Blackout

So I forgot my little booklet that I write down the day’s activities in so this probably won't be a very long letter.

Not much going on this week. We took a road trip to Jackson on Friday morning to talk to President McDonough and spent time with Sister McDonough visiting and singing at their baby grand. We stopped by the mission office in Brandon to have our car checked by Elder Edwards (he's over the cars in the mission), get a new phone (we'd been having spam calls), and go shopping for more supplies! And then I got to go out to lunch with Sister Johnson and Sister Cox. They are serving together again as Sister Training Leaders over the Jackson and Laurel areas. It was so nice to be with them again, it felt like I'd gone back in time. It was a long trip, we got home about 6pm, just enough time for our studies and dinner.

We had district meeting in Collins, MS, a road trip of about 45 minutes. The elders out there don't usually have many miles to get into Hattiesburg every week so we try to trade off for them. It's funny when we cram ourselves into the car with the Petal elders because somehow Sister Holbrook, Sister Cooper, and I get really silly and just talk and babble about this and that, sometimes getting the elders to respond but most often not, until about half way through the trip and we all fall silent.

Sitting in the Hattiesburg Library, I see a lot of missionaries at the computers, and yet I rarely see missionaries throughout the week.

...The power just went out in the whole building for a blink of a second, that was fun. Luckily it only took a few minutes for the computers to reset and the internet to come back. I'm watching Mormon Channel videos. I love looking at this webpage and watch all the things on it. My favorite Mormon Message is "Earthy Father, Heavenly Father." Check it out:

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages

Send some questions, I don't know what else to say.

Thank you, Mom, for the package, the half-tee worked perfect.

Thank you for the letters and pictures, I love seeing everyone.

Sister Holbrook often says something funny: "The Book of Mormon is blue, the Gospel is true, The Lord loves you, and I do too!"

 We carpool with the elders to Collins for district meeting. Three crammed and sleepy sister in the back (Sister Holbrook makes a good pillow).

 Driving to Jackson at 8am, it was a little foggy.

Played the scribble game with myself on my table, don't worry it erases. 

 Give me a hug :)

A member gave me a puzzle, I was working on it this morning after studies. 500 pieces!

S.M.I.L.E.

Week 2 in Petal survived, though not without a few tears (what can I say, I'm a girl).

I'm trying not to compare Petal to Shreveport, but it’s difficult. I was warned that my first area would feel like my home and it certainly does, I yearn for Shreveport similarly as I do for Mesa. But I think it was good that God had me serve as a Brownlee missionary. There I was able to serve in both a big city and through little towns, so I was able to adjust a little. Petal is little, with most people living in the country. But it has a Walmart, do note its worth is something!

Conference was awesome! We watched 3 sessions at the church building and Saturday Afternoon at a part-member family's home. It was awesome because while we were watching, the father (and non-member) paused the conference (tivo) and said "Alright I'll give you girls a try" and for the first time that Sister Holbrook, who's been here longer, could remember, he asked questions relating to the gospel! It was a miracle. We were comfortable and answered all the questions he could think of, he felt the answers were good and didn't feel like we were pushing on him but were his friends. His daughters were excited to see his curiosity and kept saying "Dad, do you have any more questions?" pushing for more.

I love the difference in speakers, but as always there were common themes, ones I saw were the importance of mothers and fathers in a home, member missionary work and how the church works. There was more that excited me but I have forgotten my notes at home so I'll have to say more later. I was curious though that they didn't really have any announcements. Yes, President Monson said that there were now 15 million members (so exciting) and 80,000 missionaries, but were there really no new temples to announce? Nothing about the government. As we talked with the members we had dinner with Sunday evening, she made a comment about how strange Elder Bednar's talk was on tithing until she realized he was telling about the good influence the church is on how to live without debt as God has directed us. Though there was no direct correlation to the government there were points made that described how we need to hold true to our faith even through a world that is losing its faith in God.

I haven't been using "Kent" (my bike) since I got to Petal, but that may change because our area was just changed. We have now combined and split with the Petal Elders. They now serve the South side of Petal and we serve the North side.

Exciting news of the week:

1. Investigator getting baptized. Yesterday between sessions our teenage investigator texted us and said her mom had finally given her permission to be baptized. However, she wants to do it within the week and she hasn't been to church for a while so we need to talk to our leaders and make sure she qualifies for baptism. But Sister Holbrook and Sister Cooper were jumping all over the room with excitement.

2. Found Hailey Nelson in Oct 2013 New Era (pg 14). Sister Holbrook's mom sent her the missionary themed Ensign for this month and as I was flipping through I found Sister Nelson! We grew up and graduated High school together. She is serving in Salt Lake City, UT.

