Year 1 - Letter 51 - New Orleans, LA

1 Ne 13:37 And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be.

Hey everyone!

Sorry the email is late, couldnt email because Monday was Memorial day, and all of the libraries were closed.

Well, the week has been pretty crazy hard.  That's OK.  One of the hardest things is that our investigator, Daniel, moved to the West Bank.  It really stinks that we won't really see him, but it is really awesome because the branch in west bank is really moving and trying to become a ward, and they fault one Priesthood Holder.  I know that the west bank branch will be better for him.

The next thing is that we have been teaching Manuel, an investigator that Elder Gillett and his companion before me found here.  We had been by a few times before, but now we have gone by quite regularly and he seems too good to be true!   He is really smart and catches on to pretty much everything we throw at him.  We are always trying to explain something that is really simple, and then he goes on and explains it perfectly and it is like, oh, cool, you already got that, moving on!   El me cae bien.

We had the BEST sacrament meeting that I have had since I got here nine months ago (NINE MONTHS!!!  That is such a long time ago!)  Anyways, we had priesthood in the chapel up on the stand for the first time, because the RS in the chapel in the pews has always been a little crazy.  That was the first awesome step.  Second, as the women came in for sacrament (because we have sacrament last) the men sang hymns.  It was so awesome, and the spirit was pretty strong.  Then, I was directing the music, which I feel I take way seriously, but hey, that's what I do when it comes to music.  I do the best I can or I don't like doing it at all.  Anyways, I felt the spirit way strong during the hymns, and then we had three missionaries speak, one of which just arrived here like a couple weeks ago, another that has been on a mission for nine months, and another that has more than twenty months, all on the importance of the sacrament.  It was awesome, and the spirit testified so strongly and I know that that was exactly what the ward needed.

Well, pretty much at random, I read in the Book of Mormon and read 1 Nephi 13:37.  I love how the things we need to do to receive all of these blessings are seek, publish (or make generally known according to Merriam Webster), and endure.  If we are seeking to do good and build up zion, will go forth and share with everyone this message, and endure all the trials that will come, we will be blessed!  I love all of you!  Thanks for the support!  A few more days and I will have been out more than a year!  That is so crazy!  Thanks again for everything!

Love,

Elder Scott Turner Andrews

PS.

pic 1 is me on the riverwalk

pic 2 is a view into the French Quarter

Year 1 - Letter 50 - New Orleans, LA

Mosiah 28:9 And they took their journey into the wilderness to go up to preach the word among the Lamanites; and I shall give an account of their proceedings hereafter.

Hey everyone!

So, staying in New Orleans has been awesome.  Except, the office elders pulled a very big surprise on us.  We are now a bike area!  Apparently we have been receiving a lot of sisters, and from church headquarters, we have been told that they all need to be in a car.  Therefore, not many Elder's have cars.  That will be/ has been very interesting.  I love being on a bike though!  You see a lot more on a bike and are able to talk to a lot more people.  The only problem is that it is pretty much impossible for us to work half of our area because we live far to one side, and it would take us all day to get there.  I am sure with the missionaries coming in, my area will end up split up.  That is OK.  We will deal with change as it comes.

We have finally seen Daniel!  He has been working in Slidell so visits with him are very rare.  We read in Mosiah 18, because that is where he is in his studies.  (The school we are in just had a fire drill!  That was fun!  The truck came and everything!)  OK, back to Daniel.  We read in Mosiah 18, which is an awesome scripture on baptism.  We talked a lot and it was just really good.

Valentine is doing well.  We taught him about authority, and I think we went a little fast for him.  He takes things really slowly.  That is OK.  We also need to figure out what to do with him not being able to read really well.  If he can't read the Book of Mormon he won't gain a testimony of it.  He fed us elote, or corn on the cob.  Except he did it Mexican style, where you put mayo and cayenne pepper (or chili pepper, I am not sure if there is a difference, he used cayenne pepper) on them and they were amazing.  I think I will never eat corn the same again if I have the choice!  I remembered that in Nacho Libre, the corn that escalito throws and stabs the guy in the eye is the same thing.  They are awesome.  Valentine really likes us coming by, so that is good.

