Sister and Elder Hintze: 5/30/23

 

Monday, May 29, 2023

Hi y’all! I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. The tardiness of my email is

due to the holiday. We had a day off and enjoyed a fun outing to Warm Springs and a fish

hatchery with the Elders yesterday. While in some respects, time continues to fly by, time stops

for just a moment when I hear that my grandkids are asking, “When is Nana coming home?”

Because the growing season begins so early in Georgia, a lot of produce in the ward garden is

ready to harvest. Anyone in the ward who wishes to can come and get the goodies! On Sunday

after church, we cut cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, cucumbers, yellow squash, and collard

greens. Neither Elder Hintze nor myself have ever eaten collard greens, let alone know how to

cook them. Well, thanks to good old YouTube, I learned how to cook collard greens. Along with

the collard greens, I made a squash casserole and Elder Hintze made pickled cucumbers. We

invited our neighbors and landlords, Linda and Kevin, to come to enjoy the bounty with us.

Imagine my surprise when Kevin said that Linda has never liked collard greens, yet she said they

were delicious. Maybe I’m becoming a Southern cook after all! The best recipe I’m coming

home with is banana pudding!! It’s to die for!

This past week has been one of our best missionary weeks yet. We had a tremendous visit with

Cody, who is no longer debating and throwing out counterpoints on the things we’re teaching

him. He is asking questions and finding answers to questions that he’s had for a long time.

We’re looking forward to visiting with him again later this week.

We had a wonderful visit with Mike and Mary. Most of our visits with them have been team-teaching with the Elders. We decided that we would show them the movie on the Restoration of

the Gospel. That seemed to be exactly what Mike needed to confirm his testimony of the

truthfulness of the gospel. He is planning on being baptized on June 17th. Mary is thrilled to

have him join her in the church.

The big event of the week was our booth at the Emancipation Day Celebration. Believe it or not,

the little town of Thomaston, Georgia has the longest-running commemoration of freedom from

slavery in the nation. It’s been going on since 1866. We worked long and hard to prepare for

this day. Elder Hintze, our computer expert, prepared the banners and the tri-fold flier that we

handed out. Our objective was to introduce the long-running stand of the church against slavery.

We shared three separate time periods when prophets declared that all men should be free. In the

Book of Mormon, 500 years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Nephi stated that “all are

invited to come unto Him, black and white, bond and free, male and female.” (2 Nephi 26:33).

The prophet Joseph Smith was the first recognized national religious leader in our country to

support the emancipation of slaves. In 1844 he said, “Break off the shackles from the poor black

man and hire him to labor like other human beings. Restore freedom. Break down slavery.”

And today’s living prophet, Russell M. Nelson stated at the 2019 annual NAACP Convention,

“We are brothers and sisters, each of us the child of a loving Father in Heaven. It behooves each

of us to do whatever we can in our spheres of influence to preserve the dignity and respect every

son and daughter of God deserves.”

This was our message. On Saturday, between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., we had the

great privilege of talking with many wonderful people. At the end of the day, we walked away

with the names and contact information of twenty-five people who would like to meet with us to

learn more. One of those people is the woman that owns the print shop where we had our fliers

printed. She has been doing our printing for us on many occasions during our mission and has

become increasingly curious. She specifically asked if there are women that could come and

teach her. So, Elder Hintze and the young Elders are going to sit this one out and let me do it on

my own! While I do have another sister in the ward going to accompany me, and I’m very

excited to teach Jazmine, without my regular teaching companions, I’m a bit nervous. I’ll let

you know next week how it goes.

I love the parables in the sections of Matthew that we’ve been studying, especially the parable of

the ten virgins. I am grateful for the knowledge the Savior gives us on how to prepare for His

second coming. It’s up to each of us to keep our lamps filled with oil so we are prepared when

He comes.