Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Final Countdown!

Dearest Family and Friends,

With the Lord's help, I made it. So crazy. I can't believe this is my last email as a missionary. I am going to miss this life, but my body is tired and I'm excited to rest (not too much) and then get back to work and continue to seek to go where the Lord wants me to go, and be what He wants me to be. There is nothing more satisfying. 

It's been a fun day so far - went out to breakfast with my "Black mama" - had grits, biscuits, sausage and bacon. Went and toured "Shadows on the Teche" a plantation home here in town. Now emailing, a random Christian man reciting Jesus poems to us, we'll give him a pamphlet or a BooK of Mormon on the way out, mailing all my stuff home, Walmart, and packing. Then dinner with Rico and Sharika.

To end (sorry this is short, we'll chat in person in a few days!)  I just wanted to share an experience we had yesterday. I wrote about it to my mission president.

"I have been striving to endure to the end, and Satan tempted me to just take it easy yesterday. Thankfully I didn't listen (my companion wouldn't have let me listen) and we went out and worked our tails off. The coolest experience was when we stopped to talk to a boat mechanic that we always bike pass as we ride down Fulton street. I was thinking, "k, I'm leaving soon, I NEED to talk to this guy, I've seen him so many times." So I stopped my bike and called out to him and he came over to us and I started talking to him and offered him a pamphlet. As soon as he saw the pamphlet he mumbled "I don't believe in that stuff" and walked away. We persisted a little bit but he ignored us. It broke my heart a little, because I have a feeling that he needs the gospel more than anyone, but hopefully one day his heart will be softened. We biked 5 more yards and came to an intersection, and I saw 3 men sitting on their porch. We made eye contact and I almost bike past (still discouraged from the last guy) by the Spirit kind of turned my handlebars and steered us towards these men. They were looking at us like we were crazy but we were just really friendly and started talking to them and told them who we are. We ended up briefly teaching the Restoration and explaining that we believe that there are prophets on the earth again today and we have new and additional scripture. The one man that was paying the most attention and who said he is open said, "What kind of scripture ya got? So we pulled out the Book of Mormon and taught them about that too. I told him, "I can only give this to you if you'll actually read it, because it's a very special book." And he promised to read it. It was super amazing. This morning I was wondering if they were just playing us, but then we got a text from the guy, Derrick, that said he's reading the book and he wants to discuss it when we come back on Thursday. Man, I just got the missionary fire all over again and I felt like I was fresh out of the MTC even though it was my last full day of proselyting. I want to carry this fire with me on the airplane on Thursday and with me through out my whole life. I love being the Lord's servant, and I intend to be His servant until the day I die. That's my new vision for the future."


This is the Lord's work, and it moves on with or with out us - we can either get on board or be left in the wake. I am so filled with gratitude that the Lord would qualify me and help me to have the desire to get on board. I love you all, and I wouldn't have made it this far with out y'all. Thanks for being the best support team ever!
-Sister Chausow


Attached is a picture of my and miss pat (my black mama), her granddaughter Derryan and the missionaries in my district. So fun! So much love!