So, Tuesday, we figured out we were losing the corolla.  Wednesday, we drove it to Metairie and rode our bikes back.

Thursday, we had service in the east, so we rode our bikes to gentilly road, to the walgreens there, so the East Elders could pick us up because they are being very thrifty with miles, because they already have to pick us up for church.

Saturday was crazy.  Elder Jones got a flat on carrolton and I-10.  Look that up on a map.  We then walked back to 811 Adele street and then walmart on Tchoupitoulas.  It took FOREVER, considering we were walking with our bikes, and that walmart only had presta valve tires, but my pump has an adapter, which on using it, broke, so we walked back to walmart to buy a new one.  It was crazy.  We now make sure to have an extra inner tube just in case.  We are kind of new to the whole bike area thing.  We are doing really well though.  I love it!

I am so excited!  We have interviews with President coming up!  It is always so nice to be able to sit and talk with President Wall.  I always learn so much from him and leave feeling so good and ready to work.  

Pictures!

First- Me in front of and old church.  We were joking about buying it and turning it into a home.  That would take a lot of work, but it would look cool.

Second- The riverwalk that we road on Thursday for service.

Life is good!  I love it here in New Orleans and am so glad I am still here!

Love you all!  Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Scott Turner Andrews

Year 1 - Letter 49 - New Orleans, LA

Mosiah 2:22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

Hey Everyone!

So... News on the Transfer...

I'm staying, and so is Elder Jones!  

Crazy!  I totally thought I was gone!  I am so glad that I get to stay!  Things are finally starting to happen and I get to be here to see it, and so does Elder Jones!  I know that the Lord's hands are in this work, and that I need to be here in New Orleans!  Well, that is pretty much it for transfers for us.  No one in our district of four is getting moved.   

Well, this week was very interesting! We had a good lesson with one of our less active members, Porfilio.  We read with him in the scriptures in 1 Nephi 2, and he really related to what was going on.  It was really cool.  He knows what he needs to do, he just needs TO DO IT!  That is how pretty much all of our less actives are like.  They know, but for some reason don't do!  That can be kind of frustrating, but thats OK.  No one ever said it was going to be easy.  I know that as we and the ward work to fellowship these members, they will have the strength to come, and in the end become what they are meant to.  

I went on an exchange with Elder Richards, our district leader.  It went really well!  We tried to go help one of Kenner Spanish's less active members with translation in the LSU medical center, but left after an hour of waiting for him, and then got a call like 3 hours later from Kenner Spanish saying that their less active called and was all angry because he had been there for a half hour and we weren't there.  That was interesting.  Not much that we could do though, we can't wait at the hospital for hours on end.  The hospital has translation services, so he ended up being fine.  

Thursday we had a lesson with Valentine, the Mexican who came up to us on Jefferson Davis Parkway.  We taught him how to read.  He is making progress.  We had a short visit with him yesterday and are going by again tonight because we didn't have much time yesterday.

Friday was fun!  We had an awesome lesson with one of our less actives, Carmen. She is an elderly sister who lives with her sister and another friend, Hermana Juarez.  They are awesome!  Hermana Juarez is the only really active one, but a week ago we taught Carmen and she came to church!  That was awesome!  She came again last sunday!  So that was good.  We also had the Mother's day party, which was fun!  We had a decent turn out, so it ended up being pretty fun.  We also played scattergories in Spanish, which was interesting!

Saturday, we had Zone Training.  It was interesting.  We had a presentation from Elder Yates, a senior missionary who is here with his wife and they are in charge of the institutes of New Orleans.  He is a convert, that took 7 years to join.  He was awesome!  He taught about the Apostasy, and how the Reformation prepared the world for the Restoration.  I LOVE history, so that was all pretty cool.  After that, the zone leaders taught from a packet of really cool quotes and scriptures that president gave to all of us, and had a really cool discussion.  

Saturday we also had a miracle!  We went by an old potential that was found way before I got here, and finally found him home!  His name is Manuel and he is from Mexico, we also taught his wife, Marcia.  They are super cool, and Marcia had awesome insights.

