#FriendsintheATL

HEY Y'ALL!!!                                                                                                  

Another week down in the ATL! Time is flying by so fast. I feel like yesterday was Memorial Day and I can't believe school is out too! This week was graduation for all the schools in Georgia and ohhhh my goodness! You would think that it's the biggest event of a person's lifetime. Northern Georgia is organized into subdivisions and each subdivision has it's own name.  They are separate little communities that don’t connect to each other. So, for the past two weeks each subdivision has hung up a huge sign in the front of their neighborhood that says, "Congratulations 2014 graduates!" Then, in front of every-single-house there is a sign with the graduate's picture and an announcement about where they are going to college. Ya, apparently it's a huge deal. The southern people love to celebrate and the graduates deserve a celebration because they're all bi-lingual.  They have to pass English class AND master the southern language. I promise, ATL is a different world with a different language and I LOVE IT! 

         

   The week was great for Elder Flake and me! On Tuesday, we had a zone conference with four of the seven zones in our mission. It was such a great conference! It was the Wolferts last one before they return home to Utah so, of course, they were pretty emotional.  It was so interesting to hear them talk about all of the experiences they’ve had over the last three years and how much they have loved being our Mission President and wife. I'm really going to miss them! Last week the Assistants called us and told us that we were assigned to provide a training in the conference, so we thought, "Ya, okay. No big deal." Well, when we got there and the conference started, we finally realized how many zones were attending and how many missionaries there were - only 100+! So, low and behold we got up there and trained in front of everyone! At first, it was nerve wracking but after awhile we settled in and it went great. Our training was on the “standards of excellence,” which is a rather boring topic, so the only way Elder Flake and I could figure out how to spice it up a little bit was by comparing it to dating. Ha! Ha! I could tell that at first President Wolfert was thinking,  “Whoaaaaa!” But, then we tied it all together and it went really well!

            As I'm sitting here typing the lady next to me asked me how to spell "muscles." My morning workouts must really be paying off. Not.

          We had the opportunity to provide tons of service this week, which was awesome! It's been either really hot or really foggy and humid. So no matter what the weather is like, in less than an hour  I’ve been soaking wet from the moisture. After just one hour of yard work, I seriously look like I have taken a shower! One day we were doing some yard work for a member and he walked outside and said, "Hey Elders I gave you that water to drink, not to dump all over yourselves!" We were thinking, “YA BRO! WE KNOW. IT AIN'T WATER."

Friends in the Library

For all my #twitter fans out there I have a funny story. One night this week, Elder Flake and I were teaching a member family and at the time of our lesson, their teenage son had three of his ward member friends over to their house. After our lesson, I was talking to the son and his friends and they asked if I had a twitter account. So, I told them my profile and they went and looked at all my tweets. (Note: The lesson here is that it is soooo important to have clean tweets.  You never know who will read them or when they will be read!)  Well, as my followers know, on my profile half of my tweets are the “#friendsinthe___” tweets that Smitty and I started. So, the kids started looking at all of them and they loved them. By Sunday at church everyone was taking selfies and doing the #friends hash tag. Ha! SO, THE LEGACY CONTINUES!

            Our investigators are progressing and we

feel great about them! We're still teaching Brandon, Emoy, Kamari and Aaysia every week and they're doing really well! They aren't even baptized yet but Kamari has been bringing his friends to our lessons and he even brought one to church this week. It's so awesome. This week we're teaching them the Law of Chastity, which is their biggest hurdle since they are dating and living together. So, pray for us that it goes well. We'll probably just get the bishop to come over and offer to marry them. Ha! If it were only that easy!

Thank you all for your love and support. I'm beyond grateful for each of you!

Peace up, A-Town down!

Elder Roddy

The Power of a Testimony

Hello Friends,                                                                                                

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! Wow we are just so blessed to live in this amazing place we call 'MURICA. Today, the Georgians are firing up their grills and having some nice "Barbecurrrrr." There's nothing like a patriotic holiday in the South!

I'm sorry I don't have much time today, but I'll do my best to share some of the best experiences we've had this week! Gosh, I just love the South so much.

To start off the week I went on exchange with a Spanish Elder in his area. I always love/hate these exchanges because the experiences are always great but God hasn't given me the gift of tongues yet. So, I literally don't understand anything that's going on which means my mind just wanders off into no man's land. The exchange was... interesting. We went to a really humble apartment complex to pop in on their investigators and let me just say, the place was very, very run down. We were teaching this lady and a random cat came and sat on her lap and this cat did NOTTT look muy bueno so I said, “Maám is that your cat?" and she replied, "No. This is stray. Me don’t know where cat from." You know how I just adore cats. NOT. So, I’m thinking, “Ahhh LORRRD help us all. Then the cat tried to come cuddle with me and I was thinking, “NOOPPPEEEE!” That poor cat probably never felt less loved, but Roddy wasn't about to let that fly.

