Hi People!
So June 1st was the start of hurricane season, and apparently there's a named tropical storm in the gulf, but someone told us it's headed towards Florida, so we should be good. People keep saying that this tropical storm is super early and that's another sign that this is going to be an active hurricane season. We hear so many crazy things from people about why they know this is going to be a bad hurricane year. But one way or another, everyone and their dog agrees down here that we're going to get hit. Is it bad that I kinda want to be here for a hurricane? Like not a big huge devastating one, but just a little one, just so that I can say I was in a hurricane? (My mom is saying YES that is very bad!) This past week, we had crazy storms a few times, including all of Saturday, which was a bummer because we were under flash flood warning all day. The rain was coming down like a waterfall (not even an exaggeration) so we had to be in most of the day. Lockdowns are a blessing and a curse because it gives you time to breathe a little bit and do some secretarial stuff like going through contacts in the phone or in the area book, but you also go stir crazy after a little bit. Luckily, the rain stopped and Sunday was beautiful again.
So June 1st was the start of hurricane season, and apparently there's a named tropical storm in the gulf, but someone told us it's headed towards Florida, so we should be good. People keep saying that this tropical storm is super early and that's another sign that this is going to be an active hurricane season. We hear so many crazy things from people about why they know this is going to be a bad hurricane year. But one way or another, everyone and their dog agrees down here that we're going to get hit. Is it bad that I kinda want to be here for a hurricane? Like not a big huge devastating one, but just a little one, just so that I can say I was in a hurricane? (My mom is saying YES that is very bad!) This past week, we had crazy storms a few times, including all of Saturday, which was a bummer because we were under flash flood warning all day. The rain was coming down like a waterfall (not even an exaggeration) so we had to be in most of the day. Lockdowns are a blessing and a curse because it gives you time to breathe a little bit and do some secretarial stuff like going through contacts in the phone or in the area book, but you also go stir crazy after a little bit. Luckily, the rain stopped and Sunday was beautiful again.
Speaking of crazy Louisiana things, here are a few vocab words I have grown used to: When people say "catch me a (insert food/drink) out of the ice box!" that means "bring me (food) from the refrigerator!" Nobody calls it a refrigerator down here. It's an ice box. Also, "you can just pull into the car port!" Car port= garage. I personally like car port better than garage because it's like an airport, but for cars. Makes sense! :) Also, getting directions in south Louisiana is a joke. Everything is "down da bayou" "up da bayou" "across da bayou" "dis side of da bayou" "dat side of da bayou" or "just two mo' bridges down/up da bayou" and stuff like that. Also, when they say bayou, it sounds more like bye-uh. I think my call should have said "called to preach the Gospel in the spanglish/cajun language". Also, I realize that I say "also" a lot. My brain is just scattered with trying to keep track of a million things at once, so I just add things on to my emails as they come. Sorry!
One cool/crazy thing this week was that we had the first of our now weekly Friday night activities for our Spanish investigators/less actives/members. This is part of the whole starting-a-branch scheme. It went really well! We had quite a few people come. Less than we would hope, but more than we were expecting for our trial run. Among those people though, were two shocking ones-- President and Sister Hansen! We about had a heart attack when we saw them walk in. Not because we're scared of them, but we just were not expecting it at all. Apparently Elder Maldonado invited them, and I guess they didn't have anything better to do on a Friday night than hang out with the Houma Spanish district and a bunch of Hispanics. It was extra entertaining because neither of them speak Spanish. President tries, bless his heart, but he doesn't know very much. It was sure entertaining to watch him try though. :)
One cool/crazy thing this week was that we had the first of our now weekly Friday night activities for our Spanish investigators/less actives/members. This is part of the whole starting-a-branch scheme. It went really well! We had quite a few people come. Less than we would hope, but more than we were expecting for our trial run. Among those people though, were two shocking ones-- President and Sister Hansen! We about had a heart attack when we saw them walk in. Not because we're scared of them, but we just were not expecting it at all. Apparently Elder Maldonado invited them, and I guess they didn't have anything better to do on a Friday night than hang out with the Houma Spanish district and a bunch of Hispanics. It was extra entertaining because neither of them speak Spanish. President tries, bless his heart, but he doesn't know very much. It was sure entertaining to watch him try though. :)
This week was much better than last week in terms of being able to see people. We were able to make some good progress with some of our investigators. We've been focusing a lot more on leaving smarter, more Spirit-led commitments. It's not enough to just ask people to keep praying or keep reading. We have to really think about what they need spiritually, and then give them specific assignments like reading a certain chapter and looking for the answer to one of their questions, or praying about something in particular. We have to be bold, fearless missionaries, and just saying "well, we just want to invite you to keep saying prayers every day" isn't going to cut it. We have to say, "(insert name), will you commit to reading 2 Nephi 31 before Tuesday when we come back? We want you to pay special attention to what the Savior invites us to do, and how we can do it. We promise you that if you will do this, the Holy Ghost will help you to follow the Savior and will help you resolve your doubts about being baptized." Or something like that. Depends on the person for sure.
