Monday, April 25, 2016

serviceful‏

Hey faaaam. :) 
 
So this week has been rad as always!
But unfortunately I really have nothing to report. 
 
Satan is working extra hard on Brandi and her family so we haven't been able to meet with them.
2 of our investigators had surgery.
2 came to church and are progressing.
Our other investigators have just been extremely busy
Emily's last day of school is Wednesday so she is real busy with finals and end of school things. We did get permission to go to her last choir concert! Which was very fun and she had a senior solo that she was terrified for and she did really really well. :)
 
Other than that... Just normal missionary work! 
We had Zone Conference so we had to look good

 
 
 
 
Our fun sisters and Sister Hansen! <3
Mah girl
 
Emily's senior concert!
 

So here are some answers to some questions from Mal :)
1. What kind of stuff do you usually see when you ride your bike or drive down the road?
A. roadkill. 
I do not know why. But there is an extremely unfortunate abundance of roadkill on the sides of the roads of Louisiana. Always. Mostly possums, raccoons, and armadillos though.
side note: I know in some places when people prepare food for you, you just don't ask what the meat being served is. Well in some rural parts of Louisiana, you always need to ask where the meat came from. And if they say a street name. You don't eat it. #truestory
But really... for Covington and Mandeville it is very nice houses. Nice as in modern million dollar houses in Mandeville and just nice neighborhoods in Covington mostly. Drive by the Lakefront in Mandeville, lots of green. The grass just grows everywhere. There are lots of ponds, not swamps just ponds and where there are empty lots, instead of being sagebrush and brown it is a forest of grass and trees and stuff. So that's different. 

2. Do you usually bike or drive?
A. We drive! We are very mile conscious since we only have a certain amount and our area is. h.u.g.e.  We used to always bike to the church for meetings and Sundays and activities and such but the flood washed out the road so we can't bike there anymore. lol

Also something mission specific for us is that our Mission President wants us to do 10 hours of service every week. Ideally, it is 5 different service opportunities for two hours a day Tuesday-Saturday. And none of the missionaries in the area serve at the same place.
That is an extremely high goal depending on the area.

But we have tried real hard to find more and more service opportunities in our community and it is really working out for us!

We have 5 different service opportunities! 
 
On Tuesdays we do service at the Covington Food Bank/Thrift Store in the thrift store part. We have our friend Miss Suzanne who loves having us straighten the racks and 

On Wednesdays we go to St. Francis and work in the thrift store part helping price items and organizing the store. We hang our with Gail and Chris, a older couple who come volunteer every Wednesday as well. They are catholic and Chris is the person in the church that goes and delivers communion (their sacrament) to people who are home-bound. 

On Thursdays we go to the Windsor and help our friend Miss Lylln who is the activities director and we help her do crafts with everyone. We will help the individual ladies with their paint and projects and we will just sit and listen to their stories.

On Fridays we go to St. Francis and we work in the cat room! #myfave We spend the first hour cleaning out 3 cages that the ones that get picked on spend the night in, we clean the toys and the bowls, and to anything that Miss Sibyl tells us to do. She loves us and is so grateful for our help which makes it gratifying. Then when we are done we just get to sit and have cats lay on us and talk to the people who come in our the other volunteers, Emily and Dawn. 

On Saturdays we go to an adorable little book shop called the Book Rack and clean and do little projects. Miss Brooks was at a house we were helping clean out and pack up from the flood. She was going through books and taking them to her store! We struck up a conversation and we have now started doing little projects for her at her store.

Service is SO FUN. 
I want to do more of it. 
Always.
Service is the key to happiness. 
Yall are also a good key too
I love yall lots
xoxoxoxoxxo
Sister Sades
 



 

Monday, April 18, 2016

coons and boils and families‏

Okay yall. 
 
This has been another best, monumental, fabulous weekend. 
Like wow. 

