Hey y'all!!!
It was an
awesome week in Hickory Flat!! God definitely blessed us, that's for sure. We
witnessed miracle after miracle and our hard work finally started to pay off!
This week seven of our investigators came to church, which was amazing to see!
One family we've been teaching, the Francos, showed up with all five of their
cute, Hispanic children and the entire ward was so happy to see this new family
walk in the building. While they were sitting in front of us I couldn't help
but think about how much potential each of the Franco children had in the
gospel and the difference they could make around the world as missionaries! I'm
always looking at the big picture, which sometimes gets me into trouble. Hey, you can never dream too big right? After I leave Hickory Flat, I hope the
missionaries can continue to help this family progress and grow!
On Tuesday we visited our top
investigator, Max, and I had to lecture the poor kid because he hasn’t been
taking our discussions or his commitments very seriously. Well, I think it
scared him half to death because before we knew it, he was doing everything we
asked of him and he has been reading the Book of Mormon every day. What a change it
has made in him! After church on Sunday, he wouldn't stop talking about how
good he felt and how the church "felt like home!" Right now he is
scheduled to be baptized on February 22nd, which is after I'll be
gone, but that doesn't matter! As long as it happens, I'm happy. I'm so proud of
the progress he's made and it's been amazing to see the way the gospel has made
him so much happier. Satan hits him so hard every week with all sorts of trials
and doubts but I know he'll get through it!
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| Elder Roderick visits the Methodist Church and enjoys their rock band and choir. |
Yesterday we decided to visit a
Methodist church down the street from our apartment. It's been pretty fun to go
to different churches on Sunday and experience the South to its fullest. This
Methodist church members were really nice and they had a great choir. It's easy for me to understand why people would rather attend churches other than the LDS church because
we don't have a band, you have to dress up and "MAN! our Bible is just so
hard to read!" Ha Ha. But one thing I've noticed is that none of these
churches have the most important ingredient, and that's the Spirit! Don't get
me wrong, they are full of amazing people who have the right foundation, but
the Spirit that is felt with the LDS church is incomparable!
The best experience of the week BY
FAR was on Saturday night! Elder Pena and I were asked to go to Atlanta with
the Assistants and contact outside of The Book of Mormon Musical which is being
performed at Fox Theater. For those of you who aren't familiar with it,
it's a musical written and produced by the producer of South Park (who used to be Mormon) that
basically makes fun of and mocks Mormons the entire time. It was a great
opportunity for us to talk to people about what Mormons really believe and know
to be true! We contacted outside for a while, then at around 10:30 the musical
ended and people came pouring out of the theater. I can barely explain what happened next. Suddenly there were 5,000 people coming at us
HARD right after they had been filled with false truths!
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| On the streets of Atlanta headed to the Fox Theater. |
I would
pick two people in the crowd and start walking with them down the street and
talking to them about the real Book of Mormon, and when I was done with them,
I'd pick two more and do the same thing. Before I knew it I was three blocks down
the street from the nearest missionary and a million people surrounded me.
There were tons of people laughing and yelling at us, but there were also a lot
of people who were intrigued by the play and genuinely interested in reading the
Book of Mormon. There where times when I would go to a street corner and
start talking to about twenty people while they waited to cross the street.
Might as well get 'em while they're stuck right? I felt like a preacher. I
would yell, "How did everyone like the play!" and they would all shout,
"We loved it! It was hilarious!" blah blah blah, so I would
scream, "Well, the book is better!" They would respond,
"Really?? Give us one!" It was seriously so awesome! We distributed 300 books and materials and talked to over 500 people. There was also a newscast
outside the theater that filmed Elder Pena and me talking to a couple during
the play. It was so scary knowing I was on camera because the guy was
hitting me with some tough questions but it was also so much fun! I'll let you know
when the video comes out. They said
sometime in March!
All is well my peeps!! Thank you for
all your love and support! I'm probably getting transferred next week so that
means I won't be at the same apartment anymore! If you could send your mail to
the mission office for the next couple weeks, until I find out my new address, that would be great!!
1150 Cole Drive
SW
Lilburn, GA
30047
Love y'all! Keep
on keepin' on and remember God loves you because I know he loves me and I don't
deserve any of it! Laterzzzz
Elder Roddy
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