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. 

Weekly Helloooo!!

Daddy!

I am so sorry you feel so overwhelmed. Can I just say that I totally know how you feel? I love this quote from President Eyring about being in the Lord's service:

"There will be times when you will feel overwhelmed. One of the ways you will be attacked is with the feeling that you are inadequate. Well, you are inadequate to answer a call to represent God with only your own powers. But you have access to more than your natural capacities, and you do not work alone."

The text of the full talk can be found here. Also, I quote Ammon - 

 "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." -Alma 26:12

You can do this Kerri! Not because YOU can, but because GOD can THROUGH you! And what a blessing to be called as such a vessel. So fabulous.

This was a great week. I got to escape from Metairie/the city/Jefferson ward drama for a few days and go to Houma on exchanges with Sister Wheeler who I freakin love with all my heart. I have been blessed to have some really awesome Sister training Leaders while I've been out, and I"m so thankful that I came out at a time when sister DO actually get to go on exchanges. The first night I was there, we went and had dinner with this active member who had just moved into the ward and had served her mission in Scotland/Ireland. Dad, I took pages of notes. She was an answer to so many prayers/questions that I had. Sister Wheeler was originally supposed to come to Metairie with me, but some crazy things happened and I ended up going to Houma, and I'm so thankful I did. I was supposed to be there. I know God hears prayers, spoken and unspoken, and it really is usually through some else that He does it.
Sister Wheeler and I just had crazy fun and worked our hearts out and learned from and taught each other and it was amazing! Instead of feeling like "Oh man, I hope I can make it 4 more months" I left feeling like "Hooray! I get to be a part of this work for 4 more months!" Exchanges are a huge blessing.

While I was gone, crazy things happened. J called the sisters in a drunken rage and demanded they come over so that she could tell them she isn't going to be Mormon any more. They spent a huge chunk of the next day with  M. And they got to have a super fun/intense discussion with R at Troy and Aly's house who I love. I was a good time to get out of Dodge haha, but now we are dealing with all the aftermath, and I am learning to focus on what I CAN control instead of what I can't, and just let God take care of all that. He has a plan for J, He has a plan for M, and if we keep praying and stay worthy of the Spirit, He will reveal what we need to know to help us help Him move the plan forward. 

Also, I wanted to tell you about our work with E and M. I'm copying and pasting what I told President about it.

We've had a cool few days this week because we've been practicing the principles of following up and helping someone else use the Atonement to overcome weaknesses.
The next day we went over armed with service clothes, cleaning supplies, and another recent convert, R (remember her? She's the best!) and we sat outside and discussed how the Lord can make weaknesses into strengths if we admit our weakness to him, ask for help, and act in faith. We committed M to have a serious talk with the Lord after we left and talk about her weakness in keeping her house clean and ask for help, because the Lord cares about stuff like that. Then we went to work for 2 and half hours cleaning, organizing, throwing stuff out and bagging stuff up that could be donated. A big part of the sanitation problem was the fact that there are 4 puppies that are not potty trained - they had taken over a whole room in their 4 room trailer and it's disgusting. After we cleaned up that whole mess, we got creative and made an enclosure for the puppies out of furniture, and we taught M how and when to clean up after the dogs so that it wouldn't get so out of hand. Again, we left her with a small project to complete after we left (in addition to praying/talking with God) and told her to just keep it up until Sunday afternoon when we would be back. 

We also encouraged her to come take the sacrament specifically in order to have the strength to get going with this change.
Sunday, they didn't come to church (that's a whole other story) but we went over to follow up and once again, M had completed the project we left and then some extra. E, who has Sundays off, sat down with us in the room that used to be full of dog urine/feces and we taught him, with M's help, about changing weaknesses into strengths. We also read D&C 29:34-35 about how nothing is temporal with the Lord - everything is spiritual to Him. And we asked inspired questions about how keeping your house clean is a spiritual thing and we listened and both E and M had really good answers. I had a past companion teach me that asking questions is a way to help those we teach get personal revelation, and I really think that instead of just telling E that he needed to be cleaner and help out more around the house, because we asked questions, he was able to figure out for himself why and how he needs to change. It was really cool. We are going back tonight and we are going to do a family home evening with them and do another project and follow up on the "Daily Chores" list we left with them, taped to their fridge. This has been a very tangible experience with helping someone develop faith unto repentance, and I can't wait for them to come take the sacrament on Sunday and feel the Spirit and know that what they are doing is good and right. This will give them the strength to continue in their growth. And it's cool, because I feel like I am really able to help because I just had to go through this process with my own weaknesses so I can press forward with the knowledge that this process really does work.

I love you so much! Thank you for being the most amazing priesthood holder/leader/father/friend that I know!

-Sister Chausow

May 19, 2014 Highs and Lows!

Hello-

Sometimes I wonder if I'm Amish because I have such a struggle with technology...am I actually adopted from the Amish community where you got those benches and your bedroom set? Hehe I kid...

SO! This week was a roller coaster of awesomeness! I will give you a summary of events and my feelings about them!

HIGH: Going to Houma on exchanges with Sister Wheeler - we have been serving around each other almost our whole missions and she has been an awesome mentor for me. Plus it was a huge blessing to get out of Metairie for a bit.

LOW: Two women in our ward had miscarriages in the last two weeks. So sad. What do you even say?

HIGH: R is having her kids come stay with her for a week and a half in June and she wants us to teach them every day! I just love her!

LOW: Sister Biver came down with a cold and then a few days later I got it. I kind of sound like a man, but I actually slept through the night last night so that was awesome!

HIGH: We did a LOT of service, especially with this girl named M. See Dad's email for the details, but I am so thankful we cleared out all the dog poop and pee! It was a huge triumph - all the creative problem solving skills from DI came in handy when we were trying to build an enclosure for the dogs so as to contain the destruction. Tell Abby Stewart that DI will make a huge difference as an adult hahah!

LOW: Brother Bush, that intense guy that made me cry, came into our Ward Missionary Coordination meeting.

HIGH: He left because Br. Blair, our super awesome ward mission leader didn't really give him a chance to talk! Lol. I am stinkin going to be friends forever with the Blairs. Br Blair always has my back and Sister Blair is so supportive and helpful with teaching our investigators or less actives. And their son Sawyer is the cutest baby ever! Wish so bad I could hold him/kidnap him!!!!!!!

HIGH: They were filming a movie down the street from Mahala's house. That's the 3 film set I've seen since I've been down here in NOLA. 

HIGH: Saturday we might do a free lemonade stand as a way to give out copies of the Book of Mormon and contact people!

HIGH: I loved hearing about Grandpa Chuck and Cheyners and John and diarrhea's since easters lol. You are the bomb dot com! And way to go Idaho on killing it in your writing class. 

Oh, so I hear you got new window treatments for Mother's Day...? Kath Teufel is super excited about it. I want to see pictures!

Can you believe it's the last week before transfers? Craziness. Three left after this one. I kind of started writing my friends off because I just want to focus. I've decided that these last 3 transfers are not mine, they are the Lord's and I'm going to do everything I can to devote my whole self to Him. I've been so blessed, and I can't NOT try to go out and share what I've been given. 

I love you forever and ever! Sending so many hugs and smaeshes!

Love you more than all the chocolate in the world!

-Sister Chausow