3. Drawing up Adam's Family Tree. I felt like reading in Genesis and began reading through Adam's genealogy. I was curious to see if I could create Adam's tree (or at least as far as the scriptures describe it). Let's just say Sister Holbrook and Sister Cooper are weirded out and impressed.

4. Found Apple's double (my cat). Sister Holbrook and I spent some time on Wednesday night playing with 5 kittens. One of them was gray with nearly the exact same markings as my cat Apple. We named him Apple Jr. The other cats we named Scooter, Dax, Tux, and McGonagall.

5. Had a rock hunt and could barely find stones. Tuesday we had an activity planned to help an investigator pray every night by making "Prayer Rocks." Small rocks you decorate with the word "pray" that you leave on your pillow to remind you before you sleep at night to pray to Heavenly Father. Surprisingly it was really hard to find suitable rocks--or rocks at all.

6. Tracted in the Corner Market. People we're friendly in Louisiana, but I'm discovering that people aren't as friendly here. When I smile at someone, they don't smile back or they look at me like I just stuck my tongue out at them. We were driving to District meeting with the elders so our car was full. At a stoplight we were stopped by a man in a white van who kept looking at us. Being friendly, I smiled and waved expecting him to wave or smile back. Instead he made a funny face sticking out his tongue and then following his green arrow to turn left. I was flabbergasted and Sister Holbrook and Sister Cooper laughed at me, seeing my wave turned down. So, yeah... The people here are different.

In the end, I've reached my sixth month mark. There is a tradition between sisters to burn some nylons in celebration... I do not plan to do any such thing (especially since I don't have any). But it makes me glad. The holidays are coming that may be hard, but I don't feel any fear of loneliness as I imagine it. I'll be okay. Smile with me.

2 Nephi 9:39

"Remember to be Spiritually-Minded Is Life Eternal."

S.M.I.L.E.

This is a joyful gospel, with a plan of happiness that God has designed for us.

Be happy. Be Healthy. And remember your Heavenly Father loves you. And I do too.

Love, Lucky Lara

 Last Monday we had lunch at Dickey's Barbeque. Ate bristque! Yummy, but I miss Dad's.

Had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. Somehow we were all wearing black, white, and pink. 

 A man on the road in front of us was honking a funny horn and waving to everyone with his bright orange gloves, what a clown :D

 Last transfer, Sister Schultes broke a chair, then this transfer I broke a chair, luckily I heard the snap of the wood before I sat completely down.

On Sunday between sessions we had a picnic in the CTR 7 room, complete with photo shoot and spray cheese!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Well, Petal, MS is a new home I wasn't expecting but should have been expecting. It’s small, but that's hard to feel because there are so many streets. Yet everything is based off the highways. It's kinda hard to explain. Let me put it in terms of miles (because to a missionary, miles are precious). In Brownlee, we celebrated when only drove 26.7 miles in one day. In Petal we mourn when we go 26.7 miles in a day. Make sense?

Not much to say for the last week before the weekend. We tracted and I shocked my companions as a loose dog approached us barking. Sister Holbrook and Sister Cooper scurried away, but I didn't want to leave a house un-knocked. So I squatted down and called to the dog, being slow and gentle. Sister Cooper couldn't believe I was so daring. The dog didn't charge and I wasn't afraid. I've had a dog charge.... One that just barks is nothing but annoying, not scary.

Now I said the weekend has something to say about it, and it does. Saturday was the General Relief Society Broadcast and the stake put on a dinner then a swap exchange before the broadcast. The food was sooooo good, creamy chicken pasta with salad, bread and banana cake for dessert. Then we joined dozens of women who had brought various dresses and picked out new ones. It was so much fun looking at the old fashions and actually thinking they were cute. Needless to say us sister missionaries (there were a lot there) had fun as we compared and shared the treasures we found. I grabbed a couple skirts and a couple blouses, but I'm not sure any of them will work. They either need to be taken in or modified a little. So cross your fingers for me. The broadcast was wonderful; I cried and took lots of notes. So excited to get the Ensign; Mom, could you possibly send me my own when it comes out?

Sunday I went to my first branch. We cover the Petal Ward and Sandhill Branch, and I also got to speak--my first time in the mission field. It went really well. But it was funny because I volunteered to go last in case my companions (all 3 of us were talking) went short and I needed to fill up the time. And then they both spoke for 20 minutes. so I had about 5... Yeah, not my original plan. But it was good, i felt confident about what I shared and really good as I wrote my talk the day before. after trying to figure out a talk based on President Monson's talk "Be of Good Cheer" I finally just decided to base off Alma 7:17-25, which was surprisingly a lot easier. I felt no fear, just joy! After church we had a Fifth Sunday Potluck, so yummy!!! We then spent the afternoon going around with the Fitzgerald's in the Branch visiting people and then ended the night with members.

