"No darlin' he wore blue."

Friends and Family from the North and West and all around! 

I'm so excited to share your favorite part of the week with you, you know the time that you sit down to read a letter from me. :) Its been a pretty fun week for me kind of crazy as well, but no complaints. Its hard for me to  know what all to share with you and to know what to talk about.. so maybe I'll start by some things on my mind that you can help me with. 

Often I have asked you to pray for those whom I love here whether it be a companion, someone I'm teaching, families/individuals in the ward, etc. Today I am going to be slightly selfish I suppose and ask you all to keep me in your prayers more specifically for the next couple of weeks. I have interviews via "google hangout" on April 29th for student teaching. I know they are going to ask me questions about philosophy of education and all sorts of things that quite frankly haven't been on my mind for about 15 months. Try as I may I cannot exactly remember terms and definitions which are likely to be discussed. I knew them well at one point and I have no doubt that they will come back to me when I need it, but it doesn't mean I don't need extra help. These interviews will determine where I move when I get home so its kind of important :) Also, I'm having a small procedure done this coming week, don't you worry! I'm not worried about the outcome of it, it'll just take a few stitches and all will be well. The only problem is its my leg.. which I use quite frequently as we walk miles each day :) So if you could just keep me in your prayers that everything will be fine but more importantly that I'll be smart enough to know when I should take a break and when I can keep working.. Thanks! That would be great :) 

Now let me tell you about the title of this email. These southerners crack me up! I love them so much. I met Lois tracting who just became my best friend. This cute grandma lived in California for many years but made her way back to the south. I decided to talk to her about genealogy, and no it wasn't just because she's a cute old lady. She apparently really likes genealogy so she was excited to tell me something she recently learned. She said "I found out I have a relative who fought at Kennesaw Mountain." (For those of you who don't know, major Civil War Battles were fought there) I naturally got excited and said "Really!? That is so cool!" To which Lois responded, "No darlin' he wore blue." HAHA Over 150 years later and she can't seem to be proud of her "Yankee" ancestors who fought in the war.. haha gets me every time!!

Another major highlight of my week.. more like of my mission! Was being able to go to the Atlanta Temple. It was a huge blessing to be able to go! I'll of course attach some pictures :) I got to see three of my past companions Sister Beasley, Sister Blackett, and Sister Alder along with many Elders and Sisters I've served around these past.. many months. I must say, there was something extra special about being in the Celestial room in all white with only missionaries and President and Sister Wolfert. It was just so refreshing to be in the Lords house and not have to worry about time! Time is something we have to stress about as a missionary.. Always making sure we are using our time wisely.. but in the Temple.. I didn't look at my watch once. I just sat. I sat in peace.. It was beautiful!  :) Of course once we got out and took pictures and I actually looked at my watch once again a pressure to be somewhere came and off we went. But man, those 3 hours in the temple were GLORIOUS! 

The Spencers are still doing great :) We continue to teach them and help them prepare for baptism. There are some concerns we are working through, which is normal, but both tell us often how they want to be baptized. Sister Spencer told us of an experience she had this week where she met someone and the woman asked her why she was so happy. She told her it was because she had Christ in her life.. She was then asked what church she goes to. Sister Spencer said "And I just told her 'I go to the Mormon Church! You should come too, its wonderful!'" Oh Sister Spencer, I sure love you! 

Here's one last funny story for the day. So on Saturday we were able to teach Brother Wood again. He's recovered very well and even read the Book of Mormon while he was at the hospital. Goodness I love that man :) So we were teaching him how to use Mormon.org (mind you he's in his late 70's). And I said "So now you'll just click on I'm a Mormon.." to which he cut me off by saying "Oh I can't say that! That would be a lie! I'm not a Mormon just yet.." HAHA We had a good laugh and I then explained how it would take him to the "I'm a Mormon" videos and that it wasn't a link only for members of the church. Seriously how funny/adorable is that? 

Church was really great yesterday, we had one of the most powerful testimony meetings I've ever been to. Each testimony was absolutely empowering and made me want to be better and want to continue to help those here in Georgia. Brother Dixon shared his testimony, it was AMAZING. Usually he is at the Air-force base on fast Sunday but because of Conference it was moved. He said he felt it was moved so he could share his testimony with all of us. :) 

To close I wanted to share some of the things people said..

• "I am a proud Mormon, willing to stand for what I know. Yes, I will stand."-A convert of 30 years
• "With Christ I can do anything, right now its been 13 days since I smoked my last cigarette. Without Christ I'd still be smoking."-A returning member
• "I'm not perfect in the Gospel.. But all we have to do is try, and when we try its always enough."-A girl in her 20s
• "Prayer is an opportunity, not an obligation."-Teenager

Well.. thats all folks! I hope you all have a great week! Thank you so much for all that you do for me! I love you!!

Love,

Sister Hamilton