september

Hey Family!

 

Sorry we didn't get to email yesterday because the library was closed.  It feels like I haven't written to y'all in forever! 

 

Holy cow and I have a crazy story to tell you!!  Saturday we were visiting a referral and Brother Chou from our ward kept calling us over and over again.  So while Shandra was busy for a sec we went outside and decided to call him back because we figured it must be important.  So I get on the phone and he says, "Sister Schmutz, I have someone I want you to talk to."  And here's the crazy part, it was McKenzie Cooper!!  I guess one of the Chou's kids live in Oklahoma in the ward she's serving in and they were there visiting for the weekend.  We only talked for a real short amount of time but she sounds like she's doing great!  I'll have to find out more from the Chou's when they're back in BR. 

 

This past week was an awesome week.  Since it was the end of the month we had extra miles and part of our ward area crosses the Mississippi but no missionaries ever go over there because we don't have enough miles.  I think it was about two years ago when elders were assigned there but there was no progress so they took them out.  And currently there's only two active members over there, I don't blame them though because it takes them an hour to get to church.  So we decided to cross the river on Friday!  It was real pretty over there and we tried contacting a referral but she wasn't home and hasn't answered her phone.  Other than that we tried stopping by a couple less active members, we saw the Dedon's (active members), and then tried some tracting.  Let's just say all the people that live out in the middle of nowhere live there for a reason, because they don't want to be contacted.  But overall I think it was a great experience.  New Roads, the area up by False River was beautiful.  I'll send some pictures home to y'all next week.  Plus we got a brand new car this week so it was fun driving way over there in it. 

 

Another highlight from the week was when we got to watch Mulan for our monthly ward movie night.  Usually we have to watch church sonsored movies because the missionaries are in charge of movie night but President gave us permission to watch Mulan and it was great. 

 

A sweet miracle from this week was a referral we received from mormon.org.  It's kind of a confusing story but I'll try to explain it clearly to y'all.  So the referral was from her friend that lived in South Carolina and it said that she was interested in learning more and had two children.  So we try stopping by the address given and the guy there said that Geneva didn't live there anymore, she lived with her mom.  We were confused so we asked how old she was and he said 13, but the referral said that she had two children.  So we asked for her address here but he didn't know it but he gave us her phone number.  The phone number was the same as the one received but the one we had had a different area code and when we called it didn't work.  We were just about to stop by again to ask him for another phone number when I thought maybe we should try the local area code.  We asked for Geneva Johnathan because that's what her friend said her name was but turns out those are her two childrens names.  Haha so Shandra invited us over and she fed us.  Turns out they went to church in South Carolina with her friend and loved it there and really felt the spirit.  And she's been trying to find that same peace again.  I'm so excited to start knowing them better and bringing the peace and spirit back to them! 

 

us and prairieville down in NOLA.  :)

Something I learned in my scripture study this week was about faith.  Every month we strive to develop a christlike attribute and this last months was faith so I was already studying it a lot getting lots of conference talks to read.  And in Moroni 7 it talks a lot about faith, hope, and charity with how they're related.  In verse 40 it says, "And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope.  How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?"  In order to have faith we have to first have a belief.  And then we exercise that belief until we do have faith.  The definition of faith is unquestioning belief.  And the key to changing belief into faith is hope.  Hope is the key factor that changes our belief to unquestioning belief because we have enough faith. 

 

Sorry I have to hurry and email President before an appointment we have to be at soon.  I love y'all and hope you have a wonderful week! 

 

Love Always, Sister Schmutz