Let it Snow!

Hellooooo!!! It was so good talking to you on Christmas! I hope y'all had as merry of a Christmas as I did. :)

 

We were blessed with a WHITE CHRISTMAS! It was crazy! It snowed pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday! It's funny, I never disliked the snow back home, but I never super loved it either. Now it's snowing in Georgia and I got super excited! Haha it reminds me of home and I didn't even know that was a memory of home. 

 

I built a baby snowman without gloves on and it was the coldest snow I've ever touched... Haha wet and cold. Because of the snow church got cancelled. Yes, I know, 3 inches of snowfall is devastating. Haha we were at Christmas dinner at the Barnes' home when we found out there was no church. Elder Whitehead and I were so confused. What were we supposed to do for a whole entire Sunday right after Christmas if there aren't any services? We went outside in the morning and the whole entire town of Cornelia was shut down. It was interesting. The snow melted off of the roads by the afternoon, so we were able to go see some members and investigators. 

 

I love my aloe plant that I got for Christmas. I love it so much. Haha, we named him Judas Maccabee, the most hardcore biblical name we could think of. Thank you so much for all of the Christmas gifts that I received, they are much appreciated. :)

 

On Tuesday we sang at Brother Woody's funeral, "Nearer My God To Thee". It was a good experience; we were grateful to be able to help with the memorial. We quickly drove south to Lilburn for the Mission Christmas "Conference." Haha, we missed the speaking/spiritual parts and made it just in time for some catered Mexican food and Christmas festivities. It was fun seeing all of my friends from GANM. It's interesting to think that I've nearly been out for 6 months now. When I talked to y'all on the phone it seemed like it had only been two weeks since we talked when I was in the SLC airport. Time flies when you are having fun!

 

Christmas seems to be a time when people get sick or injured. We visited two members in the hospital this week who needed blessings. I am learning about so many different types of ailments, like shingles and diabetes. Haha welcome to the world Elder Caplin.

 

We decided to learn a Christmas Song in Spanish to sing to a Hispanic family in our ward that we are friends with. The night before we performed, we tried to practice on another Hispanic family that we know. They wouldn't answer, so we just sang to the door haha. When we sang "Away in a Manger" to the Molinas in Spanish, they were very very happy. That was probably one of my favorite Christmas gifts that we gave this season. Wednesday we went caroling with the youth at a rest home and had a super awesome lesson with Jeremy about the creation and the fall. Christmas Eve we did a little bit of service and ate with a fun family from the ward.  Christmas Day we opened presents, called home, ate good food (I cooked breakfast for E.W.) and had fun. We finished the night by reading from the Bible.

 

I am learning how important the 'little things' are. I have a strong testimony that when we do the little things that God asks us to do, He will help us when large challenges come forth. I also believe that when we do little bad things, we will one day find that we have slipped into a pile of sin and have become all dirty. I know that prayer and good thoughts focused on God are good for us.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Enjoy the season, love what you have. I love you. Thanks for everything.

 

Elder Mikey Caplin

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!
Cornelia is such a cute town this time of year. There are Christmas wreaths everywhere and even though it is sunny and not too cold, it definitely feels like Christmas. We have been getting very excited this holiday season. On Wednesday we had our ward Christmas party, and that was pretty fun. Elder Whitehead and I sang "Away In A Manger"-- a song that we have been singing quite a bit lately.

We have gone around to many of the members and investigators and others in the area giving them Christmas treats, packages, scriptures, and songs. It has been fun. We went to one of our neighbors to give her a Christmas present, and she talked about how nice she thought that a few members are from the ward. She just kept going on and on; we were impressed to know how much of an impact the members had made. We were also impressed that they had let her know that they were members of the church. Every experience can be a missionary moment, and it is exciting when you get to see success from that. Our neighbor will be coming to church next week, so we are super excited about that.

On Monday we had a district P-day on the Chattahoochee River. Haha, it was a lil bit cold, but we had a good old time. We got to hang out with a couple of the youth from our wards because Monday was a snow-day! There wasn't any snow at all on the ground; it was sunny without a cloud in the sky! Thursday was a snow day too and the whole town shut down. Everyone is scared of the ice that comes when temperatures drop below freezing, so they hurry and buy some milk and bread and then stay home for the next few days.


On Tuesday I was on an exchange with Elder Koopmans, who is from Dameron Valley, UT. He is my zone leader and a Spanish-speaking missionary, so he came up here and taught a few lessons to some hispanic people we know. I could understand a little bit of what they were saying, and even though I couldn't communicate with Alonzo to help Elder Koopmans out, it was really awesome to see how the Spirit can still prompt you so that you are still working as a companionship. I would suggest things for E.K. to say even though I didn't always know what they were talking about. It was a super good lesson and an awesome experience for me.

Wednesday I went down to Winder because E. Whitehead had a leadership meeting. Haha even though it wasn't my area, I got to be the driver for the day since I was the missionary that had been out the longest. That was fun for me and a little weird. It's hard to imagine that summer has come and gone and that now Christmas is upon us. I've been out almost 6 months!

We had another really awesome lesson with Jeremy this week. We taught some of the beginning parts of the Plan of Salvation. It went well. He told us that the previous week he went to his girlfriend's Holiness Church. He asked us about speaking in tongues. He said he was really scared while he was there. Afterwards he talked to his girlfriend and her mom about our church, and they told him we were polygamists-- haha. He said he bore his testimony of what he feels when he meets with us and reads from the Book of Mormon. It was really awesome. If he would come to church and stop being busy he would be baptized already haha. We're working on it, we're working on it.


Our mormon.org profiles are up now. We are so unified as a companionship that if you look up one of us on mormon.org you can see a link to the others under the Similar Profiles section. We laughed pretty hard when we saw that. Then we fist bumped. It was that chill.


The Wainrights invited us over for their early Christmas family party. We had tons of delicious food of course (I swear they want us to weigh like 300 pounds each), played an ornament exchange game, and then they gave us some presents. They are so good to us. They are just so nice. It was a party.


Saturday we were over at the Bishop's house for lunch and to talk to him about a few things, (since our meeting the week before got interrupted by the Church flooding) and they got a sad phone call. There is a couple in the ward that got baptized 3 years ago, Brother and Sister Woody. Brother Woody had a stroke a little while ago and has been confined to a wheel chair. His hospice nurse called Sister Smith (the bishop's wife) and told her that Brother Woody was probably going to die soon and that Sister Woody wasn't coping very well.

The Smiths went over there to talk to her. Bishop Smith is such a good man. He takes such good care of such a large and difficult ward. Anyway, during Sunday School yesterday Sister Woody called letting us know that Brother Woody had just passed on. Bishop Smith asked us to hurry over there to check on her and give her the Sacrament before the rest of the family got there to make funeral plans. We went over and it was an interesting experience.

