Hello my family and friends! Wow thank you for all of the emails. I don't think I'll have time to write everyone back, but I will do the best I can and if not I will print them out and try to write y'all later.
Wow it has been crazy here! This last week was full of surprises. Haha the mission field is nothing like I expected it to be. My companion Sister Rigby is awesome! She is super fun and chill and we just have a grand old time with everything. There are 3 other sisters that are close by in West Monroe so we see them often. Sis. Peterson, Sis. Totterer, and a visa waiter to Australia Sis. Benjamin. They are all awesome girls and we have so much fun together! The Elders here are awesome too. Elder Henrickson, Elder Durrant, Elder Nielsen, and Elder Bolckom are in the Monroe area and they are fun. Good guys. It is very different out here in the south. There are tons and tons of baptists, pentacostals, and any other religion you could think of. Not many mormons... haha it is really hard to find people that want to listen to you. They all say they have already been saved and they know Jesus, so that's all they need. So it's hard to get people to listen, but we're trying. It's kind of sad cause I came from the MTC where they tell you everday to not give up, it doesn't matter what area you are serving in there are people that are ready to listen, but a lot of the missionaries that have been out for a while just say we need to embrace the south and that's just how it is. I'm doing my best to not get discouraged like everyone else though. Don't worry about me. :)
Wow do I have stories for y'all. Let's start with the second/third day I was here. So on wednesday we went out to Winnsboro (about an hour from Monroe) for our district meeting and when we were there we did a little role play thing. It was set up as a missionary at the library doing some mormon.org and the person next to them glancing at their computer. So we practiced what we could say and practiced getting them interested and explaining the book of mormon and all that good stuff. So then on thursday Sister Rigby and I went to the library to do somemormon.org and it just so happened that I sat next to a black non member. Imagine that in Louisiana... haha So I could tell he was glancing at my computer and in my head I was thinking, "Oh crap. This is exactly what we practiced yesterday! I'm gonna have to talk to him." So I was trying to get the courage up, when all of a sudden he looks over points at something on my computer and asks a question. So I told him about it and talked to him about the church for a minute when I asked him if there was a time that me and my companion could come and teach him more. All of a sudden he says, "Well right now would work just fine." So I called my companion over and we went to a table and taught him the Restoration lesson. At first he seemed interested. He was talking and asking questions. Oh before I forget, his name is Anthony and he's 22. As we got farther into the lesson he started asking random questions about Utah and stuff. So we would answer them and get back to the lesson. We asked him if he would read and pray about the book of mormon and he said yes. So that's awesome right? Then we kept talking and we asked him if he'd come to church. He said yes! So then we asked him if he would be baptized on May 4th and he said yes! So of course me and Rigby are stoked! He agreed to all the commitments and we were just excited. So we kept talking to him getting to know him better. But he started getting really weird. He would get up to go get a drink for like 2 minutes and then come back. It started to seem like he was on drugs... but we kept talking to him. When all of a sudden he says, "I has a qestin fer y'all. When was the first time y'all had sex?" Um we almost died!!! What in the world is going on here?! hahahaha we were kind of stumbling over words not knowing what to say, when I blurted out, "Well as member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we don't believe in sexual relations before marriage. And you know what (glancing down at my watch) it's time for us to go. We have a dinner appt. we have to make." (We didn't have a dinner appt for a whole other hour." But we got our stuff and got out of there fast! But it was too late, we had already swapped phone numbers with him. STUPID IDEA. So we go on our way laughing and dying in the car not knowing what just happened. And later we get a text from him asking where we were. We said we were at an appt and asked if he needed anything. We kind of thought we should just not text him back, but we didn't want to just give up on him. We thought maybe he would come to church. So he texted back and asked if he could borrow some money. So we didn't text back when about 30 min later we got another text saying "WYD?" We figured that meant what you doin. So we didn't text back. Then he texted us again saying, "I meant what are you doin rigby?" We were back at our apt and we started freaking out. We were like we didn't tell him where we live, but what if he somehow found us and he's outside our apt?! Of course we are freaking ourselves out. haha So we called our Zone leaders and told them about it and they told us to text him and say "we are missionaries and our only purpose is to bring others to Christ and if you need anything else we can't help you." So we did that and he texted back "ok just checking on you." So by that point I turned to Sis. Rigby and said, "Well I've been here 2 days and I'm never talking to anyone again." hahaha can you believe that?! The first person I go to talk to and teach about the gospel is a creep that is asking us weird questions. He texted us the next morning and said good morning. TWICE. And then asked us what we had planned for the day. We never texted him back and luckily he never showed up to church. Oh and to make it better, right before he asked us that super odd question, he told us he had just gotten out of jail the day before. So we were definitely out of there! hahahahahaha CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED TO ME ON MY SECOND DAY OUT?! God sure does have a sense of humor.
