Hola All Y'all: February 22nd - Adventures in Alabama!!!

Hola, Folks! (brace yourselves)

First off, I have a stronger testimony of "be where you need to be, doing what you're supposed to be doing/Follow the rules” after the other night (Thursday?). Sister Portilla and I had just dropped off the other sisters at their apartment and we were driving down Triana to head back to ours. There was a car behind me that didn't like that I was going the speed limit in the left lane, but ....mission rules... and we were going to be turning left soon. So, he zips over to the right, then merges in front of me, and proceeds to collide with a larger car in the turning lane a couple hundred feet ahead of us. Though it was scary, we stayed calm. I made a 911 call and Sister Portilla ran over to the larger car. The front left side of his car had broken off. The other car had spun several times and there were sparks coming off the part of his car where his tire should've been as he spun and fish-tailed over to the far right shoulder. (Before my mission I was kind of a lead-foot like Mom ;) ) (Hey! I resemble that comment!) but because we were following the rules and we were where we were supposed to be, doing what we were supposed to do, we were ok. (P.S. don't speed).

Mission work!

We've been turning our focus a bit more on LA's (less-actives), not just in the Branch but helping Sparkman out with single sisters since it would be hard for them to coordinate to visit them. We have started working with C. Z., a LA who joined the church while in Athens and has fallen away because he felt there were unworthy members doing Priesthood responsibilities etc. The Hunstville A Elders came with us and we had a lesson with him. We hope that he'll come to the branch, but he expressed a desire to move his records back to Athens.

We also visited a kind, soft-spoken LA in Sparkman named C. We are hoping to see her again soon and help her grow her connections with others in the ward to make her feel more at home in the ward since she is the only member in her family.

Upon trying to visit a LA in the branch named Maria, we found that she had moved, but 2 Spanish women live there now. One had a BOM already, and the other one accepted one. The Lord works in mysterious ways :) We shared a scripture with them and they were welcoming to have us back. We found an apartment complex down the street a ways where everyone was SO NICE. We gave 7 BOMs and had even more lessons - the only people who weren't interested were still very kind and respectful. We heard several times "Thanks for coming here to see me even though this area is kinda scary". Yeah, it was sort of a sketchy area but everyone we met was incredible and wants to learn more about Christ. We found a Sparkman LA and a past investigator, so we're planning on returning to that area to finish tracting the area and follow-up on all of them. I'm so excited to have found these people even though most of them speak English and will be Sparkman's investigators later.

Also, I had one of the best birthdays ever :) Sister Portilla made me breakfast (toast with Nutella and hot chocolate). The branch was so sweet to me. Hermana Cruz gave me a butterfly charm xD The Hermanas (Huntsville C - Mitchell and Bartlome) made dinner and we had a sleep over. They also got me a "Blessed Girl" shirt that has 1 John 4:19 on the back with teal, magenta, and white designs- it's super cute. I got several phone calls from missionaries and Sister Hanks. At District meeting on Friday we had chocolate cake with the District for both my birthday and Sister Mitchell's (whose b-day was on Tuesday) etc., etc., happiness and love. <3 We're going out to lunch soon with some branch members for our b-days as well :D

So grateful to be here to help others every day, including my birthday xP

The Church is true,

the Book is blue,

God loves you,

Do what He wants you to do!

~Sister Laurel Martin