Sister Woody was doing surprisingly well. She said she felt at peace and knew that he had passed away to a place better than this one. She wasn't weepy, she was assured and strengthened. Brother Woody's son was there and he was in a very poor state. He lives about 2 hours south of Cornelia and didn't make it in time to say goodbye to his dad. He isn't a member but expressed interest to us in learning about the Church, so we invited him to take the Sacrament and gave him a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon that helps to read during difficult times.

Anyway it was just an interesting experience. We got there minutes after Brother Woody died, so his body was in the bed still. We offered comfort to the son and got to see first hand the power that comes because of Jesus Christ's Atonement. Sister Woody is now all right, even though just two days ago she was not doing well. We have a mission Christmas party on Tuesday, but we are going to that late because we were asked to sing at the funeral and want to be there to support Sister Woody.


That event involving the death of a man I had just visited two weeks ago, plus the Christmas season put the day in a different mood. My thoughts were more turned to the Lord all day. Sacrament meeting was really good and all day we just felt that like helping others out. We visited a mother and daughter in the ward that were sick, we sang carols in Spanish to a hispanic family, we gave Christmas treats away to a family we don't know. It was an interesting day, not sad or anything, just a more spiritual one. For the funeral we will be singing "Nearer My God To Thee".


I am grateful for these opportunities that I have as a full-time servant of the Lord to learn a little better about what being Christlike means. I am so excited for Christmas and pray that all of you will have THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVERRRRR.


Well, time to go! Talk to you soon! Love you so much!


Happy Holiday of your choice!


Love Elder Caplin

All's Well That Ends Well

Hey Fam!!!! You guys are number one!!!!

 

We had a pretty good week this week. Elder Whitehead and I are excited to be together again and staying in Cornelia for Christmas. We decided that we are THE most unified companionship in GANM history. We can answer each other's questions before we even finish asking them haha.

 

We spent lots of time on mormon.org this week. We watched all of the video profiles to learn them. I have been working on my profile (It's harder than you'd think to make one! Well it's not a difficult process, but it's hard to decide what you want to write about yourself and your testimony of faith, Jesus Christ, etc.), and Elder Whitehead's is already up! haha his is so him. Look him up on mormon.org if you'd like. His name is Kenny. Also, along with the mormon.org stuff we have been showing the site to many members and teaching them how to make a page.

 

We had quite an adventure on Wednesday. We went over to Bishop Smith's house for lunch, to talk about the new way the church wants to do missionary work, and to go on a team up to visit an investigator, and before we even started eating he got a call from the Fire Department telling him that the alarms and sprinklers were going off in our building! He told us to go ahead and eat with his wife, that he would check it out real quick because it was probably nothing. Twenty minutes later we got a call from him saying the building was flooded. 

 

We raced over to the church (over 15 minutes from his house) with brooms and vacuums and that place was flooded! One of the fire sprinklers in the lobby went off and the water went everywhere. We first started sweeping it out of the chapel to save the pews. There were inches thick of water. In the classroom right next to the sprinkler the water was probably 3 inches high covering the whole entire floor. Within an hour of us getting there, other people from the ward came over to help and we had all of the standing water out of the building within maybe 2 hours. 

 

On the third hour the extraction/restoration company finally came to do the professional work. My slacks had a water line about a foot up from E.W. sweeping water to me and then me sweeping it out the door. Haha-- our shoes took days to dry out. It was pretty crazy, but thankfully the damage was minimal and we still had church yesterday. Also, our Bishop made the front page of the local newspaper! There was a picture of him sweeping water out the door, it was pretty funny. All's well that ends well, right??

 

A former investigator invited us to go with her to her Sunday School class Christmas party. There was tons of good food and we enjoyed ourselves, but at first it was pretty awkward. Everyone there was over the age of retirement and we were expecting it to be more of a family event haha. So the age difference was quite apparent, but then also it was just strange walking into a Baptist Church with our LDS missionary name tags on! 

 

At first everyone was giving us unwelcome looks and kept trying to read our tags to see if their eyes were maybe deceiving them. One guy even said, "Stick around afterwards and maybe we can get you saved." But then towards the end this old guy stood up to give a speech and asked us if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has this much fun, and I made everyone laugh, so at the end all the old Baptists were buddy-buddy with us, saying, "Come again, Merry Christmas, nice having you, etc." Hahaha, it was an experience that we will remember for sure.

 

We also went to a black Baptist church Bible study this week (it's so weird to me how the churches are segregated, but that is how they feel comfortable, not that people are super racist or anything). They were extremely nice to us, invited us to all their events, involved us in the discussion, etc. The thing that I loved most about both of the churches was their music. They sang hymns, but they sing them in this awesome folk-sy way. There was a saxophone playing with the piano. It was just different, not bad, just different. I enjoyed myself.

 

This week we put together some Christmas presents for our investigators and friends in the area. I made glazed pecans that E.W. and I think taste pretty good, and E.W. put a Christmas DVD in this cutesy cellophane wrapped package that he is good at making. It has been fun delivering those.

 

It's always depressing when plans fall through with our investigators. We wanted to meet with Jeremy again this week so we can help him progress towards baptsim, but he was gone a lot. E.W. and I want to make appointments with people, but they just don't like that too much out here. They always say, "Oh, just come back anytime" or "I'll be free on Thursday", but they don't like setting specific times hahaha, gotta love Cornelia.

 

We gave a less-active member who is sick with pneumonia a blessing this week. It is always so enjoyable to be led by the Spirit in that which you do. I believe that's how God wants us to live life --just by the Spirit. It's easy and satisfying that way.

 

This week we were teaching a family the Word of Wisdom and right in the middle of the lesson their little daughter who is sick looked up at me and said, "You have a half mustache." E.W. and I started laughing and her parents turned bright red with embarrassment. She then said, "Next time when you come you should have a whole mustache." It was our last appointment of the evening, so I imagine I did have a bit of a 5 O'clock shadow, and it was just super funny.

 

Things have been going well here in Cornelia! We are excited for the Christmas season, we are enjoying the work, and we are hoping that the new mormon.org and member referral system will get us some awesome investigators :)

 

Remember who loves you and be good! Have an enjoyable week!

 

Love, Elder Mikey T. Caplin

Happiness is Free...You Just Have to Know Where to Look For It

Hello Hellooooo!

We got transfer calls last night and we survived!!! Both Elder Whitehead and I will be staying here in Cornelia another transfer!!! I am super excited about that because we have so much fun together. I love that kid. I'm glad we will still be companions here. I totally forgot that transfer calls were last night, I can't believe how quickly the past 6 weeks has flown by--I didn't even realize transfers were coming! Everyone is happy that we will be staying here at least until January. :)

I was on an exchange Tuesday and Wednesday here in Cornelia with my good friend Elder Disbrow. That was fun. We ate at Hardee's after District Meeting. I walked in expecting it to be just like Carl's Jr. Oh how I was disappointed. No Western Bacon Cheeseburgers or Spicy Chicken sandwiches. Oh well, it'll be all right; I'll get them in Summer Oh Twelve--no worries there.

