Hello Friends!
I am now in Florida! I'm in a little town called Bristol; it's about an hour away from Tallahassee and Panama City Beach. It is a town of about 970 people. To give you a sense of the town, we have two wonderful stores: for groceries we have "Piggly Wiggly", and for miscellaneous items we find ourselves at "Dollar General". When we feel like eating out, we can go to a subway drive through or the "world famous" Apalachee Restaurant. When I first opened a styrofoam container from the Apalachee Restaurant I was shocked to see that everything was the same color. Inside was the best fried chicken I have ever had, as well as some phenomenal fried cream corn, fried okra, and french fries. My companion and I are truly in the boonies of the Florida Panhandle.
I love it down here. Between the heat (and humidity), the thick accents, and the fact that everyone in this town is related, there's certainly a lot to get used to down here, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. It has been a real treat to experience southern living - it is certainly different from Los Angeles.
When I say everyone is related, it is really true - shockingly true. It seems that there are a few core families, and these families are big. When you introduce yourselves, people do not hesitate to tell you about their family history in this town. Everyone is "kin" with everyone here.
People here are so kind. They all know where the missionaries live, and they do not hesitate to give. They constantly drop by to introduce themselves and give massive plates of fried chicken, cookies, or subway gift cards.
There are long needle pine trees as far as the eye can see. I've heard that there used to be 2 or 3 times as many trees up, but hurricane Michael (from 2 years ago) hit this area pretty hard. There is still a lot of damage. We will be doing a lot of hurricane cleanup in the coming weeks. I will send pictures.
I feel lucky to be with an amazing companion. Elder Murri is from Idaho Falls, Idaho and is an amazing artist and pianist. We are hoping to have a socially distanced "music of Christ" outdoor concert in Bristol. We want to invite a bunch of people of different faiths to come together through the spirit of music. Covid is running rampant right now, but hopefully we can start planning once things with the virus cool down.
Everyone seems to be religious here. People are always open and interested to talk about Christ. There are churches all over, and it has been so fun to learn about the similarities and differences between them. We have been teaching over zoom and over the phone.
I attached a photo of the Bristol water tower and my companion Elder Murri and I when we were transferring out here.
Love,
Elder Garff
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