Apartment

Hello my dear family and friends!
This week has been a good one! we were able to get in with a lot of
less active families and talk with them and set return appointments
for this coming week. We don't have a ton of investigators to work
with currently but I feel like if we work with the people the Lord has
blessed us with then He will bless us with more! So we just keep
working hard and search for the elect!

So while I am thinking about it I wanted to write home about
Christmas. I was thinking the other day and I would really like a new
set of scriptures for Christmas and a case to put them in. The ones I
brought out with me are getting to be super sad looking! in fact the
other day a less active made a comment about how "well used" they
looked..... so ya I think it might be time for a new set! also the
only other thing that I could think of is a second pair of boots for
when the winter really hits. other than that I am not too picky! oh
and mom in our mission because it does get so cold we are allowed to
have skirts that go all the way to our feet they just can't be too
tight. So they can't show the curves of our bodies. and yes I did like
the one you sent for my birthday! it was super cute :)

I always feel like through out the week I think of so many things to
write home about and then I get here to write home and the all flee
from my mind!

The ward here in Rapid is great! We have some really great people. A
lot of them are working hard to share the gospel! so that is exciting!
We are going to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Porter family who
are amazing! Sister Porter is the interpreter in the ward here so her
and Sister Haskell have been close since she got here (which was only
6 weeks before me. We are both pretty new to the area) So that should
be tons of fun! super excited for that. I guess this was the year to
miss thanksgiving right! :) in all honestly holidays as a missionary
are just like regular days. well for the most part. oh! Sister
Arrington wrote me this morning and told me that Jadyn has decided to
get baptized in March when she turns 18!!!!! that was super exciting
news! I wish I could be there for it :( but I am super sooooo
excited!!!!!!!!!!!! I just love that girl so much!

So this past few days I had a pretty interesting experience. the past
few days I have just had these weird feelings and I haven't been able
to figure out what they mean. it's almost like when you are trying to
take a deep breath but can't get enough air. but in a spiritual sense.
and to go along with them I have been having super weird dreams. like
crazy weird. The other night I had a dream where my heart was just
pounding! when I woke up I couldn't decided if my heart really had
been or not because it felt so real. and then I had a dream where I
was awake and talking with Sister Haskell and i looked in the mirror
and I had just been crying and crying because I had mascara all over
my face. and I even had one where I was at a basketball tournament
with Dad and Des and for some reason me and Des got in this huge
fight! (not sure why. but I sill love her!!!! of course) anyways they
were just strange strange dreams and these weird feelings and I was
trying to figure out what on earth they meant. So yesterday after
church and lunch we were trying to figure out where to go and what to
do and this feeling hit me again. So I sat down took a few deep
breaths and prayed. and the thought came to mind to ask for a
blessing. Which I hadn't really thought about because these feelings
hadn't been happening like non-stop or anything and for the most part
I was doing well. Emotionally i had been totally fine. So I wasn't
sure about what to do . So I decided to ask Sister Haskell about it
and she suggested a blessing too. So we talked with the Elders and
they agreed to meet us later that night. So we talked to them and they
just asked a few questions to better understand it and they one Elder
was like so you need some spiritual tums :) pretty much!! but then
they gave me a blessing at it was so amazing!!! In it Heavenly Father
told me that it was a good thing for me to come to him at that time
for that blessing. (which made me feel better about asking for it) and
in it talked about how the adversary had been trying to get at me. it
blessed me with an increase of the spirit. It told me that I was a
very special daughter of Heavenly Father and that I was a sister of
faith. And that as I use my faith to overcome Satan I would also be
able to see many miracles. It also blessed me here in my area. It
blessed me to be an example of the Savior in my words and actions
(which was a good reminder because some times the way I speak is a
little iffy... slang terms just pop out of my mouth sometimes! :) )
All in all it was a really cool experience. and I was very thankful
for the Elders who were worth priesthood holders who were able to
administer it to me.

