spiritually exhausted‏

Welcome to madness week! 

We had a crazy awesome spiritually exhausting week!

Let me break it down for yall.

Wednesday: first exchange with the DeRidder Sisters

Thursday: Mission Conference with General Authority, Elder Kopischke

Friday: Missionary Leadership Council (MLC) with Elder Kopischke

plus the wonderful regular missionary miracles.

wow. 

so much to talk about.

Exchanges!

We had our first exchanges this week with the DeRidder sisters, Sister Bell and Sister Manuma.

For exchanges we really tried to do exactly what Heavenly Father wanted us to do, where we needed to go and who we needed to be with.

How our exchanges work is that both sisters come to our area and we split up and double work the area. One of us will take Pineville and the other Alec.

When we were planning we didn't know what to do! We had our schedule and visits planned out. We thought Sister Bell should stay in Alec and Sister Manuma should go to Pineville. But we both really wanted to go to Pineville!! So we prayed alot. It was already late from planning so we decided to really pray and ponder and then we would make the final decision in the morning.

 

So I prayed. alot. I really sincerely asked Heavenly Father to take my selfish tendencies away, all my justifications and wants and to replace them with His, to help me recognize what His plans where for me and this area. My greatest desire when I was praying was to go where He wanted me to go and to be with who I needed to be. 

In the morning, I prayed yet again and tried to focus on my answer. 

I felt like I needed to stay in Alexandria but I also felt that I needed to be companions with Sister Manuma. 

So I told my companion and thats how it went!

It was a very humbling experience, not in the way that I felt bad about myself but in the way that I felt empowered because I chose to choose God's will. I would do anything to change just to be aligned with what God wanted me to do. I was able to recognize my dependence on Him because I know I can't do anything without His guidance! It was a cool experience!

Sister Manuma and I had an AMAZING day. I looooved it. 

I really felt like it helped both of us! 

Sister Manuma came out with Sister Steve! She was born in Hawaii, woohoo! but grew up in Las Vagas. Her grandparents were immigrants from Samoa! So we got along really really well and we talked about everything, family, mission life, post mission plans, goals in the mission, why we're out on a mission..etc but mainly we talked about Polynesian culture and BYU Hawaii. and it was wonderful. 

(I think Sister Manuma is the 4th person I have successfully convinced to go to BYUH. #hireme #theyreallapplyingthisfall)

 

I LOVE SISTER MANUMA. She's amazing. and I adore her. 

We pranked Sister Pfleger with a fake mannequin hand in her bed. 

But honestly I learned so much from Sister Manuma. She has an absolutely incredible attitude that really helped me! It was exactly what I had been praying for. I really needed to remember what a privilege and blessing it is to be here. I don't need to count down the months until I get home because this is want I want to do! I only have less than a year left and thats not alot of time and I don't want to miss all these opportunities to talk to everyone I see! There is an urgency and joy in this work that I forgot about and I can't even express how grateful I am for Sister Manuma and her passion and love. She really helped me alter my perspective and attitude :) love love love exchanges! (we also had some really solid lessons that I learned alot from)

 

 

 

 

MISSION CONFERENCE:

The very next day after exchanges was the Mission Conference in Denham Springs (my old zone :')) with Elder Kopischke of the Quorum of the Seventy. 

He visited our mission maybe a little over a year ago and he came back to continue to teach us! 

He came only a couple months before I came into the mission and that is allll I heard about. The trainings were all about what he said and thats all the missionaries talked about so I was very excited to learn from him.

And let me tell ya.

He did not disappoint.

Pic with an apostle part II

Elder Kopischke :)

Elder Kopischke is an amazing Spirit-led apostle of the Lord! He was so inspired and I took 7 pages of front and back notes. He was amazing. 

There is so much I learned and want to tell yall! but I think the one that stuck out to me alot is that he is so Spirit led. 

He didn't come with a plan. 

No lesson, no talk, no ideas... Just came to speak to us. 