So to overview:
1. almost had a pet baby coon
2. met Brandi aka mother of the golden family
3. had our first pre boil crawfish get-together
4. had 6 investigators at church

3 out of the 4 are all related and but one of them just makes be plain happy.
Can you guess.. ;)

FIRST: 
*just in case you thought I was heartless after the crawfish
 
On Friday morning after our 30 minute workout time, I was making breakfast. (a very healthy one might I add ;) and the trash is full so I go to take out the trash of course! Its probably like 7:15 ish.
So I'm walking down our gravel driveway and throw away the trash in the garbage. 
I hear this weird crying animal and it pierces my soul. 
I go find it. 
I don't have to look that hard yall. 
On the side of our little driveway..
I find this!
 
Probably only a day old baby racoon! just screaming away. It was so so tragic. 
Of course I have to do something about it. 
 
So I sprint into the house and grab a handful of napkins and the phone and sprint back outside and start to care for it. Its probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen.
 
 

 
Pretty much the gist of the story is that I called 2 members of our ward Brother Amoroso, who tells me that it probably doesn't have diseases so I can hold it YAY
and the Nolans, who might sound familiar because they are pretty much our favorite people ever. They feed us every Wednesday and they have so many animals that they just seem to find and take care of!
So the daughter, Theresa, works for the St Tammany Parish government for the Animal Protection Services or something, so she has a license to rehabilitate wild animals and release them again. And they said that she agreed to take it! Aaaaand they all just happen to be over there to get her son off to school. like wow. #miracle #blessed
YAY. So little coon has a home now. 
But we dropped him off at like 8:15 so for that hour I was trying to figure out what to do we just had a nice cuddle sesh and it was precious. I kept him warm and made sure he was still alive. :') #coon&mishbonding
It was really sad to be a missionary for that hour because I just wanted to keep him for a pet FOREVER.  but its okay. I can go visit. :) 
 
 
SECOND:
*just in case you forgot I was a missionary
So Sister Steve and I were out doing missionary work on Friday. I know. Surprise. 
We went over to this less actives house and was visiting with her when her neighbor, Brandi, came over! 
So we start chatting it up with the neighbor about her and us and missionaries and church and God and also the Word of Wisdom and it was just really solid. She had a hard question about why we can't drink coffee but we can drink coke and heavily caffeinated sodas. Good question huh.  
And all week we have been inviting everybody to our ward Crawfish Boil we were having on Saturday morning. 
So we're like, "Hey Brandi, we're having a rad crawfish boil. Why don't you come on over with our whole family. It will be fun!" 
And she's like, "okay. If you can find the answer to my question, I will be there."
DEAL.
 
So of course we go find the answer and text her later that night and say "Hey Miss Brandi! We found the answer to your question! See you at the boil tomorrow?"
Brandi: "Definitely"
WOOHOOO. Yall. Its that easy. You can do it too. Even though you don't have rad crawfish boils you can still do it. ;)

THIRD:
*just in case you were still in suspense about previous story and about how crawfish are cooked
Saturday morning! 
Crawfish boil day! 
The activity was actually a ward activity where we deep clean the inside of the church and then we get to have a crawfish boil after. (we just invited everyone for a church tour and the boil)
The prep
Those are buckets of live crawfish
I am holding a live crawfish
Those are buckets of live crawfish
and thats a pot of unbelievably delicious seasoning and juice and such
This is Ryan stirring the crawfish with the juices

Now these are dead crawfish. ready to eat in like... 20 minutes.
#fam
#ilikeyall
How we all feel about crawfish. 


this is why cooking is a big deal. everyone hangs out and talks :) I love it

 
So we go early to help set up and help do whatever needs to be done like always and then we are so anxious about Brandi coming and the others arriving that we are literally no help for the clean the church part. #srry
 
But everything worked out of course!!
We had 3 investigators there and Brandi came and she brought 2 of her kids!!
 
