Denham Springs is still Home Sweet Home

First of all, you MUST watch this video. It is about Sister Alvine! So cool!http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/missionary/#topOfPage

Second, I am so sorry to hear about Uncle Kenny and Aunt Arlene! I loved them! I totally remember them, and cousin Rog, love him too. I really wanted to hang out with them before I left on the mission - hopefully afterwards we can still be friends! I think they are so awesome. So sorry for their and your loss. And Chuck's. I'm so thankful that we have that knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and we know the Kenny and Arlene are happy together. The gospel is so comforting!

Haha yes, that was Elder Elmer. He is a character. It is always fun to be liked, but at this point I would rather that he put his whole heart in to the mission, you know? But you know what I realized? Elders are different from sisters. I know that this is a big shocker, haha, but I think I've never been so aware of gender differences than at this time in my life. It has been a real struggle for me to work with the elders this transfer, and I am determined to do better next transfer, to be more patient, understanding, loving and kind. An elder told me once that the elders need the extra 6 months just to get rolling, and then they really start to learn and change and grow. So who knows, maybe Elder Elmer will turn into a great missionary who is super dedicated and focused. And in the mean time, I need to turn into the same thing :)

Speaking of transfers, the transfer ends on Wednesday and it is the first time that neither I nor my companion is getting transferred. It is the first time I've been with a companion for more than one transfer, and I'm a little nervous because the longer you are with someone, the more little things start to come out or get annoying and I love Sister Alvine and I don't want anything to mess up our friendship! But she is so chill, I really don't have anything to worry about. We all have weird habits and we all need to love each other no matter what, right? :)

The W's didn't come to church this last Sunday and it was a huge bummer. We are going over tomorrow night to just talk with D - we have been focusing so much on her daughters that we've neglected to find out where D is at, what she wants, and what her concerns/needs are. Hopefully we can help them get back on track. I feel like every day, though, we meet someone new that steals a part of my heart. Here is an excerpt from my letter to President about D -

"Report on Miracles/Tender Mercies/Giving Hope

Let's see....we didn't get killed will biking on a really busy road. I was physically able to make it through transfer Monday (I'm always exhausted on Transfer Monday) we've been working harder and harder. And also, we finally met D! After weeks of calling and stopping by, we went by on a Saturday, and she was home, and guess what! Her house was a mess when it normally is not, so after we talked and she cried (she has lots of hard stuff in her life) we spent an hour with her cleaning. It was so awesome. It was a way for us to show her that we actually cared about her, and our words were not empty. And as we were leaving, we mentioned the ward Halloween party, and about 20 minutes after we left, she texted us and asked what time the party was! And she came! She and her 4 kids came, and it was awesome. People in the ward were so great - they said hi and they sat by her, and her visiting teacher, who is super super shy, sat at her table and made an effort to get to know her. It was the gospel in action. I loved it. She didn't make it to church the next day because her family came into town, but she wants us to come over again on Saturday and she wants to come to church this coming Sunday. Her marriage is on the rocks big time, and so we are hoping to arrange a meeting for her with the Bishop and he can help save their marriage. We also told her that after church we can get some priesthood holders to give her a blessing of comfort and council - she is still mourning the loss of her 17 year old daughter. Through service, the priesthood, time, and love, we were able to give this woman hope that she CAN come back to church, she can live a full life, and maybe she CAN save her marriage. Hope truly is a four letter word that is spelled "I C-A-N.""

