He Eventually Pushed Her Under

What's up my crazy family!                                                                       

Thanksgiving Day forecast in Cornelia, Georgia

This week was great! A lot happened so I hope I can capture the best parts for you. We had a zone conference on Wednesday and it was amazing! President Bennion was on top of his game and provided us with some great training sessions. I always learn a ton from conferences where we are taught applicable missionary ideas and tools.  Then, on Wednesday night we went to the Young Men/Young Women activity because James (Robin's nephew) came! He wants to be in Boy Scouts so he got to know a lot of the boys in the ward. His attendance that night made it really nice for us on Sunday when he came to church for the first time because he already knew people. Robin, Renee’ and James are doing great! We also found a few new investigators this week, including a family that we're really excited about. So, pray for them and for us!

The Church is introducing a really cool finding tool for us. It's a Christmas video called “He Is The Gift.” The missionaries were given tons of cards and things to pass out that have John 3:16 printed on the front - so all the Baptists will love them! The video will be released the day after Thanksgiving, so check it out!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,

but have everlasting life.

Cornelia Ward Turkey Bowl participants

On Saturday morning the ward held a turkey bowl. Luckily the weather was perfect and a whopping 12 people showed up! Even though our numbers were few, it was still so much fun! I had to show respect for my team and all of my Utah t-shirts were in the wash so I ended up wearing my Utah pajama shorts. It was way fun!

Today we are going to the Dustin’s to have Thanksgiving dinner at their house. So, that means another PIE IN THE FACEEE! Ya Baby!

Elder Roderick plays QB in the Turkey Bowl

The best part of the week, by far, was yesterday! Well, I don't know about the BEST part but it was definitely the most memorable. The sisters in our ward had a baptism scheduled after church for a sweet 55-year old lady they've been working with. On Saturday night they asked me if I would fill up the font during church and of course, I said, "Ya sure. No problem". Well, yesterday church was crazy because we had to teach a couple classes and escort investigators around, so ya, you can see where this is going…. I forgot to fill up the font! I was sitting in Elders Quorum, which was in the same room where the baptism was going to take place, and about five minutes before church ended I remembered about the font.  I thought, "Oh! My! Gosh!........." Well, of course the Bishop started to get mad and the sisters were looking to kill me and people were fussing and everyone was just looking at me and I was thinking, "YO! CAN WE ALL JUST STOP TALKING AND FUSSING AND FILL THIS THING UP???" Usually it takes at least an hour and a half to fill up the font and the baptism started in twenty minutes. So, we turned the font on and then we also ran a hose from the janitor’s closet into the bathroom and into the font. Then, we literally started cleaning out garbage cans and filling them up with water and dumping it into the font. Ha! Ha! The whole ordeal was quite a site. By the time the font was ready for the sweet lady to get dunked, there was maybe a foot and a half of water. The Bishop was performing the baptism and while I watched him baptize her I wasn't sure if I should laugh, or cry, or run away. Eventually, he pushed her all the way under! YAY! I took our new member some flowers this morning to apologize, again.  So, that was definitely an experience I'll never forget! Leave it to me. Goodness gracious.

Well, enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend and know that I love you and I'm grateful for each of you! I don't want to get too cheesy so just PLEASE DON'T EAT ALL THE JELLO. K. Bye.

Elder Roderick