mardi gras

Hey Family!

 

I'm sorry to hear about all the crazy things that have happened to y'all this week.  I will definitely keep Grandma and Paul in my prayers.  The power of prayer works I tell ya, that's all there is to it.

 

We've had a pretty sweet week here in Baton Rouge!  Oh and hey it's actually transfer week.  The library is closed tomorrow for mardi gras so we're emailing today but we don't find out until tonight whether we're being transferred or not.  So I'll let y'all know next week what the news is.  Sister Wolf and I really hope we'll be staying here together, man I just love this place!  Baton Rouge, I tell ya there's no place like it.  :)

 

Last monday we went down to the captial with our district and then we went to touch the Mississippi.  I'll send y'all some pictures because it was definitely one of the best p-days I've had.  Man I'm gonna miss our district!  Elder Morrow is going home on wednesday and Elder Bushman is flying out to Brazil today.  And then usually one of the office elders gets transferred, so everything's getting switched up. 

 

We went to a Mardi Gras parade on Saturday.  We were allowed to go to one parade during the day and the spanish town parade is the big one in Baton Rouge.  Sister Mills was supposed to come with us but she was sick.  But we hung out with tons of other missionaries.  Haha and boy let me just say it was supposed to be a family friendly parade but it wasn't family friendly at all, haha I never want to go to any other parade.  It was nasty, we'll just leave it at that!  There were tons and tons of people it was crazy.  We did catch quite a few beads though so we have them all hanging from our chandelier in our apartment, it's pretty sweet!

 

Let's see..here's the sweetest story from the week.  Yesterday we go over to see Chandra and we're just talking about all these random things because it's Johnathon's birthday on wednesday and they're having a big party on saturday so she's gotta get all this stuff done before then.  We had planned to talk about baptism and it felt right but when we got there Sister Wolf and I both kinda felt unsure about it because of all the craziness going on with her life.  And she mentions how she's very involved with her church and she can't just leave them hanging because she's in charge of all the media stuff.  And she doesn't know what to do...Then just out of the blue this is what happens. 

"So how was the baptism today?"  Chandra asks. (Catherine Wleh turned 8 so she got baptized right after church and we invited Chandra but she couldn't come)

"Oh it was wonderful, I mean they didn't turn the water on in time so we had to dump pitchers of water to fill up the font.  But otherwise it was all good."

"So you do full immersion for baptism?"

"Yep, we sure do, just like Jesus was baptized."  (go on explaining about the symbolism)

"Chandra why do you think it's important to be baptized?"

Then she goes on to explain all these awesome things of exactly why we need to be baptized.  (follow Christ, always remember him, etc)

"Exactly! all those things you just said, here let's read some scriptures about baptism"  We turn to Mosiah 18 and read when Alma baptized all these people.  And the crazy thing is the scriptures just said exactly what she said for why we need to get baptized!

"How do you feel about those scriptures?" 

And then she just starts crying and says, "That was my confirmation that this is what I need to do."  Definitely the sweetest moment ever!  You have to keep in mind that when we first started meeting with her she kept saying that she needed a spiritual confirmation that this is all true.  She's very religious and knows a lot but she wanted that answer from God, and it just wasn't coming.

"You know, I've been fasting and praying since January and I told God that he needed to tell me if it's true before Easter.  And Easter is in April!"

"So you're saying you know all these things are true?" 

"Yes, otherwise I wouldn't let y'all keep coming over to see me!  So what do I need to do to get baptized?"  Ahh that's every missionaries dream question!!

"Keep inviting us over, reading, praying, and come to church." 

And then Geneva says, "I want to go to church with them!"  It was incredible y'all, absolutely incredible.  Man I'm so excited for them!!  We didn't set a date from them to be baptized yet because she's gotta get things figured out with her church plus they gotta get a ride figured out to come to church.  But hey those are only minor details.  I couldn't be happier.  :) 

 

Anyways, I just want y'all to know I love ya.  And I love being a missionary.  :)  I'm gonna send some pictures home so this email will be a little short, but enjoy the pictures. 

 

Love Always, Sister Schmutz