We had an interesting lesson this week with some Jehovah’s Witnesses that we met! One thing that I respect about them is they are very passionate about what they believe and do their best to share it with everyone like we do! We usually don't like to meet with Jehovah’s Witnesses because discussions can get pretty contentious, but the wife of the couple had just read the entire Book of Mormon and she had some questions, so we agreed to meet. Our discussion was worth our time because as we taught them, the husband tried to bring up scriptures and argue but we finally stopped and said, “Listen We're just going to bare you our testimony." So, Elder Flake and I started testifying and we looked over at the wife and she was wiping away tears! She had to hurry and get herself together so that her husband didn't see, but it was really cool to see how the Holy Spirit touched her! There is nothing more powerful than a firm testimony of the gospel!

Everything else is going great! I love and miss you guys so much!! Thank you for everything you do to support me.

Elder Roddy

An Instrument in God's Hands

HEY Y'ALL!                                                                                                    

It was a great week here in the Grayson area of ATL! Every week in the mission field is just amazing. We see miracles every day and I love witnessing how the gospel helps people change for the best. There's nothing better!

The work was kind of slow this week and I don't have much time to write today, but I want to share a lesson I learned from a member of our ward, Brother Watkins. On Wednesday afternoon Brother Watkins went with Elder Flake and me to teach one of our investigators named Oliver. Oliver is Jamaican and he can be very frustrating to teach because he doesn't believe anything we tell him unless it's straight out of the Bible. We taught him for probably an hour and a half that afternoon and I walked out of there feeling like we hadn't really accomplished much. When we were in the car Brother Watkins asked us how we were feeling and both Elder Flake and I expressed how frustrated we were. Brother Watkins said "Ya, I can see that. But I want to tell you why you should never be frustrated about a lesson or any of the work you are doing." He proceeded to tell us a story about his grandpa. Just to give you a little background story, Brother Watkin's parents are converts to the church and his grandparents weren’t members. In his immediate family, Brother Watkins and his parents were the only ones who were active in the church during the time when his grandpa was nearing his death. Right before his grandpa died, he shot out of bed and basically begged Brother Watkins to take him to the Salt Lake Temple because he had known all along that the gospel was true. However he didn't realize how important it actually was until he was so close to death. Brother Watkins went on to tell us that there had been many opportunities for his grandpa to join the church and there were a lot of people who influenced him and helped his testimony grow. There is a lot more to the story that I'm not including, but Brother Watkins told us this story so that we could understand that it's not always the right time for everyone to accept the gospel while we're teaching them.

Oliver is one of the most curious investigators I've taught so far. I can tell that he knows what we teach him is true because it makes him uncomfortable.  Even though he is troubled, he continues to grow and continues to want more. From him I’ve learned there is truth in the phrase, "There is no growth in comfort and no comfort in growth." From Brother Watkins I also learned that although people like Oliver might not be ready NOW to accept the gospel, we never know what the Lord's timetable is or how He is preparing his children to accept the fullness of His gospel. I really believe that Oliver will join the church some day, but it's going to take time. I’ve always known that as a missionary I am an instrument in God’s hand and that it’s my job to deliver the message He has prepared.  It’s not my job, however, to dictate when, if at all, his children will accept the truth.  My experience with Oliver has helped me live and completely understand this truth. In addition, the lesson I learned from Brother Watkins is that missionary work isn’t always about numbers and what others see as successful. It's about helping others along the path of their of personal progression which includes guiding them toward gaining a testimony.  I've come to learn that I really couldn't care less how often I baptize or who I baptize.  What I do care about is all of the lives I touch every day in one way or another. 

I don't know why I wanted to share this story. I do know, however, that I’m learning to be more humble, patient and grateful every single day.  I love each of you and am so grateful for your support! Have a great week y'all!

Elder Roddy

P.S.  Make Mother’s Day a month long celebration.  Go to church and make her happy!

Questions Asked and Questions Answered

HEY Y'ALLLL!                                                                                                 

WOW! It was such a great week here in the amazing city of Atlanta Georgia! (I like to say I'm in Atlanta because everyone knows it's more fun down there, and in reality, I'm close enough). It's only been 92 degrees with 90% humidity all week long and I haven't died yet.  However, give me one more month and I think I'm done for. Honestly though, I love every minute of it!

