I hope you are all having a wonderful week and enjoying the weather wherever you are. It was stinking cold again this week. UGH! Everyone says "Y'all just came the wrong wintEr.. this is the strangest thang we've eva seen" And I just think, AWW! just my luck, the wettest summer on record and the coldest winter they've seen in 20 years. Just makin' history I guess! Yesterday and today's weather were awesome though! Its back up in the 50's (which is normal "winter" weather) and I feel like I don't even need boots or a coat. Its awesome!
Well Sister Harris and I have had quite the week! Its been pretty.. entertaining in many ways.. and very.. normal in others. Sister Harris wasn't feeling so well so I got to study a lot again. Which was kind of cool, I mean I read like 1/3 of Jesus the Christ as well as the entire Gospel of Luke and most of John. And I love to learn so that worked out. Plus reading Jesus the Christ was like reading a novel again so I just got sucked in and read whenever she was in bed :) Alrighty.. Due to my lack of knowing where to start I think I'll just start with the more kosher matters of the week and then move on to listing all the funny and most eventful things that happened this week :)
We are still teaching the Dixons and I seriously just love them more and more each time we go! As I watch their faith increase and their desire to share the gospel strengthen I too become more excited and dedicated to the work. They are such an example to me! I am so thankful for their love and kindness and for them taking us in as part of their family. I look forward to going to their home and sitting next to them at church each week! I'm not sure I have ever seen and individual or family so hungry for truth, I am completely amazed at their willingness and deep desire to study the scriptures and even more amazed at the things they teach me. We showed them that they can listen to the scriptures on their ipads and iphones and they were so excited! In fact, Brother Dixon made a run to Chick-fil-A so I could try their ice cream and when he came back he was happy to report that he had listened to all of 1Nephi1 on the way there and was so excited to tell us all he had learned. Can you imagine if in all of us there was that level of desire to know God's word? Its such a miracle.
We had a fabulous stake conference this weekend! Saturday was just our stake and Sunday was a regional broadcast from Florida with Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles presiding. Both were great! Satuday was all about "Hastening the Work of Salvation" and Sunday was about Hastening the work and keeping the commandments/understanding the Doctrine of Christ. As missionaries we got to be the Choir for the Saturday meeting and sang the song commonly known as the EFY medley "As Sisters in Zion/We'll Bring the World His Truth" It was pretty fun! I had a chance to briefly talk with our Stake President afterward, he's hilarious! But I was really surprised that he remembered me as I've never served in this stake before. I met him about 7 or so months ago when I trained at a Zone Conference. He welcomed me to Marietta asked where I was serving and then said "Well Sister, its a blessing to have you here. I will be expecting nothing but the best of things from Allatoona now." Um.. no pressure? haha I was really sweet of him to say though.
I also got to see the Marcoms, from the Coal Mountain Ward who attended our stake conference because their son was speaking :) It was so fun to see them! I got in a little trouble for not saying goodbye to them personally.. haha :) Sister Marcom said that Sister Aeschbacher was complaining in Relief Society that she missed me and needed a "Sister Hamilton Fix" so if she's reading this.. Hi Sister Aeschbacher! :)
I loved the meeting we had on Sunday! It was awesome! Elder Nelson was so funny but the things he taught seemed to be exactly what I needed to here, so for that I am so thankful. I always love hearing the Apostles speak in smaller settings than General Conference because they seem to let their personalities show a little bit more. He said something like "A large church is like a large body, it needs a good heart. Hey, if Brother Uchtdorf can talk about planes, than I surely can talk about hearts!" haha It was fun. He then went on to explain how the United States is the heart of this Church and we need to strengthen it so that it can continue to "pump blood and oxygen" to the other parts of body meaning the church all around the world. I think my favorite part of all he taught was at the very end when he said he would like to bless those viewing, just as President Monson does at the close of General Conference. The spirit was so strong as he would say things like "I sense someone is worrying about this.." and then give counsel. I know that Elder Nelson is one of the Lords chosen Apostles and because such is a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. We are so blessed to have the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 Apostles to help us in this life to know how we can best come unto the Savior.
Now for the funny aspects of the week :)
- As we were driving to go tracting a saw a dog running in the road.. you know me.. I couldn't let that happen so Sister Harris pulled over. So tracted down the dog.. Mind you it was 20 degrees outside.. And I read the dogs tag and we decided to call it.. As it starts ringing to the point that I know I'll have to leave a message I kind of panicked and said "uh.. what do I say?" Sister Harris gave me the "Uh.. I don't know look." So I was bound to make myself a fool. The message went something like this "Hi! I'm a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Um.. well. I found your dog!" HAHA EPIC FAIL! I am proud to report that we decided to walk it home in the cold and the Dad and Children looked relieved. Now I just pray they didn't hear the voicemail..
- We were at the Pharmacy and this old woman (like almost 90) was sitting next to us. She asks "So..who are you? did you just get off work or something?" We told her we were missionaries and what church we were from to which she responded simply and promptly. "Wrong Chruch." HAHA Thanks Bobbie! Oh but don't worry, not 10 min later she said "Oh hey! The Book of Mormon, I've read that book and I loved it." What?? haha
- I have officially been held at gun point.. by three 10 year olds.. holding a nerf gun. haha :) We were tracting and they were in the front yard being spies or something and next thing I know I hear "Put your hands up!" Knowing what they were doing, I put my hands up and said "Oh no! don't get me" And they just laughed and said "Don't worry Ma'am, you're a good guy."
- I saw Sister George on Saturday and she asked me a very important question she said.. "So.. what are big girl panties? My mom said I have to ask." Haha I gladly grabbed my camera and showed her the pictures of Big Girl Panties and said, "Well.. I guess the moral of the story is. You're mom reads my blog.. and you and I should put on our big girl panties and go to work" We just laughed and laughed! I sure love Sister George and her mom, like seriously! Her mom even wrote me a letter :) I'm going to hang out with Sister George today for Pday too!
- Last we saw a woman in the congregation named Gerry Cox, she's super short and old and has the best southern accent ever. The kind of accent that completely drops syllables and the jaw keeps going up and down to make this "uh-uh-uh" noise in between words. I sure love that accent :) She was telling us about her husband and their courtship during WW2 and how he left for the war and wrote her each week. She then gave us this advice.. "Girls, you better pick a man who likes biscuits!" haha I guess she's assuming now that we've served in the south that we are going to be great cooks as far as biscuits and friend chicken goes.. So.. I guess I just need to throw out the idea I have of a husband, the new most important quality simply is that he likes biscuits. Simple. haha
So yup! That's a pretty good rundown of our week. Oh how could I forget!! I reached my one year mark.. so.. I burned a skirt of course! And it was pretty epic :) I will include pictures. Also, Sister Harris likes to be a jokester.. so.. the picture that just looks like a closet door.. look closely.. and you will find me in it.. HAHA There I was minding my own business grabbing clothes to sleep in and I get a nice nudge so I take a step forward (into the closet) to catch myself and next thing I know the door is shut and the extra dryer is moved in front.. Realizing no one would believe that I became Harry Potter I asked her to grab a picture. haha So there you have it! She also likes to jump on me while I'm praying so I don't know its coming.. So I often ambush her with the nerf disks that the Grants put in my Christmas package :) Like I said, lots of laughs are had!
Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!!
Love,
Sister Hamilton
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