The One With The Merge

Hey Y'all!

-We are getting smart phones in our mission! So we had to have technology training, to learn how to use our phones for good. We had a conflict with the BR meeting so we got permission to go to the NOLA tech conference. I didn't tell anyone. So I was able to surprise my MTC companion, Sister Adams! She had no idea! I haven't really even been able to talk to her for 10 months! We hugged so many times the elders started keeping count haha I also got to surprise Elder Platt from the MTC and Hermana Banner who I used to live with!

- not only are we getting smartphones but we are getting another mission! We found out that they are consolidating the Mississippi Jackson mission into ours! Coming July 1st we are going to have 100+ new missionaries in our mission! And we could have the possibility to go anywhere in Mississippi or Louisiana! A lot of the sisters in my MTC zone went there as well so we will be able to go home together!

-We had a referral that we contacted. He had called the number on a pass a long card that was left in the door of his cousin's house in Denham Springs by the missionaries who were tracting there. No effort is wasted!

-we shared Ether 3 with someone and she said she got cold chills #spirit and that it was exactly what she needed. So cool!

-I got permission to see Hayley Gatchell, a friend from home, she came and took is out to lunch to some jambalaya! It was so good to see her!

-Tumie, from Plaquemine, LA was baptized this week. She has been attending church her whole life but her father wouldn't allow her to be baptized until she was 18. She had to wait 10 years to be baptized. She is so amazing. Ive been thinking so much about how much we take for granted. How she has lived her whole life without the gift of the Holy Ghost or being able to enter the temple. Since the temple was closing that day they confirmed her a member at her baptism and gave her permission to do baptisms for the dead that day. She is going to go so far in life. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a member of this church and got the blessing of being baptized and the blessing of the Holy Ghosts guidance in my life. 

-we asked a member to pick up a bed from an investigator and he didn't really seem up to it. Later he called us and said he needed to repent for cursing us lol. He didn't want to but he decided to go and serve and he thanked us for that opportunity because he had prayed that morning to be able to serve someone. #ThoseDarnSisters

-i had the chance to teach gospel principles about the Sacrament this week. It was one of the best lessons I've taught on my mission. I've never truly realized how important the Sacrament is to me until my mission. That Jesus Christ implemented the Sacrament for us. For us to remember him and for us to recommit to our Heavenly Father. It's such a special time for us to reflect and determine ourselves to be better each week. 

Q: what does the Sacrament mean to you?

🐊 Sister Kez

The One Where Louisiana Freezes

Hey Y'all!

I'm still here in Louisiana freezing to death and eating King Cake!

This week was really insane haha

For pday we went to Baton Rouge (my old apartment) to hang out and play board games. We were there with the Plaquemine sisters, BR sisters, and the BR Spanish Sisters. So there were 8 of us. Turns out Louisiana is having one of the coldest winters ever and while we were blissfully and ignorantly playing games they shut down the two freeways and most of the highways. We got a text before we were all going to head home and we were on lockdown. Overnight lockdown. We hadn't packed anything! We started making make shift beds and I just slept on the floor. Hermana Stratton (who I lived with for 3 transfers) and I got to talk for a while! We all ordered a pizza. The next day we were still on lockdown until 1pm. Making it a full 24 hours of lockdown! And it snowed!! We all felt disgusting. They only had like two potatoes in their apartment lol. So we made hash browns for the 8 of us and then right after the power went out. We could slowly feel it getting colder and colder. So we were all huddled on the couch. We just ended up having a dance party haha. (My forever jam is New Orleans by Parachute. For obvious reasons) after we were released from lockdown we went and got sushi all together then made the trek home. We went to a members house and got a whole bunch of Mormon movies and went back to the apartment where we were put on lockdown AGAIN. So we spent the rest of the night on lockdown and freezing. 

-we had an someone we are teaching  tell us she was asked on the internet what her favorite book was and she said the Book of Mormon! And she testified to him! Yay!

