Valentines & Fairies

Howdy Ho, Ranger Joe!

OK, so my accent probably isn't as bad as I made it sound... but, great-time-a-day, ya’ll'd just be tickled if ya’ll knowed what I et this week - chicken livers! I must say they ain’t my favorite. There's a little restaurant here in Gretna that everyone says is just soooo good, and one day a member took us there for lunch. It's real down home southern cookin' buffet style. All sorts of stuff like fried chicken (and fried chicken livers), stewed tomatoes, pinto beans, corn bread, mashed potatoes just oozing with butter... and of course you can't forget the souse meat. I wasn't brave enough to try that - basically it's all the parts of the pig that they didn't use all boiled down and added vinegar to and let congeal.... at least that's what I was told....

Anyway, it's been a really good week. We have a few investigators that are really making progress. One of the couples finally came to church for the first time, and they had such a good experience, and even though they've apparently been taught a lot by the Elders (but of course we didn't know that because the Elders that served here didn't quite ever get the pen to the paper in keeping records....arggghh....) they seem to be really understanding the gospel and it's finally starting to click for them. Of course they have some ridiculous concerns about things like angels having wings. They said, "It says so in the Bible and there's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise." But I've never had investigators before with such questions as they do and still are so willing to keep listening and learning. It was just amazing at church, though; everything that was said in sacrament meeting was just so perfect for them to hear. And then they participated and everything in Sunday School, Relief Society, and Priesthood, and everyone was so welcoming to them. Of course, they might have felt so comfortable in the classes because we were the ones teaching. We taught both the Gospel Principles class and the Relief Society lesson. We got a call at 6:45 in the morning asking us to teach the Relief Society lesson.... I love when that happens... but really I don't get all that nervous to teach anymore, but still speaking in church is a little different. I'm so impressed at Rick talking for 20 minutes in church all in Spanish!

I can't believe how fast I've been able to get to know and love somebody on my mission. It's crazy to think I've only known these investigators for 2 and a half weeks, but it feels like months! We also have an investigator that is from Ireland, I can't remember if I've told you about her, but she is just amazing as well. I can't believe I've only know her for that long either. She's someone I want to keep in contact with forever. So I might be picking up a wee bit of an Irish accent as well to go right along with my Southern.

I had a good Valentine’s day; it's so funny how everyone gives us food for any occasion they can think of. So we're well taken care of. I think I'll have to give up on trying to lose any weight before I come home; even our investigators feed us all the time here! But it was so funny, so Sis. Bell and I decided to buy the cheesiest little elementary school Valentine cards to send to people, so we got some with fairies and Tinkerbelle that came with stickers, and we decided to give them to the Elders in our district, too. I've never seen anyone so excited to get little Valentine cards; they crack me up. They promptly put the fairy stickers on the back of their nametags...

We were talking to one of our investigators husband who is just the nicest guy and knows everyone, and he was telling us that we may not know it, but everyone knows who we are in town and even the surrounding towns and are talking about us. I guess news travels fast when anyone new comes into town here, especially because we're two, young pretty girls, according to the man we were talking to. It was pretty funny. I don't even feel like we've talked to too many people. But of course, they know us.

Well, I'm getting kicked off the computer, so I have to end. But I love you all and thanks for the pictures and the news. I have the best family ever!

~Melissa