Monday, March 17, 2014

Hey family! 

Hope y'all had a good week! I survived my first week in Metairie, hooray! We went tracting, we did service, we taught a bunch a people. It was great! I wanted to share an experience we had while tracting. This is an excerpt from my letter to President Wall-

Also, we did have a miracle of sorts while tracting. We knocked on a door and an old, tired man came to the door. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could share a message about Jesus Christ. He said that his wife was ill and that maybe now wouldn't be a good time. That's what he said, but the look on his face seemed like he desperately wanted something from us. So we asked about his wife and she said she had dementia and told us a little about their situation, and finally he said, "If you'd like to come in and sit with her for a while, you can." And we said we would love that. So we went in and sat down with his wife who is a lovely person despite her memory not being what it once was. We talked and laughed together, and shared a message of peace from the Bible, since that's what the Spirit directed us to do. We talked more with the husband and found out that they are Catholic - but they are unable to attend church because of his wife's health. But they love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and so when we left they said we could come back and read the Bible some more with them and we promised we would try to find a MoTab CD and bring it to them. After we walked out the door, the man came out after us and said, "I have some neighbors who are handicapped. He had his leg amputated and she had two strokes. They are moving a few houses down, do you think we could help them?" We said of course we could and offered the help of the elders as well, and gave him our number so he could call us when it got closer to the move. And of course, we said we would come back in two weeks to visit again and we would follow up them. His whole countenance had changed by the time we left, and I felt that we were doing what the Savior would do - helping those who needed it, whether they accepted his message or not. It was an amazing feeling, and it gave us the energy we needed to keep tracting for another half hour. We didn't find anyone, except a man that was eager to bash with us, which we politely declined, but it was an awesome experience and I'm excited to tract some more - it brings great experiences!

So great. Please pray that we will have the courage to open our mouths and find new investigators. The ward has a goal of baptizing 12 people this year but isn't willing to help us out too much yet, so we are on our own for the finding, teaching, and baptizing of 10 people (down from 12 because someone was baptized in January and the Elders will have a baptism at the end of this month). The cool thing is, though, we are not alone. The Lord has promised that He will be with us - and I know this is true. We are in His hands, we are His servants, and if we let Him He will direct this work and our lives. 

I love all of you so much! Have a wonderful week!

-Sister Chausow

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Hey family!

Just wanted to let you know that I'm alive and doing well in my new area with my new companion! I am currently in Metairie (pronounced Met-uh-ree) which is 5 miles west of New Orleans. It's a whole new world down here - I'm pretty much in the city, even though it's not actually downtown New Orleans. It's kind of like Wauwatosa - not actually part of Milwaukee but has some city stuff going on. And I'm with Sister Monk- she is from Highland Utah and has been out 3 months. She just finished training and she is awesome. We have lots of fun together :)

So my new address is 
2300 Edenborn Ave #2-136
Metairie, LA 70001

We live in a really nice apartment, not ghetto hooray! It's nice being in a residence with a solid foundation again haha. I loved that trailer in Denham but there's nothing like a good solid concrete foundation to help you feel secure lol. We cover one ward (whew! the whole two wards thing was wearin me out, lemme tell you somethin) and we have a car (yay!). The ward is awesome - its a lot of med/dental students but then there's those who were born and raised here and have been here forever and tell you crazy hurricane stories. Metairie didn't get devastated by Katrine but it definitely did some damage. People talk about living in FEMA trailers like it's no big deal haha. 

So yeah, life moves at a slower pace down here, which is something that I'm slowly getting used to. In Denham I felt like we were just running running running but down here it's more chill. It freaked me out at first but we get just as much good work done down here, just in a different way. I'm learning that just like there's a bunch of ways to make gumbo that are all delicious, there are lots of ways to do missionary that are all really good ways. 

I'm not a Sister Trainer Leader anymore but I learned a LOT while serving in that calling last transfer. I'm still learning, and I hope to be a better missionary and a better person as a result of what I've learned.

So I think the hardest thing about leaving Denham was that I was leaving my missionary friends and ward family. I'm in a new zone and a new district and it's a lot different. Elder Smith, who was my old district leader in Denham actually got transferred down here to Harahan, and we are in the same ward haha. Who'd have thought? So it was really a tender mercy that the Lord sent me down here with someone that I knew really well - Elder Smith and I served together for 6 months so we are pretty tight. But yeah I'm adjusting and we are going to do some volleyball madness down at the Stake Center later today. Nothing brings a district together like some good ol' volleyball! I love it! :)

Also, want to hear something weird about Metairie? Well, it's not actually weird, just different than what I'm used to. We are definitely in the city - Denham was pretty red neck, not a lot of roads or traffic. But down here, the streets are the most confusing thing ever - there are a plethora of overpasses. NOLA loves overpasses let me tell you - they even have an overpass round about - literally a round about in the sky. So crazy. I'm the designated driver, so I've had to get used to it pretty quick. But lets just say it'll be a while before I learn my way around haha.

The other different thing is that there are so many people here in the city. Which is cool because that means lots of people to talk to and share the gospel with. I've set a goal to hand out 20 Book of Mormons in 6 weeks. That's half a box of Book of Mormons that we get from the mission office. Hopefully by the end of my mission I can hand out a whole box in a transfer :) 

So basically I just love being a missionary right now - everything is new, and fresh, and I'm excited to see how we can help the people here progress in the gospel. Please pray for S and R - they are our most promising investigators and they are really cool women. Hopefully we can increase our teaching pool a little more each week. Please also pray for Brother D - he is a less active that the sisters have been working with intensively, and we are trying to find a way to help him over come his fears and throw himself wholeheartedly into the gospel. 

I love all of yall so much! Thanks for all you do to love and support me. I seriously couldn't ask for a better team!

-Love, Sister Chausow