The Pepper Palace Challenge

This has been an exciting week! 

It started on P-Day and we went to downtown New Orleans and went to the Pepper Palace, which is literally a store dedicated to hot sauce. Every missionary in the New Orleans zone has to take try the hottest of all sauces. I tried the smallest amount possible on a tortilla chip and my mouth only burned for 1-2 minutes thank you to the chip that absorbed the heat. Then we went to the French Market across the street and had fun. 

The STL's (Sister Training Leaders) were sick, so I was an STL for a day and got to go to MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference) which is only for leaders in the mission so that we can spread the council from the Mission President (who got some from a Seventy) to the rest of the missionaries in the Zone. It was really exciting. I've been working on my "Celestial timing" by waking up a little earlier than 6:30am (FYI, this is only necessary for young missionaries, and is NOT a requirement for baptism). It's a work in progress, but it is so worth it!

We have been working on getting more Member-present lessons. and it is fun, and it makes the lesson even better every time because we will only be there for so long, before it is just them and the members. 

We had 13 COCKROACHES magically appear in our apartment. My companion joking tells everyone that I am the "Cockroach Wrangler" because I would rather catch them than let crawl under my bed. The first one we caught was about 3 inches long and looked more like a small mouse that wouldn't die. We spent the next 2 hours catching the other 12 cockroaches. We were later told that whenever it rains (this was after the near-flooding) that the sewers get high and the cockroaches crawl up the pipes, and then through our bathtub drain. So we started to cover our drains and I have only seen 2 roaches since and Sister Crane kills them. 

We went to a Baptist "Bible Study" this week with an investigator. It was very interesting, but I learned that other missionaries from other faith are 'spreading the word'  like us. Even though they do not have the full gospel, they are still acting on the truth that they do know and sometimes they don't learn the full gospel because they are happy where they are and do not know of the happiness that they could have if they could have if they pondered and prayed with a sincere heart and really wanted to know the truth. 

I got to Skype my Mommy on Mommy's Day! It was exciting to see her and Hannah! It made me want to work even harder so that families can be together FOREVER! and I want everyone to have that same opportunity that I have been given to be with my family forever :) to find out more, please go to  https://www.mormon.org/values/family or email me :)

Love Y'all!
Sister Toomey