caterpillars and butterflies and 1 year. what.

Well yall. 

Sorry for not emailing last week, life is crazy here in S-Laughter. 

We went on a rad waterfall adventure!! It was so fun. It felt so good to hike and see water and be relaxed and outside!

 

 

 

 

 

 

but sorry about the lack o email. hopefully this makes up :)

But its been a good week!

yall its been a good year.

Last week I hit one year for being on a mission and its a crazy crazy feeling. 

This was one year ago last week! can you believe that. just a little sister mish

ready for this reunion :)

I have learned alot alot alot in the past year. 

It can pretty much be summed up in this quote my wonderful companion showed me this week.

 

[ How does one become a butterfly? One has to have the desire to fly so badly, that they give up being a caterpillar. ]

 

wow. thats honestly been my goals and the summation of the last year in one quote. 

Trying to become what God wants me to become.

Trying to be someone God can depend on always to listen and then do what He wants me to do, no matter what the occasion, situation, person, or action. 

Trying to be someone who you can see Christ by seeing or knowing me. 

Trying to be 100% committed to God and motivated only by love. 

Trying to give up [ me ] & the things [ I ] want and purely be a servant for God.

And some days I do really good at these things!

Other days I am not so good at these things. 

And other days I am doing good but especially adept to seeing only what I need to improve. 

And these are the days that have made up the past year.

 

I just really want to become the butterfly God sees me as and God can use me as and give up my caterpillar self and tendencies. 

 

Moral of the story: LOTS O LEARNING, LOTS O GROWING, AND LOTS O CHANGING

 

Here are some things that I have learned:

 

1. to depend on Christ and the Atonement to be enough. 

sometimes we mess up. sometimes we don't do all that we can. sometimes once we get in the car and start to drive away we realize what we should have done or should have said. sometimes we don't know what to do or where to go and we have to be the strong ones. 

but I've learned that, thats okay. and we can do it. 

only when we rely and depend on Christ.

and I know this because each one of these things happened to me this week. and I'm here trying to be better today than I was yesterday. and I can only do that with Christ.

 

2. to [ l e t  g o  a n d  l e t  G o d ]

sometimes we worry. sometimes we say the completely wrong things. sometimes we really ruin a door approach. sometimes we really want to take away our investigators agency.

but I've learned  to let it go. not only let it go but let God take it for me. give it to Him and lay it at His feet. 

and I know this because each one of these things has happened this week as well. and I'm at peace with my mistakes (& how to be better) and others decisions and I'm giving it to God.

 

3. how to treat others, how to care for people, what makes others feel good

sometimes we aren't as patient, loving, caring, compassionate, humble, kind, Christ-like, as we should be and sometimes we are. sometimes others serve, write, love, say, do things that make us feel good and feel cared about and sometimes its the opposite. 

but I've learned how to be more Christ-like and how to treat others the way Christ would, how to love and speak and react with love even when its hard and even when its not reciprocated. and I have learned alot from the members, investigators, and missionaries here about how to care, serve, and 

 

4. my personal relationship with God and Christ and what that means

God is my Father. who really loves me. and blesses me alot. and blesses those around me alot. and sometimes I get to be the tool He uses. and thats the coolest thing ever.

Jesus Christ is my brother. who is my number one cheerleader, supporter, listener, friend, example, and everything else that is good in the world. He is all of that and more. 

And they each know me very personally. and want and do the very best for me. 

 

5. value of time

Have you ever realized how much you can get done in one day when you plan it and wake up early? ALOT YALL. you can get alot done.

Have you ever realized all the stuff that you need to do and want to do and how little time we have in a day? or in a week? or a month? or on a mission? or whatever stage of life we are in? or on the earth? NOT ALOT YALL. 

So why waste it on pointless activities or time wasters that are not helping us progress?

 

6. what makes me happy

God trusting me.

seeing people change their lives

helping people change their lives

becoming converted and changed through the Atonement

louisiana

Christmas

talking to people

talking about God and Christ

making friends with strangers

making friends with missionaries

cats

eating louisiana food

making fun and irreplaceable memories

learning new things daily

laughing

Christmas

feeling successful

feeling the Spirit

petting cats

getting prayers answered

being the answer to others prayers

being on the Lord's errand all day every day

Christmas

driving a truck

dirt roads 

christmas music

sister henrie

jamming to christmas music in the truck with sister henrie on dirt roads

looking at pictures yall send me

[ being a representative of Jesus Christ and servant of God ]

7. why I'm on a mission

because I love God and I want to serve Him. 

because there is no other way to be saved except through Jesus Christ and baptism through this priesthood and the people in this world NEED that.

because I want to help people have the peace and happiness through the gospel.

because I want to help my brothers and sisters access the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

because it MAKES ME HAPPYYYYY

 

wow. moral of the story. 

