Not getting transferred!

Daddy!

No worries about last week. It's allll good in the 'hood. :)

Glad to hear your trip went well! Glad that John could get some positive stuff in his life. He is so awesome, I know the Lord will help him. 

So transfers are tomorrow and I am staying Denham Springs! Sister Lucherini is getting transferred though, and it's kind of a shame because about a week and a half ago we finally clicked. We figured each other out, how to best work together, and it has been going awesome. We've had a lot of fun together. Last wednesday, we got a third companion - Sister Venable. She is a service missionary from Hammond (another city in our stake/zone) and even with the whole trio thing, things still went great! I think it's a tender mercy from the Lord :) But yeah, Sister Lucherini is out, and I've been asked to be a Sister Training Leader again. You can read about that in my president's letter that I'll copy and paste below. It'll be interesting to see how that goes, but I have faith that the Lord knows what He's doing.

Sorry this is super short. Today was crazy. We swapped some of our pday and proselyting hours because of a service opportunity that came up, so that's why we are emailing so late. Good stuff though. We have some great members who set up a small service project with/for a nonmember that they had been talking to a little about the gospel. So great.

As far as people to pray for...

C. B.- please pray that we can get a return appointment. We are a little afraid that she is trying to drop us.

R. W. - she got really upset when we told her that the Book of Mormon was written at the same time as the Bible. Which is a really weird concern and we can't figure out why that's a stumbling block for her. She also doesn't think that there were people in the Americas before the time of Christ. It's a really bizarre situation. Please pray that it will all work out in the end.

S. D. - please pray that her and her husband will come to understand the gospel and that her husband will be able to overcome his word of wisdom problems.

There are more, but really, keep trying to be a missionary in the Lake Michigan. Cheyenne told me yall have some really awesome Sister Missionaries now in the ward, so really, the best thing you could do is go teach with them, open our house to have them teach discussions there, and find people for them to teach. Pray for help and you can't go wrong.

Love you more than all the snowflakes in wisconsin!

-Sister Chausow

Hey President-

So this was an intersting week. As usual. We got a new companion. We had a trainwreck of a lesson with one of our most promising investigators. We had a ton of fun today with our district for our last pday. I'm still trying to process, internalize, and apply what we learned at stake conference and in zone conference, both of which were awesome, especially zone conference. 

Report on Companion Unity & District Unity

Well, something really cool happened. Me and Sister Lucherini just kind of clicked all of a sudden. And then we got Sister Venable and everything was still clicking. We've actually had fun together as a companionship over the last few weeks. The unity hasn't been bad, and we've worked really hard together, but life is just a little more sunny when you are friends with your companion(s). You listen more intently to what they are saying, you take their advice more to heart, you try harder to serve them, because you've come to love them and to like them. I don't know, it just feels good and safe when you're friends with your companion. It took a little longer than normal, but we were able to form that bond and I'm so thankful for it.

Report on Miracles/Tender Mercies

When we had a trainwreck with our investigator, I was able to see the good in it. I was able to see things with a broader perspective rather than just saying "Ugh, we failed! This is awful!" And because of our area book, we know that she will be remembered by future missionaries.

When I got called and asked to be Sister Training leader I didn't cry. I felt calm and resolute and even a little bit hopeful that this will be ok. I know that that was the Spirit.

I extended some invitations that we hadn't planned for. They just came out and both times the person started to tear up and I felt all tingley full of spiritual power, as if my flesh was "being consumed by the Spirit." 

The daughter of a Catholic lady who we work with at the foodbank is a Mormon, and because of that, we were able to clear up some misconceptions she had about her daughters faith. It's a small world sometimes out here in Louisiana.

I got an email from Sister Tuft/Marie that totally buoyed me up today. She is awesome. Good friends are awesome. I'm so thankful that the Lord brings us together through our missions with people that become some of our best friends. I feel like the friendships we form on the mission are deeper than outside of the mission, because you go through such hard stuff together. You experience some of the highest highs and the lowest lows with these people and that forms a bond that is stronger and deeper than the bond that comes if you just happen to live with someone or be in the same Biology class or something. 

Are you daily reading from and applying lessons from Preach My Gospel?

So much. After Zone Conference I started rereading/studying chapter 1 in preach my gospel and thinking more deeply about my purpose. It's filtered into everything I do. Because of the SPirit that I felt from Elder Perkins, because of the revelation I received during zone conference and the inspiration that came as I read chapter 1, I've started asking myself in just about everything I do, "How will this help me accomplish my purpose?" It feels like I'm coming to be more in line with what the Lord wants me to be focusing on. My motivations, my actions, and my words are started to be more in harmony with his will. It's a really cool feeling.

Are you effectively using the Book of Mormon in your teaching?

Yes! More than ever before! The roleplays that were done in zone conference really helped me to see how much everything hangs on the Book of Mormon, and how in some cases we shouldn't move on to talk about ordinances until we make sure the person is reading, studying, understanding, and applying the teachings of the Book of Mormon. It is such a tool for good, I'm so thakful that God would see fit to give us more scripture. It's awesome.

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?

This week we brought hope by serving. We have a woman in our ward who is very overwhelmed. Her marriage is rocky, she is working really long hours, she doesn't get to be at home with her kids like she wants to, and she has health problems. Added to that is the fact that her house is a mess because she's never at home to clean it and her husband is really really lazy/has [problems with addictions. So we've been going over every few weeks and helping her clean her house. This week, though, she asked if we could come to her classroom on a Saturday and help her get caught up/ready for the week. We were a little worried about going to a school but since there would be no kids there and the Spirit told us it would be a good idea, we went. And guess what, while we were cutting out games and grading papers, she opened up to us and expressed how tired and stressed and overwhelmed she is. Becuase her husband wasn't there, she got a lot off her chest. And we were able to talk to her boldly and lovingly about how she needs to start putting God first in her life. We also told her that she needs to go whatever it takes to get to the temple and get her endowment. This was one of the invites that we weren't planning on extending, but it was the perfect thing. She told us she hadn't been to the temple since she was 13 and she feels like that's the piece that's been missing in her life. We invited her to do a 7-day trial of putting God first (prayer, scriptures, church) and trusting in Him to make time for all the rest. She cried and said she would try it. She also expressed some concerns about weird things she had heard about the temple and we were able to appropriately address those. It was such a cool discussion, and it all came because we were trying to give hope in whatever small way we could. 

Anyways, thank you for your love and support. I'm truly thankful that the Lord allowed me to learn from and be blessed my you and your wife. I will be eternally grateful for this blessing.

-Sister Chausow