Week 25 - January 31, 2017

Hola de Hammond!

So it is my first P-Day here in Hammond and I must say I really like it here! There is actually some Spanish work here! Not much but any work is more than what I had in Opelousas. I think my Spanish will get better here! It is a bigger city than Opelousas was and Southeastern Louisiana University really close to us so there are a lot more people here to talk with and the ward is bigger than in Opelousas. I do miss Opelousas but I really like Hammond so it is all good!

My new companion is Elder Israelsen! He is a really awesome guy! We are both pretty laid back and we get along really well together. He is from Logan Utah. His birthday is June 24th! So close to having the same birthday! (Nathan's b-day is June 25) Our Spanish is at about the same level so we will have to work hard to make sure that our Spanish is good enough to talk to people! It should be a really good learning experience for us.

So just some cool stories from my week here. So on Friday pretty much all of our appointments got canceled for the evening so we decided to go to Walmart and buy some groceries. While we were there we wandered through the electronic section because it is fun and started talking to this young couple that was looking at movies. Their names were Andrew and Katie. They asked us about what movies we like and if we had any suggestions for what to watch. We talked for a while and the questions went to what we were dressed up for and we figured out that Katie had been baptized. Andrew had a lot of questions for us and invited us over to teach him the next day! It was really cool! When we taught him he seemed pretty interested and took a Book of Mormon from us.

The next cool thing that happened while I have been here actually happened about 20 minutes after we met Andrew and Katie. When we left Walmart we decided to go to Hibbett Sports and look around for a minute. We started talking with the workers, Karlin and Chris, and ended up talking with them for about an hour. So the really cool thing about Chris is that he just signed to play his rookie year with the Seattle Seahawks!! Him and Karlin are two of the coolest guys I have ever met! They both had so many questions for my companion and I and were impressed by what we are out here doing! They both knew a little bit about Mormons and want us to come back when they are both working and talk with them more!

All in all it has been a pretty good week. I am enjoying the area and cant wait to see what Isrealsen and I are able to get done together!

I hope all yall have a great week! Talk to yall later! 

Week 24 - January 24, 2017

Well hello again everyone!

So here is the news for transfers...... I am leaving Opelousas and Elder Bean is staying here. I don't know where I am going or who my new comp will be but I am excited to go to a new area. I am sad to leave the people of Opelousas but hopefully I will be back here again some time on my mission.

This week has been pretty uneventful. The coolest thing that I got to do was go to the Temple in Baton Rouge this past Saturday. It was my first time since I got into the mission field. It was a really fun time. We went with members of our ward for the ward temple trip. I really enjoy going to the temple. It is always so peaceful there and you get time to think and to be away from the stresses of the world. 

I am sorry that this email is so short, right now I honestly cant think of anything to say other than that we went to the temple and that I am getting transferred.

Well I hope all of you have a great week! I will definitely have more to talk about next week being in a new area and all.

Elder Stoddard

 

 

Week 23 - January 16, 2017

Hello again everyone!!

So this past week has definitely been an exciting one. First off this Wednesday we got in a car crash!! YAY!! So fun! Elder Bean and I were driving down to Lafayette area to meet with a potential investigator. On the way down a guy cut us off and hit his breaks. To not hit him Elder Bean had to hit our breaks pretty hard and then we got rear ended. It turned out to be a 4 car pile up. The only car that got really damaged was the one who hit us. Our bike rack definitely saved our car some damage. So that was definitely not a fun experience and now we just hope that our car doesn't have to stay in the shop for a long time.   Editors Note: No one was hurt in this accident.

The next good thing this week was the appointment that we were on our way to when we got in the crash. Sister Freebairn set up an appointment with her friend Mary who is interested in religion and in finding a religion. Mary is the first Spanish speaking investigator that we have had since Fransisco on my first transfer. We weren't able to meet with Mary again this past week because of Zone Meetings but Sister Freebairn is in contact with her and planning another time that we can all go over to meet with her. 

And just when I thought that nothing worse could happen on Wednesday than getting in a car crash, I got asked to give a talk. Yay! My favorite thing to do! I was asked to speak on repentance. Specifically the need and the proper method of repentance. I was hoping that I might get out of Opelousas without speaking. I mean I had already gone four months here and I had never been asked but Sister Gelwix ratted me out. Oh well I really was nice to speak to everyone and I enjoy writing a talk because it allows me to focus my study on a specific topic.

Other than those things this week has been pretty standard. Just trying to spread the Good News of the Gospel.

Alma 42:27

 27 Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds.

The redemption and atonement of Christ is open to all that seek it but God will now force something on us that we are not willing to seek. Always seek the things of God and he will bless you in ways that you may not understand or see but those blessings are always for your good.

Elder Stoddard

Week 22 - January 9, 2017

Well hello again everyone! It is a nice just starting to warm back up day here in good ole Opelousas. This past week the weather has been very cold. I think Louisiana weather has made me pretty weak. It only got down to about 25 degrees but I was freezing! That never happens! I love the cold weather! But yesterday and today it started to warm up again so it isn't too bad.

So on Friday we had a lock-down because of how bad the weather was. We were supposed to have Zone Conference and they texted us in the morning that it was cancelled and then an hour later the AP's called and told us that we were on lock-down because of how bad the roads had gotten because of rain and then 25 degree weather. It was a very boring day. It was nice to have a day to relax but after hours of playing the same card games over and over it is a little boring.

This past week Elder Bean and I have been trying harder to get with less-active membersthat have been active in the past. The most promising for coming back any time soon is Sister Carrell. She is a convert of two years but stopped coming a little before I got to Opelousas. Her husband is still very active. We have been meeting with them quite a bit recently and I think it is helping Sister Carrell. She said that she loves having the missionaries over and plans to have us over to feed us. Hopefully she will start coming again soon.

