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| "The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning" in Georgia |
Hey y'all!!
Yesterday
all of the libraries were closed for Veteran’s Day so every missionary in the
area went into a freak-out-panic-mode and the President had to call us and tell
us we could email for a little bit today. We don't have much time though, so if
I wasn't able to email you this week then I promise I will next week!
So this week was pretty crazy! An
hour after emailing last week, we got a call from the mission office with some
horrible news: our water heater in the apartment broke and EVERYTHING FLOODED!!
We hurried home and sure enough, we found half of our apartment soaked with water.
It was crazy! In the midst of getting everything fixed, I decided to make the
best of the situation and made a little slip 'n slide in our living room. The
floor was wet enough that we could run and slide on the carpet and water would
go everywhere. Our President sent us over to another area to sleepover for a few nights.
So, five Elders were in one apartment. I can see now why they don't let us do
that unless it’s an emergency because it was wayyyy too much fun!
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| When the floods rise up, the Slip 'n Slide rolls out |
Things are going great for us right
now. We're getting close to transfers and our tri-panionship doesn't want to
separate! We're pretty busy right now, but we've been struggling with
investigators dropping us. It's been happening pretty frequently. So we're
trying to figure out what we can do better.
This week
we had a really neat experience with one of our investigators named Opal Dodd.
Opal is about 60 years old and she's the sweetest lady in the entire world! She
had a grandson named Tate who drowned when he was only 4 years old, and ever
since Tate's passing she's had a really hard time coping and looking for the bright
side in life. We've been teaching her for a while now, and in her own words
"we've been her little Mormon angels." This Wednesday I called her to set up an appointment, and in tears she told me how she had prayed about
everything, and she decided that she wasn't going to change churches. She had
been reading every day in the Book of Mormon from the chapters we gave her, but
she felt like the Bible was all she needed and she wasn't ready to make any
changes in her life. So instead of giving her more commitments, I decided to
just ask Opal to open to a random page in the Book of Mormon and pray about it
one last time. Then, I promised her that on Friday we'd come by to talk to her.
So, on
Friday we went to her house, and Opal eagerly let us in the door. She sat us
down and told us how she had read a random chapter in the Book of Mormon like I
asked her. It turns out she read Moroni 8. Well, this chapter is all about how
infants are not required to be baptized and how they're always under God's
watchful eye. Amazingly, this fit right in with Opal's situation with her
grandson Tate. This is the only chapter in the Book of Mormon where it talks
about infants and baptism, and I didn't even know it existed. Opal told us,
"After reading this chapter, there is no way that this book isn't true.
God wouldn't lead me to read that chapter if it wasn't a true book." It
was seriously so amazing to hear this and to see the way that God is involved with
each and every investigator around the world. Now that she has found the truthfulness
of the Book of Mormon, we are working with Opal to help her understand what
else is true.
On Thursday I attended my first zone
conference. Our zone and the Roswell zone met at one stake center and the
President and his wife came and talked to us for the afternoon. I'll have 8
zone conferences on my mission, so 1 down, and 7 to go! Since there are so
many missionaries here, there were literally 80 missionaries just from two
zones. It was crazy! Anyway, at the conference Sister Wolfert told us that
one of the senior missionaries, Elder Hall, who works in the mission office,
had just been diagnosed with cancer. From the day I met him, Elder Hall has
reminded me of Grandpa Gary. I don't know what it is about him but he just
does. Sister Wolfert told us about his diagnosis and that as she spoke he was
receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Because both of my grandpas were
once in Elder Hall’s situation, the thought of this man being treated for
cancer hit me really hard. I'm not exactly sure why it affected me so much, but
it just did! While Sister Wolfert was talking, I was sitting in between my two
companions but at that moment I felt Grandpa Gary and Grandpa Bill's presence
so strong!! I felt like they were the ones sitting beside me and not my two
companions! The feeling affected my so deeply that I was brought to tears. I
know that my grandpas are always watching over me and protecting me. Sometimes
it just takes a little reminder to prompt me remember.
Because of
the flood, the rest of the week went my very fast. We were able to do service
for people every day of the week. As a missionary you might as well have
"free labor" written on the back of your shirt. Ha Ha. We only moved
two houses and two pianos this week! I honestly love it though. Service is my
favorite part of the work!
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| Halloween 2013 Elder Tonga and his harem of Sister Missionaries |
Have a great
week everyone! I love you all!!
Elder Roddy
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