Excited To Be Back To Work

"Hey y'all!!

Man this has been just a crazy week as always! I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Widdison and she is absolutely wonderful! She is from Utah! Wahoo! She is so cool and she has such an amazing testimony of the gospel! I am really learning a lot from her! She just came from Denham Springs from a car area so she is having to adjust to the whole biking situation! I don't think she is liking it too well! We have been trying to figure out how to just get around our area! It's so big and it's quite the challenge on bikes, let me tell you! 

Sister Barclay with her cute new companion

We had a couple of appointments and only through prayer did we find those houses! The lessons went really well! We have this investigator that has been taking lessons from the temple square sisters over the phone and they just turned her over to us, and if she is ready, she already has a baptism date set for the 21st of this month!! Wahoooooo! We are super excited! We just hope she is in it for all the right reasons... she heard the church helps with welfare stuff... and she's got some financial problems... it's pretty interesting, but she came to church yesterday and loved it, so we'll keep praying that everything goes good!

We are also going to start teaching Pam and Willie (the cute newly wed couple from the last post) from the beginning! I'm so excited! We went and saw her the other day and she kept hugging me and told me I could never leave! It made me feel so good! I really felt like I was sent to Pam for a reason! She loves me! It is so wonderful! I'm so excited to be her missionary!! She is wonderful!

Sister Barclay! Isn't she beautiful??

I am excited to be getting back to work! I have been trying to strengthen my testimony and over these past couple of days, I have really come to know that Joseph Smith really was called of God and I am so amazed  with how much faith in our Heavenly Father he had to restore this gospel! I know that he is a prophet called of God and that through everything he had so much trust in God that what he was doing was true. He is so amazing!

I know that the atonement is real and Heavenly Father wants us to use it and come unto him. I know that through repentance we can be clean of all our scars and mistakes; he loves us so much! I know that through him we can get through anything! I love being on a mission!

Well, I love all y'all and each y'all! Hope y'all have a fantastic week!!

Love always,
Sister Barclay"

Sister Davis and Sister Barclay hanging out with the Spanish Sisters before Sister Davis headed home

Experiences to Keep

So in last week's post, I had mentioned from Sister Barclay that they had taken Sister Davis (her companion) to the ER for abdominal pain and dehydration. Well, I got a little update on that today:

"Sister Davis is actually going home on Tuesday :( So I will be getting a new companion this coming Wednesday! Sister Davis is going to get surgery and go through all the doctors appointments again to find out what is going on :( I'm so sad!! But she told me she'd send me video diaries and updates on what's going on! Pretty intense!"

Everyone please keep Sister Davis in your prayers! She and Collette have become really good friends and she will be missed!

Sister Barclay and Sister Davis with their district

In addition to that news, Sister Barclay also sent some pictures and told us of meeting with an apostle:

"Did you hear that I got to shake hands with Quentin L. Cook!!! He spoke to all the missionaries on Saturday in Baton Rouge! It was the coolest experience of my life! His testimony was so powerful and you could just feel the spirit so hard!

That is my favorite part about being a missionary. These experiences will stay with me my whole life! How many times do you get to shake an apostle's hand?! Shoot!"

Lauffenere Park

Lauffenere Park

Lauffenere Park

And now for a couple of missionary stories and experiences from her last letter to my little family:

1. The New Investigators

"So we did get new investigators, which pretty much rocks! They are a cute couple that just got married on the first of January. Apparently they were meeting with the missionaries before Katrina hit and then lost contact after, but it's a long story and it's so cute. They just LOVE JESUS!! She kinda reminds me of Grandma Odie on Princess and the Frog haha it's awesome!



People's accents and stories are amazing! People have their crazy moments but we just gotta love them like Jesus and Heavenly Father does! I know this gospel is true even when people don't want to listen to us. I know that Heavenly Father is there for us and is helping us every step of the way!"

2. Visiting with Members

"We have this less-active member we go see and one Monday we went over, some members were there as well. When the less-active saw us she literally said, in one sentence, 'Y'all are welcome in my home anytime, but I don't want you to come over anymore...' haha She was so drunk! 

