alright

Hey Family!

 

So here's the good news..I'm still in North Baton Rouge with Sister Wolf!!  Man, I'm so happy to be here, I just love it, and I love my companion too.  :) it was a stressful beyond stressful week though.  Lot's of little things kept coming up and I won't go into much detail about them but hey it's all good now. 

 

Our district got all switched up again.  The new north Elders are Elder Navitikula and Elder Ford and then the Office Elder switched out of our ward and we're in a district with the South Sisters and Zone Leaders and LSU Sisters.  Man I miss our old district so much, it was definitely one of my favorite districts.  Sister Toleafoa went home too so we got two new spanish sisters living with us because they're in a threesome.  Lots and lots of changes this week!   

 

Oh and here's the other exciting news..Chandra is gonna get baptized on Easter!!  She called us up on tuesday and said, "so I decided I'm getting baptized on easter!"  She said she was gonna get baptized in South Carolina because that's where her friend Amy lives but now she just said they'll be coming down here and she'll get baptized here!  We've still got a couple things to teach her before then and she's gotta come to church but I'm super excited for her.  We've got to get things figured out though because President Wall said we could keep teaching her and she could go to whichever ward she wants.  But we mentioned that in PEC and everyone was saying how she needed to go to second ward.  So we called our stake president and he said she needs to go to second ward unless there's a really good reason why she needs to go to first ward and in that case we'd have to get permission from the first presidency.  We didn't get to see her this week though because her daughter, sister, and nephew were all in the hospital and things were a little crazy.  We're gonna see her and talk about the ward boundaries and see what's going to happen.  Needless to say I think she'd fit in at either ward really well, everyone just loves her!  Maybe I'm just too selfish and I don't want her to go to second ward.  Maybe we'll just keep teaching her but bring the second ward sisters along and she'll get baptized down there.  I'm not really sure, but everything will work out!  Our plan then for afterwards is to teach them all the new member lessons but at a simpler understanding so then Geneva and Johnathan can understand and they can get baptized too because she wants them to make their own decision.  I'm really excited for them.  :)  

 

Aw man, that's sweet y'all got to hear from Sister Tiller.  Y'all should go to her homecoming if she hasn't already had it.  I got to go on a couple exchanges with her and she's amazing.  Goodness, I just love her!  Haha and mom there's tons of missionaries here that went to Olympus, I think I've counted at least seven while I've been on my mission.  I never knew any of them personally though so I can't remember their names.  Sister Toleafoa went home last week too so y'all should find her as well.  I love and miss her too!     

 

the McCartney's dog had puppies.  :) aw man, nothing cuter than baby pitbulls!

Emily!  Congrats on making it into BYU-I!  I hear you got the winter/spring track.  What do you think of that?  Have you heard back from BYU?  Good luck at choosing where you'll be going.  :)  you know if my opinion counted which one I'd be voting for.  Hmm...it's a hard decision though.  Man I want to move back to Baton Rouge after my mission...maybe I'll switch and come to school here.  Anyways, enough random tangents.  Let me know where you decide! 

 

Sarah, I like your glasses.  :)  however, you do know that people won't be able to mix us up anymore because I don't got no glasses.  What are we gonna do? 

 

Oh here's a sweet little story for y'all.  Saturday night we were in this neighborhood trying to contact a less active but they weren't home. 

As we were driving away Sister Wolf said, "ya know, this would be a really good neighborhood to tract." 

(You have to keep in mind that we hardly ever tract because it's not effective and we hate doing it.  We'd never been to that neighborhood before too, so I guess it was kinda a good place to go.) 

Then on sunday all of our plans and back up plans fell through and we didn't have anyone else to see.  It just so happens that we were just around the corner from this said neighborhood.  So low and behold we decided to just do it.  We pulled up by the less actives house but he wasn't home and his neighbor randomly opened the door and was staring at us so we drove around the corner and parked at the school.  We were just sitting in the car talking trying to avoid having to get out.  While we're sitting there this guy keeps walking back and forth on the sidewalk looking like he was talking to his bushes or something, haha it was very funny looking.  

We walk by him on the other side of the street and he says, "hey how y'all doing?"

"Good, how about yourself?"

"Alright" (everyone in Louisiana says alright for everything...just a random fact for y'all;)  and then we just kept walking because we didn't get the nerve to go talk to him. 

We knock on tons of door and no one answers.  The two that do answer say they aren't interested so we decided to head home.

We turn the corner and see that he's there so we cross the street to his side and walk towards him.

"Hey what y'all selling?" he says

"Oh, we're missionaries just sharing more about our church and beliefs."

"Y'all do this all day?"

"Sure do!"

"You mean that's what you've been walking around doing?"

"Yes sir"

"Man, I thought y'all didn't want to talk to me.  I was the first one y'all saw and you just walked past."

"I want to listen." 

Haha definitely a very humbling experience.  Lesson learned, never skip past the first person! 

His name Tony and we ended up talking a little about the church and gave him a Book of Mormon and he really wants us to come back next week and share more with him. 

It was a sweet experience because Heavenly Father taught me that sometimes those he wants us to talk to are placed right in our path but we just walk on by.  We've got to talk to all of them, even despite the fact that we don't want to.  Hey and when we do do that, we won't have to waste our time knocking on all those other doors.

 

Man, I love being a missionary and learning more about Jesus Christ and his gospel everyday, it's absolutely wonderful.  God really does have a hand in all that we do every single step of the way.  Keep strengthening your testimonies everyday y'all.  For it's our testimonies that keep us strong in the hard time and help us become who we need to be. 

 

Before I go here's a quick spiritual thought for y'all.  It's from one of my favorite talks, The Word is Commitment by Elder Marvin J. Ashton, "Most of us who have ever heard of the great American leader Abraham Lincoln will recall what he said of his mother: “All that I am, all that I hope to be, I owe to my Angel mother.” (in Abraham Lincoln’s Philosophy of Common Sense, ed. Edward J. Kempf, New York: The New York Academy of Sciences, 1965, p. 60.) But how many of us know what his mother’s last words to him were? They were “Be something, Abe.”  Not only is this wise counsel, but it also expresses the yearnings of most fathers’ and mothers’ hearts to have their children be something. Simple terms, but, oh, how powerful, “Be something.” I am so pleased she didn’t say, “Be someone.” She said, “Be something, Abe.” There is a significant difference. In the dictionary someone is defined as “conceived or thought of, but not definitely known,” while something is identified as “a person or thing of importance.”  Abraham Lincoln’s mother knew her son, his potential, and the rocky roads ahead of him; hence, she wanted him to commit himself promptly to being steadfast and immovable in living and promoting deeds of courage and faith in the lives of all mankind."

 

I know that y'all have great potential.  The thing is we can't see our full potential, but God can because he has the eternal perspective.  He has more instore for us than we can possibly imagine, and all we've got to do is strive to do the right things.  He doesn't expect us to be perfect, but he expects us to try.  So think of that this week, what do you want to become and how can you become?  The word is commitment.  :)

 

I love y'all so much, I really do mean it.  

 

Thank you for everything!

 

Love Always, Sister Schmutz