Fwd: Doin' fine. (fine, ef-ay-ah-in-ee).

Date: Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 12:31 PM
Subject: Doin' fine. (fine, ef-ay-ah-in-ee).

Hay y'all!

 

What can ah do ye fer? Ah'm lovin' thee-is cuhntry livin'. Ah weeish ah cood wraht thuh way people tawk day-own here. Ee-iht's ahwesome.

 

I'm breaking this up into sections today to make it easier to read. Sorry so long. I'm a talker, and they sent me to the South, the land of talkers. It's inevitable.

 

The Culture:

I LOVE LIL OLD NORTHERN GEORGIA. This place has got character. The other day we were up in Ball Ground (this middle-of-nowhere old country town where the Cherokee Indians used to live), and ate at Dot's-- a little restaurant that Dot, the owner, has been running for forty six years-- and I don't think much has changed. It was empty except for a table of old people, regulars, in a corner, chatting and watching an old fuzzy TV with VHS's stacked next to it. She had a few pots of whatever she'd cooked up that mornin, and that's what we chose from. She served us chicken n' dumplin's, with orange soda, for two dollars. She had to go to the back to find us a spoon. It was so legit. New definition of homestyle cooking. :)

 

Sister Mac and I were dinnerless, so we went to Waffle House for dinner. I described it last week. It's a little podunk breakfast chain that's everywhere in Georgia. Every person working there came over and talked to us about the church! The first lady was missing several teeth, had an accent thicker than cloth, and accepted a Restoration pamphlet when she saw us reading one. The second was a young man in his 20's with an awesome red moustache and ponytail. He heard us humming a hymn and asked what we were singing. "It's a song about a prophet, have you heard of the church...?" It was an easy lead in. :)  He'd just moved from Minnesota (he was surprised when I was familiar with Sauk Rapids, close to St.Cloud where he was from-- thank you Dickersons!), and is a musician so we were able to relate to him on that. Gotta love Waffle House. :)

 

The Work:

The work this week was a little slow. But we did meet a LOT of people we're going to follow up with this week! Several were in government housing we tracted in. Hopefully we'll have several new investigators soon. Especially in lower income areas, people are pretty nice (nass) whether or not they're interested. 

 

In terms of news, we got transfer calls today!! Transfers are this Wednesday. Sister Macedone is going to a singles ward and I am staying in Canton! My new companion will be Sister Alvey. Sister Macedone trained her. I hear she loves to sing (yay!) and loves dressing up as Disney princesses for parties and events. I'm excited to meet her.

 

The Spirit:

I felt impressed a few days ago to study prayer. I did and was reminded that we pray because God is our Heavenly Father-- He is our Dad!! We should want to talk to Him! Later that day I decided to flip open my Preach my Gospel and see what God wanted to tell me. What did I turn to? The section "Pray Often" in chapter 3. Bam. God speaks to us openly and clearly when we are willing to listen. We are taught to be bold and clear when we testify of the gospel. Why wouldn't God be bold and clear with us? He doesn't make things vague or difficult to understand. He wants us to become as little children; to allow the gospel to operate simply in our lives. The gospel is easy to understand. His answers are clear and simple. Acting on them may be hard, but they come as we are worthy and willing to receive them. If you're having difficulties with prayer or receiving answers, ask yourself-- "Am I willing and worthy to receive answers?" That helps me. Hopefully it will for you too. :) 

 

I'm going to miss my vivavious, generous, bubbly Sister Macedone-- can't wait for more adventures with Sister Alvey! We're going to go bowling now at a ghetto bowling alley. Hopefully the only strikes will be with bowling balls and pins. ;)

 

Much love!

Sister Taylor