Civil Rights and New Best Friends

It poured last Monday and we got caught in it. It was super fun though cause we were walking around this park that is across from the Civil Rights museum in downtown Birmingham. There were statues and signs that told a little bit of the history of the area. We saw the statue of the four little girls who were killed when someone bombed the Baptist church. It was really interesting to learn new things about the Civil Rights movement.

My interesting story for this week includes my companion getting a new best friend. We got dropped off at an appointment by a member in what's called "Southside" about a half hour drive from our apartment. We couldn't get anyone to come out and get us, so we were hanging out on a street corner waiting for the bus. Everyone is so friendly here in the south, some even a little too friendly. We simply said hello to a guy across the street and we ended up hearing his whole life story about crawling in some bushes and getting poison oak and how he writes Christian rap songs. Sister Thorup wanted a picture just in case he "got famous one day." We were not expecting him to put his arm around her, which explains her expression in the picture. Luckily for us, we met an inactive member of the Church down in Southside. He approached us and talked about how three of his siblings served missions and he likes to talk to missionaries whenever he sees them on the streets. He found out we were stuck without a ride, so he insisted on driving us home. We had to walk to his house to get his car, so we got his address. You know we will be visiting his family soon with cookies and a lesson about the gospel. Jimmy Stout is so cool and I hope he starts coming back to church soon.

We got a revised ward roster this week since we had 68 people move out of the ward. It used to be 4 pages and now we're down to 2. Sister Thorup went through and highlighted all the active members in pink and the inactive/less active members in blue. There is wayyyy too much blue on these 2 pages, so we've decided to clean up a bit in the Vestavia Hills Ward. We're going to be focusing on those members who haven't been to church in awhile. We met with one family already last night, J.P. and Crystal. J.P. is a member, but his wife and two girls aren't. He has expressed interest in coming back to church and loved the idea of us going back this week and teaching a lesson. I'm way excited to meet with this awesome family again. It reminded me a bit of home when we were there visiting. It was about 7 in the evening when we went over, and they were all in their pajamas. The girls were watching a movie and doing dishes and the house looked lived in, like ours is. J.P. is in the middle of a work project, so there was paperwork everywhere and Crystal was helping him. It was a bit chaotic, but there was a feeling of love and family, something I haven't felt in other homes that I've been in out here where there's only a mom and kids or where someone smokes and everything is just covered with the smell. It was so nice to be in a family friendly environment where the Spirit could dwell even among the paper work. I'm excited for this family.