Country Dirt Road

Hi Everyone!
Transfers: I got elder Downs as my new companion. He is form Rexburg, Idaho and has been out a year. And a fun fact for anyone who understands. He Knows Parker and the Rawlins clan! (Some of our oldest & dearest friends. Parker is on his way to Colorado Springs Mission this wk)

Well I have a fun fact I learned this week. I have told you how Valdosta High is Title town USA, But I have not told you what the Valdosta State University(VSU) is famous for. It was ranked highest STD recorded college in the nation for a little while.

Well our week this week consisted of a lot of knocking. On Saturday alone we were out for five hours. Our results from this effort was great. We found an investigator for the Tifton Elders. We found a lost investigator of the sisters and we were able to get a few return appointments for this week. So we will see if anything come from them.

The best thing this week though was that even though nothing has directly paid off from beating on doors all day, we have been blessed. There is a less active, part member family that I love tons. And they feed us sometimes, and he coaches soccer so we talk soccer and live close to them and they love to have us over. However, they have been having missionaries over for 15 years and never come to church. UNTIL the past two weeks in a row. He asked us to share a spiritual moment with his family last Saturday, and so Elder Hiatt and I did. Then we invited them to church and they came. Later in the week we received a text from him saying "hey my wife has some questions for you guys. When can y'all make it over next?". So we went over Friday and answered her questions and had a great time talking with them, but we forgot to invite them to church again! :0 They are so awesome, and for our hard efforts, the Lord blessed us and they surprised us by showing up again without need the invite. Also they have asked for us to start teaching them the lessons. Whoop whoop!

Alright some fun things that we did this week were we went to Grand Bay Swamp. There were no big gators out, but we saw a baby one and a large banana spider. Speaking of spiders we also had a good sized wolf spider in our apartment Friday morning that decided to surprise me. I walked around the corner and almost stepped on it.

That was not my only bug encounter this week though. I also was knocking on a door and got attacked by a swarm of wasps that were apparently nesting in the wreath. I was lucky enough to only be stung once though. Plus the old guy who opened the door felt bad, so he had us come in and let us teach him and gave us water.

There is a very sweet old southern grandma down here, Sister Rigdon, who loves when we stop by and always wants to stuff something in our mouths. This time she was in the middle of making dinner when we got there, and so she did not have anything done except for Egg salad. Neither Elder Downs nor myself are fans of this salad. To be the polite young men we are though......... we choked down 1 large bowl each!! And she tried to give us more, but we had the excuse of having dinner with a member in a hour so we got out of eating 2 bowls. She does make a delicious homemade slushy though! They tasted so good and cool you down really nice. Plus any Eggs we do need or want she provides us them for free!

Mom: Well we have a food bank we help out every Wednesday. This week instead of sorting food though we helped out with a teacher harvest. With school going in soon Office Max, Target, and some other stores donated lots of school supplies to the food bank and they had a day for teachers to come in and grab free school stuff. There was a limit on some stuff but all free. And I thought to myself.......man would my mom be here in a heartbeat if she lived down here. (Duh!!?? Free is my 2nd favorite word!!) Marcos is a pizza place that everyone seems to love down here?

Tay: Wow man EFY sounds like it was a blast I so wish I got to go and do it again! The summer I am back I am totally applying to be a counselor. I will try and look in to that poem if possible. (Butt Prints in the Sand. Taylor's favorite Poem is Footprints in the Sand, and Butt Prints is his 2nd favorite) And heck yeah man good luck with tryouts. School for down here starts this week, so be glad you live in Idaho. Hey don't you know from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs real men don't cry! :p ha just kidding dad bawls all of the time and he is quite the real man in my book. Look at pg. 27 of the July Ensign there is a little girl who looks like BJ from church. Love you bro! (Here is Taylor's 2nd favorite poem.....)

Butt Prints in the Sand by James Reuben Knowles

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, “What have we here?
Those prints are large and round and neat,
But Lord, they are too big for feet.”
“My child,” He said in somber tones,
“For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.
“You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt.
“Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand.”

G4: Wow $35 that is a good profit. Tell her I love her!

Tali: Held baby Bennett for hours and didn't feel like it? Isn't he getting big and heavy? I would say fireworks too, to be able to hear you make that sound each time!:) (every time I say fireworks she makes a crazy pppppffffftttt sound that cracks she & I up) Died your hair???? I didn't get to do that till I was in high school and had a real reason like going to the state soccer game. Poor momma! I love you too!

Travis: Look at you the big boss man! I feel you I am now leading out the area and it feels pretty weird some times! Love ya!

I love you all!