But now I have a good story. On friday we went tracting and we were getting close to being done. The West Monroe sisters were coming down to have a sleepover cause we had to leave at 5 the next morning to go to Winnsboro for a festival. Anyway we got to a house and Rigby said, "ok this ones all you Rocha." So we walked up to the door and somebody on the street finally answered! Keep in mind, this is the first door I was going to speak at while tracting. My first door. First. So I introduced us a missionaries and asked him his name and then all of sudden this comes out of my mouth. "um. uh. well. this. uh." and then my companion saved me and talked to him. Wow I felt so stupid! Haha he looked at my like I was crazy and said no thank you and we left. Just like you mom, I started laughing. Hahaha I have never felt more dumb in my life. But whatever. There's a first time for everything. Haha so we kept going down the street and nobody was home, or they just weren't answering their doors cause they didn't want to talk to us. We came to the last door that we hadn't tracted and Rigby said again "alright Rocha it's all you. You can do it." This lady answered the door and I gave her the whole shpiel. It was so boss. She said ok yeah come on in. WHAT?! COME ON IN?! That doesn't happen. haha so we went inside and talked to her for about a half hour and taught the Restoration. She seemed super interested and she had a lot of questions. She then went on to tell us that the reason she let us in was because she had been praying for more answers. She had been asking God what way she was supposed to go with religion. Well if we weren't an answer I don't know what is! We set an appt to go back this week and teach her some more. She was such a sweet lady. Her name was Sara Fisher and she has a little 7 year old and one on the way. Her husband didn't look so excited that we were there and didn't want to talk to us. So hopefully that doesn't change her mind about anything. We left her with a Book of Mormon and she said she'd read it an pray about it so hopefully she does! So ya know, I felt pretty good about the second door I tracted. Not gonna get my hopes up thought. Haha
So on satruday we had the catfish festival in Winnsboro. We left our apt at about 5 in the morning and drove an hour. Our stake president paid money to get the missionaries a booth there. We were there from about 6:30-6:30 on saturday. We had a ton of pamphlets, pass along cards, book of mormons bibles and dvds just to pass out to people. For the first little while we just walked through the crowds and just handed out pamphlets and mormon.org cards to people. There were a lot of people that would say "oh I already know Jesus. I've been saved." But there were a ton of people who took them. And then for the last little while we just stood outside of the booth and handed things out and there were quite a few people who would go into the booth and other missionaries would teach them more and most walked away with a Book of Mormon. It was a really awesome experience! I had told Rigby that one of the things I was most afraid of was to talk to people. Not just talk, but talk to them about the gospel. So saturday was definitely a way for me to get over that. Haha it was perfect. There were thousands of people that came through that festival and I talked to more people that day than I ever have in my life. Haha I have never been rejected so many times in my life though. It was tiring. Haha All throughout the day I was finding some pamphlets and mormon.org cards on the ground, but the worst was when I found a Book of Mormon in the garbage. :( That was so sad to see because this person that threw it away had no idea what exactly they had in their hand. They had no idea that that book could change their life forever. It's so sad to see that down here. So many people that think they are saved just because they believe in Christ. And you try to teach them that there is more than just knowing Christ, but hardly anybody wants to listen. So that was a whole new experience, and it was really fun. We have already gotten some media referrals from Church headquarters and there are people that wrote their name and numbers down so we could contact them to teach them more. So hopefully we planted a lot of seeds! We got really sunburnt thought. All of us are so red. Mine has mostly tanned now though :) haha
Then yesterday was fast and testimony meeting at church. Um there were all of like 40 people at church yesterday. And that might even be pushing it. There were not many people at all! But the spirit in that meeting was so strong! It was awesome! It was crazy to see that there weren't many people at all. It was a small chapel and only like a third of the way full. It is very humbling though coming from Utah. Cause it really is true that you don't know what you have until it's gone. This last 6 days here has made me realize just how lucky I have been my whole life. So a lesson to you all. Just take my word for it, up in Utah and Idaho you have it really really good! It is definitely an eye opener being down here in the south. But I really do love it. The people here are so nice. If somebody doesn't want to listen to you they just politely say no thank you. Nobody has slammed the door in my face yet. But then again I have only been out here for 6 days... haha it really feels like an eternity though.
