We're on the winning team!

Happy fall y'all from the sisters in the Alexandria zone ft. President and Sister Hansen

I love my sweet Sister Gelwix

I feel like a broken record but it has been a crazy week y'all. The mission, just like life, is full of some ups and downs. But the great thing about living the gospel is that the joy is greater than any of the hard moments :) I hope y'all are happy and doing well!

Some funny moments this week:

- A woman contacted church headquarters asking for a bible and Book of Mormon. She works late so we knocked on her door around 7 pm and it was dark outside. We knocked on the door and about 30 seconds later a shirtless man opened the door and screamed really loud and ran away. Apparently he was cleaning up and was playing loud music. He didn't hear us knocking but he opened the door to take out the trash and got really scared when he saw us standing there! His wife wasn't home but we had a good laugh with him and we'll go back when she is home. 

- Sister Green invited us over and told us she was bringing some kids over that wanted to hear about the gospel. We got really excited about this of course! Long story short she didn't have any kids over and she told the Elders some fibs as well just so she could feed us some hamburgers . After we were done eating she said, "Okay, let's go play basketball!" What? Lol it is always something new with Sister Green. 

The work was good this week. We had some disappointments with some of our solid investigators though. Some of them dropped and one of them doesn't want us to contact her ever again. I learn over and over that Heavenly Father is so involved in this work and I'm also continuing to learn that Satan is consistently opposing the work. He does not want our investigators to change and come closer to Christ so he is doing all he can to keep that from happening. This is a very real battle we're a part of. But there is no need to get discouraged because we are on the winning team! 

Our investigator Rebecca is incredible. She has cancer but she is optimistic and happy. She knows the church is true and she is excited for baptism! She had been sharing the gospel with her friends, family, and neighbors. We love her a lot and we know Heavenly Father is so proud of her for choosing to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. 

Sometimes it seems crazy that God calls 19/20 year olds to do His work. I don't know much and I have a lot of areas I need to improve. But we had a great instruction from our mission president this week and he talked about how God calls us weak things of the world to do this work because we are humble and have the faith to do what is asked of us. I need a lot more faith but I am thankful for my weaknesses because they help me turn to God and rely on Him for everything. I know this gospel is true and I know He is with us through it all. Life is good y'all! I am so happy here and I'm thankful for all the love and support I get from y'all. Have a great week! Remember to turn to the Lord in all things :)

Love,

Sister Thomas

I am in awe of the amount of faith in Louisiana <3 (also these murals are all over the place - beautiful!)

 Crazy Opelousas celebrates birthdays once a month with birthday cake. It's a pretty sweet tradition! (lol sorry, I had to throw that in there)