Hey y'all!!
This week
was another great one in Hickory Flat. In order to have more people to teach,
we went into a finding stage which
means we ended up knocking on a lot of doors. Well, this led to some crazy
experiences! There is a local church in Hickory Flat called the Revolution Church,
and for the past couple weeks their preacher has been preaching about Mormons
and what he thinks is wrong with Mormon doctrine and yada…yada…yada. (I always
think it's funny when preachers teach about the Mormon people, instead of the
gospel). ANYWAY, the preacher’s sermons are on the church website and YouTube,
so recently a lot of people have watched them. The Revolution Church is really
popular here because of their rock band. HaHa! So, like I said, a lot of people
have heard this sermon, which means that many people know who the missionaries
are when we knock on their door. This week at 1 in every 10 houses we
approached we were greeted by someone from the Revolution Church who has seen
the preacher’s video or been to the church in person. This has led to a lot
of...fun...conversations about Mormons and everything that seems to be
"wrong" with us. HaHa! It's been pretty humiliating to listen to all
of it. Gotta love the South baby!
My man, Stanley, received the Aaronic
Priesthood on Sunday! After we gave it to him, he told me
his heart "has never beated so fast before." HaHa. It
was so awesome! Today he is going with the youth in our ward to the Atlanta
temple to perform baptisms and confirmations. He even went and bought a suit for
it. I'm so stoked for him!
The Heeter family, who were
re-baptized, is doing great too. Both of the boys have the priesthood
(again) and the younger one actually spoke in church on Sunday and did an awesome
job! It's been so rewarding to build a relationship with them and help them
continue to progress.
Yesterday morning we had breakfast at
a member’s house whose son just got home from his mission on Sunday night from
Africa! I have no idea why he would want us to come over 12 hours after getting
home. (Wouldn't you want a break from all these missionaries?) HaHa. It was
actually really cool though. Obviously, his mission was a very different
experience than what I'm having, but I noticed when he was telling us stories
that it doesn't really matter where you're serving because we're all just
trying to make people happier and make their lives better. No matter how many
baptisms you get, it doesn't matter!
Every day seems to bring more and
more challenges that make the mission more difficult and harder to endure, but
every night when I'm driving home I reflect on our day and realize how much
we've accomplished and how amazing the work is that we are doing. You only get
one chance in your life to experience the blessings of a mission, so lately
I've really been focusing on capturing every second and taking it all in. I
know I'm not serving in a third world country or anything, but I've really been
humbled and come realize how blessed I am to have a loving family and amazing
friends. I get the unique opportunity to talk to hundreds of people about
a million different things, and I've realized how difficult some people's lives
are and it's been humbling to hear their stories. It makes me want to help them
so much more. Sure, I still get homesick. I get homesick every day! But, that
doesn't mean I want to go home. There is no other place I'd rather be than the
404 because this is where I'm supposed to be!
I hope you're all having a great
holiday season!! Never forget who it's all about at this time of year....SANTA
CLAUS!!!!!! Just kidding, fools! It’s about Jesus Christ and I hope you never
forget it. Love y'all!!
Roddy
P.S. I've become
permanently Hickified!
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