We helped a woman from the ward set up a presentation for the Relief Society activity this Tuesday. She showed the group some videos that the Church makes  (Mormon Messages about Christmas). The videos were really good-- I suggest you watch them for FHE. :)

Anyway, speaking of the Internet, we had a specialized training down in Lilburn with President King. He told us that he had a meeting with the Presidency of the Seventy and that they want to totally change missionary work. They did some research, which told them that missionaries tracting is not efficient in any way, soooooooo now we are to use mormon.org as our tool! We have been asked to make profiles, and have the members do the same! That way they can have a huge network of Mormons and their testimonies online to help opinions of people who don't know any members. There are some really touching videos on there that we have been asked to watch so that we can use them to help investigators and to help find investigators! One video (not from mormon.org, but one of the Mormon Messages) we watched this week is so good. I love it everytime I watch it. Here it is--please watch it. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7zwQ_7q-fU

These videos and whatnot are meant to help all of us in our quest in coming closer to Christ. I watched the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional last night and it was so good. The spirit touches you as you listen to God's prophets bear witness of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so excited for this Christmas season when we can forget about ourselves and focus on others and be grateful for the Joy of Jesus. President Monson has talked about remembering the true spirit of Christmas. He said to remember that all we have to do is take off the last 3 letters of the phrase and it becomes the Spirit of Christ. I know that Jesus can redeem us all.

We had another lesson with Jeremy this week. He is such an awesome kid. We taught him the message of the restoration again. After the lesson we asked him how his prayers have been going. We asked him what he thinks he could do to know for himself that the Book of Mormon is true. He said, "Well... I guess I need to keep reading more, and I should probably go to church." It is so awesome to see someone who is so excited about the Gospel and truly trying to be a disciple of Christ. He has read all the way to Mosiah in just a few weeks in the Book of Mormon. It's prettyyyyy awesome.

I learned how to say "greetings" in Apache this week. I was pretty excited about that. A guy in our ward is from Montana and he grew up right next to a reservation so he taught me haha. I don't know how to spell it or else I would tell you what it is, but just trust me on this one, it's great.

Also, I am changing. It's bizarre. I ate a whole box of Raisin Bran last week. Raisin Bran? Really? That is such an old person cereal, and it's healthy! hahaha I am much less picky with what I eat now, it's funny.

We were able to help the City of Cornelia set up for their Christmas parade this Saturday. That was tons of fun. It's such a cute hometown place. Everyone on the floats was saying "hi" to the people on the street. I love how everyone knows everyone here.

We spent a bit of time this week visiting members and letting them know about mormon.org. We are trying to get as many people as we can to make profiles. I am so excited that it is Christmas time. It finally got cold here-- the sun shines and everything, it's just windy and the air is cold.

I had a good week. I am always learning. Always messing up. Always trying to do better. I am happy. I love living life, I love meeting new people, I love serving others, I love the peace of the Gospel. I love my family so much. I love love. Haha :) Happiness is free, you just have to know where to look for it.

Thanks for everything,

Love Elder Mikey

Cornish Hens, Chick-fil-A, and 10,000 Bucks

Oh hey FAMILY!!!!

 

I hope Thanksgiving was great for you as I know mine was.  :)

 

We went over to the Wainrights' house and it wasn't a typical Thanksgiving dinner, but goodness it was good. They are from New Orleans so they bought a lot of seafood for us to eat and instead of turkey we each got a stuffed cornish hen! It was lots of fun and a ridiculously delicious dinner. The only downside is that Elder Whitehead was sick (he has a cold) so he couldn't taste anything, and he was really tired. I felt bad for him, haha they told us to come over anyway because they were all sick with colds too. Hopefully I'll fare well health wise.

The Wainrights--Thanksgiving Day 2010

 

It wasn't much fun having a sick person in the companionship. We didn't really do anything except eat on both Thursday and Friday; poor fellow didn't want to/couldn't get out. Moral of the story: Don't get sick so that you can do missionary work!

 

Ok so real quick, here are some fun stories that I forgot to tell you guys from last week. 

 

1) Elder Whitehead and I almost won $10,000. We got some ad in the mail for a tent sale at a car dealership with a scratch-away-to-see-if-you-won lottery thing on it. We scratched and we won. Well, we thought we won. We studied that paper for hours! As far as we could tell we won, so after the John Bytheway fireside we stopped by the dealership to claim our 10,000 bucks, but...... we only won a second chance to win. Hhahahaha we were so let down, we thought for sure we would be missionary thousandaires hahah. 

 

2) On our way back from John Bytheway last week the ward stopped at a mall to eat some supper and it was so weird being in a populated area!!!! hahaha it was blowing my mind how many people were around and how they were all different ethnicities. I guess that means I've been in the country for a little while haha :)

 

Well, I do believe I had my final Southern dish this week...meaning that now I have tried all of the ones that people told me about. Black Eyed Peas. haha I thought they were pretty boring--apparently you have to put sauce or seasonings on them to enjoy it.

 

We had a really good lesson with our investigator Jeremy on Wednesday. He is 22 years old and lives with some less-active members in the ward. They have been teaching him a lot about the church, so when we went over there instead of doing what we had planned to do, we answered his questions and taught him about the 3 degrees of glory. It was a really awesome spiritual lesson. It makes so much of a difference when you are teaching someone who is really interested and there aren't any distractions from the rest of the household like the tv or dogs or whatever. The Spirit was just so strong there; we all enjoyed it so much. At the end of the lesson we asked him how he felt and he said, "I feel all tingly inside" with a huge smile on his face. It was awesome to hear a 22 year old man, wearing work boots with manly facial hair saying that he felt tingly haha. That is just the converting power that the Holy Ghost has.

 

That was while I was on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Jones. It was a fun time. I love learning from other missionaries. Elder Jones is really good at street contacting and just talking to people that he doesn't know. On Saturday we prayed before we left our apartment that we would be able to meet some people interested in the gospel. We then went to go visit an investigator, who wasn't home. At her apartment complex I talked to a kid outside. He had just moved in that day. I gave him some stuff to read and a card with the church address and service time. That was our first new investigator we found that day. Then we drove down the street to get gas and at the station we met 4 people interested in the Gospel. We gave out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon and got all of their contact info. I know that God answers our prayers when we seek sincerely and have real intent.