I'm so excited to help D get back to the temple. Actually, we've got a whole group of people who are already baptized but who we are trying to help get back to the temple - F and S, J, D and her husband, K, T (she's never been to the temple), and S. Mom, I just love helping people. I really do. It brings so much joy, it's hard to express. I am so happy right now. :)

I'm sending you two talks that I've been reading a lot that have helped me with the whole self mastery/body image thing. One is from conference and the other is from one of my Professors at BYU who is awesome and who has been writing me. She was asked to give the devotional at BYU over the summer and her talk is magnificent. It reminds us to love ourselves no matter what, while Elder Nelson reminds us that decisions determine destiny, and our self mastery is crucial to our salvation. And guess what -  I have really been trying to eat healthier, get more exercise (we've been biking a lot this last week to save miles!) and I feel at peace with that. When I get home, you can teach me your dieting tricks and we can go for walks and work out together, it's going to be the best ever. But for now, I'm happy with where I'm at, what I'm doing, and I'm doing the best I can. It really is a great feeling :)

Oh, one more thing. We got your packages this last week and they were just fabulous! That dress was superb! It fit perfectly and I freakin love it! I wish I could wear it every day! The color, the sleeve length, the cut, are all very flattering and I feel so pretty when I wear it. You seriously rock the house!

We are going shopping today and I might by a few shirts. I only have 3 right now that I wear (since I've gained weight I don't fit into some of the others, sorry!) Also, it's finally cardigan weather some days, and I kind of want to get some in different colors. So basically, I'm asking if I can do some retail therapy, and if you wouldn't mind putting 50 dollars in my checking account when you get a chance. We are going to the mall with this less active girl in our ward that Bishop asked us to fellowship, so I'm super excited 1.) to go to a mall like a normal person and 2.) to fellowship somebody that we've been trying to befriend for a long time! For some people the mall is the way to their hearts I guess haha.

K, I love you so so so much. I hate hockey compared to how much I love you. :) And remember how one time you said how you miss my movie quoting? Well guess what, I still do it, don't worry. When we go running in the mornings - less frequent because the mornings are getting pretty chilly - but when we are on the last stretch and our trailer is in sight, I think in my head "Run home, run home. Run home, run home." Like that little kid Mervin in Angels in the Outfield who runs to his house when Danny Glover was just telling him to run a home run bahaha. Remember that?

Anyways, love you so! Thanks for always being there for me! You are truly amazing!

-Johanna

9 dogs and 13 Cats..oh boy!!

Mama! Thanks so much for you email! You truly boost me up!

So glad to hear yall are having fun despite the crazy weather! It's cooling off down here and the cooler weather makes me miss home a little bit. Hope you and dad get to enjoy some leaves together!

So real quick I want to share this story that President Wall sent us. I just stinkin love it!

"There once was a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule braying and, after a careful assessment of the situation, decided that neither the well nor the mule were worth saving. He enlisted his neighbors to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. Initially the old mule was hysterical. But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, he would shake it off and step up. This he did, blow after blow: shake off the dirt and step up, shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up. It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped over the wall and out of the well."

I loved this story! It is the perfect parable for life. Sometimes it seems like everything combines against us and wants us to just give up. But no, every life is worth living, and living to the fullest! I am determined to let nothing get me down, to be happy and keep going no matter what! I have decided to be happy, despite not being a size 4, despite not having a ton of baptisms, despite covering two insane wards, and despite struggling to get along with the Elders. All of that is dirt that I can shake off and use to help me step up. I am continuing to try to take better care of myself, and Sister Alvine is helping me, but no matter what I weigh when I get home, I know that I want to be able to look you in the eye and tell you that I work my hardest, that I gave everything I had, and that I continued to bring hope to a world that desperately needs it. I'm just freakin pumped right now, about being a missionary, and I'm determined to have an eye single to the glory of God. :)

It hit me this last week that I have less than a year left to serve the Lord full time. Woah. When did that happen? It's crazy! But it makes me more motivated to work even harder and never give in, never give up, never surrender. And you know, it's interesting - as a missionary, you see people make a lot of excuses for why they can't do something. I've promised myself that I will never make excuses to not go to church, I will NEVER take a job that requires me to work on Sunday, and I will never forget the covenants that I make when I was baptized and when I went to the temple. People let so many things get in the way of their spiritual development, and I have decided to learn from these people and not let anything get in my way to be close to the Savior. Sorry about that rant, I just wanted to share with you some committments I'd made. :)

ON a lighter note, I had this Elder that was in my MTC district whose been writing me back and forth for a while write me today and told me that he liked me while I was in the MTC bahahaha. So funny. I have boy drama even when I'm a missionary! Ooops. I wrote him back and said I had a teeny crush on him too while we were there but we need to stay focused as the Lord's servants. Also in the boy department, Aunt Shirlene wrote me to tell me that Amy is thinking about getting married in spring to this guy she just met. What? Crazy sauce!

