That Was So Cool!

The Mays Family & Elder Roderick 

Hello there, Fam and Friends!                                                                                           

It was another amazing week! Sorry if this is kind of shorter, but I want to make it as brief and powerful as I can, because that's how this week seemed to go. It was over in the blink of an eye and it was spiritual the whole way through.

Since Joyce and Angel were baptized on Saturday, we mainly focused on the Mays this week. As we were preparing them during the week, things just fell into place perfectly.  Their baptism was one of the best moments of my mission. No doubt! In fact, it was one of the most spiritual moments of my life! Each of them were so excited and so happy. I think the best part of the baptism was that Julius was able to perform the ordinances. Man! That man is a completely different person. It has been so awesome to witness. Angel was baptized first.  Instead of sitting in the audience, I was around back behind the font watching from the side so I could give her a towel. After Angel came out of the water and was walking up the stairs, she yelled, "THAT WAS SO COOL!" Haha. Everyone laughed. It was pretty great. Then, Joyce was baptized and light just filled the room. I am so happy for the Mays family! They have come a long way!

During the week, the Mays introduced us to one of their friends, Weena Riddle, a lady they used to work with. Weena is going to be moving in with the Mays and changing jobs because her living situation isn't the best right now. Anyway, we started teaching her and she has so much desire to change her life and start following the commandments. During the week we set a baptismal date with her for August 15th, and I realized yesterday that it was the weekend before I return home. We didn't even realize that when we set the date with her. Weena really wants it to happen because she said she has received an answer that this is where she needs to be. The only hurdle we have to jump is making sure she gets to church the next two weeks. If all goes well with her job change, then it should happen, but if for whatever reason it doesn't, then we will reschedule her baptism date. I really don't mind if I'm there or not, obviously I would love to be, I just told her to do what she needs to do and let God work out the timing. When it happens it happens. Even so, it's been incredible to watch Weena’s acceptance of the gospel unfold. Seeing Julius change his life, receive the Priesthood, baptize his wife and daughter and bring someone else to the church has been amazing! The Mays definitely aren't perfect and many of their problems remain, but they are learning to handle them differently and make Christ a center of their lives, which is bringing them pure joy. After Julius received the priesthood last week, he told us it was the first time he had felt like he actually accomplished something in his life. Likewise, a few days ago Joyce told Weena, as we were teaching her, that she was the happiest she had ever been in 27 years. It doesn't get much better than that. The gospel is true!

 So those are definitely the highlights of the week! On Monday night Elder Detmer got transferred to Lawrenceville because an Elder down there had to go home for health reasons, so we lost our third guy. We have missed having him around and I'm grateful for all the things he taught me!

Have a great week y'all! Love you so much!

Elder Roderick

It's Time

What's up, Fam?!                                                                                          

Elder Detmer, Elder Bartholomew & Elder Roderick

This week was great! It was long and fast all at the same time. At this point, the weeks are just flying by. It's so crazy to think that some of my friends will be coming home this week and then after that, every week someone comes home! The two years of a mission go by way too fast!

This week, I had some of the best news of my life come from Roswell! Again! It was on Thursday and not much had really happened in the days prior to that. We were on our way to dinner when I got a call from the Roswell Elders. They said someone wanted to talk to me and before I knew it, I was talking to NELLA! It was so good to hear from her! We chit chatted for a little while and then she said, "Elder Roderick, I'm calling to invite you to my baptism on August 1st!" When I heard those words I WAS FREAKING OUT! Ahhhh… I was the happiest kid in the world! I couldn't believe it! She told me that a couple of weeks ago, she was praying in her closet, like she always does, and while she was praying she heard a voice tell her, "Nella, it's time." Immediately after she heard the voice she said she started crying because she felt the Spirit so strong. So, Nella and her son Jonathan, who is home for the summer from college, will be baptized on the same day! The craziest part about Nella’s decision is that earlier that day I was looking at pictures of Nella's family and showing them to my companions, and I said a silent prayer to Heavenly Father that He would bless them. Then, that night I spoke to Elder Gosar because Nella called him too, and he said that TEN MINUTES before she called him he was looking at pictures of Nella and Jacques on his camera and he also said a silent prayer that Heavenly Father would bless them! That's no coincidence! Heavenly Father does answer prayers and it is always in His timing! I can't wait to see Nella get baptized!