Along those same lines, I've been thinking a lot about the role of the Holy Ghost, and how much faith plays into our relationship with him. Missionary work really is a crazy thing, because literally everything we do from planning, teaching, finding, studying is guided by the Spirit. And either this is all just some fun game, or this is the real deal and we literally have access to a member of the Godhead to tell us what we need to do and how we need to do it, so that our brothers and sisters can come to know that there is a God and that Jesus is the Christ and that His Church has once again been restored on the earth. We put a whole lot of faith into the fact that this is the real deal. As real as it gets. We taught a bunch of lessons this week, but one that stands out in particular is with a new investigator named Lupitina. She is from Mexico, and from the minute we met her we knew there was something different about her. We were teaching her about the Book of Mormon yesterday, and the Spirit was so strong. I can promise you that the promise that if we open our mouths, God will fill them is so real. I honestly don't remember a lot of what we said, but I know how powerfully peaceful we all felt. Lupitina kept asking super cool questions too. She asked each of us how we each came to know that the Book of Mormon is true, and while Sister Burns was telling her story, Lupitina started to cry. We talk about asking inspired questions in lessons a lot, but I never realized that if we have the Spirit there, the INVESTIGATOR can be the one asking inspired questions. It was amazing! When we left there, we both felt like she was really going to read the Book of Mormon and pray. With a lot of people, I'm not always positive if they'll do it the first time. But with her, I have no doubts. Stay tuned for next week to see how she's doing, because we have an appointment with her tomorrow.
I love what I do, I love where I am, I love who I'm with, I love the Lord, I love the people, I just love life. Life is good!
Con amor,
Hermana Sorensen
Along those same lines, I've been thinking a lot about the role of the Holy Ghost, and how much faith plays into our relationship with him. Missionary work really is a crazy thing, because literally everything we do from planning, teaching, finding, studying is guided by the Spirit. And either this is all just some fun game, or this is the real deal and we literally have access to a member of the Godhead to tell us what we need to do and how we need to do it, so that our brothers and sisters can come to know that there is a God and that Jesus is the Christ and that His Church has once again been restored on the earth. We put a whole lot of faith into the fact that this is the real deal. As real as it gets. We taught a bunch of lessons this week, but one that stands out in particular is with a new investigator named Lupitina. She is from Mexico, and from the minute we met her we knew there was something different about her. We were teaching her about the Book of Mormon yesterday, and the Spirit was so strong. I can promise you that the promise that if we open our mouths, God will fill them is so real. I honestly don't remember a lot of what we said, but I know how powerfully peaceful we all felt. Lupitina kept asking super cool questions too. She asked each of us how we each came to know that the Book of Mormon is true, and while Sister Burns was telling her story, Lupitina started to cry. We talk about asking inspired questions in lessons a lot, but I never realized that if we have the Spirit there, the INVESTIGATOR can be the one asking inspired questions. It was amazing! When we left there, we both felt like she was really going to read the Book of Mormon and pray. With a lot of people, I'm not always positive if they'll do it the first time. But with her, I have no doubts. Stay tuned for next week to see how she's doing, because we have an appointment with her tomorrow.
I love what I do, I love where I am, I love who I'm with, I love the Lord, I love the people, I just love life. Life is good!
Con amor,
Hermana Sorensen