K, I love you millions! Thanks for always being there for me! And thanks so much for getting me contacts! Could you maybe send some Tide-to-go pens and a lint roller? We are teaching this lady that has 9 dogs and 13 cats, it's crazy. I walk out of there with more hair on me than the cats have on their whole bodies.

You are my rock! Sending you so many hugs!!! And guess what! We get to skype in like 2 months! Woot woot!

-Johanna

Papa Bear!

So good to hear from you! And so glad to hear that you liked the burn the boats thing too. I love that we have that connection of having both listened to it and both being inspired by it. Kind of like the connection I felt during conference! :)

The W family is doing pretty good. We had an interesting lesson with them Saturday evening (we taught about prophets by using pictures and telling bible stories - these girls have never heard of Moses or Daniel or Joseph) and we have the girls' primary teacher and her 11-year-old daughter come too. And at the end of the lesson, we said, "so, what do you understand about prophets?" and they both looked at us with this confused look on their faces and said they were confused. Oh man, talk about crazhing and burning! I think they were shy because we brought new people, so we will adjust and do better next time. D and the girls came to church on Sunday! Woohoo! M couldn't come because he was working, but he sat in again on our prophets lesson so that was cool. Slowly but surely we will get him to accept the gospel! The girls loved church and I think D was taking it all in. Honestly, I think whether or not the girls join the church will depend on D - I think she is scared about getting back into the church because of what a big commitment it seems to be, and she already feels overwhelmed by her mixed family, working full time 6 days a week, and now we are asking her to live up to covenants that she made when life wasn't so insane. I'm hoping that she will start to feel the spirit again and see how the gospel changes the lives of her daughters and realize that the gospel is worth the effort no matter how stressed or exhausted you are. One more awesome thing - we gave each girl a copy of the illustrated new testament stories and they are reading it! They are both on about chapter 10! Woop woop! Next up - the restoration and the book of mormon!

Thank you for sharing your testimony with me. Hearing your words of encouragement and faith really helps me to keep going. I'm so grateful to have such a supportive family - I don't know where I'd be without you!

Thanks for all your support!

Love - Johanna

PS: Here's some stuff from my president's letter. Please pray for C and T. T is the new investigator and C is the girl whose friends invited her into their home to meet with us. We haven't counted her as an investigator yet because we aren't sure if she wants to continue learning yet. We are kind of just planting seeds and nourishing them with her right now. So exciting!

PPS: We went on exchanges this week with the Sister Training Leader (it was soooo nice to not be the leader - and actually, Sister Tiller asked me a lot of questions about my experience as a leader and through the Spirit I was able to encourage her to continue on in her duties. It was awesome). We double worked our area and it was so awesome! These sisters were the breath of fresh air that we needed! And I'm pretty sure me and Sister Tiller were best friends in the pre-mortal world and we will be best friends after the mission for sure. She is too awesome!

