Hello Mama and Daddy!
Thanks for your fun emails this week! I always love hearing about the fam and everything else.
Ok, so let's get down to business - I am New Iberia, Louisiana with Sister Maxfield who is 20 years old from Smithfield, Utah. We are serving in the New Iberia branch with a set of Spanish Elders, Elder Casillas from Arizona and Elder Herbert from Mexico. Elder Casillas has been out 6 months and is still working on his Spanish. Elder Herbert has been out 20 months and is still working on his English -- haha. They are awesome! Sister Maxfield is even more amazing - she came out a transfer before me, so she will be going home next month, so I am trying to learning everything about the area as fast as I can. It's actually really, really nice to be in a branch - I feel a lot less overwhelmed/spread too thin. I actually feel like we will be able to accomplish something this transfer. There is a lot of drama in the branch, so we are working to help carry out the Branch President's vision of creating "a loving unified branch family."
We will definitely need the Lord's help and Atonement to make this happen. We are starting by serving the members and helping them feel loved - I really believe it's easier to love others if you feel love. We will also make an effort to teach them about charity and about God's love. If the members love coming to the branch and feel at home there, they will be more willing to invite others to come join the family. That's the plan for now. Our mission president is really focused on finding, so we are also striving to find those who are ready to receive the gospel now, while still maintaining our relationships with the many many "eterni-gators" in this area. Any advice on how to help people that know in their head that the gospel is good but don't know it in their heart so they won't act....?
We will definitely need the Lord's help and Atonement to make this happen. We are starting by serving the members and helping them feel loved - I really believe it's easier to love others if you feel love. We will also make an effort to teach them about charity and about God's love. If the members love coming to the branch and feel at home there, they will be more willing to invite others to come join the family. That's the plan for now. Our mission president is really focused on finding, so we are also striving to find those who are ready to receive the gospel now, while still maintaining our relationships with the many many "eterni-gators" in this area. Any advice on how to help people that know in their head that the gospel is good but don't know it in their heart so they won't act....?
We have a car, but Elder Herbert has a bad knee so we are going to try to bike at least 1 day a week and let the Elders use the car so they don't have to bike. The Metairie Sisters got their car taken, so they are now a biking/busing area. Sister Recksiek (my companion from Denham Springs) took my spot and was FREAKING out about being in a biking area because she feels like she's going to kill the area because she can't bike. It was a little dramatic at transfer meeting. They could probably use a cute package, Sister Biver and Sister Recksiek, if you have time...
I love you both so much! Thank you for all you've taught me. You both are truly amazing!
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