 

This week we had a mini zone conference. It is so awesome to be a missionary and to be able to learn from all of our meetings and feel the Spirit. It is like constant rejuvenation. Haha, here is a funny story. After the Zone Conference we all went out to lunch. Half of the group went to Chick-fil-A and then the rest of them went to Burger King. After we ate we walked across the street to meet up with the other guys at BK. When I walked in they were all huddling together and they called me and the other guys over and said, "A member bought our food, so we're gonna sing a song." 

 

In our mission there is a tradition that whenever the Relief Society provides food for our missionary meetings, we sing "As I Have Loved You", the childrens Primary song. No one knew this random member who had paid for all of the food, but we followed out our tradition and thanked her by singing. We started and the whole restaurant got quiet and started listening to us. It was really pretty and afterwards people clapped for us. It was an awesome missionary experience where we were able to thank this member and let the whole restaurant hear a message about Christ and feel the Spirit. It goes, "As I have loved you, love one another. This new commandment, love one another. By this shall men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Simple, yet beautiful. And that's what the gospel is all about.

 

LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!

 

Elder Caplinnnnnn

What Every Teenager Needs to Know to Be Happy

Heyyyyyooo!

We had another crazy week this week. Our numbers were terrible because we weren't home much, but a ton of good experiences occurred!

Last Sunday (I might have told you this last week-- I can't remember) our investigator Jonathan soft committed to baptism after we had a lesson with him about the Godhead, so that was pretty cool. On Monday we went over to the Cutchshaws (They are a less-active part-member family) and Fischer, their 9 year old son, asked to be baptized. We are super excited about how much they have progressed and warmed up to the church and whatnot, but we are a little nervous about baptizing him as soon as possible because we want to make sure that he has friends in the ward and that he will stay fully active once baptized.

Tuesday morning we woke up at FOUR THIRTY IN THE MORNING because we had to head down south for Elder Whitehead's leadership trainings. Our friend from the ward Ben picked us up at 5:30 a.m. and after an incredibly homemade delicious biscuit breakfast from Dairy Queen, we drove down to Winder where E.W. got dropped off for the next couple days. Ben then drove me up to the Hartwell missionaries' apartment where I stayed for an exchange. Ben's such a nice kid.

In Hartwell we had lots of fun. A 3some set of missionaries is super fun, but really awkward when you stand on people's porches and then knock on their front door haha. While there I was able to help them teach the law of Chastity to their number 1 and 2 investigators. The lesson went really well until their number 1 (who is about 23 years old) said that he wouldn't make any promises about keeping the law of chastity while he was trying to quit smoking... Yikes! Haha it was kinda awkward, (his girlfriend was there and listening the whole time) but still a good lesson. Also while on my exchange to the Hartwell/Royston area, Elder Waters and Elder Disbrow put about 50 pixie stix in my mouth without letting me swallow. Haha it was pretty funny--we were laughing pretty hard. 

Just a fun fact for you. I got back to the church in Cornelia about 45 minutes before Elder Whitehead did, so I was temporarily companionless for a bit on Wednesday night. I asked a priesthood holder from the ward if I could hang out with him and be his part-time companion during mutual and he said yes haha. It was weird not having a companion for that short time and then it was weird when Elder Whitehead and I were reunited; it felt like it had been ages since we had seen each other.

On Thursday we had our district meeting. I did a training for the district on conversion through prayer. We studied a lot from Moroni 10:3-5 and read from other passages in the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel. It turned out pretty all right, but when giving it I was just a little bit nervous, wanting to make sure that it was something that was actually helping these other missionaries and not just filling time.

Friday, we got a soft committal for baptism (that means we haven't set a date, but that they accept our baptismal invitation) for our investigator Star. She is 18 years old and has been an investigator off and on for a few months now, and is really seeming to be excited about things finally, and really wanting to do as Christ has taught us to do. That was a bit of a surprise for us, but really good :)

Saturday was John Bytheway. We got to the church in Lilburn in the morning and after a lunch he spoke to the missionaries only. It was really good. He talked about the great things we can learn about Christ and missionary work from the Book of Mormon. After that he spoke to the youth from 3 of the stakes here in GA, including the Athens stake that I'm a part of. He is super funny of course and a really good speaker. He spoke on 1 Timothy 4:12 which is "Be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, it faith, in purity." The title of the devotional was "What Every Teenager Needs to Know to Be Happy" and it was truly good.

Sunday we gave our missionary fireside for the kids in our ward. It turned out great! We had 19 kids there, some adult leaders, and the sister missionaries from Commerce. We helped them know what to do if someone brings up the church, how to make any moment a missionary moment that you can spread the gospel with faith and confidence. We spent about 23 minutes at the end role-playing with the kids, where they practiced doing missionary work with each other. It was pretty cool. It was fun for E.W. and me to be led by the Spirit as we taught them things to help them out. At the end we gave each person a copy of the Book of Mormon to pass out before next week.

Well unfortunatley I don't have much more time, but I love you so much. Thanks so much for all of the support that you give me while I am here on my mission in Cornelia, GA. Have a super great Happy Thanksgiving! I'm so excited myself for the holiday-- it should be pretty good!

Y'all be safe and be good! Take it easy and don't do anything you'll regret!

LOVE YOU!

Elder Caplin

We'll Eat Anything but Roadkill...

Happy Birthday to my sister Hannah!!! You are No. One!!!!!!!!

I hope things have been going well at home, I love you guys.

I thought of something else that I want for Christmas besides a frazil machine and an aloe plant. Can I have one of those 50 states quarters books? Thankssss, you guys are # 1 :)

Not too much happened this week unfortunately. Our mission is doing this program thingy to help us focus on our investigators. We select our investigators that we think are our top three, write their names on a piece of paper, and then make goals that we wish to accomplish to help them progress in the gospel. It makes it so that we are more focused on our purpose as missionaries, which is to Invite others to Come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. 

The only two things that we can do as missionaries is Invite and Help. By making a list, plans, and goals we are able to understand what we should do to help people accept our invitations to come unto Christ and receive the restored gospel. It just gives us something more specific things to work toward. We had a great lesson yesterday with Jonathan, our number one investigator, about the Godhead. At the end of the lesson we sort of committed him to be baptized and he said when he finds out this message is true he will be, so that's good. Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with the other two this week. We'll get em soon, it'll happen. :)

On the weeknights members from the ward take us around to visit less-active members that don't get seen very often because the ward boundaries are so large. It's interesting as we travel around and meet people to see how many people just want to be listened to and loved. Some people want to talk about their family, some people want to talk about work, some people want to talk about what they do/did for fun, and some people just want to talk about the world. This week we were able to visit 7 inactive families and they all seemed glad to get a visit from someone. Relationship, memories, and knowledge are the only things we can take with us from this life. It's better to seek after a life of peace and happiness than glory and riches, I always say. Well, I haven't always said that, but I think I'm going to start haha. Georgians are pretty good at not being too obsessive about money and possessions and whatnot. Hahahahaa sometimes they are too good however and just decide not to work haha.

