Newspaper Clipping!

Our last service project made the local paper!  It was very hot and humid but the service made me feel great!!

Crawfish Boil! Looisiana Style!!

Our district family at a Crawfish Boil at the Church. Best way to eat them is to crack them open and suck out the goodness.  Spicy and messy!!

Sister Bivers enjoying the potato part of the "Boil"!

Our district Elders with their pile of crawfish skeletons!!

Farewell to President and Sister Wall!

Hello to my mom and dad who I love with all my heart-

This week was crazy/good/fun/super hot. Highlights include:

-Our last meeting with President and Sister Wall. Super emotional. So so good. I love them with all my heart, and I know that we were meant to serve together. In our specialized training meeting, they kind of reviewed some of the fundamental principles that they've been trying to emphasize over the last year in a half. I think if I took nothing else away, it is that Heavenly Father loves me, the worth of my soul is great in His sight, He sent His Son, my brother, to die for me, and because of that sacrifice I am literally never alone. It was super powerful, and I'm so thankful that two people who I love so much would take time to emphasize over and over again concepts that my mortal mind has trouble grasping. 

-Went on a super quick, last minute exchange with the Sister Training Leaders. I stayed in Metairie with Sister Brady and Sister Biver went to Houma with Sister Wheeler. It was a quiet 24 hours, but it's all good. Last time I was on exchanges with Sister Brady I was working through some drama and it was like serious recovery mode. This time life is flowing along much more smoothly and I think Sister Brady didn't know what to do with a normal, sane Sister Chausow haha bless her heart. It was fun to see Sister Wheeler for a bit - she is one of my favorite sisters ever. She is going home next week and I'm sad because I keep "losing" my best friends haha. Oh well, I just get to move on and make more friends!!!

-E and M made it to the temple and got endowed and sealed. It was a crazy day at the temple because there were 7 live endowments, 2 of whom just showed up ready to do their initiatory and endowments, and so there wasn't enough room for all the friends from the ward who came to support E and M. It was interesting to be an escort - It felt really awesome to focus on someone else during the session and just be looking out for someone else's needs. Interestingly, I got a TON of revelation for myself and things that I've been thinking about, and I think that's kind of how Heavenly Father works - when you are willing to put others' needs in front of your own, He blesses you even more than you give. The sealing was super cool - that was the first time I've been to a sealing, and so to hear the super cool covenants and blessings pronounced by the sealer was a really awesome spiritual experience. It made me more determined than ever to seek for a TEMPLE marriage after the mission. All those ginormous weddings in tv shows and movies just cant compare with the 10 minute sealing ordinance performed in temples. Hands down. 

-President Hansen and Sister Hansen are here! Hooray! We met them this morning at Zone Conference. He is very different in his style but no different at all in his love for missionaries. Sister Hansen as well is different in personality but just has so much love and desire to serve the missionaries. They are super amazing and they want to help us raise our vision and help us to help people become converted. That is something President Hansen said over and over - "We want converts, not baptisms." I was like woah, that's super cool! I wish he could talk to our ward leaders...we had ward missionary coordination yesterday and there was this sense of gears grinding together. Clash of forces if you will. The missionaries want to go one way and the members/ward mission leader wants us to go another and it's something that needs fixing. It's interesting - I wonder if the Lord will leave me in Metairie another transfer so we can try to work on it more (I thought we were working on it but it became apparent yesterday that we need to communicate better and change tactics...) or if I'm going to leave and maybe another missionary can come help get things aligned better. I'm willing to do what the Lord asks either way. I just crave unity, so if I stay we will probably need to have another meeting and talk it all out. Elder Smith has been here almost 9 months and he's content to just keep going like it's been going but I'm not satisfied with that. We have no control over the elders, but we can at least make our own efforts to reach out, communicate our concerns, and humbly seek to work better with members. I know that a lack of unity only brings frustration, which just isn't fun. Sorry about that ramble/rant... :)

-Friday is the 4th of Joo-lye and it's also pday (because we had zone conference today) but we still got to email today because the library will be closed on the 4th. I'm excited to have a day to relax and not worry about emailing or cleaning the apartment or car (all of that has to be done today/wednesday for inspection purposes). Also, transfers are next week and I'm excited to see what happens. Sister Biver and I are still doing great together. I  I really feel like one reason I was supposed to serve a mission is to learn to accept imperfection. I feel like Heavenly Father won't let me be a parent until I at least kind of learn this lesson. I've always been super hard on myself and super hard on others, and I'm learning that some how God loves us no matter where we are on our path to perfection. In my mind it's always been "I'm either perfect or completely terrible/useless/a waste." This is NOT how God sees things - He has patience and He sees potential, and that's the lens we need to see our own children through, and our spouses through, and our friends, and complete strangers. This is the essence of love and charity - loving and accepting and caring for a soul, a child of God. Recognizing true identity and endlessly loving and serving are what charity is all about. So basically, as I've learned to be ok with mistakes and flaws and defects, I've learned about the pure love of Christ, and I hope to be able possess some small part of that love by the end of my mission so that I can cultivate that seed of love throughout the rest of my life. 

