Interesting Experiment

So this is an experiment that a member told me about and I decided I wanted to try it.

So apparently someone did an experiment with like water crystals where they had people say words to some water. Like to one, they would say, "Love," or "Beautiful," or nice things like that. Then to other ones, they would say stuff like, "Hate," or "Ugly," and that sort of thing. Then they froze them and the ones they said nice things to had beautiful and different and distinct ice crystals. The ones they said mean things to didn't really even make crystals, and they just didn't work very well.
Then someone tried just taping the word on the jar or whatever it was in, and it had the same result.

Then someone tried it with rice. They said nice things to one thing of rice, mean things to the other one, and ignored a different one. And so I wanted to try it too. So I did. I cooked some rice (for the first time ever) and measured one cup of rice into 3 similar sized/shaped containers and put them in the same place. Then I wrote on one, "give it some love," and on the next one, "ignore," and on the third one, "Filth."

Then, every day we would say stuff to it. We named the first one Chunkers and we said nice things to it and loved it. The middle one we completely ignored, and the last one we said mean things to and hated it.

After a few weeks, mold started to grow on the second and third one, but the first one had no mold. And about four months later, it is still the same! It is amazing.  Something that I think is interesting is that the one we ignored has the most nastiness on it.

It just really proved to me more than anything else that the things that we say and do have a real effect on people. If rice, which isn't even alive, had this reaction, just think of how much of a difference it makes on human beings, our fellow children of God, the things that we say and the way that we act around them. We may not be able to see it as clearly, but it is real.

Rice - "give it some love" - named and said nice things to it

Rice - "ignore" - completely ignored 

Rice - "filth" - said mean things to and hated

So yeah, enjoy it. That is one thing I've been doing for the last four months. Talking to rice. You should all try it. It is really interesting.

Emily & Sister McGhee (member who gave them a ride to a lesson in Tappahanock) next to the 

Potomac River - the edge of the mission boundaries

One of many abandoned homes, farmhouses, barns etc. in Tappahanock, Virginia

Emily & "Guztav" - her new pet

So I sent a lot of pictures today and my rice experiment, so this won't be too long.
This week we taught like 10 lessons, which is great! And six of them were member presents, which is even better! We finally got back in contact with a few people we'd lost track of this week, too.
I don't know, not a lot has been overly exciting that you might want to know about.

But I did think the rice thing was super interesting and it has changed the way I want to talk about people. And also I've been trying to ignore people less. Sometimes I just ignore people when I don't want to talk to them, but I've been trying to at least like smile and say hi or wave or something, even when I don't want to, and it has made a difference. Some people just look back at me like I'm an idiot, but most people wave back, give a smile, or even talk to us for a minute. It is really cool. People (well, not always. But it is a lot more likely) give back to us what we give them. If we are super awkward and uncomfortable and would rather be somewhere else talking to some other person, they will probably feel awkward and uncomfortable too. And they probably won't want to talk to you very long. But if you just reach out in love and give them a warm welcome, they will instantly just feel a little better, even if they choose not to act on it or do exactly what you wanted/expected. You never know what is happening inside of them.

But anyways, this week is my birthday!  I have a member dinner with the Nelsons (they are hilarious, I'm excited) and the Murrells are giving us dessert afterwards on my actual birthday.  This is an excellent ward!

Well, anyways. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Thanks for the birthday wishes and stuff :)

Love,
Hermana Emily Pratt