The weather here has been surprisingly nice. It's raining today, but this past week it was all high temperatures and sunny skies. We liked having that good weather because we did a good bit of service for some people out in their yards and gardens. Apparently it is supposed to be an easy dry winter this year...guess we'll see! For Thanksgiving we got invited to eat at the Wainright's house, the same family that was so nice to us and fed us this weekend and last. Elder Whitehead likes pie a lot and I'm the one that carries around our phone so whenever people call to ask what we like to eat I always say, "We'll eat anything but roadkill and Elder Whitehead loves pie." So as a result, we have been fed lots of pie and it's great.

This next Sunday is when we are doing our fireside for the youth. We are excited for that and on the 20th John Bytheway is speaking in Lilburn for all of the stakes in the mission. All of the kids were encouraged to bring friends to that. It seems like many of them are nervous to bring up the gospel with peers from school. They are scared that it will turn into a "Bible-bash." One thing that we are going to teach them and practice with them during the fireside is to 1.) Get on common ground, 2.) Share how the gospel gives you hope, and 3.) Introduce the Book of Mormon. Whenever we meet people or go tracting we usually try to get those points across within the first few minutes. The Book of Mormon is probably our most used tool as a missionary and I am so grateful that it is available for everyone's benefit.

I love you. Y'all be safe now ya hear?

Elder Caplin

Listening with Love

Hellooooooo!!!!

Thanks so much for the Halloween package! We loved it, especially the gold stars for our demerit chart! haha.

We had a pretty good week this week, unfortunately we weren't able to accomplish as much work as we would have liked to because we were so busy! We had Zone Conference today with the two zones from the Athens Stake. It was of course super good and super spiritual and super educational. The focus was on the Holy Ghost--how we can feel the Holy Ghost and how we can help investigators feel the Holy Ghost and how we can be led by the Spirt in our work. The Holy Ghost is the ultimate teacher; no conversion can come without him. We are told to always have God's spirit to be with us, so it was good to learn about all those important things. Elder Whitehead and I want to work harder at being led by the Spirit and I know that we will see improvement as we do all that we can and try our hardest to be worthy.

We got some new missionaries this transfer and one of them was a kid I had classes with at Payson High! His name is Sam Jackson. I was so happy to hear that he came out on a mission, especially to GANM! That now makes 5 kids from Payson High in the mission and 4 of them are in my zone! Elder Waters got transferred to Hartwell, so now we are in the same district--that's gonna be a party for sure! It's so funny to see what a small world it is. I was talking to another missionary at Zone Conference and it turns out he was friends with like 6 of the kids I knew at BYU that are my friends too.

We went to visit an investigator in an apartment complex last week who wasn't home. When we walked back out to the parking lot, these kids were riding their bikes around and one of them told me I looked like James Bond! haha Maybe it was because I was wearing a huge jacket because it was cold out-- haha idk.

We went on a team up with a recent convert in our ward who we are good friends with. He is tons of fun and close to our age, so we always hang out with him at church and stuff. He's really nice. Anyway, it was sad hearing about his life before he got baptized. He doesn't come from a good family background and it was just sad to hear about all of the poor decisions that his family members have made. It's sad to see how many people in this world turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with their problems, when really those substances will never solve anything. That's why we need to find those who are stuggling and bring them to the light of Jesus! yeahhhhhhh!

Well here is a Southern Baptist term for you that I love. Backslide(r), (ing), etc. It's what Baptists say when they know they are doing something that is against what their religion teaches. I love it because they always say it in such a sheepish manner; it's just so funny. Last week we were talking to this old guy who was given a copy of the Book of Mormon years ago. We asked him if he ever read it and he said, "No, I never read it. I'm kind of a backslider; I haven't been to church in 40 years." (to be read in a deep southern accent slowly :) ) I love the south and the terms/things that they say-- so funny so funny.

In Preach My Gospel there are a few pages that talk about the importance of listening to investigators with love, that we might be able to understand how to best help each person. This week we taught a lesson to the lady in our ward who we helped through her reactivation/repentance process. After listening to a conference talk, we asked her some questions and then just listened to her. By allowing silence for her to think and whatnot she shared with us another problem that she is going through. We talked about some solutions with her and it really cheered her up. It was a good experience. We find that there are a lot of people who do want religion in their lives but they just feel too guilty about the addictions that they have or stuff like that. By listening with love we are able to sometimes help them realize possible solutions. That was just a cool experience from last week I wanted to share. :)

We had dinner at a part-member family's house on Saturday evening. They invited us over to eat and teach a lesson on the 10 commandments. They were so nice--they went to the store and probably spent 200 dollars for the 8 of us to eat. They said they wanted to give us a good meal while we are out on our missions. People are so kind to us missionaries. We appreciate it so much. It really just touched my heart to see how they wanted to take care of us, and the thing is pretty much all of the members out here feel the same way. I am very blessed to be serving in a ward full of such great people.

Well I love you so much and I hope that things are going well. Thanks for all of the cards and letters. Remember that the Lord loves you and wants to bless everyone if we will just come unto Him.

Elder Caplin

ONE LOVE!!!

Undercover FBI Agents...or really just a nerdy missionary and a Christmas elf?

Hey guys!

We had a pretty good week; tons of interesting things happened.

On Monday a former investigator took us out to dinner and to listen to a doctor give a political speech for the Habersham County Patriots. These Georgians are sure getting riled up about politics and the economy. I don't know how it is in the rest of the nation, but people here are trying to do their part in supporting their beliefs. 

We talk to people and meet people daily who bring up the subjects of "The world these days..." and politics. They are trying to get involved--that's for sure. There is SOME passion. I live up in the GA mountain country so most people are Republican (I'm pretty sure that I've only met one Democrat since getting here haha). They all LOVE Glenn Beck. It's really nice for us to be able to tell them that he is a Mormon haha. They all get so excited. I usually don't bring up the fact that Harry Reid is LDS too, but if I ever get transferred closer to Atlanta, I'm sure I'll tell the more liberal people that hahahaaha. It's just weird to see how firey these guys are getting about politics. They say that times are different now and they are willing to do whatever it takes to keep America free. Everyone is excited to see how the Congress votes turn out.

Tuesday was district meeting as usual. We meet in Commerce, GA because that is the most central location for the 3 sets of missionaries. So anyway, we went down there, but the Sister Missionaries forgot to tell us beforehand that they wouldn't be able to make it to the meeting and didn't arrange for anyone to unlock the building for us, so we just decided to have it in our car! Haha It was pretty funny, the 4 of us missionaries singing and praying and trying to study in a small car because it was raining outside. It was prettyyyy difficult to stay on task haha. 

