Ala-freakin-bama

This week has been one of the best weeks of the mission!! With transfers going on and me leaving my area, I thought that it was going to be pretty hard but I love this place so much!! I am officially living in Alabama, and it is not what I imagined at all!! We live in Lake Forest, which is the biggest subdivision east of the Mississippi, and this city just reminds me a lot of home, it's awesome, however, our zone is super far spread out all over the country, so it's gonna be so much fun going to district meetings and exchanges!

Elder Delamare is one of my favorite companions already! He and I are so much a like; I don't think that I have stopped laughing the whole time we have been together! The both of us have such a desire to improve and make things happen, but most importantly, we are following through with the things we say we will do, it is amazing! He and I just want to work as hard as we can for as long as we can, and we have seen miracles already!

I came into this area and there was little work going on, it was all people that had been taught forever, but haven't made any progression with them. With all of the conferences that we have had recently, we have been taught to "find all day every day" so Elder Delamare and myself have done so much finding, but in a way that we can still teach. We set a goal on Friday to hand out an entire box of BoM's in a week (the most I ever did was 20 in a week), the first day we handed out 19!! The both of us have always heard about talking to everyone, but didn't understand that until we got together; we literally drive from appointment to appointment with our windows down waving at everyone and saying to hello to everyone we see, then we straight up get out of the car and give them a BoM, either at a stop light, or just on the side of the road, it is so awesome!! 

As we have been doing this, we have had so many blessings come, its unreal! We found this family that are refugees from Mira Mar, a Buddhist country, who are Christians, and they welcomed us right into their home, and gathered around to hear our message. It's a husband and a wife that speak very little English with 3 kids all younger that 7, but they are so open! Their names are Thang Mang (Tong Mong the dad), Ching (Jing, the mom), Kim (the oldest), Dalsang (Dollsong the middle), and Bahoy (bah hoy the youngest), they are the nicest family ever!!!! We shared the restoration, and asked what the felt, and they said that it felt so good! We love them so much already, and cant wait to work more with them! The only problem is that they work every day in the year except for 3.... so its tough to meet with them and for them to come to church, but I honestly believe that they will accept this wonderful gospel! We also got a referral from the sister missionaries for another family to teach that really wants us there. Then we had an inactive member show up with her nonmember husband (no one knew who it was) and she wants us to come and visit them!  Then some nonmember youth showed up who knew a member that used to live here and said that he is old enough to drive now, so he wants to come to our church. It's amazing how when you do what the Lord asks that you really do receive blessings, it is becoming so real now!! 

It has been so much fun to work here in Alabama, and I am really excited for this transfer, and know that the Lord is preparing people for Elder Delamare and me to teach and bring to the gospel. Even though it is really hard work, it is so much fun, and we lay our head down at night, and feel so accomplished, I love it, this is what a mission is all about!!

Thanks for everything, y'all are amazing!!

Elder Schipaanboord