My companions are a little crazy. They've admitted to it. We always seem to be doing something weird, but it’s all fun. Like when Sister Cooper will jump on Sister Holbrook when she's lying on her bed (the middle one on the ground). Or we play "Where's Gregory?" hiding a picture of Sister Holbrook’s friend around the apartment. This morning I hid him on the fan in our bedroom and Sister Cooper started using him as a target to throw stuffed animals at. We sing randomly in the car and have random dancing at all hours of the day. As you can see from my photos of the apartment, they photo-bombed those. It’s all fun here!

I miss Brownlee a lot, but I knew I would. It was my first area and my longest. But I'm slowly adjusting to Petal, to Mississippi, step by step. And I'm "finding joy in the journey."

Scripture of the Week: DC 6:34 "Fear not, Little Flock." :)

Love y'all.

"Happy Fall Y'all!"

Love, Lucky Sister Stewart

the apartment - photos

 My Study Area

 The Kitchen

 The Bedroom

My Closet (and Sister Cooper's) 

 My bed

 Chicky in the window dances for all the neighbors :)

Happy Photo of the Day

transfer photos!

 Stop in Monroe, LA with Sister Garzand and Rocha.

 Crossing the Mississippi River! (RAIN!!!)

 My people!

 After getting my bags in the car... we were wet. New companions: Sister Holbrook and Sister Cooper.

Sister Holbrook broke her fork. 

A member in Sandhill is growing pineapples!

more goodbye photos

 Goodbye Cheri

 Goodbye Huston's

 Goodbye party with Martinelli's and Berty Bott's Every Flavor Beans!

 Goodbye Great Companion

 Goodbye Sister Ray

Goodbye Beautiful Girls

Wet.

Well its official. I'm serving in Mississippi!!!

On Friday, President McDonough called and transferred today to Petal, MS.

Address:

107 Petal Village Dr Apt 32

Petal, MS 39465

It's a really cute little apartment, I'll get pictures out late after I unpack. I haven't seen too much of Petal, and since the church building is in Hattiesburg, I haven't determined where one ends and the other begins. There are a lot of old and kinda decrepit buildings though, which are beautiful in my book, so you can bet I'll have lots of pictures of those. It sounds like Petal is a good enough size, we cover a branch and ward so that will be weird. We're going to go see the bishop tonight so that will be fun.

I am in a tri-companionship. Sister Holbrook who has been out 7.5 months and Sister Cooper who has been trained by Sister Holbrook for the last 6 weeks. They are very sweet. I've met Sister Holbrook several times but this is my first time meeting Sister Cooper. So: new.

It has been raining buckets since we left Shreveport this morning at 7am. Not expecting that. As I sit here I am shivering from wet clothes in the ac but you gotta do what you gotta do and we didn't have much time to change and I didn't really feel like digging though overly stuffed suitcases. I was scared several times as we were driving but we were safe enough and reached our pick-up destinations then finally T-point in Clinton, MS safely then switched vans and finished our trip to Hattiesburg and Petal without much difficultly.

We've had a rainy weekend. Last Friday it was pouring a ton and there was a flood warning so, since we had no appointments, we returned to our apartment so I could begin the process of packing till the storm lightened up a little. Finally when it did we went out tracking in rain coats and dripping as we stood on porches and stoops. My rain jacket was soaked, so much that my shirt got wet! Apparently my water proofer is wearing off or something... But Sister McGrath and I had so much fun. And I don't have a cold yet so my multi-vitamins must be working.

I began saying goodbyes after that. It was hard to leave Brownlee; so much of it feels like my home. Luckily we were able to visit several members, less-actives, and an investigator or 2 so I could tell them where I was going, not to be concerned, and get a photo. I would love to serve in Brownlee again, but we'll see if the Lord has it in His plans later.

So new area, new mission life. Sorry if there are a ton of pictures, I had fun. :)

Love y'all! (Thank you, Mom, for looking that up.)

Now, emails and letters people! Thank you!

Go Lisa! Have fun in Ark-Kansas! Send me your address!

-Sister Stewart no. 1 (as of today we now have 2 Sister Stewart's!)

Before...

 ...After.

Sweet Frog (frozen yogurt) with the Bossier Elders. 

 Made lots of planner covers last week :)

 Sister McGrath now gets to drive with me leaving.

 We went out, decided it was pouring too hard and come home. We were drenched just running to and from the car.

 Goodbyes: the Pearcy's (with Elder Capron)

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.