Tuesday night we went to a funeral for a man from the Cornelia Ward. We sang in the Men's chorus. I never knew the man because he has been extremely sick and in a nursing home for the past while, but it was a very nice funeral and we were glad to be able to help by singing in the choir.

Wednesday was our ward Halloween party! It was tons of fun--the church was packed! A few of our investigators came, there were tons of less active members, and then all of the active members were there too! It was raining so the Trunk-or-Treating was brought inside from classroom to classroom. There was a chili cook off competion and about 35 different types of delicious chili. I dressed up as a nerd and Elder Whitehead dressed up as a Christmas elf; everyone loved our costumes haha. It was tons of fun.

On Thursday we brought a sofa that Bruce was throwing out to a poor family in our ward. They were very grateful to get that because it was a nice sofa and they lost all of their living room furniture when their trailer burned down.

Brother Shaver, a good friend and ward missionary, took us out Thursday night to meet a less active man whose records got transfered to our ward. He drove us to the address that we were given in the middle of nowhere. When we got to the front porch we asked a woman who was standing out front if Dustin was home. She said that she had never heard of him. We told her that we were told that he had just moved there and were from the church trying to meet him. We gave her our card and asked her to go to Mormon.org and call us if she needed anything. 

We started heading home and 5 minutes later we got a call on our cell phone from a blocked number. I answered it and a lady started getting all upset at me saying that we came to her momma's house looking for her husband. I was bewildered so I told her that I was sorry but had no idea what she was talking about. She told me that her momma called her 5 minutes ago scared to death because she didn't know who we were. I apologized and then explained to her that we heard that Dustin moved in and we were trying to welcome him to the church. She told me that Dustin had lived in the same place for 11 years and that he stopped being a Mormon when he moved to GA, and then she asked me why we were asking her momma about Dustin's child support! I apologized to her and assured her that that subject was not brought up and that we were missionaries from the church. 

Apparently the lady we talked to on the porch lied to us because she thought that we were the FBI and we were trying to nail her son-in-law for not paying his child support! After it happened we had a good laugh imagining us as FBI agents with copies of the Book of Mormon trying to put people in jail for not paying child support. hahaha good story good story.

On Saturday we teamed up with the Hartwell Elders and set up a booth at the Fall Festival in Martin! It was tons of fun and pretty successful. We set up a canopy tent, a table with a TV and lots of our literature, and then we took turns walking all over handing out mormon.org cards. It was tiring because we were there all day, but a good time. It's interesting to see how small the world is when you are Mormon. We met members there who are from Atlanta, GA, and from the states of NC, SC, and Tennessee. We found a few people who had moved to our ward boundaries but never had their records transferred. We handed out a few copies of the Book of Mormon and some pamphlets and whatnot. It was fun having people stop at our booth. It was fun making friends with the people from the booths next to us and just going up to random people to talk to them about stuff. This week when we were tracting I realized that I don't feel awkward whatsoever talking to someone that I don't know anymore, hahahaha it's great.

We met this kid at the festival who kept wanting to hang out with us. I was talking to him about fishing, asking him where he went and stuff. He said, "Me an mah diddy go fishin in Circa Lyna" and I said, "Where?" and he said, "Circa Lyna." I asked him again and he said the same thing. So I asked where that is and he said, "You know, just across the other side of Lake Hartwell!" I finally realized that he was trying to tell me that he and his father fish in South Carolina. hahahahaha I love these un-understandable southern accents.

At church on Sunday we gave the youth a survey to fill out that asked them to tell what things are difficult to explain when talking about the Gospel at school. The Mutual leaders asked us to do a missionary fireside soon so we want to know what to speak about. It was very beneficial for us and super funny what some of these kids put. On the question "Is it difficult for you to talk to your peers about the Gospel?" one of the kids put "It is if they aren't Mormon." Another question was "What is the hardest part?" or something like that and a kid wrote "It's hard to cast pearls before swine." 

Reading their answers was like watching "The Mouthes of Babes", just super cute and funny. Some kids are super fired up about missionary work and then others are scared because they don't know how to do it. It is important for us to help them because member referrals are our best resource for missionary work.

Anyway, I had a great week! It is now November first, the leaves are falling off the trees here and you can now see what lies behind them. I hope you guys are happy and healthy at home. I love you so much. Thanks for everything.

Love Elder Mikeyyyyyyyy

The Birthplace of Cabbage Patch Dolls

Heyyy y'all!

I hope you guys are doing all right! Things are going great out here in Habersham County. It's interesting-- here in GA the counties are very very small compared to other states that I've seen. The reason that they did that is because back in the day they didn't want it to be more than a day's horse ride to the county seat. (Is that what it's called?) So, from my apartment I can drive ten minutes in any given direction and be in three counties other than Habersham where we live!

Babyland General Hospital

Last Monday after I wrote you all, everyone in our District came up to our place and then we headed to White county to do some sight seeing. We went to Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, which is the birthplace of Cabbage Patch Dolls. Hahaha... I thought that it was pretty creepy and awkward, but all the little girls there and the Sister missionaries in our district loved it. The whole place is decorated as a Cabbage Patch world and the climax of your trip there is watching a doctor "birth" a Cabbage Patch baby out of a cabbage... Yikes!

After that we went up to Helen, which is this cool tourist Bavarian Town. It's decorated to look like Gemany and the Alps and stuff. It has been Oktoberfest this past month so it's festive (people get drunk and dangerous on the weekends, but it's quaint on a Monday haha.)

All of our older investigators kind of dropped off the charts as progressing investigators, so we have been starting over with a whole new crowd doing good old lesson number one, the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. :) One thing that was super awesome/crazy/funny/inspiring this week: We were trying to visit a less active member, but she wasn't home so we walked off her porch and looked to the right. The street next to hers is Kenny Lane and that is Elder Whitehead's first name, so we decided we had to get a picture of it and tract on that street. The first door we knocked on I said that we were sharing a message about the Book of Mormon.The lady ended up telling us that she has a copy of the Book of Mormon and reads it regularly. She said she prefers reading it over the Bible. Apparently she met some Mormons or missionaries or someone a few months ago who gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon but never followed up on it. She has been reading it this whole time. We were super excited and came back a few days later to invite her to church and the ward Halloween party.

We had interviews with President King this week at district meeting. That was pretty good-- he's a great guy. Also, the Assistants to the President came and taught us a little bit and helped each of us out with meeting our companionship goals and whatnot. The North American Region has been asked to set the goal of one baptism per month per companionship. I believe we can do this and it is a good boost for us to help us fully do what we are called to do, Bring others unto Christ. It is a good reminder because it is so easy to just sit and chat with an investigator who you are good friends with and not help them progress and find greater light in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yikes. So, we're super pumped about that.