The other good lesson that we had was with the Deville's last night. We taught out of Alma chapter 32. We were talking to them about faith and how they can work on growing their faith. At the end of the lesson Sister Deville gave a request for next weeks lesson which is really nice because we can have a focus on that topic the entire week and come up with something that can be really helpful. We are really hoping that Jarrett Deville will decide that he wants to be baptized. He seems to be getting more and more interested now that we are trying to have our lessons more pointed towards him.

27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

I am coming to understand more and more that faith isn't just there. I have had to work hard to get the faith that I have and I work on it every day. But if we are always willing to try and to plant that seed of faith and to nourish it it can grow into something magnificent.

I hope all of you have a great week!!

Week 21 - January 2, 2017

So the power just went out here and I lost all of what I had already written on this email. Lets start again!

Hey everyone!! 

I hope that you all had an awesome weekend and a great New Years! It doesn't feel like it should be the New Year and I keep forgetting that it happened. Probably because we don't do any crazy celebration for New Years as a missionary. We stayed up until 12 that night but didn't really do anything to celebrate.

So this past week was pretty slow because we were out of miles on our car and it was raining almost every day so biking and walking wasn't really an option. We spent our week going and trying to see some less-active members and to invite them back to church. A lot of the addresses that we have on our ward roster are either nonexistent or people weren't home so we couldn't meet with them. 

Today is the first real thunderstorm that I have seen since I have been out. It is really cool! It is almost constant lightning and some of it was really close and really loud! I love it! These past few days have been so rainy that some of the roads flooded! We only had about 20 people at church this week because some people were flooded in at their homes. Crazy! 

We got to meet Francisco’s girlfriend from Mexico at church! She is really cool. She can't speak English but she got up and gave her testimony in Spanish which was cool. She was baptized as a convert to the church about a year ago. She is really strong with the spirit and has learned a lot. She was the biggest example for Francisco and has helped him a lot. 

Well there isn’t much else to tell for this week.

I hope all of you have a great week and are blessed in many ways!

Love you all!

Week 20 - December 26, 2016

Hello again everyone!!

So this past week was a really good week! Elder Bean and I were able to see a lot of people, but the coolest people we got to see were Floyd and Wanda. They are two of our investigators and they came to church yesterday!! Saturday morning we sent a text to Floyd asking if we would be able to visit him that day. He called us back and asked what kind of clothes that we wear to church and said that him and his wife wanted to come but weren't sure what we wore. Elder Bean and I were really excited because they called us to ask what to wear and they sounded interested in coming to church. We had invited Floyd the past two weeks but he wasnt able to go because of work. They got to church early and were able to meet some of the members in the ward and after the meeting they told me that they enjoyed the things that were shared in the talk. We are hoping that they will want to come back in the coming weeks.

The next awesome part of my week was being able to talk to my family on Skype!! It both feels like forever since I talked to them and like I left yesterday for my mission. Time flies when you have something to keep you busy and I think this mission will be done before I know it. 

Another Christmas miracle was that we went to the Nations for dinner. Their dog Chloe usually hates all of us missionaries and barks at us whenever we get close to her, but yesterday she would let me and Elder Bean hold her and play with her! It was so cool and it was really nice not having her bark the entire time. 

Yesterday was a busy day for us. First we got up and went to our 8 o'clock meeting and then had Sacrament meeting at 9. After sacrament meeting we went to the Jarnagin's for Skype and for lunch. We got to visit with some of their family while we were there which was really cool. After the Jarnagin's we went to visit with the Deville's and their family. They all are really nice and make some of the best food. We got to play some games with them and talk with some of the family that we haven't met yet. And they are taking us fishing today!!! Our last stop was the Nations. As I said before it was awesome that their dog didn't bark at us. We also played a lot of games at their house. It was a good day.

Well I hope all of you had a great Christmas and got to spend it with your family! Have a great week everyone. Love you all!

Week 19 - December 20, 2016

Hello again everyone!

First off Merry early Christmas! I hope everything is going great for everyone. Things have been good here in good old Opelousas. The first week of this transfer has been really good. As I said last time, Elder Hunter was transferred. The new Elder her is Elder Hall. He has been out for the same amount of time that Elder Bean has. He is a really good missionary and is definitely not afraid to talk to anyone.

So this past week Elder Bean and I have decided to almost entirely focus our work on meeting with less-actives in the ward. We have a huge ward roster but we only have about 40 regular members. We feel that getting members to come back is the best way that we can help in this area. When we go out to contact less-actives we also decided that we would tract at least one of the houses by the person we were trying to contact. It has worked fairly well so far. A lot of times people aren't home or don't have time to meet with us but that is okay, we are trying.

Right now we are in a car share with the other Elders. Their car is in the shop and has been for a month now!!! The shop has had one problem after another. It was only supposed to take a week and they have to keep pushing it back because it took longer than expected or the part that they ordered came to the shop broken.... It's annoying. They are supposed to get it back today but we shall see. Having a car share in our area puts a big damper on mission work because of how far spread out our area is and because the English Elders work in different parts of the area than Elder Bean and I do. I think the Lord is definitely trying to teach us patience when things don't go the way that we want them to.

Yesterday we had a really fun Zone Conference. That is why P-Day is today instead of yesterday. This Conference was much shorter than usual and it wasn't all sitting and listening to people speaking to us. We did a white elephant gift exchange!! It was pretty fun! I got a package with a flashlight, a zen book, an origami book and glow sticks. I brought a miniature ping pong set. The Elder that got is thought it was awesome.

Other than those things there isn't much that happened this week. I hope you are all looking forward to Christmas and are thinking of how you can help others this Christmas.

Elder Stoddard