And Brother Bush (one of the members that was there) said, 'Wait, I'm confused.'

And she looked him straight in the face and said, 'Well, stand up, Brotha Bush, so you're not confused!'

We were all dying! You should've seen Brother Bush's face as he slowly stood up to be 'unconfused'! Me and my companion have laughed about it since! 'Well, stand up, Brotha Bush, so you're not confused!' I can't wait to say it in person to you! You'll die!! 

Missions are always fun when you find the positive!

3. New Years Hashtag

"On New Years we were in at 8:00pm and we were too tired to party :( We played cards and went to sleep. #MissionLife

And Sister Davis says 'Hey!'"

For the Birds

Today I got a short response to an email I sent Collette, plus a super cool picture and a promise that I should be getting a letter in the mail this week!

Here's a bit about what she said:

"I went to Lauffenere Park today for P-day; look at all those birds!!! It's so cool, huh? I felt like birds were going to attack me! haha One of the geese bit Elder Neild's finger!

...Oh, did you hear we were in the ER on Thursday?! It was crazy! Sister Davis was having really bad abdominal pain and they thought that it was her appendix, but she was really dehydrated and they put her on an IV... then did a CT scan, so we have another doctor appointment on Thursday to see what's up! It's way crazy! So we've been taking it easy this week, but yeah... I think I've watched all the Mormon Messages, watched all the church movies I can, and played all the cards I could! haha So hopefully she gets better soon!

...I love y'all!"

So basically, between Sister Barclay being sick last time we heard from her and Sister Davis being sick this time, they could REALLY use your prayers that those bugs leave them soon so they can get back to their callings!

Send prayers and love their way. Oh! And maybe a letter or two! ---> *Address is in the Write Me! section*

MLK Day

Hey all! It's a day late, but we did get email from Sister Barclay today!

Elder Teh visits zone conference

Turns out she has been sick for the last four days so be sure to send prayers her way for a speedy recovery. Not sure what she's down with but it's no fun to be sick!

Here's a few bits from her email to me:

"So it has been so super crazy, as always... but, Liz, I went to a Baptist church. It was for the Martin Luther King program they have here; we sang at it! And it was so different from our church! ...It was really intense...[the minister] She yelled so loud! Almost like she was trying to get her beliefs into your soul! Shoot! It was crazy!

Then yesterday, we went downtown (New Orleans) to march in the MLK Parade! We as missionaries were pretty much the whitest people ever! And people kept saying, 'Look! It's the Jesus people! Where are your bikes?' hahaha it was crazy and so fun! Then me and Sister Davis decided we wanted to stay downtown for awhile and just take the trolley home..."

Sounds like they had a very busy day with the holiday yesterday! How fun to hear from her.

Then my mom forwarded on the email she received from Collette:

"On Wednesday, we had zone conference and Elder Teh from the Seventy came and spoke to us. It was intense! He talked to us about being exactly obedient missionaries and it was really good. There is always something we can do to be better. He was awesome and I even got to have lunch with him and his wife! It was so cool!....

On Sunday, it was stake conference and Elder Parker of the area seventy spoke. You'll have to look him up; he is awesome! He talked to us about having faith and how blessed we are to be a part of the church.

Today is Tuesday, I know, but it is our p-day because of MLK Day yesterday! It was crazy; all the missionaries got to march in a parade!... After the parade some of the Denham Spring sisters came to New Orleans and we spent the day with them. It was so much fun! We went all over!...

We kinda got ourselves stuck downtown so we did some hardcore tracting! It was really fun. I smiled at this old man and he said, 'Well, thank you, baby, for your smile. I really needed that today.' Ahh, it made me so happy! So then we were all ready to get on the trolley and head home cause we had an appointment when a marching band stops all the traffic and all the trolleys! ...We finally got on the trolley then prayed so hard that we'd make it home in time and let me tell you, mama, Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways... and answers prayers because that was the fastest bus I've ever been on! And we made it on time to our appointment! Heavenly Father is amazing!...