"While Sister Tiller and I were together, we went to try this potential investigator who we've never been able to get ahold of. And guess what, she was home! And she let us in and we had a brief visit and did How To Begin Teaching, setting expectations, and learning about her religious background. And two wonderful things came from this - 1.) We have a new investigator, woo hoo! she said she was willing to learn more about the gospel, not that she's looking to join another church just yet but she is open to learning. Hooray! and 2.) Me and Sister Tiller taught in unity! It was amazing, and it felt so good and so lead by the spirit. My companion and I have struggled to teach in unity because of the language thing and my lack of trust the my companion while explain clearly and simply what needs to be taught. And Sister Tiller, without directly addressing my problem, reminded me how to teach in unity and what it feels like. It means taking turns, sharing, using short, simple explanations and yielding to your companion. It means being brave and opening your mouth. Teaching with her awoke in me a desire to do better, to share teaching time more, and to have more faith in my companion. And when I was talking to Ssiter Tiller about it a while later, she gave me a great tip - let Sister Alvine start the lesson. Earth shattering, I know, but it's something I've never done the whole time we've been together. I'm sorry, president, I know that's really lame and selfish of me. I just love teaching and I've been a teaching hog, dang it, and I just realized it this past week. So then, yesterday, when we taught a potential investigator, beforehand I asked Sister Alvine if she would start the message, and she said she would, and guess what - it was the most spiritual, powerful, unified lesson that we've ever taught together. We simply and clearly taught the message of the Restoration, and we didn't have any cool object lesson or visual aid or anything, we just taught using our testimonies, the scriptures, and the Spirit. And it was awesome. We committed this girl to start reading the Book of Mormon, and the member neighbor family whose house we taught in we invited them to start reading the Book of Mormon again, and they said they would. The Spirit was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife, it was so amazing. I hope we get to teach this girl again. I know she felt something. And I know it's because I finally got out of the way and let the Spirit and my companion teach and testify."

Burned the Boats

Happy Fall everyone!

It doesn't really feel like fall down here in the bayou. It's a little bit cooler in the mornings but that's about it haha. Everything is still green and humid and warm. So crazy!

I miss you all tons but we had a great week this week, and I just wanted to share my President's letter with you all. It's kind of long, sorry, I just have a very full heart. Have a great week and never forget that the Lord loves you always! And I do too!

Love, Sister Chausow

PS: This week at Zone Conference, we listening to an excertp by motivation speaker Andy Andrews called "Burned the Boats." It changed how I look at my mission, my attitude, everything really. It was a big turning point for me. We thenk made paper boats and burned them as a sign of our commitment and I feel free of so much of the baggage that I was carrying around before. You can listen to it if you click on the link, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, and clicked on the arrow that is to the right of where it says "Burn the Boats." I tried to attach it to this email but no dice, sorry.

http://www.louisianabatonrougemission.org/news

Hello, President! You are awesome, just fYI. I just wanted to remind you, in case you forgot. Thanks for uplifting me at Zone Conference and letting me know that I can do it. 

So, I'm going to break my letter into 4 parts this week: unity, obedience, teaching, and hope. I HOPE that's okay :)

Unity: Our companionship unity is still good. But I realize that I got complacent because things were so easy at the beginning. It is so easy to love Sister Alvine, but that doesn't mean I can stop trying to serve her or finding ways to help her have more hope. So I have renewed my commitment to serve my companion every day whether she needs it or not. 

Obedience: Guess what!!!?!?! After the "Burn the Boats" thing, I have found that I am starting to be obedient because I WANT to, not because I have to. It is such a good feeling. Sister Wall said something that really hit me. She said something like, "Some people come on their missions and see it as something they have to check off before going on to something more important like marriage or college." Boy, did that hit me in the face! Will you please thank her for giving me a wake up call? Because, sadly, that is totally how I saw my mission up to that point - as something to get through before I went on to more awesome things. But really, is there anything more awesome than a mission? Nope, no way jose, there is not. I know it. This is where I need to be, where I'm supposed to be, and where I WANT to be, and I've decided to live in the now. I burned my boat of seeing my mision as something to get through and with the Savior's help I'm starting to see it as something to cherish, love, and enjoy. I am committed to being a missionary, and I burned lots of boats that were holding me back and keeping me from being fully committed. I'm bummed it took me so long to figure it out, but I'm so so so happy that the Lord blessed me with exactly the revelation I needed when I was ready to receive it. 

