Fwd: Cow Stomach, Birthdays, and Lawrenceville

From: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>

Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 3:17 PM
Subject: Cow Stomach, Birthdays, and Lawrenceville
To: Lindy Taylor <lindyjtaylor@gmail.com>

Hey y'all!

Exciting news, our new Mission President arrived in Georgia on Saturday! We meet President and Sister Bennion tomorrow at a multi-zone meeting. I'll dearly miss the Wolferts, but I'm sure great changes are to come and I'm excited to serve under the Bennions.

I arrived here in Lawrenceville this week, and I love it!! Lawrenceville is on the outskirts of metro-Atlanta, which means it's packed with middle-class subdivisions; PERFECT for finding new investigators. It's easy to navigate which will make learning the area fairly easy. The ward is incredibly supportive of missionary work-- it's nicknamed "Zion" by many in the mission. There are three companionships serving in the Lawrenceville ward-- two sets of sisters and a threesome of elders-- and each of us have nightly dinners and team-ups with ward members. The Ward Mission Leader is very organized and on top of things, and the other missionaries are great. We have three investigators on date to be baptized (!), which is better than I've had all at once before! We're teaching several children, which is awesome (sign me up for pictures and games!). I was thrilled with our statistical and spiritual successes this week. Lawrenceville is going to be a very fruitful area. 

I have save one complaint. Our apartment. We jus say "we livin in da hood" and we is ain't lyin none. :) They just got rid of most of the roaches (I've only found one here) and while it's not in the best part of town it's not in the worst, either. When I walked in for the first time on Wednesday, we wondered what the sound of running water was coming from...turned out our water heater had broken and was flooding the apartment! It didn't do much damage thank heavens, but that same day we went to a nice apartment complex in our area the sisters had been eyeing, got the information, and gave it to the mission office. The lease is up in September so we'll be moving soon. :)

My new companion is Sister Hjorth (pronounced "Yorth"), and she is a TREAT! I love her. She's from Springville, UT, the youngest of three, and she's been out nine months like me. (She came out a transfer before me, but had to go home for seven weeks to recover from a knee injury). She is loving, easygoing, hard-working, and today is her 20th birthday! We went to lunch at Panda Express to celebrate (her mom paid for her to take us four sisters out, how nice!), and I decorated the apartment and made us pancakes and eggs for breakfast. We got matching necklaces for my hump day on Wednesday (WOW that snuck up so fast!!), and we're getting along splendidly. She's a gem.

We taught Keo (Kay-o) and his two daughters Jane (12) and Kate (7) twice this week. I think I've connected with their family really well, especially the two girls. Keo and Jane are on date to be baptized on July 26th. Keo is Laotian and while his English is good, there are some barriers with the language. They are quite shy and Keo's wife has prejudices against Christianity, which has made it difficult for them to attend church; but we fasted for them Sunday to be able to attend church, and they came!! We want to meet Keo's wife to see if that helps dissolve some of her concerns. 

I'm sure you're all super curious about the above mentioned cow stomach. I got to explore some pretty crazy foods this week! In order of wow, I ate goat milk flan, okra, cactus, cajun boiled peanuts (filmed it), cow tongue, and cow stomach. Would you like to know how I liked them? Of course you would.

Goat milk flan: Delicious.

Okra: Mushy and meh. But not bad.

Cactus: It was cooked in legit Mexican tomales (not the spiky part :) ).Super yum.

Cajun boiled peanuts: Spicy mush. A mix of "meh" with *fanning my mouth*

Cow tongue: Taste? Thumbs up. Texture? Lil' weird. Only because you know what it is.

Cow stomach: An.....experience. Probs would not have been brave enough if I'd known what it was before I ate it. **details for the strong stomached** 

It's fuzzy-ish on one side and slippery on the other. Taste is bland, texture is weird. Probs a one time experience...but I ATE IT. Never thought Georgia would leave me so cultured!

I left my plug-in today so pictures are coming next week. :)

Have a wonderful week!
Sister Taylor