This week a couple families in the ward were moving around so we had a good time hanging out with the Bishop and moving furniture and heavy boxes and all that good stuff. Moving parties are fun. :)

It was the ward Primary program this week and it was soooo cute haha. One kid got up there and his teacher was whispering his lines and he misunderstood her so instead of saying, "God does live" he said, "God does sleep." It was hilarious and so cute.

It's raining right now and is forecasted to do so for the next three days. It has been a super nice and easy warm and humid-less October though.

Well I love you and pray that everyone is safe, healthy, and happy. Thanks for everything.

Love Elder Caplinnnnnn!

Up towards the North Carolina border...

Hiiiiii!!!

 

It's so weird how time goes by as a missionary. I CANNOT believe that my first transfer with Elder Whitehead is almost over (this is the last full week), and it feels like it's been SO LONG since I was home! Well, let it be known that I love you and miss you all. For real.

 

Well this past little while we have unfortunately or fortunately (I can't decide which) had quite a few contacts with anti-Mormon people. It is good because it makes you study really hard to know the gospel, but it is bad because they are so relentless and it hurts because they say that we aren't Christian. I have been doing lots of studying about Jesus Christ and the Godhead. I know that Jesus lives and that his mission was and is to be the Redeemer of mankind. I know that God loves us and that is why he sent his Son and the Holy Ghost to help us here on our mortal journeys.

 

I was on an exchange Monday through Wednesday with Elder Mastaler here in Cornelia. I love exchanges because I love watching how other missionaries work and teach. We visited a few new people that we met or somehow met us. It's interesting to run into people who knew previous missionaries haha. We ran into one lady this week and she said, "Hey! What happened to the other two??" It turns out that those missionaries had gone home forever ago hahah.

 

Elder Whitehead and I are thinking about making a comic about how we help old (er) people with their technology. This week we fixed a homebound member's dvd player so that he can listen to the BofM on CD, we got the audio files of the BofM on someone else's Kindle, and we put the triple combination book on another lady's Kindle to read haha.

 

The ward is doing really well with going out with the missionaries and taking us around. This week was awesome. We had someone with us almost everyday. In Preach My Gospel it says we should try to have a member present at every lesson. I didn't understand why at first, but now I know how important it is. Members help investigators feel at ease, and also when the missionaries get transferred the investigators will be able to have friends in the ward to help them along their gospel progression.

 

Also, Elder Whitehead and I did something that we think is super awesome. We made a marking chart where we can give each other gold stars for things we do that are good and demerits for things we do that are bad. It has become pretty funny. We nail each other for some pretty funny things.

 

A bunch of our progressing investigators stopped progressing, so that was kind of a bummer this week, but we are doing lots of good work with the Less Active/ Part Member families. There were a ton of less actives at church yesterday, which was awesome. Also, a lady that we have been working with was able to take the sacrament for the first time in over 20 years yesterday--we were very happy for her.

 

On Saturday a man from the ward who lives in Rabun County picked us up to go do work up towards the North Carolina border. Haha--It took over 5 hours for us to visit 5 people. Our ward is huge. But we love it.

 

Well, I love you so much. Thank you so much for all the support that you give me.

 

Be safe,

 

Elder Mikey T. Caplin

Make One New Friend a Day...

Hey! How y'all fellers doin??

 

Ummmm, so it's been a pretty good week. We were pretty busy visiting people and tracting and doing service and whatnot. We're still trying to work harder on helping our investigators progress in the gospel though. That's always what's on our minds. We haven't had anyone come to church in a while, which is disappointing because we always have like 4 people promise us that they'll come.

 

Good news... McDonald's monopoly started up again! Elder Whitehead and I are pretty excited about that. Also, it's great because we live right next door to a Baptist church and a McDonald's! I love monopoly. 

 

I made some salsa this week, haha, well I tried at least. Bruce gave us like a million peppers and some people from the ward had given us tomatoes and onions, so I mixed it all together. For breakfast one morning I made an omelet that was completley free of cost for me to make. Bruce gives us eggs from his chickens, and then I added stuff into it from people's gardens and whatnot. It was super awesome.

 

On Thursday we went to Habersham County Hospital to visit people in the nursing home. We made a new friend named Margaret. She liked us right away because she lived a whole bunch of her life in the west and we are from the west. We were chatting with her for a while and her nurse came up and Margaret asked the lady, "Do you think you could hook my new roommates up with some lunch today?" Haha-- it was funny--she's like 94 years old.

 

I want to try to meet at least one new friend a day. It's really important for us to just talk to tons of people out here because in all actuality not many people have heard of the LDS church or the Book of Mormon. So we're trying to spread the word.

 

Question: What should I be for Halloween? I was thinking maybe a nerdy missionary or a cowboy missionary... I'm excited for the ward halloween party that's coming up :)

 

On Thursday we knocked on a door and a lady about 60 years old answered the door and wasn't very excited to see us. Right off the bat she said that she was Baptist and didn't believe in "Mormon". We just tried to start a casual conversation with her to lighten the mood and it started working haha. We were talking about her grandchildren and all this good stuff when her husband pulled up. He saw our name tags and said, "Hello! How you guys doing?! It says Jesus Christ on your tag so you must be good!" Now we are on very good terms with the couple and they want to learn a little bit about our church. Haha-- it's funny though because when we first got there she looked like she wanted to spit on us or something. We've been back again to give them some stuff and talk. They like us so much and were so impressed to hear that we don't get paid or anything like that.

 

The ward has been really good about taking us out on "team ups" this month. That is when a guy from the ward takes us out to one of our lessons or just to do whatever. They are really helpful because it saves us from using monthly miles and because it makes us seem more normal hahahahaha. Anyway, that has been really exciting/helpful/awesome.

 

Well, love you long time, take it easy, y'all be safe now!

When she saw us coming, she started RUNNING...

Helloooooooo!!!!

 

Summer is gone...

FALL is here in the Cornelia area! It turned from warm, summer days to cool, breezy, crisp autumn days really quickly! The leaves have begun to change colors and fall a little bit, and I am getting excited. Fall is everyone's favorite season out here so I am glad to be able to enjoy it in the NE GA mountains. 

 

This weekend was crazy and fun for Elder Whitehead and me. It was General Conference (which was awesome) and it was the Cornelia Apple-town Festival, which we helped out with. We got up super early to help the city set up for that. It was fun. 

 

Missionary Service at Community Events: Cornelia Apple Festival

 

Cornelia is just a cute little southern town. There were vendors lining all the streets. I tried fried apple pie for the first time and IT IS SOOO GOOD! haha. We bought some from the grocery store afterwards to store in the freezer for whenever we are craving it in the future. 

 

The Conference talks were super great. Unfortunately, none of the people we are working with showed up :(. We had been inviting people like crazy to attend. Seeing Temple Square on the tv reminded me how much I love Utah. Utah rules. The west is the best.

