Elder Zachary Andrews: Getting Transferred

THE VISION OF THE SOUTH

"Make no small plans: This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together....We will see the time when we will baptize hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands...In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be temples plural in the Southern States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people." President Spencer W. Kimball

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Getting Transferred

Transfer calls came in yesterday and I am being transferred. That's hard after six months in the same place! I won't know where I am going until tomorrow so I can't tell you all until Monday.

This week we did a ton of service. We are helping a sister who had her name removed from the Church records. We painted her porch and her neighbors house! My comp and I worked almost everyday on that house. It was a lot, and I am going to miss them. Man I am really going to miss this place! It just started to feel like home! But God has a plan. Anyway we found out that the house is painted in lead paint so that sorta explains why it was so hard to come off!! But we came up with a SAFE way to get it off and then yesterday started to paint. Elder Smith and I taught this (former) member a lesson about the scriptures and she very politely, cause she loves Smith and I, said, "I like being Catholic!" :( So we were really bummed but we still love her to death. The hardest thing about being a missionary is the ones that for reasons you can't explain, it is just not the right time for. You are just a drop in the drink of water that they need. And that has to be enough. It is hard but it is enough. I love this area so much and am so sad to go. But I will love my next area just as much.

Love y'all,

Elder Andrews

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Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission

The first branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in New Orleans with 334 members in 1841. The prophet Joseph Smith sent the first missionary to New Orleans in March of that year. After reaching 169 members in 1849, the New Orleans branch disbanded because of the threat of serious disease in the area. The Southern States Mission, which included Louisiana opened in 1878, but the first missionaries were not sent to the state until nearly 20 years later. Missionary work spread throughout the state during the early twentieth century and by 1930, there were 1500 members. The first ward was established in Shreveport in 1953 and the first stake in New Orleans in 1955.In 1975, the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission was created and by 1980, there were over 12,500 members in the state of Louisiana. By 1989, Louisiana had 22,000 members in seven stakes. In 1998, the First Presidency announced the building of a temple in Baton Rouge. That temple was dedicated on 16 July, 2000.The Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission extends from Natchitoches South to the East and West borders through the state including the Gulf of New Orleans. The mission also includes the South West corner of Mississippi including Natchez, Liberty, and Macomb.