I just wanted to thank you both for showing me such awesome examples of love. All of the service, the kind words, the staying till the church is totally clean after an activity, the endless dedication to God and family, all of these things are just illustrations of the love for God and for all men which burns in your hearts. You are amazing examples to me, and I'm filled with gratitude because God sent me to your family. Thank you for making and keeping the marriage covenant and for loving me no matter what. Y'all the best! :)

Love,

Sister Chausow

Baptism!

Hey mama! Holy tomato! It sounds like you had a whale of a day yesterday.

I'm trying harder to take better care of my body and it's awesome because my spirit feels better too!

Speaking of taking care of our bodies, today for President Wall's "last act" he asked us to take two hours on pday and bike around wearing these bright blue tshirts that said "bringing HOPE to the world one mile at a time." My body is going to hate me tomorrow, and my bum is so sore, but it was super fun, me and Sister Biver and Elder Mills and Elder Smith, our little district family, just biking around Metairie and Kenner smiling and waving at people. We biked along Lake Ponchatrain and it was super gorgeous, and as we biked we talked about goofy stuff like Mario Kart and chick flicks and Lord of the Rings. I just love physical activity that doesn't require too much coordination - I love working out and sweating and trust me - we were super sweaty by the end. Actually, we were sweaty at the beginning because we had helped a lady move for 3 hours before pday officially started haha. Oh man, I love me some Louisiana humidity. 

Oh yeah, so "A" got baptized and confirmed this weekend! I was bracing myself for some more big drama but Satan let "A" off pretty easy (child-like faith goes a long way to protect someone from the fiery darts of the adversary) and there was just a small series of awkward moments that surrounded his baptism - the font didn't fill up enough so we had to delay the service for 30 minutes to fill the font some more, and then it turns out there was a leak in the font so the water was too shallow and he had to be dunked twice and he was kind of scared to be dunked...and then there was a little confusion as to who was supposed to be in the circle to confirm him, but again, it all worked out and now we just get to help him endure to the end! And it was so cool - he invited his mom and step dad and his father to his baptism and they are all Catholic but they came and enjoyed the baptism and are really happy that their son is involved in something that is helping him to be better. We took them on a tour of the church building and let them know if they ever had any questions we are their to answer and help. A and his dad came to the crawfish boil we had on Saturday (the baptism was thursday) and it was awesome! A'

s dad might be next to be baptized :)

But yeah, life is just good good good! I feel happy and content and loved. It's a really good feeling, and I want everyone to have it. I know it comes from living the gospel. It comes from trying, not from being perfect. I am learning to be ok with weakness, my own and everyone else's. I am really working on loving everyone no matter what, and Heavenly Father is helping me to do it. Thank you for being an awesome example of Christlike love - I feel like you are one of the best people I know at helping others to feel God's love for them. So thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your all around awesome-ness!

-Sister Chausow

Sunshine Packages!

So Johanna write home and suggested that our family send a "sunshine package" to the Elders that work in the Mission home cause they have been working really hard trying to get the Mission in tip top shape for the new mission  president who will be arriving in July.

Since Johanna's ideas are always awesome, we took her up on it and sent a package full of yellow items to those Elders to try and spread a little cheer.  We got an awesome e-mail from them with some pictures.  Thought it might be fun to add the pictures to her blog so she can always remember the Elders who worked so hard to keep her mission running!!

Enjoy!

Here are the mission home Elders: Elders Steele, Watkins and Ford

A picture of the letter we sent with the package....sure hope they get my sense of humor..or lack of..Bahahaha!!!

Letter to Mom!

Hey there!

Thank you so so much for the sunshine package! It totally brightened my week! You are the best!!!!

And I loved seeing the pictures of the office elders. Thanks for helping brighten their day. You are truly amazing! Seriously, you bring light and love into the lives of all you come into contact with, even people that you don't even know that live hundreds of miles away! :)

Crazy about Dad and Chey. Also heard about John. So happy that the famdamily is living life. I'll be praying for the Chey while she is at camp and in Deuchtland (sp?) The whole dad-going-to-girls-camp thing makes me a little nervous so I'll be praying for him too :)

So last pday was pretty magical - we went to Oak Alley, the coolest plantation ever. It was freaking gorgeous, and we got to go with Ruth and her fun family AND we got to get out of Metairie for a while AND we got to do something that was uplifting but not necessarily related to the gospel haha. So basically the whole thing was a win win win win situation. If/when we all come down here, I want to take you guys to this place because it is stunning. The home and the 28 oak trees that line the front drive (they are 300 years old!) and the restored slave houses are so cool/interesting. I'm sending a postcard so you can see the house with the trees. 

