You Gotta' Love It!

WHAAAZZZZZZUUUPPPPPP!!!!                                                                 

How are you guys!? It sounds like everything at home is going well!!

Elders enjoying General Conference, April 2015

This week was exhausting and I have no idea why. Well, yes I do...because it was CRAZY. But, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Elder Gosar left on Wednesday morning but not before Sister King came down from Hickory Flat to take us out to lunch! I love that lady so much! It's good to know that I have a mom here who will take care of me when my momma can't! Elder Cottle arrived in Alpharetta on Wednesday and he's a stud! I'm excited to work with him. He's going to make an amazing impact on this area and be a great leader! Elder Cottle is from Orem and the ward is just SO delighted to have another missionary from Utah. J 

The work is so great! Everyone we're teaching is doing so well! I gave Stacy and Brian the scriptures and Bible videos this week and they loved them! Thank you so much for sending them. Mauricio and Kimberly are doing amazing. They are progressing so well for they’re still planning to be baptized on May 9^th. They also came to church this week, which was awesome! Their older sister, who is a member, told us that at random times they'll just get up off the couch and go pray together. So awesome! Their examples are also getting their parents interested in the church. So, we're praying for the opportunity to teach them as well.

Mercy is doing great too!! We weren't able to teach her much during the week because she was sick. After a lesson on Saturday, we committed her to come to church and she told us that she would need a ride. The first thing that came to my mind was, "Great! Another ride! There are only 15 others that need a ride too!" Well, the Spirit slapped me in the face for that thought and assured me that everything would work out. Later in the day we were struggling to find someone to pick up Mercy and her kids and drive them to church, when out of the blue, Fabiola, a recent convert, called to ask us a question. At the end of the conversation she told us that she had just spent the day with her friend in our ward, Sister Vann. Immediately a light bulb went off in my head. Sister Vann would be perfect to take Mercy to church! It was an answer to a prayer. So, we called Sister Vann and she was more than happy to pick up Mercy. The next day at church Sister Vann pulled me aside and said, "Elder, how did you guys know I knew Mercy?" When she saw the confused look on my face she said, “Ya, I went to one of the only lessons Elder Coleman and Elder Aubrey had with her six months ago! We got along really well! When I pulled up this morning, I knew the house looked familiar!" Ha Ha! It was amazing.

Then to top it all off, a less active member who hasn't been to church in several months came to church as well, and what do ya’ know… she and Mercy know each other because their daughters used to be close friends. So, now we're going to try and teach Mercy along with her friend, the less active member. The Lord knows what he's doing and it's so humbling to be a part of HIS work. When we're worthy and open to revelation He always guides us to where we need to go. You gotta’ love it!

We're also still working with Jacques and Nella but Nella has had debilitating back pain so it's been tough for her to progress. Please keep them in your prayers! We're also teaching the son of a lady who was baptized in December. His name is Tyrone Williams and he's 14. He loves our lessons and he loves his video games even more. Ha Ha. Now that I've started to use my 4 years of art class skillz to draw stick figures for him to illustrate our lessons, he’s finally starting to retain some of the things we teach him. Thank you Pat Eddington @ HHS for teaching me how to draw! But anyway, it's a comical struggle because for a teenager who has never been to church in his life, suddenly going for 3 hours is quite the adjustment! Who would've thought? He tried escaping multiple times yesterday, but we caught him before he could pull it off. Sucker! 

To top off the week, you've probably already heard about, it but there was a HUGE storm today. There were even tornado warnings. Being the geniuses that we are, as missionaries we thought we could ignore the warnings and everything would be fine while we played rugby. God will protect us right? Well, that was fun until hail the size of golf balls starting falling from the sky. Let’s just say they hurt like crazy. But, it was insane...the fields were all white.  It looked like it had just snowed.

I love you guys! When you're feeling down, remember things could be worse. You could be the squirrel we ran over on Tuesday. Then if you're REALLY feeling down, remember that the people in my last area would have eaten the squirrel we ran over on Tuesday. #Georgia LOVEYOUBYE!!!

Elder Roderick