Elder Zachary Andrews: Be Weird (and wildlife in LA)

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

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Be Weird (and wildlife in LA)

So I got transferred for the first time to Morgan City. I am so excited! My companion is a superstar. He is from Mexico and doesn't speak much English. So that makes my life interesting. There is a Branch here and from what I saw there are about 30 people who attend; despite the fact that our branch roster is 13 pages long. Asi es. Especially here in the LA. There are just a million things this transfer to make it sure that there is not one ounce of "comfort" in me. This Sunday was cool I lead the music, prayed, and bore my testimony, all in sacrament meeting. After that I taught a class that I wasn't prepared for. Talk about trial by fire. Anyway it is really different from the West bank but that is good. I was waiting for my world to get flipped upside-down.

This week I was thinking about member-missionary work. Because of course that is the best way people come to know the gospel. Anyway I have heard people say that it is hard to find opportunities to talk about the gospel. I have come up with a solution! You need to up your "weirdness." Now hear me out. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we are supposed to be a "choice and set apart people" right? Otherwise known as weird. We have to be different cause we have to put things of the world behind us as we embrace the atonement and become more Christlike. Weird, it is the word I am going to use even though you might not like it. Missionaries are really weird so people can plainly come up to us an ask "why are you weird?" and we tell them. My mom has 7 kids, weird. You don't drink, smoke or have sex before marriage, weird. You go to church for three hours on Sunday, peculiar.

All you are trying to do is get someone to ask this question "why are you weird?" and then the second part comes in: ALWAYS HAVE THE GOSPEL ON THE TIP OF YOUR TONGUE! so they ask and you say cause I believe that families are forever! Or cause I am a Mormon! This is where you can stop being weird, if it is possible... Anyway it is not weird to talk about yourself, or to talk about religion. Matter of fact, it is easy cause everyone has some beliefs. All missionaries are just really weird. So be weird and be ready. Do that with a little bit of prayer I promise you will have success if you live in Utah.

Love you all to Death!

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.