Teaching: So when we come to Lord, He shows us our weakness, right? Well yesterday, I came to the Lord in fasting and prayer, and He showed me my weakness in teaching. We taught a ton of people yesterday and I'm so thankful that we finally had the opportunity to teach a lot, because 1.) We needed the practice in teaching in unity and with balance,a dwe are getting better at it, hooary! and 2.) I began to see the weaknesses I have in teaching. It hit me like a ton of bricks (I feel like all my epiphanies that I've had this transfers have hit me like a slap or like a train or like bricks, funny how they don't come very gently. Probably because if they were more gentle I wouldn't listen haha). I read PMG Chapter 10 and I began to see all the things I haven't been doing. Not in a depressing way or a negative way, it was just as if the Spirit was saying "Okay, you can teach, good job, now let's try doing it a little more in the Lord's way." And so I'm excited to be better, excited and thankful and humble that the Lordw ould take the time to help me, Johanna Chausow, know how I can imporve as His missionary. Because I am His. And I want so desperately to do what He wants and needs, not what I want or think I need. 

Finally, hope- It's the lifeblood of missionaries. Without it, we die (A.K.A. we sleep in, we give up, we aren't diligent, we aren't obedient). And it's vital for member missionaries. Something that I've seen as we've been visiting active members and eating in their homes is a lack of hope. So many of these good members have tried and tried to share the gospel but without success, and so they've lost hope in their own capabilities to do member missionary work. And you know what? I KNOW that that these people can do it, they just have to keep trying. And so my new quest is at every dinner appointment or whenever we are with members, give them hope that they can do missionary work! Even though they might not have baptized any of their friends, or have any referrals to give us, they CAN give a pass along card! They CAN be a shining example of happiness and peace in a tumultous world. They CAN pray daily for opportunities to share the gospel and they CAN have the courage to stand up for truth. They CAN come teaching with us and feel the joy that comes when someone starts to understand and want to the live the gospel. They CAN feed us and help support the Lord's servants physically and spiritually as we spend time in their homes, feeling of the spirit that's there.

Here's an example of what we've been trying to do and the success that we've seen: A strong member of our ward went teaching with us last night, and on the way home, we asked if she had given out a passalong card like we had asked her to - after we ate with their family a few weeks ago we talked about Alma and Amulek, and tried to get them excited about how they can be like Amulek. We invited them to start praying for missionary opportunities and also challeneged them to give out a passalong card. Sister H said she hadn't given out a pass along card yet, but she had been praying daily for missionary opportunities, and recently, her daughter made a new friend at school who isn't a member and she invited her over for a slumber party. To make the friend's mother feel more comfortable, Sister H invited the mother to come over with her daughter to get to know the H family before her daughter slept over at their house. And they really hit it off and just had the best time together, both Sister H and her daughter and her daughter's new friend and her mother. And Sister H said, "I'm so excited to have made a new friend! I know the Gospel will eventually come up in conversation because it's just part of who I am!" My heart burned within me at that point, because I am so excited for this woman and her daughter. These two individuals are amazing member missionaries, even though they were discouraged about doing missionary work when we went to visit them initially. By simply asking them to ask the Lord for help and hope about doing missionary work, they have been granted an amazing opportunity to share the gospel and finally see the fruit of their labors. So so exciting!

Basically, President, every day is hard, but every day is also wonderful. I feel myself getting stronger in ways that I've never thought were possible, and I KNOW that it's the power of the Atonement. I am so thankful for my Savior, who has called me to serve alongside Him. Thank you for all those messages you sent out. I came to the library with a headache, feeling kind of low, but you gave me hope through your words and as I've written this email I've just felt so uplifted. So thank you thank you thank you. 

You are amazing.

-Sister Chausow

Hurricane missed us!