After the experience with Nella, the Lord really blessed us! We were in need of some new investigators because after Joyce and Angel get baptized on Saturday we won’t have anyone to teach.  But, on Thursday night, in the span of about an hour, He blessed us with two new people to teach. It was such a direct answer to a prayer.

Yesterday at church Julius received the priesthood! It was amazing. Talk about a change! Angel also had an interview with the bishop (since Julius is a member now, she is considered a child of record baptism) and her interview went great! Joyce has been doing really well too! If all goes well with her interview on Wednesday, they will both be baptized on Saturday. And, the best part is that Julius will be baptizing them! I love the Mays family so much! Joyce told me that I'm her adopted son, so when Mom kicks me out of the house, I'll have a place here in Georgia to stay. Please keep praying for them!

Well, I love you guys! Thank you for all you do for me every day! I'll see you soon!... but not too soon!

Elder Roderick

Wrapping it Up - Countdown Question #4

Throughout your mission you've held several leadership positions.

What has being a leader taught you?

In your opinion, what makes a good leader?

Ha Ha! Wowww...you would try to make me boast of myself! I'm just kidding. Having the opportunity to be a leader really has taught me a lot. One of the biggest things it has taught me is that no one has to be in a leadership "position" to be a good leader, because to me, the best leadership skills are those that can be shown on an individual basis and have nothing to do with any positions of authority. Christ was the best leader of all and his attributes of service and charity are what made him so remarkable. To me, what makes a good leader is your example. Actions speak a lot louder than words, which is why Christ was the greatest leader of all.

A Lesson on How to SELL the Gospel

Hey, Y'All,                                                                                                     

This week was so great! The Lord is definitely blessing those we are working with! To make it easy on you and me, I'll just start at the beginning of the week and go from there. 

There is a recent convert in our ward named Toombs Smith who is about 70-years old and he has to be one of the funniest men I have ever met. He loves to write poetry and paint and he used to be a really successful door-to-door salesman. So, for District Meeting on Tuesday I asked him to come and provide us with some training on how to be successful salesmen of the gospel and to read us some inspirational poems. It was seriously one of the best trainings, sermons, whatever you want to call it, that I've ever heard! The best part about it though, was the way it influenced HIM. After the meeting, he told us he had prayed to God for opportunities to share his testimony and have an impact on others. Then, the very next day we asked him to give the training. Being able to talk to us seriously made his life! So, we told the bishop about our experience with Toombs and he asked Toombs to give a talk in sacrament meeting next month! Ha Ha! It's going to be so awesome!

Wednesday was transfer day and Elder Detmer and I got a third companion! His name is Elder Bartholomew. He's a great kid! He is from Springville and has been out about 20 months, so Canton will be his last area. This transfer some of my closest friends in the mission went home. It was seriously so weird to see some of the Elders I've known since day 1 take off. At that moment, it finally hit me that I have very little time left! I'm going to miss all those guys but the great part is that I know I'll be seeing them when I get home! They have become some of my best friends. That same day we went to Roswell for Elder Detmer's doctor appointment and while we were there I called the Roswell Elders and found out that they were planning to visit Cleevens, Nina, and Jania! So, I went with them! It was so awesome to see those kids and they are doing great! The same day I also heard some of the best news of my life: Hugues, the 24-year old recent convert in Roswell whom I worked with, decided that he wants to serve a mission!! Ahh… I love that kid so much! When I heard the news, I was freaking out! I'm so excited for him! He has come such a long ways. He and his sister, Fabiola, and her kids, Mauken and Miah, are very special to me.