I've learned alot. here are just a few things. a few of my favorites.

and I am so THANKFUL.

for my mission, for the knowledge of the gospel, for the miracles I get to see and the lessons I get to learn, for the eternal friends I get to make, for my wonderful companion who is full of energy and love for her mission and life.

and especially for YALL. 

headed to zone conf with bbygirl henrie <3

 

 

update on missionary work in s-laughter town! 

this is what we do all day everyday. roam the roads and knock the houses. 

we have meet lots of rad God-fearing people. 

GOOD NEWS: we taught 2 lessons this week! actually in their houses! so that was really exciting and see the work move forward. lots of hopes for this upcoming week and the one after thanksgiving

 

posterity. my 2 daughters + sister putoa

 

walking to save miles and walking on railroads to save our lives from the hwy :)

 

 

and we always need to stop for picture opportunities. :)

 

 

i <3 s-laughter

 

 

Here are promised pictures of the apartment :)

 

cheesin :)

 

happy thanksgiving and tune in next week for more gratitude and christmas joy. :))

I LOVE YALL SO MUCH

just living life and seeing good days :)

xoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxox

sister sades

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S-Laughter

Yall. Can I tell you how much God loves us?

So much. He loves us so unbelievably much.

and wow. yall have asked a million questions so I'll try to get to them all here.

 

My new area is SLAUGHTER LOUISIANA

 

 

 

Facts about Slaughter

1. pronounced laughter with an S

2. Thats a total lie. it really is exactly the way it look but its just a gross word so I like saying s-laughter.

3. it is right below Mississippi and above Zachary which is right above BR 

4. It is so beautiful. When you think of the stereotype of what the south would look like.. that = slaughter. ie plantation homes, tree alleyways, dirt roads, and beautiful fields and country.

5. Slaughter is very veryyyy country. ie the people. ie you better have the best manners ever. yes ma'am, yes sir, ma'am?, no yawning.

this is the typical manners of the south but it seems to be especially important here.

6. Its like 30-40 minutes away from BR but we are in the Denham Springs stake and missionary zone. aka my baby zone! Covington was also in the Denham zone so that makes me happy.

7. Slaughter didn't but some areas that we cover and especially Zachary (where the rest of our district is) got destroyed in the flood. so basically that is still what everybody talks about.

 

My new companion is Sister Henrie! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She is so cute and great. 

Fun facts about Sister Henrie

1. She is from Hagerman, ID (an idahomie)

2. She is a triple major in photography, business management, and interior design. 

3. When she was growing up ie 9-14 she loved Louisiana and studied it and learned everything about it. She knows everything. 

4. Today is her 5th day in Louisiana

5. She is so pumped to be in Louisiana and especially Slaughter.

6. She is so pumped to be on a mission.

 

 

A typical and beautiful Slaughter road. 

usually dirt though. 

casual candid. pls excuse the truck corner

WAIT DID YOU SAY TRUCK

heck yea we did!!!! YALL WE GET A TRUCK

#happiestcamperalive

 

louisiana is my place <3

 

We live in the same apartment the Elders have lived in. For ages. 

And it looks that way too. 

The first several hours and days when we got to Slaughter were spent cleaning. deep deep deep cleaning. #ew. #boysaregross

Luckily Sister Henrie is a champ and dove into it. also bonus she's an interior design major so we reorganized the entire apartment. 

*fail* didn't get a picture outside the apartment yet. coming soon

But we live in a side/connected apartment to some members! 

So we don't live with them... just a little side apartment connected to their garage. :) its fun! 

 

 

 

 

District lunch at Lagniappe (a word in the south that means 'everything random')

Sister Henrie ordered a seafood platter, fried catfish, crawfish tails, shrimp, hushpuppies, crab, onion rings... It was too spicy for her so I got to eat alot of it and eat the leftovers :)))) she will get used to it soon :) 

District lunch! So pumped to be all together!

 

We are ​serving in the Slaughter Branch! 

Facts about Slaughter Branch

1.On average about 40-60 people come a week to the branch. That is alot more that I was expecting so I was really pumped about that. 

2. They are very excited to have sisters! This is the first time the Slaughter branch has had sisters in over 20 years. ie probably longer than I have been alive. 