on a side note I asked these same elders if they play basketball on
p-day (which they do!!!) so I invited myself to go play haha so later
today we should hopefully get to go and play with the Elders! I am
super pumped! one of the Elders was a little skeptical of letting me
play but I was like come on. I am not a typical sister okay! I can in
fact dribble and shoot a basketball. so I will have to let you know
how that goes in my email next week.

well I can't think of anything else to write home about. I am doing
well! life is good! I love serving the Lord. my companion just hit her
half way mark and she was like no!!! I can't be on the downward slope
yet! I am still living in denial of the fact that my mission will ever
end..... I love it too much! but I love all of you back home too!!
Thank you for your prayers! they are felt!!!!! and appreciated!!!
oh!!!! I almost forgot. yesterday at the end of sacrament meeting the
stake president stood up and asked all of the members to start praying
every day for a temple here in Rapid City!!!! and asked them all to
start preparing for a temple!!!!!! and then of course right after he
said that I was the person who was asked to give the closing prayer in
sacrament... no pressure! :) so I prayed everyone could have
missionary experiences and that if it be the will of the Lord there
will be a temple here.  we were crazy excited!!!!!!! so every day we
now pray that they can get one! it would be such a blessing to the
members here. and if they did get one then it would be a great reason
to come back and visit my mission :) well I already plan on coming
back of course. there are way too many people who hold very special
places in my heart to not!!

well I am starting to ramble about how knows what so I guess it's time
to end for this week. I love you all dearly! This gospel is true! I
know it with all of my heart!!!!!!

Love always your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux
aka Denae :)
p.s. the elder who gave me my blessing had to practice saying my name
like 4 times to get it right before he gave me the blessing. but I get
told all the time that people think my name is pretty! :)

Nov 18

Hello my dear family and friends!!!
Well I made it! :) So monday and the start of tuesday I was packing
and saying goodbyes!
Then Tuesday night we went down to fargo and from there I drove to
Bismark for the night. The next morning we got up early and drove the
rest of the way to Rapid City! It was a crazy few days but I made it
safe and sound!

oh goodness I love it here so much already! it's an amazing place to
serve! We get to go to the mission office to pick up our mail everyday
and we get to see all the cute office couples! I love them all they
are super funny. It's like having 3 extra sets of grandparents here.
They always call Sister Anderson our mission mom and the senior
couples are our mission grandma's and grandpa's :) We also got to go
this past friday to the mission home and help Sister Anderson as she
but ribbons on everyones Christmas presents. They took all the
pamphlets that we use as missionaries and had them bound into this
cute little book! I am super excited about it. We won't get ours until
our own zone conference which is in a week and we are supposed to keep
them a secret until then :) But it was tons of fun to get to spend
sometime with the other sisters who serve here and with Sister
Anderson in the mission home.

It's way different here though because all of a sudden we are sharing
our ward with Elders! and not just any Elders but the Assistants to
the President.(no pressure) One of them is Elder Cunningham who serve
in Fargo for 2 transfers when I was there so I know him pretty well.
He is awesome. And the other one is Elder Edwards and he is pretty
funny too. I am excited to get to serve with them. There are also 8
sets of missionaries who serve here in Rapid!!!! which is crazy!!! in
Grand Forks for the first 6 months I was there, the only missionaries
were us and the Elders and we covered different wards. then the last
transfer I was there the put a second set of Elders in the other ward.
(which was super weird to see 4 Elders together all the time)  Now
it's like I see missionaries everywhere! but rapid is different too
because they have 4 wards and grand forks only had 2. My bishop of my
ward here is Bishop McLaws and he is hilarious! We had dinner with his
family last night and they are super funny :)

As far as missionary work goes we found a new investigator on Friday!
so what was exciting. She is the daughter of a less active woman in
the ward who is working to come back to church. I guess she had been
listening to the missionaries visits with her mom for a while so
Friday I was like let's just ask her if she wants to learn more! so we
did and she said yes!!! so that was good. Plus we have a ton of less
active members and part member families to try so we are excited to
get out and get working! There is a lot of good potential in the area.
So here goes nothing!!!