-we tried hoverboarding at family home evening. Sister Strate tried to run over me and we both ended up on the floor. It's actually Sally's sister we do FHE with and she surprised me by coming! I did family home evening with Sally every other Monday for 6 months in BR. 

-Elder Costa of the seventy came to the mission. He and his wife were so cute and they are so inspired. They said things i really needed to hear. "Since I was baptized I've never had a bad day." The knowledge of the gospel brings us joy and eternal happiness, we still go through trials but with the gospel there are no bad days!

-i hit my 10 months 🤧

-we walked by a man in subway and we went outside. We got into the car and Sister Strate felt like we should go talk to him. He was so sweet. He goes to another church that he invited us to go to. But he told us "God Bless Y'all for the work you do."

-we spoke in Sacrament. 

-we had called someone we had never met and asked to meet with them. She told us she was just diagnosed with breast cancer so she was busy. We were in the post office (unexpectedly) and she came up to us and asked us if we were the Mormon girls who called her that morning! 

Tender Mercy of the Week:

A recent convert was driving and she got hit by a car and the other driver drove off. She had her pregnant granddaughter with her. She said she couldn't stop and she took her to the hospital to see if she was okay. The insurance wouldn't cover the damage if she didn't report it or get the other cars information. Later, we found out that someone who had witnessed called it in and they would be able to get it covered!

No Bad Days!

Sister Kez

The One With The Big Easy

Hey Y'all!

This week we got permission to go to New Orleans for our preparation day. Lemme repeat that, I got to go to New Orleans! 

I've been literally like an hour away from it my entire mission, but I've never been able to go. And I just need to proclaim something...

I am in love with New Orleans! 💘

We got to ride in a magical streetcar and walk the streets while they had bands set up in the middle of the road and play jazz 🎷🎺 

We went to Marie Laveau's Voodoo Shop (it actually really freaked me out lol) and we explored cemeteries that looked just like Princess and the Frog. We got to look at the Mississippi and they had a marching band because of the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. 

Okay, I'm sorry that's enough. 

So Mardi Gras isn't until February 13th but Louisiana knows how to party so it's starting now. The amount of king cake I've had is insane. (King cake is basically a giant cinnamon roll covered in purple, green, and yellow sprinkles and with a small plastic baby Jesus inside. If you get the slice with the baby you have to bring the next king cake. So it's literally just an endless cycle of king cake.)

I FINALLY found the first maple donut in LA. I've been searching forever, they have donut shops everywhere but none have maple. You see what's wrong with that?

Some Tracting Experiences: (I promise no more gun stories)

-we tracted into a sweet old Catholic lady (everybody and their dog is Catholic in Gonzales) she let us in. She just started talking and she told us "The key to a long-lasting marriage is always saying thank you, always saying I love you, and always holding hands while you sleep." 

-we knocked on the door and they opened the window above us and yelled "who you looking fo'?" "Anybody!" "They're not home right now!"

-we literally chased after a ups guy 

-we tracted an entire street but we didn't tract 3 doors because something came up. Later we were calling random numbers in our phone we didn't know and someone answered. We later went to her house and it was one of those 3. The Lord provides a way. 

-a little old lady had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" sign on her door. She couldn't really hear, especially when we told her our names. She thought that Sister Strate said Sister Street. And she thought I said Sister Kevin. So look out for our tv show Street&Kevin 

-we were talking to a man in a wheelchair. We were getting in our car. As we got in our car we looked back just in time to see him get up and walk away. #LyingOrHealed ?

-we decided that we were going to tract using the Book of Mormon instead of the Restoration pamphlet. We instantly got into 2 houses and got 7 new investigators! One grandmother said "Let them in, this could be our blessing today."

-we tracted into a lady who had a 9-year-old son. Turns out they are Baptist and her son is the preacher. HE'S A 9-YEAR-OLD BAPTIST PREACHER! And if yall know anything about Baptist preachers, then you know how amazing that is. Lol. He literally travels around Louisiana preaching. 