3. The branch is so kind. Supportive. Loving. Tight with each other. I'm so excited to be here. 

 

We took over the area!

Facts about doubling in a new area

1. It is way overwhelming. 

2. Its incredibly spiritual.

3. very humbling.

4. and exciting. 

 

I can't tell you how overwhelming it was to sit down at our desk with a good but not so current area book and look through the ward roster.. and not even know where to start. Who the branch president is, who the RS president is, the branch mission leader, if we have one, who's active and not active in the ward.. so you have no idea of who to call. 

 

The first thing we did in this area (after sweeping the floor) was get on our knees and pray. 

We know nothing about this area and we are completely relying on God to guide us on who we need to see and where we need to go. 

And there are miracles in that.

 

We contacted one of the elders who had just left and asked a few basic questions, who's the branch president, who is the branch mission leader, and what is the voicemail password bc we have a voicemail we don't know how to get to.

 

after trying to contact some of them with no success we continued searching through the area book and studying the maps to get an idea of whats going on. maybe an hour later we got a phone call from the branch mission leaders wife. 

"Hey what are yall doing i just got in the car and im headed to yalls apartment do yall still live where the elders were living next to the Halls i just left my house and im coming to pick you up so that we can go see a sister in the ward that needs help okay i'll be there in ten minutes bye!"

lol exact phone conversation.

BUT TENDER MERCIES YALL.

God is taking care of us. 

He sent us Sister Brian to come save us from the blanket of overwhelming fog and just love us. 

She picked us up and took us to a struggling member who's husband has Alzheimer's.

She told us about the area and helped us feel comfortable in this unfamiliar place. 

Then she took us to the church! We didn't even know where the church was! Or what time church was on Sunday!

But while we were at the church we got to meet alot more members and orient ourselves better. 

This ended up being a huge tender mercy because by meeting half of them on Wednesday we were able to meet the other half on Sunday. and Sunday was able to be a wonderful experience instead of crazy and stressful and mindblowing. 

 

Anyways. Moral of the story...

Slaughter is a hard area for finding investigators. Its alot different than my last 2 areas for people accepting us. lots more rejection. 

But we have alot of faith. 

Faith that we will be able to find our purpose here in Slaughter. 

Faith that we will be able to help the branch with their missionary work. 

Faith that we will be able to find people here that are prepared by God to accept the message we have for them.

and alot of humility. 

lots of relying completely on God.

lots and lots of prayers.

And Sister Henrie is literally a champ. A huge example to me of passion and dedication and diligence and as PHansen would say.. "Greenie Fire!" 

I'm so grateful to be companions with her and learn many things from her.

So excited for this new adventure in S-Laughter!!!

Love yall so much :)

xoxoxoxxoxo 

sister sades

excited to have a comp who loves cats [almost] as much as meeee :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

jam packed w goodness

Well family. 

Are you ready for some craziness? 

bc this week was one huge non stop party. 

literally non stop party. 

guess how many pictures I took this week?

you'll never guess. 

I took 400 pictures this week. 

Yep. 

and then we also have transfer news. 

and its kind of a doozy. 

so first things first heres our week!

jokes. I won't be a brat. I know yall are all going to just go right to the big letters and skip all this ramble. but if you didn't and you keep reading this ramble I'm really proud of you because you have alot of self control and by now I think even my own curiosity would make me skip to the transfer news. but if youre still reading for the first time through.... go you. ;)

TRANSFER NEWS

wow. okay so this is whats going on.

I'm getting transferred. I'm leaving Alexandria.

Sister Fristoe is staying in alec and being STL

In mission lingo, I am being pink-washed, doubled in training.

AKA that means, I am going training a brand new sister in a brand new area to sisters. The description I got from PHansen was that I would be taking a new sister to a branch that has never had sisters. At least since he has been mission President. Its a good branch but it needs some good strong sisters. 

So. Here we go! Off to yet another adventure that I really need help with!

First I needed help with being a missionary. being trained.

Next changes I needed help learning how to train another sister.

Next transfer I needed help learning to be an STL.

Now I need help with yalls knowledge. Whether its missionary knowledge, auxiliary leader knowledge, ward member knowledge or ANYTHING. 

I will be starting in a brand new area neither of us knowing anyone. 

Where in the world do we start?

As ward members, what would yall appreciate with new missionaries?

basically I'm still wrapping my brain around it as well as being in a little branch. 

So seriously.

Any advice you have. 

