This week's letter/email is titled, "Well I'm Living that Boonie Life!"
I love it here so much. The area is called Winder (pronounced Wine der), but we cover the surrounding 80 miles and the towns within that area. Our branch president doesn't want us to go down into Athens to do work. You would love it here so much! The town is so little but has a Walmart so don't worry--funny. All the buildings are red brick and built way back in the 40's and 50's. It's your classic American small town. The people are really friendly and everyone is basically related to each other. In the apartment building we live in there's three other pairs of missionaries within 100 yards of us. There's not any other place where the missin can rent apartments. There is one thing missing from the area--an abundance of Hispanics. This is going to be a challenge, but Elder Bacon and I are up to it. The Winder area has existed in the mission for less than a year and was created to support the number of missionaries coming in. Elder Bacon has been here for 4 1/2 months and he's starting to lose a little hope. He loves this area and the branch (which is a 30 min drive down to Athens) and he wants the area to survive. He's pretty much settled on just getting a baptism while he's here. They're considering closing down the area if we don't show some fruits. I'm feeling a little pressure, but really something amazing has happened. Instead of feeling stressed and overwhelmed as I often do, I'm pretty calm but determined. We decided that we're going to work hard and do our best. We want to show that all of the time missionaries have spent here hasn't been in vain and that we're going to get a baptism. We're just going to have to look a lot to find on though. So we basically have to get a baptism this transfer or they shut it down. And even if we do get a baptism, I don't know if the area is sustainable. We tracted for 5 hours on Thursday and got close to 30 contacts only 2 of which were Hispanic. But were not going to give up. I'm just going to have patience and keep working and talking to all the southern folks. I'm glad I'm familiar with southern accent thanks to Grandpa Sid, since sometimes I have to translate for Elder Bacon hahaha. We're just going to do our best. We're going to go out every day, we're going to ask for plenty of referrals, and we're going to look for the Hispanics and teach with as much spirit as we can have.
I'm again using the cleaning skills you embedded into by brain and when the ward missionaries for the Winder Ward came over they said "Wow, this actually looks clean!" Don't worry I'm making you proud Mom! Elder Bacon is a hard worker and loves being a missionary.
My mission debit card is out of money. I bought some stuff that I was missing in the apartment, but I still need some other stuff.. I need food and some other stuff so can i just buy it with my home debit card? I'm sorry, but I don't really have another choice!! I'm planning on buying a lot of stuff from the dollar store! Yea, Dad taught me well, but there's some stuff that I need from Walmart. Love you so much! And know that despite everything, im having a wondeful time and I know that I'm here in Winder for a purpose :)
Love,
Elder Rodabough, the second
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