham Style: After some quick shopping last Tuesday (Transfer P-Day), we met the other missionaries at the church for games. They were playing "Signs" a game where everyone has a sign and you pass around being "it" by accepting your sign from someone else then signing another's sign and passing it on. The trick is keeping it all secret from the person in the middle who is trying to guess who is "it". At first I had a silly sign that involved lifting the hands and one foot. Unfortunately I couldn't recognize my own sign very well, so I switched to a dance move from my family song "Gangham Style." EVERYONE was signing for me now and we were all cracking up seeing how different individuals signed it. Still I never got put in the middle.

Brightening the day with art: Elder Capron is probably my biggest fan right now with my artwork, little cartoons and such that I due for the missionaries. He's always showing people the planner I made him ("Hobbit" themed) and asking me to show people the other cartoons I've done. It makes me happy to see people's smiles and to see them actually use the planner covers I design for them.

New missionaries to the zone: Though our district didn't change, we did get two new missionaries to the zone. Its fun to meet new missionaries, whether they have already been serving for a year or are fresh as a tomato picked from the vine.

Just fun:

Movie Night: We got a new movie to use for our teaching "Together Forever," so after a long Saturday, we took part of our dinner time to sit on the couch and watch it together. It's a really sweet film, though it was made in the 80's. Big hair, but the gospel was true even then.

Rony's Ribs: Rony is the husband of one of our returning members we visit regularly. We never talk to him very much because when we are over he allows his wife to have time with us. But on Saturday, we not only got to talk with him and his wife, but he fed us some of the ribs he had steamed then grilled. They were really good. Different flavor than Dad's but had a nice kick to them.

Talk of the day: "The First Great Commandment" by Elder Holland. Listened to this as I wrote. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng#watch=video

I hope that is enough great things for you Mom. My goal this week is to write in my journal more, so more things will hopefully flow.

"Kent" is doing well. :) He hasn't been used too much though, I prefer my SAS shoes.

Indeed, I did eat gumbo. The McCabe is the only place I have had it. Brother McCabe makes it spicy with chicken and duck and sausage. It's good. They let us take some home. The last time I was at the McCabe's was before transfers so I told them that if I was leaving I would like to celebrate my birthday with them. Sister McCabe couldn't remember which day I had said was my birthday (she thought I said 20th) so she made me a cake. Its funny because I usually go help with dessert after our spiritual thought, but this time I didn't and then when I finally did, I turned around, she had the cake lit and they were all singing. I was so surprised! And so happy! It totally made this one of the best birthdays ever. But no, I still don't know how to make gumbo, though I could probably figure it out.

I think that is just about all. Love you, family. Take care and Happy Birthday:

Amy, Dallin, Stephanie, Karl, and Ammon!

Kristi, I know what would make a great Christmas gift :)

LOVE, LUCKY LARA

 Sister Simpson and me with our chocolate mustaches from the RS activity, themed "I mustache you a question."

 After a story Elder Simpson told me, I've been collecting pennies and change off the ground. I finally made a jar to keep them in last week. How much to you think I can get in one mission?

 HAHA!!!

 Barred Owl! (it was hard to get the camera to focus behind the bars)

 Sister McGrath kissed a deer!

This 5 inch stick bug was on our car this morning!