-we accidentally texted a drug dealer asking if he was interested in a message about Jesus Christ and he asked us how much we are looking for hahaha 

Some other things this week:

- the saints lost and Louisiana lost its mind 

- I ate two servings of shrimp ettouffee to get someone to read the Book of Mormon. 

- Sister Str8 spilled water on her dress and the person next to her spilled water on himself too so she wasn't embarrassed #TruHomie

-Quotes from that one old Cajun Guy. *to us, the sister missionaries* "Y'all going to church?.......you better be!" After he realized who he was talking to. 

We asked him how he was doing and he said: "They're trying to kill me!"

"I'm not disgusted. I'm just gusted."

Tender Mercy of the Week:

Literally, all the sisters in the New Orleans Zone and the Baton Rouge Zone got invited to the MLK March in New Orleans. Everyone except us. So we decided since we didn't get to go #bitter we would tract instead. And that was the day we found the two families. Even though we were both angry we found some amazing investigators. We also met a super cute lady. She has the most adorable 3-year-old daughter who ran up to me and gave me a penny and said: "have some money." (Somehow she knew I was a poor missionary) 

The Lord knows what He's doing yall!

Sister Kevin

The One With The Shotgun

"I don't care if it was Jack Frost who told you, I said no!"

Hey Y'all! 

It seems as my mission goes on the more interesting it's getting lol. 

This week we got to go to an LSU gymnastics game! #GeauxTigers

LSU really knows how to cheer. There's actually a football game they played a long time ago that the crowd cheered so loud that it actually registered on the Richter scale as an earthquake! They appropriately named it the Earthquake Game.  

So...I BROKE UP A PITBULL FIGHT. We were looking for service opportunities in our area. We found the local dog shelter. And if anybody knows me they know how much I LOVE dogs! 🐶😍 it's the highlight of my week. And basically is the only reason I can stay sane and get my 10,000 steps in. Except our first day volunteering we were tying the dogs in the yard. And a pitbull wearing a pink sweater, named Tinkerbell, slipped out of her collar. She went to another pitbull and started attacking it! Sister Strate and I were the only ones in the yard so we had to do something. And if I have learned anything in my life it's not to break up a dog fight. So I grabbed a leash and literally had to lasso it onto Tinkerbells head and pull her away. It was so terrifyingly cool. But I'm never trusting anymore dogs named after fairies. 

For some reason at almost every dinner appointment someone has shown me their rock collection. Am I just someone that looks like I collect rocks?!

Anyways...and for the reason for the title. Buckle your seatbelts y'all. There is this unspoken rule in Louisiana where if it's dark, even if it's 5 o'clock and they are home, they will NOT answer the door. They will literally look at you through the window and still not open the door. So we typically don't tract at night. Well we hadn't gotten our 5 doors in yet and it was a little past 7pm. We decided to go knock on some trailers. Well we were knocking at one and no one was home. So we were walking down the steps when we got blinded by a flashlight. Someone started yelling at us and asking us why we were there. We told him we were missionaries. He had turned to the side a little and I could see past the flashlight and i caught a glimpse of his shotgun. That's right, you heard me. HIS SHOT.GUN. Immediately we started getting the heck out of dodge. His wife was fussin' at us and was threatening to call the cops and we never looked back. So needless to say, we don't tract at night. 

Tender Mercy of the Week: 

We had the opportunity to go to the temple for the last time. The Baton Rouge temple is closing for 18 months for remodeling. I had the chance to do sealings for the first time! I was the child being sealed to the parent, which the rules just changed so the missionaries are able to perform that.  It was so amazing. We are so blessed to be able to live with our families for all time and eternity. The Spirit was so strong and I could feel the joy of those on the other side. Those that have been waiting so long to be sealed. 

Give 'Em Heaven,

Sister Kez

The One With The Murder

Happy New Year Yall!

I can't believe it's already 2018. I feel like it was just 2017 and I got my call and I went into the MTC. Time is going by wayyy too fast. 