We were so so so happy when Brandi showed up and we took her and her 2 kids on a church tour and explained everything, the relief society room, the Young Womens/Mens program, and we had the Primary President explain what Primary was and it was just perfect.
Then we took them in the Chapel. 
And wow. 
We could just feel the Spirit as soon as we walk in. 
And we know Brandi felt it too.
She was so happy and just told us that she felt so comfortable here unlike any other church that she has ever attended. 
:')
 
Then they stayed for a bit of the crawfish boil and both of her kids found friends that they really loved being around and hanging out with. And some ladies in our ward really reached out to Brandi and everyone made them feel so welcome and loved.
It was such a tender mercy. 
 
That evening, we get a call from Brandi. 
She had such a wonderful day. And she just loved everyone she met. And she was just overflowing with joy. 
So like all people in the south she starts talking about her fabulous day with her friends.
And she starts getting torn apart. 
Her friends start telling her all kinds of awful things and really just tearing her down. And giving her false information.
 
She calls us very distraught because she is now so confused about what is right and how to feel. She had such good feelings at the boil and met such great, genuine people but now her closest friends are tearing it up and ruining her happiness and spirit that she felt.
We helped her focus on the good, answer some questions and told her not to give up yet, come to church, remember the good that you felt. 
Literally heartbreaking. 
They are so special and Satan is trying so hard to make sure they don't come closer to Christ.

FOURTH:
*just in case you think missionary work is just about us. its not. its about yall too.
WE HAD 6 INVESTIGATORS COME TO CHURCH
yall this is a big deal.
We had 10 committed to coming for sure on Saturday night but of course as all know that doesn't always happen. 
But thats okay! 
BECAUSE WE HAD 6 AT CHURCH.
It was a crazy, miracle, blessed, incredibly stressful day. 
Wow. So scared and nervous. 
 
But most importantly. 
BRANDI AND HER ENTIRE FAMILY CAME TO CHURCH.
Brandi, her husband Brian, and her 3 kids, - Joe (15), Miracle (11), and Ayden (5)
They stayed all three hours.
They felt the Spirit again. 
The good feelings were back.
But now so were a BILLION questions and probably over stimulation since they have no idea what was going on. 
But they are literally gems.
Brandi had a notepad and was writing down all these questions and scriptures. 
And Brian was just silently engrossed. 
 
Can I brag about my ward real quick?
Right after sacrament meeting a young man, Joe's age, never met Joe before, comes up and introduces himself and takes him to class.
Right after sacrament meeting, Miracles friends from the day before come up and happily whisk her to class.
Right after sacrament meeting, we take Ayden to Primary and his teachers were inspired to teach the lesson about prayer instead of the original lesson on baptism. Ayden had a wonderful time. 
Right after sacrament meeting, all the ladies that had befriended Brandi the day before all came to greet her and came to the Gospel Principles class with her and Brian. 
The counselor in the bishopric that was announcing, the speakers, the members in the gospel principles class, and the relief society teacher all catered their speech and lessons to these new investigators who had never been to church before.
 
WHAT A RAD WARD. 
This is what yall can do! 
Notice the missionaries investigators and take care of them without asking. 
Brandi and her family were invited to dinner on some night this week.
Joe is going to Mutual on Wednesday night.
Miracle is going to Activity Days on Wednesday. 
And it was a wonderful experience.
 
We are so so so happy to find this amazingly prepared family and have such a great experience with this out pouring of love from our ward to our new investigators.
 
I hope I can be like this someday. 
#missionary4ever
I love yall so much. 
I like yall.
(also I got to wear jeans and a tshirt to the boil and I got a BILLION complements on my "I like yall" shirt. #thankskort #ilikeyall)
LOVES FAM
sister sades
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, April 11, 2016

I'm 5 :)‏

 
Okay yall. 
This week was really rad. 

We planned really well and we got down to business. Like harder than Mulan business. 

Wednesday was my favorite day. 

