G.E.O.R.G.I.A.

Pic of us hiking Kennesaw Mountain last Pday.

I'm trying to entertain myself with this post. Let me tell you. sometimes i'ts really hard knowing what to write every week!! Some weeks seem no different than the rest. For this week I decided I will spell out GEORGIA and write happenings this week according to each letter. Originally I tried to work this with the word "Douglasville" but that was a little difficult.....

So. Here goes:

Gifts

This week, Pribyl and I really wanted to do something nice for one of our sweet members. She's one of our most cherished friends and we just adore her family so much. Well her birthday passed and P and I still didn't know what to get her because we knew it had to be good. I decided I'd draw her something Gospel related since you know, she loves the Gospel. Almost everything on her walls is a scripture, Apostle quote or religious painting. So starting on Tuesday I took every opportunity I could to work on this drawing. Lunch breaks, dinner breaks, 10 minutes here 5 minutes there and finally it was finished on Friday! As you may know, missionary life is fairly busy. But I made time and found time to do this knowing that a beloved friend would feel the love I have for her through hard work. FAMILY AND FRIENDS. Go out of your way this week to do something nice for someone else! I promise you will be blessed for loving those around you!

The drawing.
(pic borrowed from Sis. Cordova) 

Us with our drawings! (I love Sis P's, I put in a request for one for myself!!) 

Us with Sister Cordova when we gave her our drawings! 

Excitement

So we had a lesson with a family that we're teaching at one of our member's homes. We had a total of 10 kids (under the age of 12) and 6 adults in one home. Talk about excitement, I've never seen so much energy in one single mass of children. It was comparable to the energy of an atomic bomb. Ok maybe I'm exaggerating. But it was so fun to watch the kids play and bond over the Gospel all at one time. I think too often we say we're too busy to be social and bond with our neighbors and friends. But that's why we're here. Together! We can't make it through all the trials in life without each other. Something to think about this week as well! :)

Obstacle

This one's a common one in missionary work. It's easy to run into obstacles like cancelled appointments, rude rejections, hurt feelings....wanting to sleep. But this week my biggest obstacle was the fact that transfers are coming. Transfers means that they could call me or Sister Pribyl or both to a different area. Of course there are pros and cons to both situations. What drives me NUTS is the uncertainty of it all knowing there may be a change but not knowing what or how it'll happen. Then of course being the natural mom/worrier that I am I start thinking about all that would need to happen if Prib leaves or myself- BUT I still can't actually DO anything yet. Oh the anticipation. This is missionary life for you! 

Rain

Apparently, there was a big tornado watch on Monday and Tuesday. We had lots of rain and overnight there was a huge storm. Pribyl and I were clueless. We woke up the next morning to texts asking if we were ok when we had no idea that there was even a storm! When we checked the time we realized that our clock was off and that we had to have lost power. But it was on when we woke up as if nothing had happened. Just shows how knocked out you get when you hardly sleep but go go go all day. I used to be a pretty light sleeper before my mission....

Gas Mileage

First off. Crazy story about our car...GM motors had a recall and our Chevy Cruz was recalled for a cracked axle. Just a minor problem. So we had it inspected and sure enough we've been driving around in this car for 7 months (5 for me). I guess you could say the Lord was protecting us! Anyways we spent most of this week trying to contact a few less active members. Unfortunately, due to poor planning we would decide who to see, go there and then go to another place. Then, we'd pick another person to see who just so happened to be in the same neighborhood of our first visit...which was now 20 minutes away. Not much was accomplished with our poor planning and inefficient use of time. Planning is so important!!! Without well-done planning, you can waste the Lord's time...or gas mileage.

Inspiration

Lots of inspiration this week. One quick story. The other morning we were getting ready to go to a relief society stake activity. Normally I am ready to go before Pribs and am trying to rush her out the door. This morning was the opposite. I was taking my grand ole time for no apparent reason even though we were already late. As we were driving we made a wrong turn and decided to turn around at a gas station. We realized then that we needed gas so we decided to stop and fill up. I guess we figured we were already late anyways. Well as the car was filling we got talking to some people and ended up exchanging info with 3 different people. But had we not left late, we wouldn't have run into them! Also, when we got to the activity, we came just in time to help set up for the luncheon. Just when they needed some extra hands, we were there to work. It's cool to witness how the Lord inspires us and puts in the right places at the right time.

Atonement

So at the end of every lesson, we leave people with a commitment to keep until we see them next. doing so is a way for us to use the Atonement and repent. In a church pamphlet it says, "repentance does not always mean making big changes. Often it simply requires an increased commitment to live according to God's will." That's exactly why we extend commitments-to help others strive to live God's will and change. So as we were helping a family make their commitments, they decided they'd give US a commitment back. Pribs and I are to pray 10 times a day and repent at least 3 times too. Let me tell you! We pray more than 10 times a day but to try doing 10 personal prayers is tricky! It's been awesome though. You feel the Spirit much more strongly throughout the day which is exactly what we need to have in order to be lead and guided. Always have a prayer in your heart, but don't forget to also set aside time to really pray to our Heavenly Father.

Well there you have it. This week in Georgia! I hope all is well. Thanks for all the letters I received this week!! Keep smiling!! :)

Love 

Sister Hawkins

More Pics, the zone on our hike: