Mish. Short for "mission."
Tifton is amazing. I've been here 3 weeks. It is the place you want to go if you want an authentic southern experience!
Language
Prayer talk. When you're praying at the end of your lesson and your investigator (or whomever you're praying with) says things in the middle of the prayer like, "Yes, Lord. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus." Yes, this happens to me. Pretty often, actually. It's weird to get used to because you feel like you have to stop and let them talk before you keep praying. But you just gotta keep going! It's one of those awkward moments I mentioned in my last post.
VBS. The abbreviation for Vacation Bible School. It's like girls' camp in Utah, but it's for all religions. Mormon families with younger kids and teenagers will send their kids to a vacation bible school every summer. There are also no Mormon preschools here, so I've heard stories of little 3-year-olds coming home and telling their parents they'll pray over the food, and then they start reciting the Lord's Prayer. It's pretty great though!
A missionary saying I learned: "Knock once for their salvation, twice for yours." Sometimes you can just tell someone isn't home. But lots of people don't have cars, so sometimes you might be wrong. People will also "blind-check" you (look out their blinds to see who you are) and then just not answer. So you knock once to get them to answer and twice to give them a second chance.
Rain
Yes, it rains all the time here. It's rained every day for the past week. On Sunday, we planned Windows of Heaven, which is where you plan a solid couple of hours and a place in the neighborhood to just talk to everyone you see. Well, we pulled in to the park in Tifton on Sunday during a thunderstorm and looked at each other, then looked around at the depressingly empty parking lot. While we were trying to decide what to do, lightning flashed super brightly in front of us and there was an immediate thunder crack. We decided to go visit less actives instead. It turned out alright though! We met a few people we hadn't been able to get to before, and we planned Windows of Heaven for exchanges on Wednesday. It'll be great!
Y'all, I know God lives. I also know that that sounds super cliche, but it's true. You have no idea how few people realize that God is their loving Heavenly Father who absolutely loves them, to the ends of eternity. Something I've learned on my mission is that He is ALWAYS there for me. Always. No matter what. And He is ALWAYS there for you. If you were the only human being that came to earth, He still would have suffered in Gethsemane for you, and He still would have died for you, just so He would know exactly what you're going through and be able to help you along this rough road we call life. He's there. Remember that.
Love y'all! #prayforjoy
Love,
Sister McKay
Pictures:
A bunch of pictures some little girls took while we were visiting them.
Pictures of water towers (they're all over the place) and old buildings painted crazy colors.
Love Avenue and 4th Street.
A horse statue at ABAC college in town.
An actual swamp. (It's a really bad picture but it's totally awesome.)
Me trying to take old fashioned selfies by holding my camera backwards.
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