Hey family! 

Hope y'all had a good week! I survived my first week in Metairie, hooray! We went tracting, we did service, we taught a bunch a people. It was great! I wanted to share an experience we had while tracting. This is an excerpt from my letter to President Wall-

Also, we did have a miracle of sorts while tracting. We knocked on a door and an old, tired man came to the door. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could share a message about Jesus Christ. He said that his wife was ill and that maybe now wouldn't be a good time. That's what he said, but the look on his face seemed like he desperately wanted something from us. So we asked about his wife and she said she had dementia and told us a little about their situation, and finally he said, "If you'd like to come in and sit with her for a while, you can." And we said we would love that. So we went in and sat down with his wife who is a lovely person despite her memory not being what it once was. We talked and laughed together, and shared a message of peace from the Bible, since that's what the Spirit directed us to do. We talked more with the husband and found out that they are Catholic - but they are unable to attend church because of his wife's health. But they love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and so when we left they said we could come back and read the Bible some more with them and we promised we would try to find a MoTab CD and bring it to them. After we walked out the door, the man came out after us and said, "I have some neighbors who are handicapped. He had his leg amputated and she had two strokes. They are moving a few houses down, do you think we could help them?" We said of course we could and offered the help of the elders as well, and gave him our number so he could call us when it got closer to the move. And of course, we said we would come back in two weeks to visit again and we would follow up them. His whole countenance had changed by the time we left, and I felt that we were doing what the Savior would do - helping those who needed it, whether they accepted his message or not. It was an amazing feeling, and it gave us the energy we needed to keep tracting for another half hour. We didn't find anyone, except a man that was eager to bash with us, which we politely declined, but it was an awesome experience and I'm excited to tract some more - it brings great experiences!

So great. Please pray that we will have the courage to open our mouths and find new investigators. The ward has a goal of baptizing 12 people this year but isn't willing to help us out too much yet, so we are on our own for the finding, teaching, and baptizing of 10 people (down from 12 because someone was baptized in January and the Elders will have a baptism at the end of this month). The cool thing is, though, we are not alone. The Lord has promised that He will be with us - and I know this is true. We are in His hands, we are His servants, and if we let Him He will direct this work and our lives. 

I love all of you so much! Have a wonderful week!

-Sister Chausow