Also I LOVE Sister Haskell! she is awesome. She is hard of hearing so
it's a little bit different of a companionship than my other ones but
different in a good way. The other night we did all of our planning in
ASL. I was a little nervous but it went really well!! There is also a
deaf man in the ward here and a woman who is an interpreter so
yesterday during church we sat up front and watched her sign. It was
amazing! The other night when we planned in ASL I prayed in ASL for
the first time ever!! it was really special. The spirit is still there
so strong. It's just beautiful to know that even if I didn't actually
say the words out loud I know that Heavenly Father understood what I
was trying to say. We get to do language study every day too and so we
are working on bearing our testimonies in sign language! There is a
deaf woman that they had been teaching and we hope that we can still
get in to see her and teach her too! So I want to be ready when we
do!!!

OH goodness I don't know if there is anything else to write about. I
feel like that is everything that has happened so far. It's much
different but great at the same time. I loved serving in Grand Forks
and I feel like I will love serving here too! I am happy  and healthy.
Things are going well! my new apartment is in the basement of a member
and it's super cool. I took a few pictures this morning and hopefully
I will be able to send them home so you can see them. They have huge
tree trunks in the rooms like pillars. it's super nice. It felt like
home the second I walked in :) Oh other exciting news! I got to see
Sister Ransom too! so that was fun. ok well I think that is all for
now. Life is good! I love you all!!!! hopefully I don't log off and
then think of a bunch of stuff that I wanted to write home about :)

LOVE YOU ALL WITH ALL OF MY HEART!!!!

love always your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux

Nov 12

with sister hobson and charity!

 at the baptism!

 Jerris and me!!!

me with Jerris and Christine

 Me with the Rose children! (love their family!!!)

Us with Stacie Tyler and their family!


Hello dear family!
The news is in and I have officially been transferred to Rapid City,
SD!!!!!! I am super duper excited!!!! Not that I don't love Grand
Forks but to be honest I am ready for a change. :) My new companions
name is Sister Haskell. She is hard of hearing and knows ASL!!! she
has a cochlear implant though so she can hear. But still I am super
excited to get to practice my signing skills!!! Also Sister Ransom got
transferred to Rapid too! so we will get to see one another. I will
get on the transfer train (the big 15 passenger van they use for
transfers... well they actually use 2 of them... so many
missionaries!) I get on at 5:30 tonight and I will hopefully be in
rapid tomorrow! That was my exciting news.
The next piece of exciting news is that Stacie and Tyler got baptized
on Saturday!!! they might have shown up 20 min late to their own
baptism but hey! they were there :) then Sunday we were waiting for
them to get to church and we texted her just to see if they were
coming. And she was like sorry I was in the ER this morning for a
breathing treatment because I have been so sick! what?! ya! crazy. but
they made it! Thankfully the opening song was master the tempest is
raging, which is forever and a day long :) they showed up right as we
started the last verse. At the baptism Stacie's mother in law spoke,
who is a very active member of the church and she just said that this
day was an answer to many, many prayers. Stacie's husband also shared
a few words and he talked about how he hasn't been the best Mormon but
that he knows that this church is true. I really hope that through
Stacie and Tyler's example he will be able to become really active
again. I just love them so much! Saying goodbye last night was hard!
but they have family in Rapid and should be visiting there at
Christmas time so maybe I will get to see them!
I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting on Sunday (we had stake
conference the first weekend) and as I was walking up Jadyn turned to
Sister Deem and told her that this wasn't going to be good news and
she looked down at the floor. When sister deem told me that it made my
heart hurt! of course I told the ward I had been transferred. I will
be super super sad to leave Jadyn! she is just an amazing girl. She is
having a little bit of a hard time because her family doesn't
understand why she is learning about a new religion. They just aren't
ready right now to hear it themselves. But she is progressing so well!
she comes to everything! Yesterday we played volleyball with the
Elders and jerris and some other people and she totally came and
played! it was way fun. Then we wanted to have a lesson with her this
week and she wanted to do it before I left. So we are meeting with her
this afternoon before I leave. She will be the last person that I
teach here in Grand Forks!.
Another random side note. Our car got hit on Sunday. So that has been
a real joy to figure. out. It snowed and the roads got icy and someone
slid into it and hit it when it was parked out on the street. We came
out from our dinner appointment and found it. Thankfully the left a
note and it should all get taken care of pretty easily. But I was
like, seriously! I am leaving in two days I don't have time for this!
:) but it will all turn out okay I am sure :)
oh!!!!! so the other day we were doing family history work and I found
something crazy! I was looking into great grandpa Boudreaux's family
because for some reason I just always feel drawn to him. and I could
never figure out why. But then I was looking at some census records
and on two of the records it lists that he has an older sister. But
she is NO WHERE to be found on our family tree. I can't find mention
of her anywhere besides on those two records. so we need to do some
sleuthing family!!! we have to find her!!!!! she is listed as Lily or
Lillian I am pretty sure. it says she was born in Tennessee. but that
is about it. and she is 12 on one of the census record and 22 on the
other so it's not like she dies as a child or anything like that. I
just thought I would share that with you :)
oh goodness I feel like so much has happened in the past week but I
don't even know what to write about. my brain is like mush. somehow I
have managed to get all of my stuff into my suitcases though! don't
ask me how because I have a WHOLE lot more stuff than I did when I got
to grand forks 7.5 months ago but some how I did it!!!
Well I love you all dearly! This work really is true. The Lord loves
us all. He is always there for us with his hands out stretched all we
have to do is turn to Him. This Church is TRUE! I know it with all of
my heart. I LOVE YOU!!!!
Love always your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux

