Letter from Colin:

We had interviews with the mission president on Saturday, and I asked him what age young men need to be to come out to teach with us. President Weed said, "Well, they would have to be 16 to drive you," although I was not thinking of them driving us, and I said, "Well, they could probably drive us on their tractors! Most people in Albertson have one and you don't have to be 16 to drive one of them." Then President responded by saying, "Hmm.... Tractor-tracting, what a interesting proposition." So we invented something new, although I doubt we will ever experiment on the hypothesis: "People out in the country would be more receptive to hearing from us if we drove a tractor!"

         In other news, the mission president called Brother Jones, from our ward (the one who makes knives and owns a construction company), to be a counselor in the mission presidency. Considering we are very good friends with Brother Jones, and his family, maybe he'll put in a good word for us with President Weed. Maybe he shouldn't, though, because I don't want President Weed to assign me any more responsibility than I currently have. It is enough responsibility to be a regular missionary, let alone leading the district, and training a new missionary at the same time.
         We have had many great experiences this week. In one of these experiences we taught a Latino less-active sister. I mention the fact that she is Latino because she has a very, very thick accent, and it's not a Southern accent, so I don't always understand what she says as well. The lesson was powerfully spiritual, (and emotional on her part) with lots of her crying involved, and then her 20 year-old daughter walked in the room. Unbeknownst to her, we were there teaching a lesson, and when the daughter walked in wearing a bathrobe with her hair all up in curlers, she saw us... and squealed, "AHHHHhhh! The Elders are here!!!," and promptly ran back into the other room. Despite that interruption the lesson went very well, and the sister whom we were teaching committed to come to church and even to bring her friend who is not a member of the church. Come Sunday, she did come to church and she did bring her friend--not only that, but also another less-active sister, and a less-active member family also came to church on Sunday!

         Sunday was Elder Pruitt's birthday, and after church we had lunch with 75 members of Joel and Britney's extended family who were visiting church for the blessing of their first baby-- which was great. The food was as good as ever. I am always excited for big gatherings in this ward. Elder Pruitt had the opportunity to eat collard greens, catfish, and hush puppies all for the first time. You can be certain that you are out in the country in the South when you ask the cook how she made the food and the first thing she says, for anything, is, "Bacon grease,"  and when you ask about the biscuits, she just says, "Lard.”  In fact, just the other day, an old lady spent 15-minutes telling us the proper method to cook collards, and yes, it included bacon grease. Also for Elder Pruitt’s birthday dinner we ate at the Zeaglers’, who are some of my favorite people that I've met on my mission. They are the ones who have a son serving a mission, currently, in Elder Pruitt's grandparents’ ward. Their family is great. There are not a lot of people like the Zeaglers in the world. Brother Zeagler took a DNA test, certain that although he's very white, he would have a good percentage of African American in his blood (he did use that term, though he's from Louisiana), but he was surprised to find out he only had 1% African American in his blood. I told him that they must have done the test wrong, which is a running joke in their family.       

         This week Miss Nellie Potter passed away, she lived to the ripe old age of 96. She was the one who fed us for Thanksgiving. I am very blessed to have known her. She was one of the nicest people I have ever met before, and I have not yet met anyone whose opinion of her was otherwise. At her funeral, her incredible son-in-law gave the eulogy. In the eulogy he told a story of when he, his wife, and Miss Nellie went to Australia to visit the mission where he served. While they were at a marsupial zoo, she saw a small pile of Emu feathers on the ground, so she walks right up and opens up her purse and starts filling it with the feathers. Just then she felt a rather sharp pecking on the back of her head, so she yells at her son-in-law, "JOE!!! Stop it! Joe y'all best stop it right now!", but at that moment Joe yelled back, "Nellie, that ain't me. I'm over here!" And then she turns around to see the emu right there pecking her with its beak. Joe said, "I have never seen a woman run so fast in my entire life."

         As always, there is so much to write about each week, but until next time, I hope y'all have a blessed week!

 

--Elder White