October 21, 2013

Dear Family,

I have recently been struck with the terrible suspicion that some of you have become obsessed with a sticky and addicting substance known as: "DOCTOR WHO"!  I would advise you to back off immediately.  I have firsthand observed the effects of such a dabbling, and I must inform you that it leads to severe geekiness, and the uttering of words and phrases that only others who are lost in likewise psychological fog can understand.  It's very silly.  I demand to know who in the family has succumbed to the Who world.

Did you know that the Corvallis Oregon Stake was the first stake that Thomas S. Monson organized as an apostle?

Thanks so much for the Halloween box!  You know, we've been getting ridiculous amounts of cookies from members and stuff, but none of them taste anywhere near as good as the ones I get from home. :)

I sent this to all my missionaries in different missions:

"Hello my beloved missionary friends!

This week I was wondering if missionaries in other fields of labor had any finding ideas that worked particularly well for them, or if they had had any special miracles they had experienced through finding that I could share with my district.  I'll be anxiously awaiting your insights. :D

Love,

Elder Georgia"

And I was so happy to hear their great responses!  I'll probably let you know what they said at some point.

This week we met an awesome lady named Cris that the Spanish Elders found, by pushing her wheelchair over a speed bump.  We talked to her about the gentlemen in wheelchairs that she takes care of when she's NOT in a wheelchair because of just having a full knee replacement.  Then we gave her a Book of Mormon.

We've sort of lost contact with Paul and Dustin, but we're working on regaining contact.  Pray for them.

People are being too loud.  I can't think of anything else to say, so... I love you!

Elder Georgia

October 14, 2013

Hey, Hey, Hey!

Back in August on Elder Boswell's first day we went tracting and talked to this nice lady named Natalia.  She said we could back, but she did live-in care, so she was always either taking care of her patient or otherwise preoccupied.  I kinda thought we would never actually teach her, but about a week ago she said, that that wasn't working, and she set up an appointment by herself and promised us she would be there.  So we got to meet with her!  We found out that most of her family are members of the church, but they went less-active before Natalia was baptized.  She has a sister who still lives here and attends regularly, and her nephew recently returned form his mission.  All this contributed to her agreeing for us to come back, and now she seems to be in the perfect position to hear the gospel.  We're going to teach her every Tuesday.

This week it struck me that I actually have a sense of time passing now.  Like, I know how long an hour takes to go by, and I can say that it takes about 20 minutes to bike to the Stake Center.  Crazy huh?  I guess keeping track of every hour of every day will do that for you. :)

Well, that's about it.  I hope you have/had tons of fun in York!  Hey, does anyone have any awesome ideas on how to make district meeting more exciting?

Love,

rEdle Gerogais

October 7, 2013 It Was A Dark and Stormy Night...

Suddenly, a shot rang out!

Actually it wasn't, and it didn't.

So about a transfer ago we were waiting at the main bus station in Corvallis waiting to meet up with sisters to give them their baptismal record for one of their converts when this man sat down next to us.  We struck up a conversation and it turned out he had attended an LDS church quite a bit in the past.  He seemed to enjoy talking to us, but when he asked if we could teach him he said no.  We gave him a card with our names and number, then we left cuz the sisters weren't coming.

Saturday during Priesthood Session we got a message from someone named Ron who said he had a card with our names and phone number on it.  We looked through our records and couldn't find anyone by that name.  So we called him back.  That was a strange conversation.  He was just chatting with us like we were his best friends, stopping to talk to his cat (Blondie), and telling us he was going to buy us Christmas presents.  He also told us he was on pain meds so he was kind of loopy.  That explained it.  We set up an appointment for Sunday night and hung up bewildered.

Then on Sunday we met with him in his tiny little one room apartment.  At that point of course we remembered what had happened two paragraphs ago and knew who he was.  It was crazy because we give those cards out all the time, but no one had ever called us back before.  We chatted about the gospel, but mostly just listened to what he had to say.  By the end of the conversation Elder Boswell and I both felt like he needed to hear the Plan of Salvation, so we specifically asked if we could come over the next night to teach him that.  He accepted.

Yeah it's been a prooty good week.

Love you all so much!

Elder Georgia

P.S. - Aw dang, I was going to say I love the rain jacket!  Ever since they lightened up the dress code I have an aversion to black things to I'm glad it's blue.  Thanks! <3

P.S.S. - Oh, and conference was the greatest thing ever.  I need to read through all the talks before I even take in half of what was said.  Too bad it's over!

September 30, 2013 - Singin' in the Rain

Doo doo doo doo, doo dee, doo doo doo doo doo...

Yes it has been pouring buckets over here.  I stay somewhat dry with my pea coat, and it's not too cold yet.  We've discovered that we stay much dryer by walking with an umbrella instead of biking, but most things are too far away for that to be plausible.  So we just get wet and enjoy it!  We're definitely protected with super immune systems as missionaries, because pretty much everyone is sick in Corvallis except for us.

Most of the people we had hoped would come to church this week didn't come, but they either gave us warning beforehand, or they turned up sick.....

I am sooooooooooper excited for General Conference!  Partly because we think we can probably get a lot of people we're working with to watch at least one session, and also because it's just the greatest time of year.  For Christmas I would love a copy of this October's Conference Ensign (a member gave me a copy of April's issue).

For Corvallis 2nd's 5th Sunday we learned about family history and temple work (secretly, I like Haymarket's topic better) and it was awesome.  The part that hit me real strongly was a quote from Richard G. Scott, that said something like: Family History is a sure way to protect youth from the influence of the adversary in their lives.  Yeah something like that.  Sweet!  All youth should do family history!  There's something about remembering our fathers and mothers who have gone before that just gives so much meaning to life.  To seek out names that have been lost to time, and then to repeat those names, something like twelve times(?) in the temple, and to offer them the saving ordinances really does make you feel very strengthened spiritually.  Yup that's what I learned from church.

Not a whole lot happened this week though, what with everyone being sick and all.

Hey did you get that Family Mission Plan thing I attached to an e-mail?  Did you do it? :D

Love,

Elder Georgia