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| Macy and her companion in front of the mission home. |
This mission is completely different from the Temple Square mission. I am working with elders, members, and actually going to a regular family ward. My companion and I serve in the Opeleuses Branch. There are about 50 people in the branch and the chapel isn't much bigger than a relief society room. The branch president made me give a talk last minute yesterday. I didn't have time to prepare so it probably wasn't very good!
It is crazy how different the south is from the west. President Wall really encourages us to use their slang words such as "y'all". I am so happy that I am serving here of all places. Sister Cuevas is serving in the actual city of Baton Rouge and they stuck me in the country. I was so happy about it though!
My companion's name is Sister Faulk and she is from northern California. I absolutely love her! We are so much alike and she is hilarious. She may be one of the most Christlike people that I have ever met! The ward members absolutely love her! I have so much to learn from her because I don't do the lovey dovey give me a hug thing and thats what people like down here. But I think I was sent to the perfect place!
Outbound is a completely different experience. We spend on a lot of our time building up the members and visiting less active members. I am not used to this because at Temple Square we find people and teach them. I feel like I have slowed way down since I got here but it's actually kind of nice. I am just so happy to be done with fleet! One of my favorite things to do is to go visit people who are in the hospital. Any time I step foot in a hospital I am a happy person. It makes me miss my job though- shoutout to my friends at Oasis Hospital!- and it even makes me a little trunky (missionary lingo for feeling ready to go home). Don't worry though, there is nowhere I would rather be than here!
Working with less-actives in the short time I have been here has really helped me to gain a stronger testimony of the Temple. You would think Temple Square would have done that but just being able to listen to these people's stories and everything they have gone through makes me realize how special it is to have the temple in our lives. Our goal is to help them get to the temple because that is the place where we can feel closest to our Heavenly Father and our loved ones. President Wall said something really cool. He said as we are teaching people we should imagine that their relatives who have passed on are in the same room listening and learning from us as well. I thought that was interesting and so true! We never stop learning and we can be a huge help to those who have passed on without ever receiving the gospel. That goes for everyone. Members of the church do not realize how big of an influence they have on people. We can bring families together because we know the truth. We have such wonderful news! Why wouldn't we want to share it? We know that god provides a plan for us so that we can be with our families forever! We know that we have a Savior who died for us so that we can be happy. It is overwhelming and humbling to contemplate all that our Heavenly Father gives us.
I am so happy to be here in Louisiana. I love these people. They are all about service. They put others before themselves every day. The members go out of their way to help others come to church and will drive an hour just to take someone to the temple. The church isn't very big here but the people are strong. I am learning so much from them. They have such an appreciation for the Atonement!
Life here in Opeleuses is very hard for a lot of people. The poverty rate is very high. There are drug deals EVERYWHERE! Especially at our apartment complex. They go on every night. The drug dealers are nice to me and Sister Faulk though. They respect us as representatives of Jesus Christ and refer to us as "the Jesus girls". The people in this town experience many trials just like everyone else in the world but they have faith whether they are members of the church or not. I can't wait to take the family back here.
On Saturday we were in a hospital visiting a sick member. The branch president showed up to give her a blessing. The nurse kept watching us and listening to us and she was fascinated by the blessing the branch president gave. After he left, she asked us if she could talk to us. She had so many questions about our church. We ended up teaching her the restoration right there in the hospital and gave her a Book of Mormon. She told us that she would like a home visit so we have an appointment to go and teach her this week. I have already had so many wonderful experiences and there are more to come!
Unlike at Temple Square we eat in the member's homes! I am not a fan of crawfish and I'm having a difficult time adjusting to southern food. I love some of it though. I think so far my favorite thing is jambalaya. I love Cajun chicken too! The people here are great cooks! Last night we went over to the Nations' house for dinner with the elders. The Nations' are a great family in our ward! They have the missionaries over every Sunday night for dinner and football. We had meatball soup and it was so good. Then Brother Nations drove us home and we listened to George STRAIT in his truck! President Wall has a rule that if good music or TV is on then just enjoy it. We watched football last night too. There is a lot of Saints fans here. Cammie would be proud because she likes Dirty Sanchez or something like that...????
The elders that serve in our branch with us are Elder Bracken and Elder Jones. We see them a lot and have so much fun with them. One of them likes Justin Beiber a lot and even has a Justin Beiber backpack. But they like to make us do a lot of their work for them like plan their baptisms. We do it but the other night to get them back we decided to wrap their car in saran wrap. While we were wrapping the car we met a man named Cedric. He accidentally spilled beer on us while he was talking to us so that was awkward. Then he said, "I thought you were weird but now that you messing with you friends car, you cool." So now he calls me Baby P and he calls Sister Faulk Baby Thug. I like him. Who knows, maybe we will get to teach him the gospel soon!
I love you all! Families are Forever!
Sister Park
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