Atlanta gets cold, too - who knew? - January/February 2021

Ok, so it's not a cold, cold winter by any stretch, but we do get in the 30s pretty regularly and the humidity makes any wind realllly cold! It's definitely more of a winter here than I thought it might be. This past month, we had a nice, small transfer - we only had 17 missionaries coming in and 9 going out. That's such a nice number because it feels like we can really enjoy them and our time with them. We had a couple of missionaries who seemed so, so nervous. I wasn't sure they were going to make it very far, but I'm happy to say we had our 5 week follow up meeting this Friday and they are all doing great. One sweet sister arrived at the airport with her parents. We weren't expecting that - it was a first! But she traveled from far and wide and had a middle of the night flight with some layovers, and they wanted to get her safely here. Our outgoing missionaries talked quite a bit about being aware of wanting to be their best selves for their future children. I was really impressed by how motivated by this they were. Every time they leave, it's sad to think of not seeing them here anymore. It's a little bit of a roller coaster with it happening every 6 weeks.

We had our second mission tour this month with Elder and Sister Vern Stanfill. It sounds like most people have 3 on average their whole mission over 3 years, and we're on our 2nd in a little over 6 months - haha, I think they know how much we need help and training. Anyway, we read so many great things in preparation for this mission tour - two great talks "Ask in Faith" by Elder Bednar and "Be 100% Responsible" by Lynn Robbins. They're so good! The Stanfills were really great teachers. I was really nervous and stressing about my 30 minutes I had to take on our zone conferences over zoom. I was kind of happy when that was over. I spoke about the desires of our hearts, how they motivate all we do and how we can change them through - knowledge & understanding, will or work, and our covenants. I didn't fully understand the power associated with our covenants and the ordinances we make until I prepared a little more for this talk. As painful as speaking always is, it always helps me learn something new and I am always glad about that.

Another highlight for all of us was Lydia's friend, Abby, coming to surprise her on her birthday. We told Lydia she needed to pick up a sister missionary at the airport for us, so she and Susie went during their lunch, and then it was really Abby! It was such a fun surprise! We went to Melting Pot one night, got our nails done, did school work, watched movies, played games, and went to Coke world downtown. For the weekend, we even got a visit from Becca and Sophie Graham, which was another total highlight! We love visits from these people we love!

Susie and Lydia have also started track here. I'm so proud of them for heading out there and doing another new thing, and being new all over again. They said the first day they went, they were trying to make small talk, so they asked if they needed to wear masks outside at practice too and just...silence. Haha, so fun to be new. They're making progress, though, and have some pals at track now. Their coaches and teammates sometimes call them the Utah twins, Utah, Provo, Latter Day Saints. They're doing a great job at these meets, and have even medaled a few times. Lydia is running hurdles for her first time and they even get to run on the same relay occasionally, which is so awesome to watch. Susie handed the baton off to Lydia in a meet the other night, and it was just such a fun moment. Both of them have sore hips, though, so I hope they can stay healthy all season. We would prefer not to have another hip injury like Lydia's freshman year. So they're doing some exercises and trying to strengthen them.

Natalie just got back from a great week in Orlando with her Harris cousins. They spent several days at Universal Studios doing all the rides and loving all the Harry Potter things. When she and I drive to her far away practices for soccer on Monday and Thursday nights, we listen to Harry Potter on the drives. She can't believe I've had all these kids read and love them and I still haven't read them. I can't believe it either, so she's helping me out - it's been fun!

At the end of this past transfer, we didn't think we'd do another round of zone conferences because we'd had the mission tour. But since the missionaries love to gather and we love to see them, and that had just been on zoom, we decided to do a last minute round of zone conferences the last week of the transfer. We talked about faith being a principle of action and power, and read this talk by Elder Bednar: https://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2000_08_29_Bednar.htm

From this talk, we talked about the real work of a prayer beginning after we say amen, and how the Israelites got their feet wet walking into the Jordan River when they carried the ark across. They didn't wait on the banks of the river for it to be dry land before they started walking, but first got wet before the water parted - so many good applications for this! We also did lots of role plays and practiced our teaching. We learned that we need some practice in our teaching skills. It was so good. To simplify, we also had everyone bring their lunches, which was sweet. We did root beer floats for dessert, but it was kind of great to simplify lunch.

Having zone conferences right before transfers made for a busy transfer process, though - phew! We had forgotten that Sunday was the transfer Sunday, so we had agreed to speak in a stake conference, and Mark had a youth meeting with another stake an hour or so away. Doing that plus all the transfer assignments and training meeting was not our best move! So going forward, I circled all those Sundays in red to remind us not to add extras in those days.

This past transfer was another big one with roughly 25 coming in and going out. We're refining our process, and it gets a little smoother and a little better each time. We now have binders with the talks and information we go over with them, we fill out the forms, take the pictures, and do the trainings we need to with them. I think back to our first couple of transfers and realize we have learned a lot. I feel like we should apologize to all those missionaries! I will never get tired of the contrast between the brand new missionaries that come in and then the outgoing ones that are going home. The new ones go off with their trainers to their areas at transfers after their trainings, and the ones going home, come in for lunch, then we spend the rest of the day with them and send them out the next day. The confidence, faith, courage, ability to love others, personal relationship with the Savior, and resilience they gain is so joyful to see in them. To look at the brand new missionaries at breakfast that morning, and then to have the dinner and meeting with the outgoing missionaries that night is such an amazing way to see the progress that these amazing people make over the course of their missions. Missions are amazing! So grateful we get to be a part of this.