Nov 4

birthday at the deems and jerris the elder and us before elder salmon got transfered!

 lunch with the YSA's on pday
color run!

Oh goodness I feel like I have sooooo many different things to write
home about! This past week has been crazy and this coming week will
most likely be even crazier! but things are going good :) The Lord is
with me always! Thank you so much for the letters and e-mails of
support! they really really helped. I can't believe that this transfer
is almost over already! Transfer calls are this Saturday and I am
almost positive that I will be getting one. Which I am ready for!
Sister Deem our bishops wife keeps asking me if I am leaving and I
tell her yes to which she replies No your not! what can I say I have
become a little attached to the Ward and they are a little attached to
me! :)

So exciting news!! Stacey and Tyler are all set to get baptized this
Saturday!!!!! They are just amazing and I love them oh so much! We
went over the baptismal interview questions with them yesterday to
help them prepare for their interviews this coming tuesday and the
spirit was so strong as they gave us their answers. All this past week
I have been super stressed out wondering if I have done everything
that I should have or could have to help them be prepared. I have been
worried that our lessons weren't good enough, that they didn't
understand what we were teaching. but hearing them answer the
interview questions with us clarity and pure testimony just reminded
me that I am not really the teacher. The spirit is. And he is a member
of the God head. Which means that he has the power to change peoples
hearts. To teach truths. To help them understand. All I do as a
missionary is deliver the message to the investigators. The Holy Ghost
is the one who converts them. It's amazing to get to see the Lord use
you as a tool in bringing others closer to him. I am just so
incredibly excited for them! Please keep them in your prayers this
week though! Satan is well aware of every investigator who has made
the decision to be baptized and he will do everything that he can to
stop them from receiving these wonderful blessings. But the Lord is
more powerful than Satan! that much I know to be true :)

this Saturday should be a good day! it's transfer call day so that
should be kind crazy. Then we have the baptisms and then a less active
/ investigator couple invited us over for dinner that night! so we are
super excited :) I hope to leave Grand Forks on a really good
note!!!!!!

