Hello Family!
Palo Rojo is Spanish for Baton Rouge, which is French for Red Stick. Yep. You thought Baton Rouge meant something super cool. Well so did I. Nope. Red Stick.
So basically I'm just in huge culture shock coming from Houma. Baton Rouge is HUGE compared to Houma. In Houma there are about 3 main streets. I'm so lost here! There are so many people and so many big buildings and big streets and lots of intersecting highways. I'm just a lost little duck for the time being. It's very different in lots of other ways too. We hardly ever get fed here, which is actually a tender mercy (we're probably the only missionaries in the world who would say that, but really though... I'm sick of food). Also, there are a ton of Hispanics here, and I'm in a real life Hispanic branch finally. Gone are the days of the Hispanic finding struggle! The branch is super tiny and cute. There are some awesome, strong families which I'm really excited about. The branch president is super excited about missionary work and works really closely with the missionaries which is always a plus. Overall, I think I've done pretty well with the change, but I definitely got homesick for Houma when I left. It's insane how much you love the areas you serve in and the people that are there. Right now, there is a third of my heart in Kenner and a third in Houma, and now I've got a third for Baton Rouge. I don't know if I can take much more of this, so I would be happy to just stay here the rest of my mission. I also would not complain about being sent back to the NOLA zone at the end of my mission. I'll just go wherever the Lord wants me to go!
Palo Rojo is Spanish for Baton Rouge, which is French for Red Stick. Yep. You thought Baton Rouge meant something super cool. Well so did I. Nope. Red Stick.
So basically I'm just in huge culture shock coming from Houma. Baton Rouge is HUGE compared to Houma. In Houma there are about 3 main streets. I'm so lost here! There are so many people and so many big buildings and big streets and lots of intersecting highways. I'm just a lost little duck for the time being. It's very different in lots of other ways too. We hardly ever get fed here, which is actually a tender mercy (we're probably the only missionaries in the world who would say that, but really though... I'm sick of food). Also, there are a ton of Hispanics here, and I'm in a real life Hispanic branch finally. Gone are the days of the Hispanic finding struggle! The branch is super tiny and cute. There are some awesome, strong families which I'm really excited about. The branch president is super excited about missionary work and works really closely with the missionaries which is always a plus. Overall, I think I've done pretty well with the change, but I definitely got homesick for Houma when I left. It's insane how much you love the areas you serve in and the people that are there. Right now, there is a third of my heart in Kenner and a third in Houma, and now I've got a third for Baton Rouge. I don't know if I can take much more of this, so I would be happy to just stay here the rest of my mission. I also would not complain about being sent back to the NOLA zone at the end of my mission. I'll just go wherever the Lord wants me to go!
One super-duper cool thing we do here in Baton Rouge is that we do service at the Old State Capitol. It is SO beautiful! It's like a castle. We get to be tour guides of it/assistants to the lady who's in charge of volunteers and we just do odd jobs for her. It's been so fun learning about the building and the history of Baton Rouge and Louisiana. Also, it's an amazing way to meet new people! They are always curious about our black name tags, so conversations always come up. We met a couple Mormons from Arizona randomly on a tour and I don't know why it was so cool, but it just was. Something I'm loving a lot about Baton Rouge so far is all the history here. I've also seen the U.S.S. Kidd, the old governor's mansion (which looks just like the white house), and the new state capitol too. I'm learning so much about Louisiana history, and it just makes me love it even more! Also, we definitely have LSU in our area and we drove through it this week and it's SO pretty. Not as pretty as BYU for sure, but still, it's so cool! There are just so many fun things to do/see here.
Another super different thing about this zone is that pretty much the whole zone serves in this area. We see missionaries all. the. time. It's so weird after being in Houma where you're 60 miles away from the next missionaries. I thought I was going to be annoyed by being by so many other missionaries, but I honestly love it because up until now I've only ever really known the Spanish sisters. Now, I'm getting to know a lot more English sisters and they're amazing! It's fun to be able to hang out with them on p days. My district is pretty good here. I'm in the Spanish district, and there's 6 of us all together which feels really small after basically having a combined English/Spanish district in Houma. They're all awesome missionaries though and I'm excited to be serving around them.