One thing I really love about this mission: I think I'm coming out of my shy shell! Finally! I'm just being me and loving it! I know who I am and it makes me so grateful that people are so confident in themselves. I really needed that lesson; that being you is the best thing and being confident in who you are is ok! A lot of folks down here are a little on the heavy side and they are just fine with that. They look at every curve as beautiful and they have just taught me to love being me! How incredible!

Also, I'm going to send you the funniest picture; you're going to love it! Downtown there is a mall on the river walk hahaha and they have a whole store just for Crocs.... and I just about peed my pants when I saw it... they have crocs in boot form, ked form, little kid form, and I'm just thinking why????? hahah it's crazy!

....I'm doing really good and I know that even though Louisiana is crazy and different, I truly know that I was sent here for a reason. I know that only through Heavenly Father and through Jesus Christ's atonement can we return to live with him! I know that religion really does make you who you are and I'm so grateful I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ. I know that families can be together forever and Heavenly Father loves us! I know how important prayer and scripture study is! I know this gospel is true!"

LOVE THIS GIRL! Send her some love in a letter this week, won't you??

Down on the Mississippi

Today I had my email open at the exact right time that Sister Barclay was on! That meant that I got to chat with her by emailing back and forth.

I realize that a missionary's computer time is short so we only emailed for a minute; just long enough for her to tell me a few things.

1. She got my letter and is working on writing me back! Apparently she has loads to tell me, so I'll be sure to post some stories when I get that.

2. She misses everyone.

3. She asked if we got the picture of her doing the woman's hair and YES we did! You all saw it right here... so her response to what they were doing? They were doing "two twists or something like that". Collette said, "She told us that now we'd be friends for life because we did her hair! haha She cray cray!"

Also, today, my mom and dad got some pictures! She said that they were able to go downtown last Monday and had lots of fun. They saw the Mississippi River and everything was "so cool!" She told us she'd have to take us to downtown one day!

Downtown!

Selfie on the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

Mississippi River

Hanging with Elder Crouch and Elder Johnson

Sister Barclay is doing so great but could definitely use your letters! PLEASE keep writing to her and praying for her and her companion; they really do feel your prayers!

Address is posted in the Write Me section at the top of the page. Thanks, everyone!

In Sister Barclay's words, "We love all y'all and each y'all!"

Hair Party

My dad sent me this picture they got...

Looks like a hair party to me!
Sister Barclay and Sister Davis have too much fun with the ladies in Louisiana!

Happy Friday!

Excerpts

Well folks, we didn't get an email from Collette to share on Monday, but my dad did! So I'm going to share just a few excerpts from her letter to him AND some pictures!

The first thing my dad sent me was a forwarded message from a brother in Sister Barclay's ward. He wrote:

"We had your sister missionary over for dinner tonight. She's a gem! She says she loves you."

And in Sister Barclay's letter to my dad, she asked if he got the picture from that brother. She said:

"Did you get that picture of me and Sister Davis and those two little girls from Brother Gerber?? He's so cool. He told us to tell our families that he is taking good care of us! He fed us dinner last night and we told him that his cooking was so good and he said, 'I don't keep this vivacious figure by eating plants!' So he makes meat and good stuff! haha He's awesome!" 

Another thing she shared in the letter was about going on exchanges. She wrote:

"We went on exchanges and I got to be with a Spanish sister. Talk about not understanding anyone?? The lessons were all in Spanish and I just sat there smiling like a noob! Haha and I went to a Honduran restaurant and I couldn't even read the menu! It was all in Spanish... awka awkward!! I LOVE ENGLISH!!! It was really fun though. 

Sister Black is awesome! She has such an amazing testimony and makes me want to be a better missionary! I loved it! We also found a sign that said 'Utah Street' so we had to take a pic because we are both from Utah, so I'm going to send it to you!"

Of New Years in Louisiana, she said this:

"In New Orleans, New Years is crazy! The whole sky is lit up and it only gets worse as the night goes on! People light fireworks and party all night long. It sounded like bombs going off all night long!! It was nuts!"

So from Sister Barclay and Sister Davis... Happy New Year!!