I just want you to know that I've been feeling a lot of love this week. It's interesting because I feel like the mission strips you of all the normal resources that you turn to in times of struggle or stress (movies, music, swimming, going to the gym for hours, even your family and friends) and instead you have to rely soley upon your Heavenly Father. And that's what I felt this last week. I felt closer to my Father in Heaven than ever before. As I tried will all my might to keep the rules and study the scriptures and really pray sincerely, I felt Heavenly Father's love for me. It was in personalized promptings, it was in the beauty of the rain, in the opportunities He sent me to share the gospel, and just a deep feeling of peace and acceptance. It's been really really awesome, and I'm so thankful and humbled that God would take time out of His busy schedule to personally instruct me on how I can be even better while at the same time telling me that He loves me know matter what. 

Please pray for D - she just moved here with her daughter and they have nothing. The bishop in Kentucky helped them escape from an abusive situation and paid for her ticket to come to Mississippi and then her cousins drove her from there to New Orleans. She was studying with sister missionaries in Kentucky and I think she would've been baptized already but she was working on Sundays. But now she is here, has no job, and the ward has kind of embraced her. The stake employment specialist is helping her to find work, the Relief Society is going to try to get some clothes and toys for her and her little girl, and we are teaching her the lessons and inviting her to various activities. It's really cool. She wants to be baptized because she knows it's important, but she doesn't understand yet that she needs to be baptized into God's church, not just any church. But she loves the Book of Mormon and she is a super spiritual person, so it will come. 

Also, please pray for A. He is being baptized on Thursday night and The week before and the week after baptism is prime Satan time so please pray that he'll be protected and/or that he can make it through whatever Satan throws at him. I am really coming to love this man - he is autistic and has made some mistakes, but I just have this Christ-like love for him that is hard to explain. I am so excited for him to make covenants and receive a remission of sins and start fresh. 

I love you with all my heart! Thank you for always being there for me!

-Sister Chausow

Monday Mailbox!!

Hello! Happy Monday!

Just wanted to send out a quick update on life down in the Jefferson Ward-

-A passed his baptismal interview! He has so much childlike faith, and even though he didn't understand it all, he quit drinking tea and coffee and is so excited to be baptized. It's been a challenge to teach him because he is autistic, but we really love him and he really wants to do what's right. The baptismal date for now is the 19th of June and he will be confirmed on 22nd. Please pray for him that all will go well!

-We had a Family Home Evening this last Monday at the church. We invited 2 active member couples and then a recent convert couple that is getting ready to be endowed/sealed, "A" came, "P "(a long time investigator) and his less active wife, our friend Allie brought her nonmember friend that just moved here, and "S", a long time investigator who we never thought would come inside the church building. That was a huge miracle! It was awesome - Br. Blair, our ward mission leader shared the spiritual thought and then we played Bible jeopardy and had treats. It was so awesome. We were going to do it once a month but every kept asking if we could do it more often so it looks like we are going to shoot for every other week. So awesome!

-We had interviews with President Wall this last week. Every 3 months you get a one on one interview with the mission president and this was our last one with him since he is going home at the end of the month and we are getting a new president. It was awesome - I've been kind of depressed/discouraged recently and President Wall set me straight - he taught me that all those negative thoughts are NOT from God and he helped me to refocus and gave me hope that I am loved and I'm doing okay. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted form my shoulders, and since then we've been laughing more and I've been counting my blessings more. Because Heavenly Father was trying to tell me that He loved me all along but I was fighting him, convinced that I was good enough. But President sternly told me to start thanking Him for the blessings and love that He sends to me every day. It was awesome, and I have so much peace now.

-Ruth, the lady that we helped get baptized, is taking us to the plantation homes in Destrehan today. We are super excited! It will be fun to get out of Metairie for a bit and just relax. Also, her two kids, "D"and "

S" are in town and we are helping them prepare to be baptized. They are so awesome and I just love this whole family

So yeah, life goes on, and we continue to thrust in our sickles as deep as we can, and a little deeper every day. Thank you for all the prayers and love and support! I can feel that I'm being lifted up and carried by my Savior. I'm so thankful for Him. I know He lives.

-Sister Chausow

PS: Attached is a picture of a service project we did in the rain last weekend! It was cooler to do it that way than to do it in the sun and humidity haha.