Yaknowwhaimsaying?

Heyyyyy family!

How are you???? I hope things are going so great at home! Well as you heard I am in GA and have been assigned to labor in the Cornelia Ward of the Athens Stake! It is in the NE corner of the state and it is pretty awesome.

The first thing that happened as we met the mission president at baggage claim was a proselyting activity on the ATL public transit. President and Sister King and the senior couple and the assistants that picked us up took our bags, and then gave each of us two copies of the Book of Mormon and some church pamphlets. They bought us a subway ticket on MARTA and sent us on the train with an older missionary.

I was excited by this and wanted to go to work right away, but got a surprise when I started. I went up to talk to the first person I saw and boy did she give me a treat. I started talking to her and she loved that and started talking right back to me. She was probably about 58 years old, black, had 4 teeth, smelled like dog food, and I couldn't understand a word that she said. She kept me there for 15 whole minutes and I couldn't understand anything so I just nodded my head and said "Yes." The only thing I could understand was "yaknowwhaimsayin?" and she said that like a billion times.

I finally escaped by saying that my companion needed me and to have a nice day. Hahaaha--it scared me a bit and I became a bit discouraged, but the next person I talked to was fantastic. His name was Francior and we talked about prayer a lot and I told him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It went really well and I got his contact info for the Atlanta missionaries to talk to him.

The Kings are sooooo so so nice, they fed us two delicious meals, we had two great firesides, and they were very hospitable. I found out my area and companion (Elder Jordan Zundel, 21, from Portland) Tuesday night and then Transfers meeting was Wednesday morning. President King is a very inspired man. He spoke to us a lot about the Vision of the South (look it up online) by President Spencer W. Kimball, and how well the work is going down here. I feel very lucky to be assigned to such a great mission where the people are so good and kind, and I also feel great about not having to learn a language.

One of the missionaries' favorite investigators is named Bruce. He reminds me of a southern version of Bilbo Baggins from Lord of the Rings. He is kinda weird, but super nice and funny. We love going over to visit him. After he asked me questions and got to meet me he said, "Well Mr. Caplin, welcome to the hills of Habersham."

I indeed love the hills of Habersham. I live in Cornelia, which is a part of Habersham County. The counties here are very small; about 5 towns in them each. It's the kind of place where you are born, raised, and die without ever leaving the area. Everyone is very Christian and very southern. There are mostly white people out here whose families have lived here for generations and generations. I like it. The ward is much smaller compared to a Utah ward, young--lots of converts--but very nice. They like me, which is good.

Short-sleeved white dress shirts and white pocket handkerchiefs are my best friends because it is so hot and humid here. Since my area is large, my companion and I have a nice 2009 Toyota Corolla to drive with fantastic air conditioning, but the AC in our apartment is broken which sucks hardcore. We sleep in an apartment across the street that is vacant until the real estate company or whoever fixes our AC. I'm so so so glad that we have a car though. haha.

My companion is great. We get along well. He has been out for a year and 5 months and is the district leader for our district and has been a trainer once before. Surprisingly I am doing quite well out here. Teaching is easy enough, but I am always trying to learn more. I need to get better at initial contacting and whatnot; that first part I am terrible at. Elder Zundel is way chill and we have plenty of good times, which is good.

Missionary work is slower than I thought it would be. It is a difficult process finding those who are prepared to hear the good word. Haha-- I hate the finding part. I wish we could just be teaching all the time. If we got more referrals from the members and whatnot we could be. It is hard, but very rewarding when the spirit is there and you get to teach someone an eternal truth that they do not know.

Well I am running out of time, but I will update as often as I can. My address is still and always will be 1150 Cole Dr. SW Lilburn GA 30047. I like writing emails, but receiving mail. haha. I love you all so much. You are always in my prayers.

Love, Elder Mikey Caplin