So this week was far from the norm! Why? Well. It all started Tuesday morning.
It was 11 am. The lull of Elder Post and his mighty words filled the room with wonder. Our blessed district meeting was coming to an end. Anxious and excited, we were ready to labor diligently in God's vineyard of Douglasville. As we arose to commence our busy labors, one Elder took upon himself to gaze through the frosted window. His face lit up as excitement welled within until it came forth from his lips, "SNOW!!!!" And suddenly, we talked of snow, we rejoiced in snow, we preached of snow and we prophesied of snow, and we write according to our prophecies that our children may know of what source they may look for snow (oh sorry my scripture mastery took over [2 nephi 25:26]... back to the story!)
We approached the door to find a foreign world covered in a blanket of white crystals. Cautiously, we struggled to unveil our 2014 Chevy Cruz..only to embark the long trek homeward- not knowing beforehand the things which we should do. (Wait was that scripture? I can't even tell anymore) Miraculously, we made the 5 minute drive from the church building to our apartment unharmed and without delay. As we partook of our meager Mac&Cheese, we fearfully waited for the call that would doom the success of our meticulously planned day. And when it arrived, our missionary hopes and dreams were smitten (dang this scripture thing).
After the detrimental blow to our perfectly planned day, Sister Pribyl and I pondered of what little connection we had left to society. No car. No snow shoes. No floo powder. Or chimney for that matter! And no luck. We were stranded! The only connection we had left to bringing forth the work of salvation was through the means of our tiny ancient celluar device. We continued on, to make 83 phone calls, and when all was done, and all the members and investigators were left spiritually uplifted,... we played a makeshift game of Apples to Apples with just the two of us. We can make it if we try. (wait that's not scripture...)
The next morning we peeked through the blinds only to find the snow had worsened and the ice had thickened! And again, our hopes were struck dumb, that we could not have utterance (Alma 30:50). As we turned to our cell phone once more we learned of the calamities of Douglasville. The horrors of walking 10 miles in three inches of snow just to make it home, or the bumper-to-bumper traffic which lasted for a day and a night and a day. Cars ran out of gas and hundreds of children were confined within the walls of purgatory (school). And many were hungered and were given granola bars, and many were thirsty and turned to snow, and many were strangers and were taken in by those prepared with 4-wheel drive. (Matthew 25:35).
And in 3 days time, many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility. (Alma62:41).
Haha, ok, you might think this sounds dramatic... but this was how Georgia reacted to the three inches of snow. It was practically Armageddon for Georgians and no one was prepared to meet snow. Ok seriously I'm done with the scripture jokes now. Honestly though, it was pretty crazy, So many accidents happened and as far as casualties I haven't heard of any. In Georgia's defense it really did get super icy and it was dangerous since so many people abandoned their cars on the sides of the roads. So driving around was threatening as you could slip right into parked cars. We found so many cars in ditches and banged up on the sides of the roads when we were finally able to drive again. The cool miracle was that all the missionaries were accounted for and none were caught in the snow or in accidents. On the second day of being confined to our apartment we actually did go out and knocked on a few of the doors in our development.. my shoes didn't hold up very long though and more people than not were staying at friends houses since they couldn't make it all the way home. As for the weather now... there is no snow to be found. It has all completely melted. As they say here in Georgia, "Don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes."
Love you all! Thanks for the emails!! :)
Sister Hawkins
PS: This story was written by me and sister Pribyl. Gotta give Sister P-Ribby some credit!
Note from the Mom:Huge shout out of THANKS to the Ward Mission Leader and the Evans' family for letting me know my girl was safe; and for getting food to them beyond mac & cheese!
Also, she shared a letter from her brother, who is serving in Benin, West Africa (click on the tab up top to find his blog), in answer to her blog post last week. I just HAD to share it here, it gave us a good chuckle.
Goobs, what is this? THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS UNFAIR ABOUT THIS PICTURE:
1. Since when did Wendy's redesign their logo. Why was I NOT INFORMED OF THIS?!?!?! Do you realize I basically have no idea what is new in the states for all of 2013?
2. Salads. Do you know when the last time I ate real salad with real grape tomatoes, cheese, and salad dressing. In the UNITED FREAKING STATES, over a year ago. We aren't allowed to buy salad here because the water that they use to grow it is unsafe to drink from and it seeps into the salad. That and it's a hard vegetable to clean well.
3. Frosty's. I honestly would burn a house down if I could get a frosty right now.
4. Mini preach my gospels... oh let's make them in every single language EXCEPT FRENCH.
5. Blackberry or whatever kind of phone you have... Seriously? Might as well just show off your iPads too why don't you!?!?!?!?! I have a nokia phone that was designed in the 90s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6. Green post-it notes. Do you know what doesn't exist here? Post-it brand post-it notes. We buy cheap French stuff but they suck so much that we don't even buy them anymore. We just use old printing paper, cut them into squares and then use fake scotch tape to stick it onto something. NO CONVENIENCE IN THIS PLACE.
7. Carpet... well you already know that I love carpet and how I freaked out about it when I went to an American's house for Christmas and rubbed my feet in his carpet for hours.
Anyway... that's my email to you this week.
Love,
Elder Hawkins
P.S. Haha jk (sort of). Trust me, every mission has it's pros and cons... and our missions (right now) happen to be completely different. But, no matter what, they are both awesome!
Keep doing great!
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