Many people don't realize that Georgia is not only the name of a state, but also a country, which sits east of Turkey, and south of Russia, and I was one of those people. I was just out of high school and was more interested in whether or not Lebron James was going to stay with Cleveland than what was happening in small Eastern-European countries. Fast forward a few months. While studying at USU I received word that I had received a very special letter in the mail back home in Centerville. After class I quickly drove the two hours home, and opened my mission call. "...You have been assigned to labor in the Armenia Yerevan mission...you will prepare to preach in the Georgian language." I had been called to serve in the Republic of Georgia. I immediately remembered the article I had read a few months previous. I don't know much about geography, but I did know that Russia was a fairly large and powerful country, and that Georgia was not. I probably should have been more worried initially about living in a country at war with a country like Russia, but I wasn't. It turns out I didn't need to be anyway. After doing some research I learned that the conflict lasted only a short while (which wasn't much of a surprise), and that things were pretty quiet now in Georgia. Serving in Georgia really changed my life. It is where I had my first glass of wine (inadvertently), and where I made some incredible friends. It's the reason why I'm studying business and preparing for law school. It's the reason why I'm married to Rachel Garn and have two daughters. And it is the reason why I'm at BYU, so I guess in way it's the reason I'm writing this blog.
Georgia looks beautiful! What a fun experience for you. I think the feeling you had remembering the newspaper article may be compared to the feeling the Italians had when they realized that they were looking at a pathway to progress in the Roman ruins they saw every day.
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