Dear Family-

 Yes I am safe. No hurricane damage here, and actually, we had a "cold front" that made the weather yesterday and today super nice! It's rained some, but it's in the 70's today and it's amazing outside. When we went running this morning, my ears actually got kind of cold. I think eventually I'm going to need a head band and a long sleeve t-shirt so we can continue to work out in the mornings. I've set a goal to be able to run for a full 30 minutes with my companion. Slowly but surely I'm working my way up to it. Right now, I run and walk while she runs a ways and then turns around and comes back and runs behind me and comes back and then I run with her some more. Hopefully by the end of the transfer (three more weeks) I can run with her the whole time!

The work is going good. I felt like we worked super super hard last week and yet we only taught 10 lessons. Funny how it works out like that. At the same time we did a lot of service and we had Zone Training Meeting so I guess that eats up some time. Please pray for the W Family - D and M, and D's twin daughters R and H. R and H are 10 year old twins who are our investigators, D is inactive, and hopefully after our lesson Friday night M will be an investigator too! We want to get this whole family back in the church, and D seems pretty excited that we are coming to teach her daughters. Those girls don't know anything about God, and so we are starting from scratch. It's interesting to teach someone without a Christian background - thank you for teaching me the ways of the gospel. 

K, I'm going to copy and paste some of my letter to President Wall, because it contains a lot of the cool stuff I've been feeling and learning. I'm hope that y'all share emails and letters when I send them because I kind of write different stuff to each person. It's kind of long because he asks us to answer certain questions each week and I always have lots to say.

Is your testimony growing and are you becoming converted to the Lord? Yes, I think so. my testimony was definitely strengthened during conference. As I was listening, I was thinking a lot about conversion and how I can become more converted. I've noticed that I'm not as inclined to be negative as I used to be, that I have high hopes and expectations for others, and I am taking correction more humbly. Also, I feel like I get more joy, peace, and healing from service. I used to walk away from service just feeling good, no big deal. But yesterday we did service and today we did service, and both times I have walked away feeling refreshed, renewed, and kind of bursting with joy. I think this is because service for me has become a way to access the healing power of the atonement. These are just a few subtle changes that I've noticed in myself that are different since I've been on the mission. Pretty cool, huh? 

Are you striving to be obedient? Yes, every day, I think about what I can do to be more obedient. At ZTM, we talked about how exact obedience was more of an attitude than an actual accomplishment. As long as you are striving every day to be as obedient as you possibly can and not justify ANYTHING, you can see yourself as becoming exactly obedient, and that is definitely true of me and Sister Alvine. Also pretty cool.

Report on Companion Unity & District Unity - Our district is struggling. Us and the South Elders are really unified, we are friends and coworkers in the Gospel, and we can rely on them to work hard and help us out, and I think they feel the same about us. The North Elders aren't unified in their companionship, and so it's hard for them to be unified with the district, it's really interesting. Unity really does start in the companionship. I've been thinking a lot about what we can do to help the North elders and to help our district as a whole. It's tricky, because planning for district meeting is not my job, and yet I feel like if we could have a stellar district meeting that created a bond between us and got us all pumped up to work harder than we've ever worked before, that maybe things would work themselves out. It's outside of my stewardship to boss Elder A around, even though I really really want to haha. Sorry, it's a weakness of mine that involves pride and I'm working on not having the attitude that I could do things so much better. It's really unChristlike and I'm working on it. But yeah, I think we are just going to try to set a good example, be positive and uplifting and encouraging, and have charity for Elder A no matter what choices he makes. I hope that's the right path to take.

Are you teaching shorter lessons? - We didn't teach as much as we wanted to last week, even though we worked our tails off. Our lessons were shorter and we tried to leave people wanting more. As usual, we can still continue to improve in this area. :)

Are you studying and using the pamphlets? - I love using the pamphlets in order to help me simply the doctrine. Getting away from the pamphlets leads to me over complicating things, and those who we teach need us to keep it nice and simple, and pamphlets are a great tool to help us teach in that manner.

