So there's this Baptist minister that we "teach" (more like visit and serve her if she ever needs help) and earlier this week, she invited us to a birthday party in memory of her mom who passed a few years ago because her mom's birthday was this past Sunday. So she called us the day before and asked if we could come over and help clean for the party, so we went over and vacuumed, swept and mopped the place for her and asked about the party and what she has planned. She told us that she was cooking SOOOO MANY SOUTHERN DELICACIES!! That woman probably spent like 10 hours cooking for that party. She talked about how they were going to read a scripture, sing some songs from church, then they asked Sister Strobelt to say the prayer to open up the party! So safe to say we were pretty excited to get to the party the next day!
So we show up to the party on Saturday and the whole house smells INCREDIBLE. She had made gumbo (first time trying that), sweet potato pie, potato salad, mac and cheese, fried chicken, dirty Southern rice, and literally every other Southern dish you can think of! I was sooooo excited to try everything! So people start to show up and we are visiting with people from her church, telling them what we do and talking about being missionaries, then the singing group of the church shows up and the real fun starts. Sister Strobelt and I realized as we were looking around that we were the only White people there lol. But once everyone got there, someone from the church pulls out the Bible and starts reading a passage and it was just kind of fun to see how they worshipped. They worship in such a fun, energetic way! As they were reading, you would just hear "Yes, praise! Amen! Thank you Jesus! Hallelujah!" And the farther along she got in the passage, the louder the house got! They really love their Bible passages! Then, when the passage was done, the singing group got up and started singing their church worship songs and everyone was clapping along and singing along and Sister Strobelt and I had so much fun clapping along with them and enjoying the music! I swear, you would've thought the entire group got together to practice singing those songs because the whole house knew exactly when to come in on certain parts, it felt like a Disney Channel musical where everyone just knows when to come in! But after the song, Sister Strobelt got up to say the prayer, and we all got up and were holding hands and she starts the prayer and as she starts up, the whole circle gets loud again with all the "Thank you Lord! Yes, Amen! Thank you Jesus! Hallelujah! Praise!" And it just gets louder and louder until everyone's yelling praises and finally yelling Amen!! It was a so great to be apart of and pretty awesome to get a little taste of how real Baptists in the South worship and a huge taste of those Louisiana Cajun classics!
Alma 55:31 was a pretty cool verse I read this week. I find it pretty hard to learn lessons from all those war chapters at the end of Alma, but I got something awesome out of them this time! The Nephites are at war with the Lamanites, fighting for their liberties, for their families and religious freedom and all that good righteous stuff. Throughout the years, the Nephites had this bad habit of forgetting God as soon as they started prospering and falling into pride. So the Lamanites are trying to attack the Nephites or poison them secretly and in verse 31, it says "But behold, the Nephites were not slow to remember the Lord their God in this time of affliction. They could not be taken in their snares..." I think that's so awesome because it shows that they're starting to learn their lessons and that's what this life is for. It's to learn how we can improve and become more meek and humble and more like Christ. We all have pride cycles in our lives, but we learn from mistakes and we choose to remember our Father in Heaven and we'll be safe from those snares of life and of pride. Hopefully that makes sense?
But I love the South!! I love the people here, I love being a missionary, I love my Heavenly Father and Savior. I know They're real! I love this work and I love y'all! Have a good week everyone!
Sister Crouch
1&2. The birthday party!
3. I got the best comp ever! Ft our snowcones.
4. Met an RM from our mission! She was visiting her old areas and she also served in Slidell!
No comments:
Post a Comment