He welcomed us and then let us think about some questions we have and then let us ask 3 questions and those would be the agenda items for the meeting. 

And it was FANTASTIC. 

So INSPIRED. 

He just came with the Spirit and his scriptures.

I hope to be like that someday. 

 

The crew (aka just us) headed to Denham. Our 3 hour car ride... :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since we had to wake up so early to leave for Denham Springs, Pop made us all sack breakfasts with our name on them 

HES LITERALLY THE SWEETEST :') <3

 

 

MLC:

We got to stay the night in Baton Rouge because Alec is sooo far away. a 3 hr drive. So we stayed with the BR STLs and got to go to MLC!

MLC is usually led by PHansen but since we had an apostle here it was led and instructed by Elder Kopischke! 

It was a more personal and directed meeting and so powerful. 

I loved it because he was talking about how being obedient is cool!

This is something that my mission really struggles with but that is really starting to change. 

Elder Kopischke really made being obedient to mission rules and the laws and covenants of the gospel cool! 

That is so important. 

"Why do we think that we would be able to follow the Celestial laws when we can't even follow the Telestial laws?" -Elder K

Me and the comp :)

SISTER O <333333 So much love for her

NORMAL MISSIONARY MOMENTS:

As a district, we have made a goal to go tracting everyday no matter what. 

So thats what we have been trying to do! Even if its just one street or the surrounding houses of an appointment. 

We just got done with tracting around a referrals house and still had some extra time so we decided to continue to tract. 

Blind tracting is so so so completely discouraging and useless and thats why tracting gets a bad rep. 

BUT. When we tract with the Spirit and get a referral from Heavenly Father of where to go.. Of course its going to be great!

So we prayed and searched for a good street and we were getting into the ghetto but then I saw some nice looking house and so we stopped there!

Then we found a street of nice houses and this adorable mint house. So we decided to go to the mint green house because it was really cute.

We go to the door and know and a man answers the door. We introduce ourselves as missionaries and before we say anything else, I just kinda blurted out that his house was super cute. 

And in my head I'm like, "What the heck?? you just told a man that his house is cute in the almost ghetto. what are you doing."

But then I was like, "Well. you already said it. act natural?" haha

Anyways we tell him what we are doing and he tries to tell us to leave because he has his whole family in the house, kids and grandkids. But then he pauses and says that we can come in!

We come in and start talking to him and his son or son-in-law about families and how Jesus Christ has blessed them in their lives. 

The man, his name is Donald, starts telling us that he is baptist and he has his own church and his wife is Jehovah Witness and she goes to church every Sunday and they are good with that... but then he paused for just a second again and tells us to come back on Tuesday night so we can study more. 

wait. what? 

He repeats himself and we heard him right. 

I fumble to get my planner out and write down his name and address and phone number. 

We pray with them before we leave and have a return appointment for tuesday. 

WHAT. 

It was amazing to see how the Spirit worked on him in such a casual conversation. 

I KNOW we did not say anything to convince him to meet with us. It was purely the Spirit and his decision. 

I LOVE THE SPIRIT. 

It makes me so so happy that I get to have it with me all the time. 

It makes me happy that I have to work for it to be with me because its so so satisfying to know that when I have the Spirit it effects people so strongly. 

And that we are directed to people who are prepared. 

I love the Spirit. 

I love being a missionary.

I love being spiritually exhausted. (except when I fall asleep on my study chair, kneeling in that position for an hour. #couldntfeelmyarms #whoops)

and I love yall so much!!!

LOVES

xoxoxoxoxoxox

sister sades

 

on exchanges we went tracting in a not ghetto but almost ghetto neighborhood where a lessactive family lives.

We found this in the screet. (correct louisiana pronunciation) 

A full-fledged weave ;)

When its so flippin humid outside you step out of the air conditioned car and your glasses fog up. #notcool #suffocating 

Quote of the week: "Raining like a cow peeing on a river rock" -Pop