Are you effectively using the Book of Mormon in your teaching? - I know that we are using the Book of Mormon in our teaching. Are we using it effectively? Maybe...? What does it mean to use the Book of Mormon effectively in our teaching? I think I need to review Chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel to find some answers to that question.

Are your investigators reading the Book of Mormon/If needed are you reading it with them? - We don't have many investigators right now, but the two that we do have we are going to introduce them to the Book of Mormon this Friday. We are really excited, and we are hoping that as we teach on Friday, the girls' step dad will become an investigator too. Friday night is a big night for us. I'm excited! We encourage everyone that we see - less active member or active member, to read the Book of Mormon every day, individually and as families. It's been cool to feel the SPirit continually urge us to get everyone in the Book of Mormon. There is real power in that book, I've felt it and I'll be forever grateful for it. 

Your job is to invite others to come unto Christ, to bring them hope. You can do this in so very many ways, to so very many people. You all have the Spirit and it shines from you. So please tell me, what you are doing to give other people hope, every day. - Every day I try to smile, I try to say hi, and I have set a goal to give along a pass along card every day. My favorite one is the one for the "Finding Faith in Christ" dvd, because the picture of Christ is so beautiful. Even if they don't call the number, they at least have a beautiful picture of the Savior, and I hope that this gives them hope. We give hope by serving at lot. Service is one of the best ways to give hope I think. We share verses that give hope and comfort to those in need. And my companion and I try to give each other hope by complimenting each other and loving each other no matter what. It is really great.

I sent some other parts to mom. Hopefully they give you a glimpse into my life as a missionary. I have a year left, can you believe it? I can't believe I've been at this for 6 months. I know I can do this because I am not alone.

I love you forever and always!

-Sister Chausow

Diligence!

Hey you!

Thanks for the update!

Sorry I can't write much. We only get 30 minutes on the computer at this new library. I can't even tell you how much that frustrates me.

Here's my President Wall letter for the week-

Hey President!

I think you made a mistake and accidently put me in the Garden of Eden with an angel for a companion. Not that I'm complaining. Actually, I want to thank you for giving me a whole lot of work to do with a companion who loves me for who I am and who sees the good in me, herself, and others. Seriously, thank you. I really really needed the chance to work hard and be loved, and that's what Heavenly Father sent me through you.

I've been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon about dilligence. As I'm working on the Book of Mormon in 60 Days challenge, today I ready through Enos, Jarom, Words of Mormon, and King Benjamin's sermon. Do you know how many times dilligence is mentioned? A lot. And also humility. And I was thinking about the connection between those two things - diligence and humility. To be diligent for me requires being humble - it requires realizing that I can't do everything all by myself, but the Lord knows what I need to do and when, and if I will keep taking steps forward in faith He will provide a way for me to accommplish everything that I've been send here to do. And to be humble requires diligence - a missionary's greatest foe is pride in all its forms. It you are not watching yourself constantly, you can become prideful in about two seconds and not even realize it.

So yeah, companioship unity is good. District unity is coming slowly. I'ts funny being in a district where there haven't been sisters for a really long time. The elders are doing their best to adjust, and I love them for it. Elder Ackerman is awesome, I can see why Sister Olsen loved serving with him. He is really growing as a leader.

We are working towards perfecting obedience, balance in our teaching, and using pamphlets more. We are rockin at teaching with the Book of Mormon. But I think I've been too shy in using the Book of Mormon with less actives. I tend to go to the Bible to teach less actives on a first visit in order to seem less threatening. But why should I fear men? I love God, He is my Father, and I want to following the promptings of the Holy Ghost to know what to share.

Gotta run. We only get 30 minutes of computer time here.

-Sister Chausow

Love you with all my heart dad!

 Thanks for always being there for me and for that awesome quote!

-Johanna

Roaches-death by spray and screaming!!! LOL!

Holy tomato dad, I stinkin' love you. Just thought you should know. :) Thanks for that awesome quote and that great spiritual insight! I love stuff like that, seriously!