We received a referral from HQ on Tuesday and we are supposed to ALWAYS contact them within 24 hours of receiving them because that gives us the best chance of getting them in the best mood and willing to accept more than what they initially asked for. (because about 90% of the time they request a free bible to be delivered to their home so that means we can explain about the Book of Mormon!) 

So we got the referral on Tuesday so we had to go contact her on Wednesday! 
We start heading out there and its quite a ways away but the referral lives in a place in Covington I have never been before! So that was cool because that doesn't come up too often. 
BUT this was even more cool because when we were driving out there.. WE DROVE ON A HILL. A BIG ONE. 

Okay it actually wasn't that big but it felt really really big because I haven't seen a hill in like... 5 months. 
Oh yea.
ps. Happy 5 months to me todayy! woohoo! I still feel like a baby but thats okay. :)

anyways. 
We go out to the country and find this referral. Her name is Miss Jeannette. 
We are following our gps and we go from the big fast road and turn onto a medium country road. Then on to her skinnier road then we try to find house. We found the mailbox but it was confusing to find who's house the mailbox belonged to. So of course we pick the wrong house. #whoops. 
So we go back and turn onto the very skinny dirt lane that leads to the house and all the dogs (4-7 dogs) come running and sprinting and barking out to meet us. We go very slow to not kill them. #smh 
Finally we make it up to the house and everyone (3-6 people) is sitting on the porch. 
Most of them get up and disappear in the house. 

Now what this just described is an average meeting in Louisiana. 
Skinny roads.
A billion dogs. #missionariesworstnightmare
Everyone disappears. 

But what happens next is definitely not average.


We get out of the car and yell out "Heelllooooo!! We are looking for Miss Jeannette!"
And luckily the only person who did not disappear in the house was Miss Jeannette! Woohoo!

So we introduce ourselves and she invites us to come sit on the porch and if we want something to drink, etc. 
Then we start talking. 

She has a cousin who came by and visited her who is Mormon. Miss Jeannette has had alot of changes in her life recently, deaths and an upcoming heart surgery, so she is definitely in the mood for some enlightenment. The cousin called our mission and sent us over there!

We asked her if she had any questions and her very first question was about prophets and Jesus Christ. It was crazy. Because our first lesson is on prophets and Jesus Christ. 
This doesn't seem like a huge deal but its a very big deal that someone brings up our first lesson all by themselves! 
So that was an easy transition for us! We start right into our lesson and teach her about our Heavenly Father, prophets, Jesus Christ, apostasy, and Joseph Smith. It was an amazing very spiritual lesson and she is so prepared to talk to us. 

Jeannette is such a tender mercy and so is my awesome companion! 
That lesson was great because of Jeannette being prepared and so kind and sweet to us but also because of the progress in Sister Steve and my companionship!
We went to the beach! just a tiny beach by a giant oak tree that we went to go see
dang. I miss the beach
my cutie pants aka skirt comp
 
We have been practicing our teaching and contacting and everything since day one and now we can really see the fruits of our labors! 
We can transition from person to person in our lessons and we can just focus on the Spirit and what our investigators need. 
We can laugh really hard daily. 
We can give an honest and equal opinion in what each investigator and less-active needs.
We can read each other and what we can do for each other not perfectly but its getting there!
 
Still hanging with bff em :)
 
I love being in Covington, right now, with Sister Steve and my district and our investigators!
I love being on a mission!
And I especially love yall. my super awesome supportive familia <3
I'm so so so happy that yall are so so so happy :)
Good luck with all the endevors that this week takes you too. 
I love yall lots and lots and more everyday :)
<3 covy
I hope yall are livin life and seein good days!
Get along with your companions ;)
Dont forget I lava yall :)
xoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxo
Sister Sades
 
 
our #basic lakefront end of transfer pictures with the old district. <3
 
fam :)
 
 
we're goobers
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, April 4, 2016

GC & temples & crawfish‏

Heelloooo familia! 

