Where the Nice Road Ends

Welcome to Alabama, my happy followers! I am all settled (basically) into my new place in East Brewton. My companion is Sister Smith. (Not our mission president's wife, but that would be sweet). Sister Smith is an expert on the Lower Alabama backwoods. She's been serving in this area since I came into the field in August.

The Brewton area, I'm quickly learning, is very unique. I've never been in an area like it before (in like my whole life, not just my whole mission life). We are not big enough to be a ward or a branch... so we are a group! We are the Brewton Area GROUP, nested with the Jay, FL branch. We cross the stateline like 3 times a week on average. :D :D Such a strange place; I'm so excited. There are like 5 regular attendees of Sacrament meeting--three of them are recent converts. Then there's missionaries and sometimes a member of the Jay Branch Presidency.

How did I get so lucky?

I'm still learning how to work an area as unique as this, and trying to learn my way around. It is actually nice, for the record, to have a companion that knows the area. And I was worried.

The members here have crazy strong faith unto willingness to believe in something so uncommon, and come to church at a weird time of day (2 pm) in the city of Brewton Civic Center, instead of just going to one of the million corner churches that they could more easily choose. I can't wait to get to know them all better (which will probably take like a week because there aren't very many to know).

For our closing scripture let me search the realms of lds.org

This is what I love about the backwoods--ever since the days of DeFuniak

Alma 32:6-- And now when Alma heard this, he turned him about, his face immediately towards him, and he beheld with great joy; for he beheld that their ^aafflictions had truly ^bhumbledthem, and that they were in a ^cpreparation to hear the word.

People who live out in no man's land and don't have a lots of fits and fancy surrounding them, people who sometimes only have a little--they are humble and willing to learn. Such are the strong little converts in this group. And we are hoping to get more soon!

That's all for this week. Where Florida meets Alabama, the nice road ends, the potholed road begins, and Brewton adventures continue!

Love,
Sister Laura Cooper