Greetings from the South! The only place in the world where you can purchase lotto tickets, wine, beer, cigarettes, coca-cola, and 100% human hair, all at the same neighborhood corner store! Talk about convenience! The category of "things that are found on street corners in Georgia" also includes churches. In case y'all were wondering, there are quite a few churches down here. And by quite a few, I mean one on every street corner. And each one of these churches have church signs that display scriptures or phrases to help uplift people who pass by. So Sister Waddoups and I have made it a hobby to write down the ones that we find most excellent. From this week we have:
"New Year's Resolution: Stop twerkin, start churchin"
Need I say more? Seriously, these signs are money. Whoever comes up with them should be given a nice pat on the back. I'm not trying to bribe you into reading my blog, but next week I'll send y'all another one. So get excited!
Weekly snapshots from Southern Georgia:
- Sitting on J's front porch at 8 o'clock at night, porch light burnt out, reading from the Book of Mormon by the light of Christmas lights that blink on and off.
- Teaching Miss B and Mr A, who have been married for 40 plus years. Mr A is a minister in training and LOVES having us over. He has tons of questions and we have discussions over every point. Their two grandchildren, who they adopted, scurry around during lessons, coloring and finishing homework.
- Sitting at L's dinner table with her many children, who are all much too adorable for their own good. Last time we came over, one of her daughters (age 5), asked us both for our coats and hung them on the back of our chairs. And one of her sons asked us if he could come to our house and see snow. (We had told them that we are from Washington and Massachusetts). We told him that it take a long time to drive to either of our houses, but that I would bring the can of fake snow that Alexis gave me before I left next time we came over. I've been saving it for a special occasion, and I think this is it. He also asked if we could have a picnic. He's just plum adorable.
- Teaching N for the first time. Who is just the greatest person. She's recently separated and has four children, who help make up the gaggle of kids that greet us at our favorite apartments whenever we stop by. The youngest, T, is 2 or 3 with the chubbiest cheeks and a remarkable amount of patience for his age. When we were talking with his mom, he came and sat right between me and Sister Waddoups on the couch, softly humming and singing to himself and playing with the buttons of Sis Waddoups' coat & the polka dots on my skirt. I just want to squeeze his guts out, I love him so much. N had really wanted to meet with missionaries ever since she saw her friend meeting with them. She told us that her big motivation in life is finding joy and happiness and bringing that to others, and she was curious as to why we always looked so happy. She said that she wants what we have. She's the sweetest.
-On Thursday, we went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, which means that one of them came to Valdosta, and I went to Douglas. And I absolutely loved Douglas. It's pretty small, and everyone is related to everyone else, and it's wonderful. To give you a small taste of Douglas, at one point we had a meeting with the ward mission leader which took place at his office at work. This gets exciting when I describe the decor of said office. Mounted on the wall opposite of his desk was the most enormous elk head I have ever seen, staring at me right in the eyes. Above my head, was mounted a wild boar, straight across from me was a wild turkey feather display, and the desk was lit by a lamp which was held up by three deer feet (hooves and all). He was hilarious and a total smart-alack. We got along great. I met many wonderful people in Douglas, but my favorites were H and P. H is a little bundle of joy. 18 years old and just started her papers for her mission. She went out with us for a couple hours and man, she has just the best little southern accent you ever did hear. Loved her the moment I met her. And P is one of the women we were able to teach. She has such great faith in God and Christ and just needs a little push in the right direction. She's great.
-Saturday night and Sunday morning we had two wonderful days of stake conference. Saturday night was all about "Hastening the Work", and all of the missionaries were invited. The passion for sharing the gospel is contagious and people are catching the bug! On Sunday, the conference was broadcast from Orlando and the key speaker was Russell M. Nelson. He spoke about nine important facets of the "Doctrine Diamond", and how they are are all integral and essential to the the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Those nine sparkling facets were: 1) The Godhead 2) The Plan of Salvation 3) The Atonement 4) Dispensation, Apostasy, and Restoration 5) Prophets and Revelation 6) Priesthood and Priesthood keys 7) Ordinances and Covenants 8) Marriage and Family & 9) Commandments. It was a wonderful talk. And let me tell you, having an apostle of the Lord testify of the cleansing power of the Atonement is never as potent and perspective-changing as when you are sitting with your arm around a woman who has spent the last 30 years of her life as a drug addict, in and out of jail. How beautiful is the mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Beyond sparkling, I assure you.
-And finally E (A's little sister) is going to be baptized on Valentine's Day! We're so excited, we can't wait. She is so sweet and adorable. Yesterday, she asked us for two copies of the Book of Mormon and pass-along cards because her teacher and her friends wanted some. Awesome.
I love Valdosta, I love Georgia, I love my mission. Every day, I wake up and I can't believe that I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so very lucky. I am the kind of person that lived my life always waiting to begin things, never wanting to start something new because I knew that I should have started that "something" a long time ago. Going on a mission is the best decision that I have ever made in my entire life. It has changed me already, to my very core. And although I wasn't so good at beginning things before, it is something that I am continuously working on. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf recently quoted an old proverb which states: "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now." May we all begin now and plant seeds that we can look at 20 years from now and think, I sure am glad I planted that one. I love you all so very much. Never give up.
Sister Szilagyi
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