Elder Roderick says "Goodbye" to Elder Flake

Well, back to Canton.  We finished the week by making some great headway with the Mays family! They are coming along so well! Yesterday at church, Julius was interviewed for the priesthood and he will receive it next Sunday! Also, on Wednesday Joyce asked her boss if she could have work off on Sundays and he said, “yes!” So, now she can come to sacrament meeting and she was there yesterday. On Saturday we had a really good lesson with her where we committed her to start living the word of wisdom and she committed to being baptized on July 25^th. While on her front porch, we all got on our knees and she said a silent prayer to Heavenly Father.  She repented and promised Him that she would do her very best to follow all of His commandments. It was amazing to see her humble enough to pray like that and to see her acknowledge the need for change in her life. I love her!! 

             So, it was another great week! I'm just trying to soak it all in while I can. I love these people here in Georgia so much and I'm so grateful for everything that they teach me every day. As the missionary, I'm supposed to be the one teaching them about the gospel, but I feel like I learn more from them than they do from me, and it's because they are changing their lives to follow Jesus Christ. Nothing makes me happier than that. And I definitely know, without a shadow of a doubt, that nothing has made them happier than living the gospel! I see it every day! Have a great week y'all! 

Thanks for everything you do for me!

Love you,

Elder Roderick

A Southern 4th of July

Hello Fam and Friends,                                                                                                           

Elder Roderick with Greg & Angie Dustin
on the 4th of July 

I hope you guys are doing well and that you had a great 4th of July weekend! I was treated well, as always! On Saturday night, the Kings invited us to join them and a bunch of families from the Hickory Flat Ward for dinner. Then, after dinner, we watched the fireworks that were right by our house! During dinner Sister King said to me, "I'm glad you guys could come. I know it's not home, but it's still fun for you guys to be here!" and I responded, "But I feel just as much at home here as I do anywhere else!" These wonderful people have made me feel so at home. That's why I love it here. They deliver Southern Hospitality at its finest!

Well, it was a great week for the work! Elder Detmer and I are staying busy! I'm really grateful to be his companion because he's pushing me until the end! He's inviting everyone we teach to be baptized, and so far they are all accepting! Most of them just need to get further confirmation to their prayers. The Mays family is doing super well. It's so much fun and so rewarding to work with them. They're just the best people. I love them so much! Julius is doing so awesome and ever since his    baptism and confirmation and he's helping us work with Joyce and encouraging her to progress. Their situation is actually quite ironic because at first, she was the one who was asking us to help him, and now that he has changed so much and is doing so well, the tables have turned! So, they're all just helping each other. We moved Joyce's baptism date to July 25^th to give her more time. We've made a plan to help her live the word of wisdom. This week we also started teaching their daughter, Angel, and now she has also accepted to be baptized with her mom on the same day. It's amazing for me to see how much information she remembers our lessons.  It’s also so cool to see how willing little children, like Angel, are to follow Jesus Christ!

Elder Roderick & Elder Higginbotham

We're teaching some other great people too! We've been working with Todd, a guy we street contacted during my first week in Canton. He came to church on Sunday and has come a long way. He just has a million-and-one questions that he wants answers to, some that I don't think anyone but the Man Upstairs has answers for. Ha! Ha! At first, Todd was really nervous and stand-offish about the church, but the Spirit has worked in him and his doubts and concerns have started to be cleared, one at a time. We're also teaching several married couples and we're just trying to help them progress as much as we can!

Transfers are this week and tons of my mission friends are going home! Man! It's so crazy! I can't believe I'm starting the final transfer of my mission! I'm going to miss some of those Elders so much but, I know we'll be friends for life!

By far, the highlight of my week came on Saturday night. After watching the fireworks, we were driving home in the pouring rain and we saw a guy walking down the side of the street.  He was carrying a Confederate flag and yelling, "GOD BLESS 'MURICA!!" I thought to myself, "Well that's Georgia for ya’!" So, we pulled up to him and rolled down the car window to take a picture when I realized he was a recent convert in our ward! Like, we teach that guy! Weekly! I was laughing SO hard. You gotta’ love Georgia! It takes all kinds to build the Kingdom!

Have a great week y'all! Love you!

Elder Roderick