I made it to Mississippi!

President and Sister McDonough and a bunch of missionaries picked us up at the airport, took us to the mission office and fed us! Then we had an info meeting and then they fed us again! Then we went to bed, woke up and they fed us again!  So good. 

President and Sister McDonough are so super nice!
President smiles ALL THE TIME.

There are trees here! It’s not super green because it’s February, but it will be green! There are SO many trees. Like tall thin bunches of trees. It's literally like Duck Dynasty here. It's awesome. Also, apparently there's something Duck Dynasty-like to take a picture with in West Monroe, which I won't need to worry about because I'm in....

Gulfport!

It is literally the furthest south and furthest east ward in the entire mission. I'm in a half bike/half car area. (Note: they share a car with elders, so they ride bikes when it is not their turn to have the car.)  And, because we are literally on the gulf, it is colder or hotter here because of the humidity. Sweet. 

Did you know that when people say "the Bayou" they aren't referring to one river? It's not like "The Mississippi," which has a definite beginning and an end. A bayou is where the ocean comes inland in many streams, so there are bayous everywhere! And it's swampy here, even right by the side of the road! Which is unfortunate because there aren't any sidewalks. I don't think I've seen a single one.  Haha

 So far in this area, I’ve heard a reference to Hurricane Katrina at least once every day.  I have also learned a lot about Katrina that I didn't know before: Katrina hit Mississippi! The eye went right over Front Beach, which is like minutes away from where I live, so I've met a lot of people who lived through Katrina, but lost their house and had to start over or rebuild. #humbling 

Time here is marked as "since Katrina" or "before Katrina." Apparently, the time marker before Katrina was Camille, the hurricane in the '60s.  I hear about Katrina several times every day, but Camille only every OTHER day. 

Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras Day, is tomorrow, but that doesn't mean the celebrating hasn't started yet!  Mardi Gras is celebrated by PARADES. And there have been parades nonstop since Friday. Well, my companion said they started like 2 weeks ago, but Friday is when they really started interfering with our plans.  Mardi Gras is BIG here. There is no school today, tomorrow or Wednesday JUST for Mardi Gras.

Oh! And we ate king cake! King cake is sweet dough (like a cinnamon roll) with filling! The one we ate had raspberry filling. It's gooood. And guess what they do? They put a plastic baby in it!  A teeny tiny plastic baby to represent Jesus and for good luck.  If you get the slice with the baby in it, you have to buy the next king cake to bring to the next party (so I don't really get how it's good luck). I asked about the origin about it, but no one here really knows. My companion got the baby. 

My trainer is great!  She's really got this missionary thing down. I still let her talk and I follow her lead in everything because - let's be real - I haven't even been here a week. But, I'm learning a lot and I'm learning how to go go go!   We have excellent support from the members and lots of baptisms, so it seems to be a perfect area.  And, I love tracting! It's so fun and I like meeting people. I think I like it because I make my companion do most of the talking and it's not hot yet so I’m not miserable.

We have a baptism scheduled for Saturday!  Our investigator has quite a story:  She was in a car accident a few months ago and was thrown from the car and broke pretty much everything. She was in the Jackson hospital for about 3 weeks with no brain activity. The doctors told her mom that she would be a vegetable or worse for the rest of however long she lived. Well, her aunt (who is a member) had the prompting to get her a blessing. The very next day, she woke up. She had no brain loss, no loss of anything. Her aunt says she is her “miracle baby.” 

After she left the hospital, she came to church with her aunt and said that she wanted to get baptized. So her aunt directed her to the sisters (my trainer and her last companion), who taught her all of the lessons.  We've just been teaching her the commandments and everything we tell her she either is already doing or she accepts it without any question!  She is the most golden of all golden investigators and she's set to get baptized this Saturday! (She's so nice too. She says, “Yes, ma'am” to everything, but that's a southern thing.)

Well, now we're going to go play volleyball and eat pizza for pday. No Mardi Gras for us!

Love, 
Sister Nash