I wish I would have known that you guys were going to conference because then I would have looked for you! That is so awesome. I'm so happy for you guys. Watching conference at a church in GA made me realize how much I love Utah. I didn't get homesick at all, but I just love Utah. The mountains are beautiful, and I love Temple Square. Some of the ward members out here save their money for yearsssss just so that they can go to SLC. So anyway, that's fun that you got to be there for all the hustle and bustle and got to eat at a buffet and spend the night in SLC!

 

Well, it was kind of a tough week this past week. Our investigator Jason dropped his baptismal date. He said we could still be friends and meet with him and stuff, but he said that he really thinks he doesn't want to get baptized into a different church. (He is a Baptist.) So we are praying hard and trying to help him work out any concerns that he might have. 

 

Elder Whitehead and I also decided that we need some more people to work with because our teaching pool is kinda low. We met with a guy who is going to a Baptist college. He wanted to talk to us about our church and the scriptures. He said he is writing a paper on the Mormon faith. That was very interesting. He was just asking tons of questions, jumping all over the place, using scriptures to try and tell us that the Book of Mormon contradicts our beliefs. 

 

We also met with a Jehovah's Witness this week. He talked to us about their beliefs. It is awesome to see what different people and different faiths emphasize on. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what can tie us all together, so it was a good time talking to all these different people. It really is crazy how many different people you meet as a missionary. We met an old lady yesterday. When she saw us coming, she started running up her driveway trying to escape from us by going inside her trailer haha. By the end of our ten-minute conversation, she said that she was very glad to have met us, and we felt glad about it as well even though she wouldn't listen to anything about the Restoration. :) It's fun just being out here and helping people out and talking to people.

 

Tomorrow we have a mini zone conference, which I am excited about. Today we are going to try to feed some ducks somewhere if we can find them because we were given some expired loaves of bread haha.

 

Life is good here in Cornelia. I really, really enjoyed conference. I can't wait till we get the messages printed in the Ensign. There is a lot to be learned from the mouths of the prophets.

 

Love,

 

Elder Caplin 

 

Companion to the DL

Bruce says hello y'all! (He is one of our favorite investigators, 58 years old, extremely southern.)

 

I hope everything is going great in the real world; missionary life has been good to me this past week.

 

I love being companion to the District Leader because I always get to go on exchanges to other areas and spend time with other missionaries. On Tuesday one of the Zone Leaders came up to Cornelia for a night and that was a good time. I hadn't known him before, so it was good getting to meet him and learn from him when we tracted. (He is really good at keeping people from closing the door on us haha.) Wednesday we drove down to Winder to meet up with some other missionaries. All of the leaders had a two-day leadership training conference, so I got paired up with Elder Crandall for that little while. He came out the transfer before me and is stationed in Monroe, GA. I had a really good time down there and my eyes were greatly opened.

 

Much unlike Cornelia, the population in Monroe is 60% black 40% white. There is a lot of poverty there. Before I put in my mission papers, I wanted to go to a third-world country so that I could help people. I knew that I was extremely blessed and wealthy compared to the rest of the world. When I was with Elder Crandall, we visited a lady who just got baptized a few weeks ago. She and her family live in a tiny old home, very worn and rotted. They don't have any beds or a kitchen table. The only furniture that they have are some chairs that the church gave them. 

 

When Elder Crandall first found them, they couldn't afford any light bulbs, so he bought bulbs for them. He told me that the woman who just got baptized has changed like crazy since they started teaching her. At first she was very quiet and depressed, and now she is the most happy, cheerful, humble woman. It made me sad to see the small and unclean conditions that these people live in, and very grateful for what I have. Monroe was definitely an eye opener.

 

Elder Whitehead and I got back to Cornelia Friday morning and finished up the week here. We are trying to make sure that Jason is ready for his baptismal date. We had a good time this week meeting with him and Bruce and some less-actives in the ward. We helped Jason build a shed at his Dad's house at Lake Burton. It is sooooooo pretty up there. Lake Burton is a vacation area way up in the mountains. It is so green and clean and beautiful up there--I loved it.

 

Last night we had a super interesting, crazy experience. We were up in Cleveland and stopped by to say Hi to a long time friend of the missionaries and ended up having a gospel discussion with a Catholic, a Southern Baptist, and a Jew. Haha-- it was a real good time. Elder Whitehead and I were marveling about how it just randomly happened. Crazy stuff comes to you when you are a missionary, you don't even have to go looking for it. We have a return appointment for Wednesday with the three of them, so we are excited.

 

Well, things are going super great for me out here. It has been raining for the past 60 hours nonstop, so that's kinda new I guess. I hope all is going well for you guys.

 

Send me letters :)

 

Love,

 

Elder Caplin

 

P.S. Can I have an Aloe plant for Christmas? They are really popular in Clarkesville..

Lean Upon the Lord

Hello!!!




Thank you so much for all of the emails, I love and appreciate them all :)



Elders and Sisters in our Area

 Well it was very difficult saying goodbye to Elder Zundel, but it became easier when I found out who my new companion is! We were at transfers meeting and then President King announced that my new companion is Elder Kenneth William Whitehead. I was excited because I already know him! He was in the district right below ours and now came up to be district leader of Cornelia. He is a fun kid--he has been out for 10 months now. Already I am learning so much from him and doing some new things. Elder Whitehead prays a lot, which is really good and I benefit from that. Also, we run two laps around the nearby cemetery every morning (crazy, I know, I'm exercising now!). Also, he is very organized with the area books and maps and whatnot. He wants to make sure that everything we do benefits us and this area so that there isn't any wasted time. He's tons different from Elder Zundel, but he will be a very good companion. I'm excited for this transfer.

My new companion, Elder Whitehead

For companion studies in the mornings we have decided to read through the entire Preach My Gospel manual. I'm super excited about that just because there is so much of it that I haven't even seen. We also want to learn every song in the Hymn book-- haha. Elder Whitehead loves music and is very musical.


On Monday and Tuesday we traveled around saying goodbye to everyone and then Wednesday was transfer day. When Elder Whitehead and I got back to our apartment we had a little surprise-- no car keys! Elder Z had accidentally taken them to Lilburn (his new area) with him, haha :) so until we got them in the mail on Friday we are on bike. :)


Things are going well with our investigators, especially Jason, whose baptismal date is scheduled for October 16th. Everyone in the ward loves him because he is just on fire about the church and loves getting involved. We are focusing on enlarging our teaching pool so Elder W and I are going through the area book to see if we can pick up some former investigators.


I love GA, especially the beautiful mountainous area that I am in now. I love missionary work and hope to become better at it. I love ya'll back home :)


Lean upon the Lord when times get tough. That is one thing that I am learning. Also, pour your heart out in out-loud prayer. God will always help you.


Love, Elder MTC