I love Dacula so much

Hey y'all!

This week was so good!
I will start off with this last pday! It was sooo good! We got
permission from president to go to stone mountain, which is pretty
close to Atlanta, and is out of our mission! A member from the Spanish
branch here, came and picked us up, and then we met the three other
sets of sisters in the mission and it was so stinkin fun! We had
soooooo many contacts and so many people wanting to get pictures with
us! We also talked with this Jamaican couple who were so fun! They
walked up with us and took some jumping pictures at the top! It's such
a different hike than I am used too, but it is so crazy to see
basically all of northern Georgia with no mountains in sight, and you
can see the skyline of Atlanta!

View from stone mountain!

And I think I told y'all about Peggy holloway and her grandkids I
hope? She's a less active who has had just a ton of medical issues..
The poor thing! She just recently found a black spot on her leg, which
is really bad when you're a diabetic.. And the doctors told her she'd
possibly have to amputate her leg! But the optimism she had while
telling us all this was insane, she just kept saying, "well I know I
can handle it or the Lord wouldn't let it happen." She was supposed to
be admitted into the hospital this Last Friday, but where she takes
care of her grandkids she didn't want to go that soon without making
sure she would be okay, so she's not going in til tomorrow to start
receiving antibiotics! Peggy is such an amazing example to me, I feel
like such a pansy sometimes thinking about all the trials I grope
about, but there nothing compared to what she's gone through, and how
outward she turns to think of her family through her own struggles.
We got sister Lohnes (the member we live with) and brother and sister
porter to come over with us and we gave her a priesthood blessing and
then cleaned her entire house and read the Book of Mormon with three
kids before they went off to bed. It was probably one of the most
humbling, best nights out here. I love the ward here in Dacula so
much, and I love Peggy holloway and her grandkids so much too! Please
keep them in your prayers!

Then on Wednesday we had sister longoria ask us to come see her, (a
less active and recent convert in the ward) and sister Gerard and I
would always just bike to her house to save miles, so I said sister
Russell, "let's bike." Haha and I laugh because sister Russell HATES
biking. And I feel so bad, because her house is 14 miles round trip.
But we are so close to our mileage limit, so we really needed too. As
scary as biking here is, like REALLY sketchy, there is no shoulder and
only one lane! But we had so much fun. The weather has really cooled
down and the leaves just keep getting prettier! Once we got to sister
longorias ( HILARIOUS older black lady) she took one look at sister
Russell and turned to me, "Cunningham, you're gonna kill her." Hahah.
I love sister longoria. She has her opinions about the church, and
sometimes she hears anti Mormon things that she'll bring up, but that
day she just testified of the change she's seen in her heart and how
much kinder of a person she is since joining! It is so true too! She
could take on Goliath with her pinky, you don't mess with Dolores
longoria. Haha it was such a fun visit! It's amazing to see the change
in her.

Then, on Thursday I got a letter from sister Gerard, and y'all know
how much I lover her! We became so close in the six weeks we were
together. Well one thing I loved most, was our companionship studies!
We would share what we studied during personal studies, and it was
crazy how in sync we were with our studies! And sadly we always forget
to plan our studies the night before, but it was amazing how they
always were similar and helped those we were teaching. Well In her
letter she told me she was studying how to better align her will with
gods. I just had such a strong impression to read a talk I had book
marked after reading that, and in the talk it said," the only thing
God doesn't have is our agency." I know that the ultimate challenge in
this life is to give our will completely to Heavenly Father. That's
why the savior was perfect, he gave his will to the father! I know
that as I remember this is the lords time while I'm out here, it makes
the mission amazing! Obedience is rewarding and protecting, talking to
everyone is so much fun and the abundance of love you feel for s
complete stranger just comes! I know st this is true with every point
we are in our lives!
We went to visit Misi and his sweet family the other day, he is a less
active and the only member in his family. He grew up in Samoa and his
family way back was taught by a missionary! They couldn't pronounce
his name in English, so they named him an island name.. MISI! Haha and
he told us that all of the boys are expected to serve missions who
carry his name. Sadly Misi never served a mission, BUT, he talked
about how he wants to do all that he can to be a missionary now. He
wants us to teach his wife and kids, and is a firefighter and
paramedic, so he can render his services that way. He told us had he
served a mission, he wouldn't have been able to handle people talking
Ill about the church, he said his tie would have been used in harmful
ways if he did hear it! Oh man. Misi is amazing. And the fact that his
goal is to turn his will over to Heavenly Father by serving him in all
that he can for others and his family is amazing! He has two sweet
girls who are four and two, and they totally look like lilo from Lilo
and stitch! They're adorable and teach us Samoan dances when we come!

Then Sunday a lot happened! Valerie finally came to church for the
first time! The night before we made sure she would t have any excuses
not to go, and made sure her granddaughter kaylee had church clothes
and shoes, and then went with a member to pick her up! It went pretty
well, it was hard because a member from the high counsel came to speak
and it was on family history.. So that was hard for Valerie to
understand why they didn't talk about God and Jesus, but she loved
gospel principles and relief society and fell in love with a few
members who were so kind to here, and one of the members even invited
us(sister Russell and I and Valerie) to have dinner with her on
Wednesday! 

Kaylee

Then, Eric and Michelle came too with their adorable
daughter lily! I'm so sorry, we are teaching quite a few people and I
forget who I've talked about to y'all. But Eric and Michelle are
amazing! They referred themselves on Mormon.org and have been meeting
with missionaries since February! To read their teaching records and
see the progress they have made is amazing! They had a hard time
praying and understanding why we needed the Book of Mormon, and now
read from it daily and pray before to receive answers and have strong
testimonies. Their only hold up with being baptized is they need to
get married first, and they want a pretty extravagant wedding with
their families all there. Well, they met with us and the bishop after
church and said they really wanted to do what they could to get
baptized and agreed to having a smaller wedding with just making sure
both their parents were there so they could be baptized sooner!!
Ahhh!! I am so stoked for them!!! The blessings and miracles we see
each day is incredible. I know y'all are receiving them too, and I
challenge y'all to strive to see gods hand in your life and then write
it down! I promise you'll receive a much greater understanding of gods
individual love for each of you!

I love Dacula so much, and I've begun to feel so comfortable at home
here.. And that makes me so nervous because I just have a feeling I
may be transferred this next Wednesday! :( I have been told by
everyone I may be training though so I am so scared! ( I still have
faith everything will work out, promise) but that would be pretty hard
to train in a whole new area. But I know that whether I stay here with
sister Russell, or leave and train or whatever happens is where I need
to be. It's amazing how each transfer I learn and grow so much! and I
know it's all because of the savior and his atonement, I challenge
y'all to watch the Mormon message," my new life" it's amazing! And
such an incredible way to see the atonement at work! I know our
confidence should be in our savior, with him, we can never fail!
I love y'all so much!
Have such a great week!
And I love how so many of you share your testimonies, or cool
miracles, or your studies!! It is incredible and I've been able to
share some with those we have been teaching and it's brought the
spirit! Thank you so much!
Love sister Cunningham!