That moment when you accidentally cross the Mississippi (week 5)

It’s P-day again!! I honestly can’t decide if this week went by slow or fast for me. You know how usually missionaries say that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like hours? Well this week was a little bit more like the days were minutes and the weeks were months. I haven’t even been in the state for two weeks but it feels like longer than that. Maybe after I have been here for a bit longer I will begin to adjust.

As for this week, Monday after emailing the four of us sisters that all live together went to the mall for a few hours. I bought a mug, I’m a sucker for mugs. Then that night we visited Coraine, that went well, that’s about all for Monday.

Tuesday we got donuts then went to district meeting. District meeting is always fun. It is nice to get to see some other missionaries. Helps to not feel so secluded. After district meeting we went to VooDoo BBQ and got $2 pulled pork sandwiches! Basically nailing it guys! Then we visited the Rotolos family, a cute young couple in the ward going to collage up here. Then I did some Red Cross training, then we visited the Fernbergs. They are also a young couple going to college. I love all these young couples! They are so fun. Sister Fernberg is named Whitney and she is from Utah and she agrees with me that Utah water is better than Southern water, so we related pretty wellJ

Wednesday was awesome! This absolutely wonderful sister in the ward took us and the Elders to Costco and bought us groceries!! Her name is Sister Brady and she is a widow and Relief Society president and my new favorite! Then we went to lunch with Jan Smith, a friend of the Broughs. For those of you who don’t know, Brother Brough was my Sunday school and mission prep teacher, but he was also temple president and mission president of Baton Rouge several years ago! So the Broughs told Jan that I was coming, she found our number, and invited us to lunch and it was delicious. But then the good day keeps going! After lunch we volunteered at a place called Cat Haven, a cat adoption place. We cleaned some cages and set up some stuff, but then we just played with the cats. My comp was on cloud 9, she loves cats. I more prefer the calmer ones, so I found a nice gray one and help him for a while. It was nice. But then the good day came to a sudden halt when someone got in a wreck right in front of us and scared us to death. The traffic here is crazy, and we are probably too defensive in our driving right now. We calmed down that night by making quesadillas and bonding with the other two sisters. All is well.

Thursday was a bit of a flop. Appointments fell through, we got yelled at about our car, and we were just pretty stressed. We did have a good lesson with Torshia, and we left a card with a man named D who we met outside of her apt. His knew some Mormons while in the military and we might go back and teach him. Then that night we had a dinner apt with some ward members. Once again, a pregnant young couple from Utah here for school. I love them! Seriously all these people are so funny, and I can relate to them! Their friends came over for a bit, I got to play with their corgi, 10 out of 10 would recommend.

Friday was my one month mark from entering the MTC! Today was kind of stressful as well though. Once again everything fell through, we got a little scared going through the ghetto, I cried for the first time since getting here, which honestly I think is pretty good. Neither me or my comp were feeling great, but we taught a good BOM lesson to a girl named Devin, had a nice dinner appointment with another young couple from Utah (seriously that is like all the active people in our ward. Young RMs from out of state.) Sister Tucker is basically the best story teller ever. She told us a story about finding some rats, and she does a really good impression of a rat. She is also stunning and has three kids, so basically goals. Then that night we fell asleep really quick.

Saturday we couldn’t find Coraine. She hasn’t been home for our last two appointments. But we got panda for lunch, visited some ward members, and worked on our map for a bit. My favorite part of the day was visiting the Maqueens. They are an older couple, and Sister Maqueen has cancer, but they are both the funniest people in the world. Brother Maqueen had some great ideas, like when a hurricane comes, just get a whole bunch of priesthood holders to stand along the coast and rebuke it. Either is works or it doesn’t. I should have written down more of what he said, because I was almost crying with laughter. But then came the bane of this mission; the post LSU game traffic!! Literally the entire city gets shut down for hours because they have to get everyone out of the stadium! All the lanes become one way, and there are cops preventing you from going down all of the roads to our house. We drove for 2 hours in the traffic trying to get home!!!! We went in a circle around all of Baton Rouge, accidently crossed the Mississippi river #thathappened, and almost stopped and the church and slept there. Eventually we got home, but not before we were adequately ticked off. #neveragain #nodrivingongameday.

Sunday was church, study, lunch, the usual. Then we started visiting some people on this list of ward members who went missing after the flood of last year. We were only able to find one person, but the church building is too far for her to drive every week, so she might go to another one outside of our area that is actually closer. For everyone else, the address given was an apt complex, but no apt #. So for them we would ask around the people hanging out outside to see if anyone knew them. They never did. Sister Maynard accidently complimented someone on their marijuana hat. She thought they were pineapples, he thought it was pretty funny. Then that night for comp study we watched Legacy, I made some cookies, I started a painting, so it ended up a pretty good day.

So that’s all for me. Keep emailing me!! I love hearing from you!!! I have a whole bunch of pictures hanging up on my wall so I see you every day. I know I said I would have some out of context quotes this week, but I only have the hashtags. I will do better I promise!! I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!

Hurrah for Isreal!!

Psalms 15:17 

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~Sister Danielle Reid