ALSO, shout out to being in the same area as the temple! WOO!! Since I hadn't been in almost a year, we got to go do a session in the temple on Saturday, and it was in SPANISH! It was the coolest thing ever! That was the first time I had ever done it in Spanish and it was amazing. It just felt so great to be in the temple again. I just love the temple so much. It's in the same parking lot as the stake center (which is definitely bigger than the temple haha) and that's the building we meet in. It's about one street over from where we live, so I get to see it almost daily. Definite tender mercy of serving in Baton Rouge!
Oh and happy Fourth of July everyone! I might as well have been out of the country because for all I know, it didn't even happen. Being Spanish speaking means that none of the members are from the United States, so there were no barbecues or ward parties or anything like that unfortunately. Also, we still had to be in by 9 like usual, and given that all the fireworks shows started at 9, there were no fireworks either. It was just a normal pday for us. Not going to lie, I was kind of bummed because the Fourth of July is my second favorite holiday (after Christmas), and I was in the Mexico MTC for the last one. But, it's a small price to pay for having the amazing blessing of serving a mission! Next Fourth of July better be the most epic Fourth ever though. :)
Okay, I feel like I should mention something about working before y'all think we're just a bunch of tourists. Baton Rouge Spanish has been on fire lately. Sister Alder was giving me the run-down of the area and we have a whiteboard full of all the people we're teaching, and it is not a small white board. We have so many amazing investigators, and they're FAMILIES too! That literally never happens. Also, like I said, it's so awesome that the branch is on board to help us out, because nothing can ever happen unless the members and the missionaries are working together. We had one really cool lesson this week with one of our investigators, Carmen. First off, her kids and I became best friends instantly and during the whole lesson they were fighting over who could sit next to me. They kept taking my ring/my watch/my tag or stuff out of my bag. It was so cute. Carmen is just amazing! We were teaching her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she told us that she grew up Catholic but that she and her family have been searching for another path. She feels like our church is where she needs to be and she's going to read the Book of Mormon to find out if it's true. GOLDEN! And the great thing is, there are multiple people just like her in this area. I'm so excited to see the miracles that are going to happen here in el Palo Rojo!
I love you all so much! Never forget that the Lord really does have a plan for every single one of us, and His plan is ALWAYS better than the plan we have for ourselves. The trick is aligning our will with His, and then everything just goes so much smoother.
Que tenga una semana maravillosa!
Hermana Sorensen
Okay, I feel like I should mention something about working before y'all think we're just a bunch of tourists. Baton Rouge Spanish has been on fire lately. Sister Alder was giving me the run-down of the area and we have a whiteboard full of all the people we're teaching, and it is not a small white board. We have so many amazing investigators, and they're FAMILIES too! That literally never happens. Also, like I said, it's so awesome that the branch is on board to help us out, because nothing can ever happen unless the members and the missionaries are working together. We had one really cool lesson this week with one of our investigators, Carmen. First off, her kids and I became best friends instantly and during the whole lesson they were fighting over who could sit next to me. They kept taking my ring/my watch/my tag or stuff out of my bag. It was so cute. Carmen is just amazing! We were teaching her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she told us that she grew up Catholic but that she and her family have been searching for another path. She feels like our church is where she needs to be and she's going to read the Book of Mormon to find out if it's true. GOLDEN! And the great thing is, there are multiple people just like her in this area. I'm so excited to see the miracles that are going to happen here in el Palo Rojo!
I love you all so much! Never forget that the Lord really does have a plan for every single one of us, and His plan is ALWAYS better than the plan we have for ourselves. The trick is aligning our will with His, and then everything just goes so much smoother.
Que tenga una semana maravillosa!
Hermana Sorensen