The Adventures of Sister Hamilton, The Animal Whisperer

Well hey there everyone!

Me at Lake Lanier! 

I hope you are all doing great. To my wonderful fam I say I LOVE YOU LOTS and am jealous none of you told me of the little family reunion you had without me.. You better have taken lots of pictures! :) 

Well we've had a pretty exciting week here in Coal Mountain. SO many miracles! And yes, even a few of them included animals.. haha But lets start with how I am now considered an Animal Whisperer. haha :) 

On Monday night we went to stop by this person from our ward and when we got there it was crazy dark outside. I asked Sister Alder if she remembered a

nything about this person and she responds, "I think she's the reptile lady." GREAT. We all know how much I like snakes.. Oh wait.. I DON'T. So I'm basically praying nonstop as we go to see her. As we talk she then decides to take us on a tour of all the reptiles she has.. That would include 4 snakes, one 10ft long. And 9 lizards, one so big she walks it with a leash. NOT EVEN KIDDING! These southern people are so funny! :) So.. She then pulls out 2 of the snakes (one 3 ft, one 5 ft) and I pretended to not me terrified and I touched them. Yes.. WRITE THAT DOWN. I touched a snake! :) I also held a gecko and "pet" all of the other lizards. 

Sister Alder and I with the Gainsville Sisters (Sister Reese and Sister Hooker) on our exchange.

While Sister Reese was with me (my MTC companion) for the day we went tracting and had a few experiences with some of the millions of dogs in this area. But the one worth talking about is the one that I am sure made Uncle Benny smile big! There was a bull mastiff that saw us and growled a bit and then started running. ya.. that's never a good sign.. Sis Reese kindly stepped behind me. I figured I had two options.. I could try to get it to like me, chancing getting bit.. Or I could run, making it chase me, and really chance getting bit. So perhaps I was an idiot but I went with the first one. And.. succeeded :) Uncle Benny would be proud because this dog became our new best friend. It walked with us from door to door for over an hour. At first it followed us to to the door.. But eventually it would listen to us when we said "Sit.." and "Stay.." at the driveway while we went to the door and it would just wait for us to come back and walk with us to the next home. :) 

And incase you are wondering.. a lot of families have snakes here.. So I have touched 5 snakes this week. And each time I see them I am less and less scared. And if that isn't a miracle.. I don't know what is! :) Maybe someday I'll hold one.. But lets not get too crazy! 

There are also lots of horses and cows around. I like to pet the horses as we walk past the fences..  Thank you hand sanitizer! 

Now the serious stuff.. :)

I love this little country town so much. Each time I leave an area I pray that I'll be able to love the next one just as much and be able to jump in completely. Well, my prayers have been answered and I again have found a little piece of home here in GA. I love the ward, they are so excited to have Sisters and it is so fun to have most of the children say "You are the first Sister missionaries I've seen in real life!" How adorable! We are acquiring quite the collection of drawings of us from the primary kids during sacrament meeting, it doesn't get much cuter than that. 

President Wolfert is such a great mission president. He is the key-holder of our mission, which means that he has stewardship and the right to receive revelation for how the work needs to happen in the Georgia Atlanta North Mission. We had a really neat experience with him this week as he conducted interviews and met with our district. As he talked with us he introduced a new standard for our mission and promised amazing blessings. I'm telling you I felt the spirit SO strong when he told us what is was. The Georgia Atlanta North Mission is now required to tract (knock doors) for a minimum of 2 hours per day. 

It might sound unproductive and silly but I know that the Lord will bless us for being obedient to our Mission President and He already has. We did what he asked and tracted 2 hours a day and talked to more people this week than I ever have in my mission. Our conversations seemed to be more meaningful and we were blessed to find people who would let us come back. 

Everyday since we have started doing that the Lord has opened more doors. Members have invited us over last minute to meet their friends who they want to share the gospel with. Its a miracle. 

Sister Alder and I have been invited to start volunteering at a horse ranch each Wednesday where they have special needs children there riding horses. The owner is a recent convert, and was introduced to missionaries from them coming to fix her farms fence, and so she asked us to come. Its fun to do service and see the smile on the children and be able to talk openly about prayer and such with their parents. Again, its a miracle. 

Sister Alders favorite color is yellow.. and so she's in love with my dress. I have agreed to let her claim it as hers for the time we are companions. haha This is us at lake lanier. 

Miracles are around each of us if we just look around. Will you help me see miracles? Can you do me a favor and not just pray for me but pray for the 3 part-member families we are starting to work with. The Williams, the Clarks, and theAinsworths. They have all agreed to let us start coming by and share messages on a regular basis. I know with the strength of your prayers we can see even more miracles.

I love you all! 

Love, 

Sister Hamilton