Jessie in Georgia: Flirty old men and the waffle house of good luck 🪙

A day late because it's TEMPLE DAY! I don't think I've ever been so excited to go to the temple ever. Mom, is this temple 12?

What a rollercoaster of a week. Holy moly.

Tears were shed and spanish was spoken.

LET'S GET INTO IT!

Monday: P-day! We played volleyball (finally) but unfortunately the Tucker building AC doesn't work so we were dying after 5 minutes. I don't think I've ever been sweatier. I had fun though! Walmart was out of bananas. (booooo ) We had dinner with the Ellisons and it was so freaking yummy. We had ham and cheese roll up croissants and IF YOU KNOW. YOU. KNOW. Earlier in the day we were at the Ellisons' house and learned how to make bagels from scratch! So goooooood.

Tuesday: EXCHANGES WITH THE HERMANITAS! I went with Hermana Johnson to their spanish area! I had an actual blast it was so much fun. Hermana Johnson is so good at spanish it's crazy watching her speak to people in it like it's nothing. We met up with their district at Talpa for taco tuesday! My tacos were only $1 each eeeek!!!!! We did lots of knocking and I learned very quickly how to tell if a house looks spanish. At night we went to english class! I made friends with a little girl around 6yo and I spoke spanish with her. She's so precious. She also drew on my white shirt with pink highlighter but I'm seriously not even mad. She's too cute. We also helped set up a baby shower for the bishop's sister :) Before bed, Hermana Baker recruited me into the cool tag club. (The outside got filed down so it has a white outline that makes it easier to see my tag when I have a black shirt on)

Wednesday: I ate three bagels total this day. We drove back to Lilburn and met back up with Sister Balls!!!! I missed my mission mom. We comp studied at the library and saw the elders there so we jump scared them. Then we went to the carwash! I sweated more than I have ever sweated (worse than P-day) but our car was so shiny and clean. We bought ice cream at walmart to cool off lol cause we had places to BE! At night we headed to the church for a ward missionary event! Members of the ward set up booths to showcase their missions and we set up one to show what it's like being a stateside missionary today!! It was so much fun. People brought food from their missions and I tried a hot sauce that made somebody almost die and it literally wasn't even that bad. Thanks dad ;)

Thursday: ZONE CONFERENCE! I got to see my cute friend Sister Adams!!!!!! Sister Balls and I won a walmart gift card for cleanest car. Booyah. They catered chipotle and I think my heart did a little jump for joy. So fun. After zone conference, our district did a blitz of Lilburn! (everyone goes finding in lilburn at the same time because the elders need people to teach DESPERATELY) Sis balls and I knocked a million houses and talked to a guy named Sal about how he refused to say "prayer" instead of meditation and that we shouldn't believe in Jesus Christ because that puts a barrier in between us and God. Annnnyyywhooo.... I hope Sal finds out Jesus rocks cause we could barely get a word in.

Friday: Such a good day. We listened to christmas music in the car in the rain and it was so magical because the rain sounded like a crackling fireplace. More specifically like the AI fireplace my mom puts on the TV 24/7. Love you mother <3! I did lots of scrapbooking and such. We weekly planned with the elders and made a makeshift capo for Sis Balls' guitar with an expo marker and a hair tie I accidentally stole from the temple! Elder Hogan and I switched shoes because we have the same sized feet. It was awesome. We went knocking with Vienna! She's the cutest ever. We knocked some of her neighbors and most didn't know she existed lol. We had Gusto for dinner (basically Aubergine Kitchen) and holy smokes it was yummy. Thanks Smith family!

Saturday: Horrible day I'm not even gonna lie. It felt so heavy. I stepped on a frog but it didn't die. We named him Splat. We had DC in the morning and that was fun, but things just kept going wrong after that. Sister Balls and I were sat in a chick fil a forced to make a list of things that were going right for us so we didn't feel so awful. It was hard to think of things . We said so many prayers for guidance and comfort. We ended the day with taking a whiteboard to the park with the question "What is your favorite name for Jesus Christ?" on it. We talked to people of all different faiths and backgrounds. That definitely lifted our spirits. When we got home, my day got worse so I finally just cried. We went to bed an hour early that night

Sunday: I've never been so excited to take the sacrament. If I ever needed a spiritual boost it was this sunday over all other days. Let me tell you something. Being a missionary and talking to people is something different. People are not afraid to tell you their deepest and darkest secrets. They will take any opportunity to trauma dump all over you. Our job is to listen!! I've become so good at listening I can sit for an hour and a half straight while someone goes on and on about their family farm. Awesome sauce right?? After church we went to a park for comp study and saw a squirrel carry an entire piece of pizza up a tree. Ok! We decided to go knocking because if we learned anything this week it's that talking to people will lift our spirits so quick. We even found someone yay!! We had dinner with Delirio and Brother Cook. (She didn't take his last name). Mom, you would have LOVED what they made. We had chicken marinated in cream cheese and parmesan with quinoa and cranberry kale salad. I played with their cat Dante. He made a nest in my skirt. Daquan sent his nightly goodnight text.

Monday: Not p-day because we're going to the temple Tuesday! This morning, to combat our extra day that isn't p-day, we ate breakfast and comp studied at waffle house! I RAN OVER A DEAD SQUIRREL ON THE WAY THERE HIS POOR LIFELESS BODY . A nice old man named Mike heard us reading scriptures so he gave us cards of good luck with the name of his jeep in Vietnam and our names on them! Then he paid for our food!! Then his wife asked us to pray for their brother in law with cancer so we prayed right then and there!!! Then we gave them a book of mormon!!!! I love waffle house now!!!!! After waffle house we went to the co-op to work in the food pantry. I was packing a produce bag and I went to hand it to an old guy and I asked him if he wanted it but he said no and goes " I LIKE YOU " and i just stared him in the face for like 5 seconds and handed him a bag anyway. Okay pal. We went straight to a member's house for a 30-minute turned 1.5 hour member message. Always fun. Sister Balls and I came home and did feet masks. Flirty feet!

Thanks for tuning in to the pod everyone. I love yall and the Lord loves yall!!