Acting on Faith

I feel so blessed to be in such a great area! My branch consists of few (about 60), but very strong numbers! I have learned that the best lessons happen when members are present, because it really adds onto our testimonies and gets them into the branch, because we will not be there forever and the members really have to be there for them.  Also, most members there are converts. The others are members who are there for either engineering or military. I really look up to these members and their strong faith. And I know that they have strong faith because they act on their beliefs, not just say they do. Acting is important because it shows their faith in God. "Faith without works is dead"

Anyways, some statics for y'all: We got 6 new investigators this week. I have come to really love tracting in Lulling. Everyone here is so nice. If they are home, they will answer the door and talk to us regardless of their religion, and we are there to increase their faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ. Even if they do not convert to the LDS religion, they are so important to us and we want to see them succeed.

I went on splits with the Sister Training Leaders in Kenner, which is the outskirts of New Orleans (NOLA) and it was a completely different culture!! We ask people about their lives and everyone measure their life by before/after Hurricane Katrina. I had forgotten that their part of the city was 9 ft under water at one point. I felt like Kenner was a special place, because my Daddy served in that area for 6 months on his mission :) I didn't run into anyone who recognized my last name, but one guy said that he had basically been running into Mormon missionaries since he moved there in the 70s. So I like to think that my Daddy ran into him least once :) I also "taught" a few Spanish lessons lol. I bared my testimony at the end and my STL translated for me, it was cool to see their big smiles from my testimony :)

We had a Branch Picnic, and that was a great missionary opportunity. We thought that we were going to be rained out, but we all made it and everyone brought their best-of southern cooking. Everything I had was absolutely delicious.

Anyways, life is great! The weather is perfect, I'm about to go bike down the Mississippi River with my companion, who is AMAZING! It's weird to think that she grew up only a few miles away from me, and I didn't even know her until I came to Louisiana. And here we are, in Luling, LA.

"Have a blessed day"

Sister Toomey