Grayson Zone of the Georgia Atlanta North Mission

            To start the week, we had zone training meeting.  This is where our entire zone gets together for 3 hours to receive training and instruction. Elder Flake and I were able to plan the meeting and it went really well. We have the best zone in the world! Transfers are this week and we're losing a lot of effective missionaries but we're also receiving a number of great ones too. The good news is, Elder Flake and I are staying together. YA BABY! We're so stoked! Anyway, after the zone training meeting all the Elders in the zone went to a Chinese buffet for lunch and some of the them decided to have an eating contest. Bad idea! By the end of the hour they were all practically dead and Elder Flake just walked up to them and said, "Sorry y'all! Should've thought about how you’d feel before ya’ did it. Time to get back work!" He doesn't take any excuses and I love it!

            This week we had an amazing lesson with our investigator, Emoy, and her daughter, Aaysia. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and you could literally see the spirit work inside her and help her answer the questions we asked. Emoy is absolutely hilarious. Based on what we had just taught her, we would ask her a question and she would say, "Hmmmm...okay. Lord Jesus speak through me here," and then she'd pause for a second and answer it PERFECTLY! It was amazing to witness! At the end of the lesson, Emoy offered the closing prayer and she said these exact words, "Thank you, Father, for sending these boys to answer questions of mine that I've pondered for the last three decades.” It was literally miraculous to see how the gospel, when taught SO simply, answered some of the questions that had been puzzling her throughout her entire life!

The Roderick Family

            Our great week capped off yesterday with MOTHER'S DAY, which meant I got to Skype home! It was the best thing in the world to be able to talk to my fabulous family! They are so supportive of me and I couldn't ask for a better family. I seriously love them so much. I thought it was going to be really hard to see them, but following our conversation I was motivated and inspired to be the best missionary I can! And, I just want everyone to know how much I love my mom! She's the best and no one compares. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I love y'all so much! Thank you for everything you do for me.

Have a great week,

Elder Roddy

The Power of Fasting and Prayer

HEYYY Y'ALL!!!                                                                                             

Well it was another great week here in Georgia! I swear, I love this place more and more every day! The people are amazing and there's nothing like hearing someone cuss at you in their southern twang and using "y'all" every other word while they're doing it. Gotta love the South baby!

            We had an amazing week! On Sunday, I had a really cool experience I’d like to share with you. I decided to fast to find a new investigator who Elder Flake and I could start teaching, because we really needed one and we have been struggling to find them all week long. So, I fasted for it and all during church I just felt like it was going to happen. After church Elder Flake and I were driving home to do our weekly planning before going to an appointment, and I don't know why but I felt prompted to look at him and say, "Dude, forget the planning I feel like we need to go follow up with some people right now." He didn't argue, so we stopped by this neighborhood right by the church where we had tracted a few days earlier. While there, we met a lady named Robin Massey, and at the time we were talking to her she didn't seem very interested. She was nice and everything but didn't seem like she wanted to hear more. She didn't give us her number, but said we could stop by sometime on the weekend if we wanted. We decided to follow up with her, and while we were walking up the driveway I thought to myself, "I can't believe we're even going back to this lady's house." We knocked on the door and her boyfriend, Justin, who she's been with for twelve years answered the door. We had barely finished introducing ourselves when he said, "You guys wanna come in?" So we walked inside and started talking to him.  He told us that he was in the army and that he and Robin hadn't been to church in awhile and that it was really starting to have an effect on them. Like I mentioned, he said they had been together for twelve years and they have a nine-year old daughter together. At the time we were talking to Justin, Robin wasn't there but after about fifteen minutes she walked in and said, "Hey! I was just thinking about you guys. I was telling my husband how amazing you were." Elder Flake and I looked at each other and we were thinking, “Where was this enthusiasm three days ago?” We started talking to them about the gospel and the Book of Mormon, and without even asking them, Justin said, "Ya, we'll be at your church next week. We have no excuse not to be there." We were thrilled. Ya, baby!! It was a really cool experience. It showed me that God will answer our prayers as long as we're willing to go out and work for them ourselves.

            This week I also found out that someone I baptized in Hickory Flat was able to receive the priesthood and baptize his wife a couple weeks ago! They wrote me a letter and told me they planned on getting sealed for all time and eternity in the temple a year from now! The happiness of the gospel is real!

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Go eat a burrito or something.

Love you all! Thank you for your endless support,

Elder Roddy