PLEASE HELP AND SEND IT. I NEED IT ALL.

anyways. more to come. 

pray for me and this precious new sister :) 

Here's my past week:

 

 

DAY 1: MONDAY

setting: p day

We had a halloween pday so we dressed up and met up with the elders to have a costumed nerf war and carve pumpkins!

here are our awesome costumes.

Pocahontas and Meeko the raccoon sidekick :)

ps shout out to Kortney for the sweet raccoon hat created and mailed 5 days.

 

 

 

natural habitat?

 

nerf war! the elders were lame and didn't dress up. but they made up for it by building a fort :)

 

Carving pumpkins!!! classic. 

update. the carved pumpkins only lasted 2-3 days on the porch before it turned nasty and moldy. soo.... 

 

STILL DAY 1: monday evening

setting: down the road

This house is just down the road from our church building. They go ALL OUT for Christmas. 

long story short they are on a TV show airing the 1st or 2nd week of December on ABC and they needed an audience when they filmed it. So the church offered up their parking lot for people to park in and walk over so naturally all the church members got invited to be extras or audience members for the filming of this TV show. 

RAD RIGHT. IT WAS AWESOME. 

talked to alot alot of people, had a great time, and also probably got to be on TV! (we aren't allowed to say anything about it yet but remind me in December to tell yall what TV show so yall can find me in it!)

 

 

its was a big deal!

 

 

DAY 2: TUESDAY 

setting: district meeting

We had a halloween district meeting as well. 

We had a different costume for this one. 

Meet Sister Payne and Sister Meyers from The District 1.

The District is a show/video clips that all new missionaries and their trainers have to watch while they are training aka their first 12 weeks. 

These sisters are from back in the day and they are fluent in the soft sister missionary voice, and they have the clothes from the old mission standards and its just bad. We learn alot don't get me wrong! but.... wow. some points it is painful to watch. 

Here is Sister Payne and Sister Meyers, respectively 

 

 

Here is Sister Payne and Sister Meyers 2.0

 

We looked pretty dang good if I can toot our own horns for a second. 

We dressed like this for District Meeting on Tuesday with just our District.

We dressed like this for MLC on Wednesday with the leaders of the mission.

We dressed like this for ZTM on Friday with our zone. 

It was hilarious.

 

Here is our tuesday district meeting.

It was a funeral for Elder Porter. 

A great elder that we all learned alot from. 

He will be missed........

he is going home. :( poor man.

 

 

DAY 3: Wednesday

setting: MLC & wards halloween carnival

The Sister Meyers and Sister Payne picture was the only picture from MLC because it was kind of last minute late notice meeting. MLC was wonderful as ever!

Then we went straight back and to the Combined Halloween Carnival!

It was great!

We changed into Pocahontas and Meeko.

Failed and didn't take that many pictures and also failed and forgot my name tag. #whoamI?

 

 

DAY 4: THURSDAY

Setting: the ZOO

A less active in our ward is the Director at the Zoo so she calls us to volunteer when there is activities at the zoo. This week was the ZOO BOO. 

The first time we went we were personal photographers that took a family picture for them on their own phone :) it was really fun. SO MANY PEOPLE. about 1000 for night one.

What we took pictures of. People with the Slimer from Ghostbusters

 

 

when there wasn't anyone there we got our own pics :)

 

said goodbye to a millionnnnnn people this week :((((( 

This is Christlee from the Manna house a place we do service at. I LOVE HER

 

DAY 5: FRIDAY

was the last zone meeting 

Here are our wonderful sisters

our prompt: pose like something out of The District

The homies <3

 

ENJOY THESE FALL PICTURES <3333

WE GOT A LITTLE CRAZY

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 6: SATURDAY

setting: back at the zoo + the elders this time

the elders loved being superheros. they were famous and all the kids wanted to get their picture taken! 

 

 

 we worked the gift shop and once we were done we got to go through their line and get our own pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 7: MONDAY HALLOWEEN

Went and said goodbye to alot of people. 

last jeep ride with pop. 

love him to death. 

love this area so much

 

 

 

 

DAY NUMBER I FORGOT: SUNDAY

said goodbye to alot more people.

wonderful time at church with both primary programs.

had dinner with a family and they made us stuffed jack 'o lantern bell peppers. SO CUTE

 

 

But moral of the story is I love this area. Sad to leave but SO EXCITED TO TRAIN AGAIN. 

send me your advice!

we are having a party at the greens tonight with my favorite people from both wards. I love my mission and I love my life and I love yall

xoxoxoxoxo 

sister sades