We ate lunch at our neighbors, Jerry and Susan's, home.  We had helped move in forever ago and they said that they owed us a meal.  We had red beans and rice, which has become one of my favorite things.  SO GOOD!  I will definitely be getting a recipe for that.  We were talking to Jerry and told him if he had any questions about our beliefs, he should feel free to ask us, and told him that we LOVE questions.  He then commented that they were the Mormon Crack.  That was super funny.  He is an awesome guy.  Just a really nice guy.

Well, I'm still here!  That is so crazy!  Love you all!  Thanks for the support!

Love,

Elder Scott Turner Andrews

PS

Totally forgot something!  Talking to my family was so awesome on mother's day!  It was crazy to see how much Sadie and Peter are growing!  Peter is getting tall!  Looks like I am going to be the short older brother.  ah well.  It was nice to see my mom and dad too!  It is good to know all is well!

Elder Scott Turner Andrews 

Year 1 - Letter 48 - New Orleans, LA

3 Nephi 12:2 And again, more blessed are they who shall abelieve in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know that I am. Yea, blessed are they who shall bbelieve in your cwords, and dcome down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall be visited ewith fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.

Hey Everyone!

Great week here in NOLA.  We got a lot done in this week!  First off, we went on exchanges this week, so I was here in New Orleans with Elder Herbert who is from Mexico.  He speaks only a little English, so we spoke a lot of Spanish, which was really fun and cool to see that I could communicate with him really well.  Anyways, we started the exchange off by making baliatas.  All it is is a flour tortilla, beans that are blended up, scrambled eggs, honduran cream, and queso fresco.  SO good.  One of my favorite things I have learned to make here!  

So after that we went and visited with Roberto, a less active man who is really only less active because he is old and can't get himself to church.  He really was pleased with Elder Herbert being a Hispanic.  We had a good visit and taught about faith.  We read in Alma 32 because he really likes Alma a lot.  After that, we went to Elvis, another less active, and had another awesome visit.  We learned a lot about Elvis, which helps understand where he is coming from, so that was awesome.  

We then had more baliatas for dinner, and went and visited again with Porfilio and his roommate David.  We taught about Prophets and how following the guidance of prophets, both modern and ancient, we can receive help with our trials.  It went really well. 

After that, we went to see Dagoberto, but he wasn't home.  We were getting into the car, when a man walking with his daughter greeted us.  That doesn't usually happen.  We talked with him, found out his name was Valentine (pronounced Valenteen), and he was from Mexico and two years ago had talked with missionaries but had had surgery on his foot and was on medication and didn't learn much.  I could relate with that.  After my surgery I was pretty loopy.  Anyways, we talked for awhile and he told us he lived on a street named Palmyra and told us to call him when we wanted to come.  So the next day, we decided to go contacting on Palmyra.  I know the street pretty well, and know that there are a lot of Hispanics that live on certain parts.  So we got out of the car, and walked a few homes down.  There, walking out of his home, was Valentine.  That was a sign for sure!  He told us to come back later, so we will get to that.

First, we went to Hoover's home.  He was excited to see us, and we taught a great lesson on what the Book of Mormon is.  That clarified a few things, which was awesome, and then they invited us to eat with them!  They fed us rice beans, ground beef, and yucca.  It was awesome!  I love hispanic food!  

After that we went back to Valentine's and taught him and his wife, Carmen.  We started the Restoration, using the front picture of Christ to start the lesson.  It went really well, and we found out that he can't read.  He knows letters and sounds of the letters, but that is about it.  We will get him reading in no time!

So many awesome things happening here!  So glad for the time I have had here, and know that if it is my time to go at the end of this transfer, that I have put in my all and that the area has a pretty good teaching pool.

In my studies this week, I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the first time!  It was so cool to read it and get different insights because of the Spanish!  I know that each time I read the Book of Mormon, I receive revelation and learn so much!  The great thing is, is that that will never stop!  I read in 1 Nephi 2 today and put myself in the shoes of Sam.  How would I feel if my little brother, Peter, was called to be a prophet and a leader?  How would I react to that?  I hope that I would be like Sam, and also like Hyrum Smith!  Not like Laman and Lemuel, who would not listen.  I then thought that in a way, Elder Jones is like my little brother. Do I listen to him?  It was a very beneficial study.

Well, that is pretty much it for now folks!  Thanks for the continued support!  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Scott Turner Andrews