Thanks for the advice about roaches. We've had a few really big ones (close to two inches long) and a few smaller half inch ones. They are better than spiders, though, that's for sure. I would much rather have roaches than spiders. We have this roach spray that we spray our apartment with once a week and it kills the little ones, so we just find those ones already dead. The big ones require a little more force - funny story: So there was one of these big daddy roaches crawling around our sink and Sister Alvine found it and started freaking out and so I got a paper towel and was summoning up my courage to squish it when she just grabs the roach spray and just starts spraying the bejeepers out of it with the roach spray, chasing it back and forth as it crawled around the counter, just spraying and spraying and screaming and screaming hahahaha. It was so funny. And that thing wouldn't die. Finally, it started crawling a little slower and a little tipsier and I just grabbed it and smushed it with the paper towel. And that was the end of that roach. Poor guy - death by spray and screaming. We are going to Walmart and either need to get more spray or try some of those bug bombs. Thanks for the tip! We do feel safe, we just have to be on the look out when we come in at night and turn on the lights haha.

 So, you asked about my new area. It's funny you should ask because I feel like I am definitely in Cajun country. Lots of trailer parks, lots of forest, and lots of long winding country roads with big gnarly trees that canopy over the roads. It gets a little creepy driving home at night, sometimes I think I hear banjos...hahaha.

Really, Denham Springs is a suburb but I feel like in Loosiana (people down here actually say it like that) anything outside of Baton Rouge or New Orleans is a rural little country town because everything is so spread out. They have a Walmart and a Taco Bell, so really we don't need much more than that, the biggest attractions here are the antique stores and the Bass Pro Shops. It is pretty, I love it down here, and the weather is starting to cool off a smidge. In the mornings it's in the 70's and perfect outside, from noon onward though it's high 80's low 90's. We had to bike a bit this week because we were out of miles, and I got pretty sweaty. Let's just say I'm headed soon to Walmart to buy more deoderant.

The two wards we work in are great. Sometimes I wonder if the two wards are kind of Hatfields and McCoys-ish (some people don't really like people in the other ward and vice versa) but as missionaries we don't get involved in that, we just try to help where we can. 1st ward has a LOT of less active, part member families and so we are working on finding the less active women who have nonmember kids and husbands and we have seen some sweet miracles from that. The Lord has definitely prepared people here for us to teach and bring back into the gospel or bring into the gospel for the first time. 2nd ward has over 60 less active or inactive sisters who they want us to focus on. But get this - they don't assign visiting teachers to these people. What's up with that? If every active member would just do his or her home/visiting teaching, the missionaries could focus on teaching nonmembers and strengthening members instead of rescuing less actives or acting as the ward's personal investigators. Thanks for being such a great example to me of a faithful, dedicated home teacher. The way you've fellowshipped the Teufels (a part member family!!!) over the years is awesome, and I know that their family has been blessed because of it.

Because we work in two wards, our area is ginormous - we cover from north eastern Baton Rouge to a little town called Watson in the north over to Walker in the east and down to St. Vincent in the south. Some of these places are unincorporated, but maybe you can find them on google maps.

So me and Sister Alvine spoke in church yesterday and we were asked to speak about missionary work. I felt impressed to speak about the atonement, because there is this line in Preach My Gospel that says "As you come to understand and apply the atonement, your desire to share the gospel will increase." Such a powerful and interesting statement. And so I taught about the doctrine of Christ, and how as we use and apply this cycle in our lives, our joy will increase so much that our love of the Gospel won't be able to be contained within ourselves. We will just have to share it! Sister Alvine said it another way, "Our desire to share the gospel is directly proportional to our personal conversion." How cool is that? I love it.

I'm so excited for conference this weekend! It's like the Super Bowl for missionaries (or the Stanley Cup haha ). I can't wait to see what the Lord will have us work on for the next six months. And it's fun to think that me and you will be doing the exact same thing at the exact same time this weekend. So great!

Love you with all my heart!

-Johanna