Greetings from ATL, Hickory Flat and Tonga…

Greetings from ATL, Hickory Flat and Tonga…

What's up guys!! I am finally in Atlanta!! So crazy!! It's so different here! No mountains, no cool sunsets, trees EVERYWHERE, humid air, and a lot more bugs. BUT I LOVE IT!!!!

I have been assigned to an area called Hickory Flat! It's like Hicksville. There are a lot of open fields and the roads are hilly and narrow. The houses are spread apart and have long, steep driveways that are covered with forests. It's so cool!! Just like Salt Lake, there are the rich areas and the poor areas… but to a much larger extreme. In one neighborhood you can have huge houses then you walk down the street and suddenly you feel like you're in a ghetto trailer park infested with disease. Ha Ha, it's hilarious. There are definitely tons of people with that typical southern accent...it makes me laugh every time. I can't help it. The ways they say some things are just too funny. However there are also still tons of people who don't have an accent at all. A lot of people moved here from other places because Northern Atlanta is where all the suburbs and best living areas are. 75% of the people in my ward are either from Utah, have lived in Utah, or have ties to Utah. So I am not too engulfed in the southern lifestyle...but still plenty enough! The people in my ward are really nice and welcoming. They feed us fairly well (not as much as the sisters...) and they are accepting and very friendly.

My companion is literally straight from Tonga!! His name is Elder 'Auaea (uh-why-uh). Haha, he spent 9 weeks in the MTC to learn English! At first, I was SO confused that the president put me with him because he is still learning to speak English. But, after a few days with him, I am having a blast and we get along so well!! I joke around with him a lot and we just have a good time.

So as you can imagine he has a really thick accent. He is difficult to understand at times but he does really well for the most part. Somehow I got him speaking in this medieval Tongan creepy accent all the time and it's hilarious. He has the funniest phrases. Whenever something good happens, he says "absolutely!!" But it sounds like "aaaabzelootleh" hahaha. Literally, every time he sees a dog (which is every house in Georgia) he says "oooo dog... good for da tasteee". He used to kill and eat dog ALL the time in Tonga!!! Ha Ha. The only thing he knows how to cook is chicken and top Raman...so he eats it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He throws chicken legs onto to the stove, bone and everything, and cooks them and then just adds the noodles and eats it however he can. Every day I am reminded that he is straight from there and the last 17 months have been his only months in America. He's not like most of the Tongans in Utah where their parents are from Tonga, but they have been raised in Utah most of their life and are completely used to the culture. He gets confused about why people do certain things all the time. I can only imagine what it was like to be this kid's trainer!! Every morning at 11 he does language study..., which is pretty much watching Bible movies... it's so awesome. During companionship study I usually end up teaching him about what certain words mean and how they are pronounced. I have quickly learned that God really does put us with the companions that he knows will benefit us the most! Even though I feel like I train him just as much as he trains me, it has forced me to grow up quickly and I learn a lot from him! I help him with English and keeping the place clean and buy food, while he teaches me how to be a missionary. It's a good balance and it has helped us get along because we both feel like we have to rely on each other.

            The people here are either really nice, Christian people or sent straight from Hell. Ha ha, Seriously. Everyone is Baptist, Methodist, or Catholic and are very persistent on their beliefs. They think that they're already saved because they've accepted Christ as their savior and that's all they think they have to do. So for us, it is very hard to get them to listen to us because they are content with what they have and think they already have it figured out. What we do is knock on their door and offer to leave a blessing on their home instead of saying that we have a message for them. Since they are all religious, they are down to pray and let us in. From there, we teach them about what we do and share what we have to say. We do a lot more door knocking/street contacting than I expected! Out of the field, you hear about all these new ways missionaries can contact people because door knocking isn't effective (which it really isn't)… but they haven't really established any social media stuff (yet) and the only advantage we really have is a cell phone so we can call potential investigators and stuff. (I'm so tempted to call home... like it's right there in my pocket. ugh.) But ya, so I am already experiencing all the different ways people react to missionaries. We will go park our car and get out to knock doors, and someone will be walking their dog towards us then quickly turn the other way hahaha. We'll see people inside their house, but they won't come to the door. A lot of people say they can't talk right now and invite us back another time, then we go back and they yell at us for coming again and tell us they aren't interested. “Just tell us you aren't interested the first time so we don't waste our time. You idiots!” On my very first day a guy chased us out of his backyard with tree clippers and he had a pistol in his pocket hahaha. It was pretty scary but so funny looking back on it! Don't worry Mom. It wasn't that bad.

            Anyway...sorry anyone who is reading this is probably asleep by now. But I am really enjoying it!! One thing 'Auaea said was his best advice to me was to "Just laugh all of da time. Because there will be the days where you have forgot to laugh and those are the worst of days because no one will talk to you and slam da door in yo face". What great advice from my Tongan buddy. I'm just trying to laugh and have fun! I miss all of you so much!! Thanks for showing me so much love!! Even if I can't reply as fast or as much as I want to your words don't go unnoticed. They help me so much! Ofa atu!! Love you!

Roddy


Here's a picture of Elder Roderick with his mission president and wife (President Mark Wolfert)