We have some senior missionaries that are out in West Monroe that take really good care of us. Elder and Sister States. They are actually in our stake! In the 6h ward! Crazy. I have never seen them before in my life. haha super weird, but they're nice. They actually took all of us sisters out to dinner on friday. Sister States is crazy though. haha She says some weird things. And then last night some people in the ward fed me Rigby and the elders in the area. The food was so good! And they had Blue Bell ice cream. Best ice cream I have ever eaten in my life! Court, you would die! haha If every dinner out here is gonna be like that, then I'm gonna come home fat. haha
We did play ultimate frisbee today though so that was a good workout. We went out to west monroe and played at a park there. Us sisters and then all the elders in both areas. It was super super fun! The humidity is going to be the death of me though. We played for about 2 hours and my clothes and hair seriously felt like I just came out of a swimming pool. Haha so gross!
Ok there is a guy that just sat down and is talking to me and we started talking about my mission and I'm gonna have to talk to him abou the gospel. We have kind of already started. But I'm scared cause of what happened the last time I was at a library! haha what a joke. I've only been here 6 days, this neesd to slow down. haha jklol jklol!
Oh ok so also before we came to the library we went and visited duck dynasty. They live in West Monroe so we went to the store out here and got some pictures in front of the trailers. Tell Andrew he can be jealous. Haha
Ok I think that's all of the exciting stories I have for this week. There will probably be more to come next week. Oh dear I just remembered some funny happenings. Sorry I'm all over the place. haha So when we were tracting the other day this 9 year old boy comes up to us on his bike and is just talking to us and riding along side us. He asked what we were doing and we told him we were going to tell people about Jesus Christ. He thought that sounded pretty cool so he told us that he was going to come along with us and help us. hahaha we didn't know what to say, but thankfully his brother made him go home. haha
And then also about 10 minutes after that there were some kids in a yard jumping on a tramp and they asked if we had husbands. I said no and one kid asked if I would marry him. I told him not today, but maybe later. Haha not sure if that was acceptable as a missionary, but I'm trying to watch what I say. hahaha silly kids!
Sister Rigby keeps telling me that these happenings this last week have never happened to her for the 5 months she's been out. So I guess there's something about me that attracts weird things. haha
Anyway.... I guess I'll end this now. I miss you all so much! I'm not really homesick, but I do miss you. haha I really do love it out here and I love being a missionary! Spreading the gospel to people is so much fun!! And the people I am around are so much fun! Sometimes we might have too much fun.... haha well don't forget to read your scriptures and pray EVERYDAY! Pray multiple times a day. Ever since being out here I pray a whole lot and much more sincerely. They're cooler when they're more sincere, remember that. And remember, the scriptures have all the answers to happiness and peace.
Hope all is well at home!! Love and miss you all so much!! Keep the letters comin cause I love to hear about what's going on at home :) :)
Love,
Sister Rocha
ps. Abbey and Lex, I am trying to get a package together for your birthdays. I'm sorry if it's a little late, but I'm trying! Love you both and have happy days!!
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