Proud to Wear His Name

Hello beautiful people!

Remember how I said I live in a gorgeous place? Well, it's true. Holy moly. I'm going to try to send as many pictures to try to give you an idea, but y'all are just going to have to come here one day for yourselves! Except for a few cold, rainy days, the weather has been sunny and between 75 and 83 degrees... um yeah, PERFECTION. When the world looks like this, it doesn't matter how many appointments fall through, or doors get lovingly closed in your face!

I wanted to tell you about a few exciting events and awesome people!

-The W/J family!
Okay, think back to over a year ago, when I was in Valdosta, this missionary met an amazing family: E, C, all of the crazy kids? You may remember the picture of the cutest little girl, L, with my coat on? Well, I get a text message from the AP's this week, telling me that E, K, and K would be getting baptized on Saturday!!!! AHHHH! The best part about all this is that I had told Elder Poti (who I had just served with in Macon, and had been transferred to Valdosta) before he left that he needed to go to the W's and help them get baptized. And then... MIRACLES! I was able to talk with the whole family over the phone and it was the most wonderful tender mercy. I am so happy for their family!

-L, D, and A
These three are all from Jersey, accents to match. L takes care of D and they are the sweetest ladies on planet earth. L is determined to make a change and get baptized. In her words: "I've been wanting to get with the Latter-day Saints for YEARS!" And A, L's brother, had just arrived when I met him for the first time. Raised Catholic, he was so open and excited to meet us. He told us: "What did I say when I got here? That I needed to find a church!" Some other quotes from A: "Well of course it's true! Look at their name tags - Jesus Christ! I bet you're proud to wear His name on your chest!" "No maybe's, no maybe's! Look at the light in their eyes!" Love that man. However, Satan knows how awesome they are and A had to go to rehab in Florida for 30 days , but he'll be back and baptized before you know it. And L was admitted to the hospital because she has an infection, and has to stay there 7 days :(

-D
We were walking out of an apartment office and I noticed a man in a wheelchair behind me. I started talking to him and he was real' friendly and said, "Oh, you're from the good church!" Um, what? No one says that. Found out that he was baptized when he was 8 and hasn't been to church since (and he's in his 50's). So it's basically like teaching an investigator. He got in a car accident when he was about 20, and became paralyzed from the waist down, but has the BEST attitude. He plays ice sled hockey (yeah, I didn't know that was a thing either), kayaks, has dune buggies, loves cars, and travels all over with his wife. He's awesome. His wife is not a member, and we gave D a copy of the Book of Mormon and invited him to come to church with his wife. They have just moved here from Michigan, and had been looking for a church, so it was perfect timing!

-Recruit graduation
We had some marine recruits that we'd been working with that graduated from boot camp this week, so we went to support them! It was the only day that was raining and cold (of course, those poor recruits), but it was a very cool experience! There is so much history and tradition on Parris Island. They even opened the ceremony with a prayer! Pretty awesome. And those happy faces after their last command was yelled at them? Priceless.

Some other random thoughts from this week:
-2 year old top-ramen doesn't taste all that bad.
-It ain't a real Saturday night until you're the only white girls standing in the line at Dollar General listening to "down, down, do your thang...." on the lady's phone behind you.
-Beaufort is the 2nd oldest town in South Carolina, and Forrest Gump was filmed here!

I've fallen in love with the South, y'all...

Sister Szilagyi