So this week we made a goal. A goal to tract at least 5 doors a day, because if we are being honest, I'm not the biggest fan of tracting. Like at all. Anyways, so we decided to actually accomplish our goal. And we've actually seen some miracles and we've actually had some hilarious things. So I'll tell y'all a lil bit of both. And plus we make cat friends who want to go tracting too and at first we thought it would get us into more doors but really we just ended up having to explain to people through a crack in the door that it wasn't ours and we are Jesus people. 

We decided to tract a certain neighborhood one day before an appointment. We knocked quite a few doors and got slammed with the "I'm Catholic" almost every time. But we knocked on one door. And before we could even tell her who we were she let us in, just because it was cold outside. We told her who we were and she wasn't interested in taking the lessons but she told us she might surprise us at church one day. She offered to make us some tea or hot chocolate. Even after she said no. Hopefully, a seed was planted but it sure went a long way with us. 

Then we knocked a couple doors down and this man looked at our nametags and before we even said a word he was like, "You know what? Jesus is not my friend." And shut the door. I can honestly say I've never heard anything like that before I'm the south. 😆

We found a former investigator and immediately she was surprised to see us. Apparently, because a man had been murdered in the trailer park across the street. She asked us to pray with her for that man and his family.

We had a family take us to a Christmas light show. Apparently, this particular show is 2 miles long and only chooses 6 cities to come to every year. So this year they chose Gonzales! It was so cool! Even if it was after Christmas. 

So Louisiana has been doing this weird thing where it gets COLD. And I'm used to the cold, being from Utah. But this is a different cold. It's humid cold. It's so bone chilling and will slice right through your clothes. And you will literally just never get warm. Louisiana is also not equipped to deal with it. So people's pipes are bursting. You have to leave your water on a drip so it doesn't freeze. But people don't know what drip means so they leave it on full blast and everyone runs out of water in the well so we are all put on boil alert. 😂 our ward mission leader called us one day and he asked if we had an hour to spare. We went to Lowes and got a ton of insulation. We headed over to a recent converts house and insulated all their pipes, which we could do because the pipe runs above ground. 

I got a "temporary" assignment in BR to lead music. That lasted for 6 months. Then my first real Sunday in Gonzo they asked me to lead the music #lifeofasista

We celebrated the New Year by going to bed at 10:30 lol. We did buy some 2018 party hats and some New Orleans Co. Ice cream! 

We were studying when the fire alarm started blaring. It was the loudest alarm I've ever heard in my life. So we looked at each other to make sure we didn't leave any bread in the toaster or anything. And we walked outside to evacuate. Turns out in our apt complex if one building has a fire, the entire complex has the alarms go off. We got to meet some of our neighbors. It was like a movie. We had the red-headed lady in a kimono. We had the man with the eye patch (not even joking) and the man walking his wiener dog. The firemen came but we still never found out why the alarms went off.  

We had to go to Baton Rouge to my old apartment to pick up some mail and while I was there talking to Hermana Stratton and Hermana McCombs their phone rang. It was Sister Jensen, my baby! So I answered it (apparently she didn't recognize my voice) and she said she was at the temple and she was going to come over and say hi. So I hid behind the door and surprised her when she walked in. It was an accidental reunion! We all just sat on the couch and caught up. It made me so sad/happy. 

Tender Mercy of the Week: I went to Walgreens and I was checking out when the cashier saw my nametag. She asked me if I had an account with them and I told her I didn't. And she said here put my number in so you can get the discount. God's looking out!

Last but not least, our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson returned to be with his sweet wife. I'll never forget. We got a text at 4am saying he had passed away. President Nelson was called by God in his place. I know that Thomas S. Monson was a man called of God to lead and guide the world in these trying times. I know that God spoke to him and through him. I am forever grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who calls prophets and apostles for His children. I sustain President Russell M. Nelson as the new Prophet, seer, and revelator of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And I know that what he says is what God wants us to know. 

Sister Kez