Monday, January 6, 2014

Frozen Mirages

Happy New Year!
 
I honestly think that each week goes by faster and faster. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.
 
So I hope you all remember C. (I know I talk about a crazy amount of people.) He's the guy that I met at Wendy's and taught the Restoration to when I was on exchanges. Well, I forgot to mention to you that I also saw him the next day (or the next?) on MARTA, and we said hello. He was getting off and we were getting on, but I didn't think much of it. Well, last week he was telling others that Sister W. and I taught him, and then he saw me on MARTA, and it must have been a sign. So, basically, I was a sign to him, isn't that cool or what?!
 
On New Years Eve, we were trying to find some less actives, and ran into Brother M. He invited us over to teach a neighbor and made us food.  I didn't know this but Sister J. is practically lactose intolerant and he forced us to eat everything on our plate, and poured us a huge glass of milk.  Sister J. was so surprised that I ate everything, because I usually do my whole 'leftover paper plate' scheme. She didn't have her lactate pills so we had to get home and we were both sick from overeating. There goes my New Years Eve! She was sick then, and I was sick on Christmas. We're just sickly sisters I guess.
 
I don’t know all of the details, but I discovered that Sister J. and I have a special assignment to help the ward with less actives. She had taken the entire ward list and divided it up into zip codes, and given it to sets of missionaries in the past, but no one was interested in doing anything about it. At our District Meeting last week, we were talking about how we could help the ward and now everyone is on board! We have to re-divide it up all over again (All 900 names, we want an active list as well with all of their information) because all of the missionaries lost all of the papers that Sister J. and F. (her former companion) put such hard work into. So now we've been doing paperwork more than ever, and visiting less actives more than ever. It’s been crazy, but great!
 
Trying to talk to potential investigators is always fun. We were trying to get E’s address over the phone. E is one of the potentials that we met on the bus that one Sunday, the gold mine bus. E. said "45 Mundi" and we had NO idea how to spell Mundi. Then she said "45 Mundi" again. Hey hey, accent barrier once again, she meant 4590! So there's that when it comes to the crazy accents here in Georgia.
 
Another funny story was that we met a guy named N., and we were talking to him on the phone and scheduled an appointment to meet with him. We said bye and he didn't hang up the phone. We heard him say, "I was talking to these 21 year old girls, they're working for God!" to his girlfriend.
 
On Saturday we actually went to N. and his girlfriend's apartment. Every time we don't know where we're going (which is a lot) we have to call MARTA assistance, tell them the address, and they'll tell us which stop to get off, which bus, and so on. Well, these directions were of no help at all. They told us to get off at the wrong place, and we got totally lost. You know how sometimes people see mirages in the desert? Well, there's a freeze warning all the way till Wednesday, and it's been in the 20s (and Sister J. said that it feels like it's in the teens if we were in Utah, gosh dang wet cold!). So, we were wandering around lost (in the morning no worries) trying to find Wellington Street. I looked in the distance and I saw Wellington Street, and we were so excited we actually ran! Of course, it wasn't Wellington, it was Westview and we mourned. It was so cold my eyes were watery and our faces were frozen, so I guess that's probably why I saw 'mirages'.
 
We taught N’s girlfriend, M. the Restoration and part of the Plan of Salvation and it was amazing, she totally ate it up and came to church on Sunday. N. isn't too interested, but he said that if it's right for her, he'll take the lessons after her. We're going to be meeting with her again on Tuesday.
 
Brother and Sister B. are doing well and still progressing. I still see her being baptized on the 18th and I couldn't be more excited about it. I love it when investigators pray at the end of each lesson because they usually pray about how grateful they are that the missionaries have come into their lives. It really makes me know that what I'm doing for the next 18 months is most definitely worth it. (I've been out for 2 months to this day, say what?!) 
 
LS has been out of town for the past week or so, so we haven't been able to teach her, and C. has been busy with the New Year. Oh well, we'll keep on trying!
 
I hope that everyone had a happy and safe New Year. Remember to make goals for every aspect of your life and keep them someplace where you can see where they are to remind you each day. I am so grateful that I have the privilege to be here on a mission!  I love you all, and remember every member is a missionary!
 
-Sister Sudweeks
 
 
 
(Don't you love this picture? I totally pretended to take it on New Years Eve to celebrate 2014. Yeah, that was taken in 2014, I won't lie.)

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