"Blue Grass Show Tonight!" <--where am I???

Hey Everyone! 

Amacalola falls :) So beautiful! 

I hope you are all doing well! Let me just start by explaining why the sign "Blue Grass Show Tonight" stuck out to me so much. Do you remember "The Goofy Movie" and there is like a possum show? Where they play banjos and what not.. Well apparently that doesn't just occur in Disney Animation.. But to my great surprise I was greeted by a large blow up possum holding a banjo and a sign that said "Blue Grass Show Tonight!" Yes.. that is real. I am going to miss the South when its time to go! 

Oh and another important thing to report on.. I've almost been out on my mission 9 months. In fact the official day is this Wednesday. Uh.. WHAT!? How on earth did that happen? Didn't I just get here? Wasn't I just walking off the plane in the Atlanta International Airport and getting the happiest feeling in my heart and saying "I'm home!"? I have no clue where the time has gone, but then I look at my journal and see the entries from each day (yup, still haven't missed!) and I think YIKES! I've been here a long time! 

Oh! One more thing before I forget.. Elder Oaks is coming this week to talk to our mission and the Atlanta Mission. That means I will have heard from General Authorities 3 of the 4 weekends in October (including General Conference). So that's kind of cool/totally crazy!  I think it will be really fun. :) I'm trying to think of a question that I want answered from his fireside or whatever its called. I'll let you know how it goes! 

Me and Sister Alder and Sister George at the top of Amacalola Falls! :) 

Now for the low-down on the week: 

We have seen a lot of miracles this week its been remarkable! We've had a lot of ward support almost out of no where, we found someone to teach!, we had many a laughs tracting, and also some really heart warming experiences too. Let me write a few..

• We had dinner with the Swifts about a month ago now and Sister Swift immediately called the RS president to tell her that her husband, who isn't a member, had never really enjoyed the missionaries coming over. But about 2 weeks ago he asked her "hunny, I really liked those missionaries, when are they going to come over for dinner again?" :) Miracle? I think yes! So we had dinner with them early in the week and then because no one had signed up to feed us on Saturday they gladly had us over again. I sure love them! 
• We visited a sister in the ward who has a thick accent.. No fussin'.. Fixin' to leave.. the whole sha-bang! When we asked her where she was from she said, "I'm from LA" She must have LOVED the looks of confusion on our faces because she busted up laughing and said "Lower Alabama of course! I ain't from the city!" I wish words could express how much I love hearing that accent.. And what's crazy is I almost don't even hear it anymore until someone else points it out, which means I'm sure there are times I use it! :) So.. if that's the case.. just embrace it when you hear it from me! :)
• We knocked on the door and the sweet woman Terry answered the door. She let us come in to say a prayer for her and her family. We said a prayer for her and her daughter in the hospital, after the prayer she gave us the biggest hugs with tears in her eyes and thanked us for the peace that she felt. Perhaps the biggest miracle of it all was that some Sister missionaries had prayed with her daughter in Alabama the day before and that's how Terry knew to ask us to pray. Honestly its simply amazing how much Gods hand is in this work! 
• A ward member said, "We really like our elders.. but truthfully.. We LOVE OUR SISTERS!" Felt good to see that the ward is starting to warm up to us :) 



Almost all the sisters in the zone last transfer that I worked with :)

• We were tracting and this fun energetic woman named Annie answered the door. As we talked she kept asking questions about prophets and the Book of Mormon. We testified of the joy and peace that enters the hearts of those who learn of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. She responded, "You know.. I think my Dad sent you. He passed away a year ago and I just really feel his love right now." Sister Alder and I told her that we knew that the Father of her Spirits or our Heavenly Father had sent us to her and that it was very possible that feeling her dads love was a way that God showed her that this is good. The smile could NOT be wiped off of any of our faces :) We have been talking to her every couple of days on the phone and she keeps saying how excited she is to have us come tomorrow and teach her more. What a blessing!! :) 

Basically its been a wonderful week. The bishop has started giving us names of families to teach the missionary lessons to and we have talked to a few of them and they have committed to invite their neighbors to join! How cool is that! :) I am just so thankful and amazed at how almost over night so much of the ward got so excited to participate in missionary work. We still have a lot of work to do to help the ward, but its really amazing! 

This week I am going on exchange to the area in the most northern part of our mission, to the real hills of Georgia. Its going to be epic! :) 

Well now that I've taken up half of your day with this email I might as well close. But first.. I keep mentioning things I am going to miss when I leave Georgia.. so to finish this email I want to mention one last thing. I am going to miss all the churches. I have probably 100 sayings written down or pictures from the marques of all the churches. Some of them are hilarious, others very spiritual, some bring a new perspective, and others simply make me smile. One in particular that I liked this week was "7 days without prayer will make one weak" That is SO true! I know there is such power in prayer. It is a beautiful way for us to communicate with our loving Father in Heaven. 

The other sign I liked taught me a lot about the afterlife and Halloween..

"Heaven isn't a trick, 

and Hell is no treat." HAHAHAHA thank you Antioch Baptist Church :) 

I love you all!! 

Love,

Sister Hamilton