Hello Again from Louisiana Sept. 22nd

Hello again from Louisiana! hope everythign is going well for everyone. This week was fun, but the kind of fun that missionaries have. We were busy. We saw a lot of people and made some progress with them! Let's see......[insert flashback music here]

Monday we went bowling! it was fun but I still stink. I made exactly one strike and the first game I scored like 68 or something and the second game I think I scored like 40. I stink. I think i've been bowling twice in the past 5 years, and some of the other missionaries for some reason had takign bowling lessons when they were younger. I keep waiting for when we play softball or soccer again so I can prove to the world I actually do play sports :)

tuesday we got the oil changed in our car (if it was my car I could have done it, but since the mission provides cars, they want us to get them taken in. Not complaining though :P), had a meeting, and went and helped Sister Hansen make little "faith kits" for the missionaries (as in, we put dirt in a bag with a bag of seeds and paper cups, so they could plant the seed, water it and watch it grow! Faith is like a seed. If we plant it in our hearts and "water" it [pray, read scriptures, etc] it will grow just like a little plant!) and then we got to go to the temple! It was so nice to put all my cares away and focus on feeling the Spirit and feeling at peace. The temple really is a house of God, a place where His Spirit just sort of washes away any worries or cares you have. It is so peaceful. I love having the opportunity to go to the temple.

Wednesday we saw a ton of people!! We got to go to the nursing home to visit this sweet lady and sang to her and her friend. I love nursing homes, really. Everyone is just so happy to see us and it's so easy to just smile and say hello to people. It's fun to ask for advice, too. We visited her again yesterday and her friend was there, J. J is 100 and a half! She's got some really good advice :) I love old people. We saw a lot of my favorite people and got to eat dinner with some of them :)

Thursday I realized I actually like being a grownup. Mind you, this only happens occasionally. We went to lunch with some of the women in the ward, as a Relief Society thing. We went to this yummy little place called La Madelines, and it was really fun. It's nice to feel like you belong to something, and Relief Society is meant to be just that--an organization to help women feel closer and belong and serve each other. It's just fun :) Then we went to do service, and off to dinner at the end of one of the bayous in Prairieville. Tender mercy with that one--we had an entirely different lesson planned for this part member family (the husband isn't a member) and in the middle of dinner I remembered we were planning on sharing another video with him, "Because of Him" from Easter. That one talks about how because of Jesus Christ we all can live again. It was a super powerful lesson. When we were teaching, all I could remember was Grandpa, saying that when we get to heaven he doesn't want to see any empty chairs where someone in our family should have been. I was bawling my eyes out, but so was everyone else. Well, it was really spirit led, because 2 days later, the husband's mother passed away. I hope we were able to provide a little comfort for him and his family. I know that Because of Him really sums up my testimony of Jesus Christ really well.

Friday we saw a bunch of other people too :) It was fun and pretty productive. We have a member who recently started coming back to church, whose daughter is about to turn 8, so she wants us to teach her the lessons before she gets baptized :) that's always fun :) I love their family, so that's no hardship!

Saturday we met a new family who moved into the ward! incedentally, they're from Chandler even thoguh they just moved from anotehr area in Louisiana. Small world! then we had a killer weekly planning session and baked cookies while we were at it and gave them to the Elders. Cause we're awesome :)

Sunday was church :) That was really good as well! I love going to church and taking the sacrament. It is so refreshing to know I can be clean every week. Its such a burden off of my back. I went and helped out in young women's again, too, so that was doubly fun. I miss Young Women's sometimes.

So, that was my week! I wanted to share a poem with yall before I go though, because its been a poem I've had that's shaped my entire mission. It's called "Valleys":

 

Sometimes life seems hard to bear,
Full of sorrow, trouble and woe
It's then I have to remember
That it's in the valleys I grow.

If I always stayed on the mountain top
And never experienced pain,
I would never appreciate God's love
And would be living in vain.

I have so much to learn
And my growth is very slow,
Sometimes I need the mountain tops,
But it's in the valleys I grow.

I do not always understand
Why things happen as they do,
But I am very sure of one thing.
My Lord will see me through.

My little valleys are nothing
When I picture Christ on the cross
He went through the valley of death;
His victory was Satan's loss.

Forgive me Lord, for complaining
When I'm feeling so very low.
Just give me a gentle reminder
That it's in the valleys I grow.

Continue to strengthen me, Lord
And use my life each day
To share your love with others
And help them find their way.

Thank you for valleys, Lord
For this one thing I know
The mountain tops are glorious
But it's in the valleys I grow!

 

Love you!!! Have a great week :)

Sister Steele