So obvi its transfer week. 
Woohooo! Get to stay training Sister Steve and in Covington! 
I guess we have alot more people to see and get baptized before we leave just yet :)

Anywhooozles. 
What even happened this week. It feels like it was forever long! 

We finished up the finality of the flood service!! So that was monumental.
We did one last trip to Robert and finished up cleaning up every single property that requested help!! So that is really really accomplishing. 
Last day doing service in Robert. :) sweetest lady ever. We showed her the #hallelujah video and bore testimony. It was a sweet experience!
Family picture. Sister Stevenson is the daughter (greenie), I'm the Mom (trainer), and Elder Ross is the Dad (District leader). (elder Decker is actually the Grandpa. He's my dad!)

 
There was a cockroach in our room. We tore our room apart in about 2 minutes flat. 
Exchanges in Zachary with these outstanding sisterss!! yay yay yay
 
 
Something really really fun this week was crawfish dayyy!!! 
I have been waiting for this day for a long tiiiiime. I had a taste of crawfish and the very early start of crawfish season when the crawfish were just little babies! They were so. so. good. I couldn't wait to get them again. 
FINALLY its crawfish day. 
Crawfish is alot of work for a tiiiiiny bit of meat! But its worth it and really yummmm. 
Peeling the crawfish is a true art (or so we get told a billion times) and its true. I had like 2 and a half trays of crawfish and it was totally worth it. mmmmhmm. Thats something unique that I will miss! It was so fun to hang out with all the old people and hear their stories and everything too. 
Crawfish day at the Windsor :))
Crawfish cookie cake = cute happiness

 
 
 
 
And of course. wow. General Conference was amazing. 

It was broadcasted at the church but we have bff member friends who invited us over! It was just like being with a family. And we got to sit on a couch :))))

I absolutely adored the emphasis on temples!! 
The temple is such a huge emphasis in my life and I just love love love that it was talked about in conference with 4 new temples on the way and when they're all dedicated 177 temples!! Incredible. 

I haven't been able to go to the temple since I have been in Louisiana! Its been the longest I haven't been to the temple in about... what 2 and a half years? dang. Its strange and I miss it alot. 

The temple has truly changed my life and it seems like we have actually been talking about it alot in the past week or two! It has been brought up about working in the temple and going to the temple. I love having that strong and firm testimony of the temple that is able to be shared with others. 

I loved the talk on refugees and President Uchtdorf's sweet sweet presence afterward. That was a little heart wrenching. That really brings up my desire again to do humanitarian work!! I don't have to think about it now but thats something I really would love to get involved in.

My heart strings were pulled when we saw President Monson, our wonderful prophet, in such a skinny state! But the faithful and heartfelt prayers were so tender and helps me to remember that universal aspect and love that everyone has for these leaders. 
Also that President Monson is a true prophet of God and that he still gives the best one liners that strike us all! 
"Choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong."
 
Also!! We got water from the Abita Spring today. Natural fresh water straight from a spring
tbh I'm pretty sure its the chamber of secrets
 
It was really cool and we feel pretty hipster.
 
I love the gospel and I love the leaders that guide us to do what the Lord would have us do!
I also love crawfish :)

I also love yalllll!!! Seems like a very easy going time right now.. laid back. thats the best kind of family time and I love it and yall!
But anywho. I'm sorry I've been so scattered and weird letters lately! What else would yall like to know about me or missionary life or what...? haha What should I write about?

I love you and you letters and packages more than you even know!
I LOVED IT. I should have videoed my reaction to the SUNSHINE that your package gave to my heart and my face! I love the sobes. I love the pictures. I love the letters. I love yall!
Live life and see good days!!
xoxoxoxo
Sister Sades
 
We thought we were flippin hilarious and found this on the side of the road and gave it to our Buddhist investigator. 
It was hilarious. I died laughing