This past Saturday was really special as well. We got to go down to
Fargo for the adult session of Stake Conference and hear Brianna Poppe
speak. It was amazing! The whole sesson was on Hastening the work of
Salvation because the first presidency has asked that every stake
throughout the church talks about this hastening of the work for their
adult sesson of general conference. so they asked Brianna to share her
conversion story. She did an amazing job! I loved her story because
she talked about how really the reason she was even interested in the
church was because she had known Brandon (her husband) and his family
for so long and knew they were good people. And that she understood
that even if she decided to never join the church that they would
still love and care about her. She did amazing! I just love the
Poppe's so much!!!!! The spirit was really strong at the meeting.

Halloween was good! We went to the ward trunk or treat on Wed night
which was tons of fun. They had both wards there so it was packed! but
we had a few less actives and investigators come! so that was awesome.
We dressed up as Sister Missionaries :) I totally got my whole costume
straight from my own closet! haha then Halloween night we went and had
dinner with the Deems and Jadyn and then had a lesson. it was a really
great lesson! we share the restoration and watched the restoration DVD
with her. She believes everything that she has learned so far. Her
only concern is that she isn't sure if her Dad will be supportive. Her
parents are divorced and her mom is totally supportive  but her Dad is
a pretty active Lutheran and she is scared to talk with him about what
she has been learning and that she wants to get baptized. She is
worried that she will tell him and he will feel like she is telling
him she doesn't believe what she was raised to believe and what he
believes. So we are going to work with her on that! I am confident
that sometime in the coming year she will get baptized. I dont' know
when but I do know that she is an amazing girl and that she was led to
the gospel for a reason :) teaching her these last few weeks I have in
Grand Forks has been an amazing blessing!!

oh I also got all the birthday packages! except for the calendar. So I
dont' know what happened to that. But with transfers coming this week
if you are going to try and send it to me again I would say to send it
to the mission office unless you think it could get to me by next
Monday at the latest. Thank you so much for all the birthday
greetings!!! they brightened my weeks :)

I know that the Lord gives us weaknesses to help us grow. There are
many strengths that I have been blessed with in life. I have a good
strong body (I may struggle sometimes at taking good care of it but
that is a different story! ;) ) I have a strong mind, mentally I have
always been able to understand what has been taught to me. These are
amazing blessings from my Heavenly Father. And yet emotionally I have
always struggled at least a little. and I was so upset these past few
weeks trying to figure out why on earth this was happening to me. For
the first 4 and half months of my mission I was soooo happy! there
were hard times and hard days but over all I was happy to be here. and
then these past 12 weeks I have just been struggling! not that I
haven't been happy but it's just been so much harder. Getting up in
the morning, doing the things that missionaries do. being patient,
loving kind, these important things have become incredibly hard to do!
and I found myself asking why!! why is this happening. I have been as
obedient as I can. I have worked and worked and done what the Lord
asked of me. Why was this happening. And then last week when I
completely fell apart I read the letter that our mission president
sent out to us for that week. and in it he shared Ether 12 about how
we all have weaknesses and that those things are what keep us humble.
And I realized that this weakness was not a punishment. It's not
something that the Lord has given to be because I was being a horrible
person. but that in considering all the wonderful blessings he has
given me it makes sense that he would also give me things that would
cause me to struggle. Because those things are what keep us humble. I
realized that this current problem was not something that I would be
able to conquer on my own. That if I wanted to overcome it I was going
to have to reach out and ask for help. That is one of the aspects of
being humble. knowing that we need the Lord. and sometimes we need the
help of others. Sometimes the Lord gives us the answers to our
problems directly. And sometimes he prompts us to reach out to someone
else for help. Calling sister anderson last week and asking her for
help was incredibly hard. I hate the fact that I can't solve this
problem on my own. but after I did that I felt so much better. I know
that sometimes the Lord's answer is for us to ask for help. The church
is structured in a way that when we need help there is always someone
we can turn to. That is why we have home and visiting teaching. It's
why we have priesthood leaders! So that we never ever feel like there
is no one that we can ask for help. And sometimes our answer is simply
that. Ask someone else for help.  I know everything is going to be
okay!!!! I love you all so so so much!!!!!! I know this church is
true. with all of my heart!!!!!!

I love you!!!!

Love always your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux