It's June!! Wait, what? Already?

 Well, I can't quite believe that it is already June. Where is the time going? Its crazy to me... sometimes days go by slowly and other times they speed by; this week went very fast. My heart has been so full all week and it seems like everywhere I go I announce to the people that I am with that I have a brother who is going on a mission soon! I am so proud of Zach... I am also proud of Nick, to hear last week that he wanted to know what to do in order to be prepared made my heart burn. I love my boys so much and miss them both everday- Oh, and that sweet Lucy. It is crazy how much I miss her. I have also been reading in Alma and about the 2,000 stripping warriors. This story empowers me as a missionary because the thing that sticks out in this passage is not that they were just willing ... but that they were ready because they were raised well. I love you Mom and Dad so much and can see everyday the things that you did so that not only me, but all of us children would be ready to serve the Lord. You are the best. I love you all so so so much.

The work here continues... opening an area is hard; and I have to keep telling myself and our companionship that it is all going to come it time. Right now we aren't really teaching anyone, Bobby dropped us (he may have us back) and it is hard to get into Eric and Farzaneh's home (the couple with the autistic sons). I am trying to have faith and remembering that I did not come to Georgia expecting to baptize the masses, instead; I am bringing people closer to Christ. If that is through baptism great; if not... that's ok too. We have been doing a lot of work with the Ward and trying to get them fired up about missionary work but really its the most valuable and best way to get through to people; to find those who already have relationships with members. We have also been working with less active and part member families. I love them and as we have made our visits with them we are seeing them come to church more and more! I know that this is one of the most important parts of missionary work. Right now I would ask that you all pray for someone who's name is Faith.. we don't know who this person is but we have made it our goal "to find faith" --- this represents someone that we feel the Lord has prepared in our area to be baptized this month. Pray that we will find him or her, we know that teaching will not be hard becasue he or she is ready- it's just a matter of getting to them!
This week we went to our Trainee/Trainer meeting; this means that I have been in Georgia for over a month. It was fun to see everyone from the MTC and hear about their successes and trials.  

I had an interesting experience, we were in Kroger going to the bathroom and we came out and there was this very strange man standing there; he said to us "I stole your bikes." We laughed and continued on... he walked over to where our bikes were parked and started to talk to us, telling us that we he was a pastor and that he had never met mormon missonaries before and wanted to ask us a few questions. His questions were not your average run of the mill questions, but deep doctrine and hard, He made us feel small and slightly stupid, but then decided that he would make right by saying VERY inappropriate things about our looks! PERVERT. I did what I have been trained to do and just testified of what I knew was true .. but the more we did this the more he went off on us and bombarded us with hateful comments and ra-dikalus questions. I realized this, that the people I am supposed to find while I am here have been prepared to listen; this man wasn't listening, let alone, hearing what the spirit was saying. It was cool though, because through this my testimony was strengthened and I learned a lot! Oh opposition, it has a funny way of working; doesn't it?
I also met a man who writes Rap music! We think that he might of been legit because he wouldn't give us his address.. I'll give you the details on our friend Jonathan if anything happens... Who knows, maybe you might hear a song on the radio that talks about the restored gospel? Like I said before I left... I plan on hooking many-a-brotha up with this gospel!

It is getting hotter and hotter here everday.... and by hotter I mean more and more humid. I don't like humidity... I don't like to sweat; but my companion told me that women in the south do not sweat, "they glisten". I am still loving everything; I love the green. I love riding my bike for the most part, I love that I am exhausted at the end of the day.
I love the tender mercies....There are so many of these from day to day. For the most part I have seen a lot of these this past week, simple things like good dinners, cold drinks of water, sidewalks to ride our bikes on so we don't have to go against traffic, kind people in passing, the love of my family and friends and the sweet letters I recieve from you all each week. I just love you all so much and would ask you to look at each of your lives and focus on the tender mercies... the little gifts from God that make our lives sweeter.

 

I want you all to know that I love this work & I love the people here. I am doing so well and I know ya'll are doing great. Have a fabulous week. Do good things!